Hi!
Thank you so much to all of you for thoughtful messages, and birthday wishes! I haven’t been posting for ages, mostly due to the back problems, which haven’t got better yet. A short sitrep of my back-related woes so that you know what is going on: I have been to the doctor many times, with various diagnoses - from SI joint to sciatica due to disk problems. I have been doing physiotherapy which doesn’t seem to make too much difference. I am due to go to MRI test tomorrow which will hopefully show what is wrong. The pain is mostly in my lower back and buttocks but also goes into the left leg. So far, I have been strictly restricting my computer usage time as the sitting position seems to be the worst of all for me. But I am getting a bit tired with this, and even my optimism is dwindling a little. :D
So I have reached the point of “oh, away with all this” and decided to let myself do things I like to do, at least a little bit, and by things I like to do I mean blogging.
But what have I been doing instead of spending hours in Internets? For a couple of months, until the leg problem manifested itself, I used to walk quite a bit, mostly in the park. It was awesome.
Another awesome and fabulous thing is audiobooks. I have been actually reading books with a good speed and this makes me really really happy. I have gone through quite few of them , but the following deserve mentioning:
- "The Void Trilogy" by Peter F. Hamilton (Dreaming void, Temporal void, Evolutionary void). I liked this series very much, even though it took me a while to get into it. Mindbending is the best word to describe it, I think. I am definitely going to read some other books of Peter F. Hamilton.
- Newsfeed trilogy by Mira Grant (Feed, Deadline, Blackout). I am still debating my feelings about this one. There were definitely good points about this series (for one thing, it felt like fanfiction!), and a zombie story with conspiracy is normally a safe win with me, but I got somewhat bored with repetitive usage of certain phrases and plot turns.
- Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. I have only read the first book, "Still Life", but I thought it was delightful in Agatha Christie-like way. I will read more.
- "Rivers of London" series book 3 ("Whispers Under Ground") by Ben Aaronovitch. This is my favourite series at the moment. SO much love.
- "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I didn’t like it at all. I have decided that teenage girl fiction is not my thing. I accept that some of you might like it, but this style and I do not agree. All I always seem to notice is the lack of world-building, the shallowness, etc. I have even relented on "Hunger Games" (it wasn't good but it was much better than "Divergent". And I especially relented on "Harry Potter" , Harry Potter is a really different kettle of fish.
- "Leviathan Wakes" by James S.A. Corey Another example of good old-fashioned sci-fi. I am going to follow the series and the second book "Caliban’s War" is already out now. The only big minus of this one is that the authors don’t seem to know what to do with female characters in their series and seem to think that the old device of "Female character should exist in adventure books with the only purpose. This purpose is for male characters to cross half of the galaxy to rescue them and do all manner of heroic things in the process”
- "Afterwards" by Rosamund Lupton. I don’t think this was a bad book, but a bit too gloomy for me personally. Very "middle class" as well (this is not necessarily a bad thing).
- "The First Law" trilogy by Joe Abercrombie ("The Blade Itself", "Before They Are Hanged" and "Last Argument of Kings"). I am in the process of reading this series now, and I am loving it. I am not a fan of "This book is just like the book X" comparisons usually, but I have immediately noticed something of A Song of Ice and Fire series in "The First Law". In the sense that the world of Joe Abercrombie is also a place where BAD THINGS HAPPEN, although not quite to Martin’s "everyone must die horribly and the good folks always lose" extent. And the choice of three main characters: an Inquisitor, a Northman and a Swordfighter speaks for itself. But the main appeal of Abercrombie’s books is dark humour, which is his own special thing. I am loving it.
As to TV, I don’t watch too much of it nowdays (sitting=bad). I have missed the season 2 of "Game of Thrones" as I wasn’t really in the mood for cruel deaths, scenes of torture and limb loss. I hope it was good. I am watching some TV with my daughter, but not too much. At the moment we are watching "Firefly" and she adores it. And we, of course, followed the European Football Championship, cheering for Italy all the way, and although Balotelli is a bit of an "unconventional" character, here is a picture:
But how have you all been? I hope everything is well, please let me know of any news!
How is LJ (good/bad/not very good)? After the break, I feel I am ready to move onto a different platform if many of my LJ friends have moved away since I last posted. My LJ might change it's content as well as I am mostly into audio books at the moment. I have even got a new shiny Walkman for my birthday! The sound quality is fabulous, 100 times better than the sound quality of iPOD I used for book-listening previously.
So I have reached the point of “oh, away with all this” and decided to let myself do things I like to do, at least a little bit, and by things I like to do I mean blogging.
But what have I been doing instead of spending hours in Internets? For a couple of months, until the leg problem manifested itself, I used to walk quite a bit, mostly in the park. It was awesome.
Another awesome and fabulous thing is audiobooks. I have been actually reading books with a good speed and this makes me really really happy. I have gone through quite few of them , but the following deserve mentioning:
- "The Void Trilogy" by Peter F. Hamilton (Dreaming void, Temporal void, Evolutionary void). I liked this series very much, even though it took me a while to get into it. Mindbending is the best word to describe it, I think. I am definitely going to read some other books of Peter F. Hamilton.
- Newsfeed trilogy by Mira Grant (Feed, Deadline, Blackout). I am still debating my feelings about this one. There were definitely good points about this series (for one thing, it felt like fanfiction!), and a zombie story with conspiracy is normally a safe win with me, but I got somewhat bored with repetitive usage of certain phrases and plot turns.
- Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. I have only read the first book, "Still Life", but I thought it was delightful in Agatha Christie-like way. I will read more.
- "Rivers of London" series book 3 ("Whispers Under Ground") by Ben Aaronovitch. This is my favourite series at the moment. SO much love.
- "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I didn’t like it at all. I have decided that teenage girl fiction is not my thing. I accept that some of you might like it, but this style and I do not agree. All I always seem to notice is the lack of world-building, the shallowness, etc. I have even relented on "Hunger Games" (it wasn't good but it was much better than "Divergent". And I especially relented on "Harry Potter" , Harry Potter is a really different kettle of fish.
- "Leviathan Wakes" by James S.A. Corey Another example of good old-fashioned sci-fi. I am going to follow the series and the second book "Caliban’s War" is already out now. The only big minus of this one is that the authors don’t seem to know what to do with female characters in their series and seem to think that the old device of "Female character should exist in adventure books with the only purpose. This purpose is for male characters to cross half of the galaxy to rescue them and do all manner of heroic things in the process”
- "Afterwards" by Rosamund Lupton. I don’t think this was a bad book, but a bit too gloomy for me personally. Very "middle class" as well (this is not necessarily a bad thing).
- "The First Law" trilogy by Joe Abercrombie ("The Blade Itself", "Before They Are Hanged" and "Last Argument of Kings"). I am in the process of reading this series now, and I am loving it. I am not a fan of "This book is just like the book X" comparisons usually, but I have immediately noticed something of A Song of Ice and Fire series in "The First Law". In the sense that the world of Joe Abercrombie is also a place where BAD THINGS HAPPEN, although not quite to Martin’s "everyone must die horribly and the good folks always lose" extent. And the choice of three main characters: an Inquisitor, a Northman and a Swordfighter speaks for itself. But the main appeal of Abercrombie’s books is dark humour, which is his own special thing. I am loving it.
As to TV, I don’t watch too much of it nowdays (sitting=bad). I have missed the season 2 of "Game of Thrones" as I wasn’t really in the mood for cruel deaths, scenes of torture and limb loss. I hope it was good. I am watching some TV with my daughter, but not too much. At the moment we are watching "Firefly" and she adores it. And we, of course, followed the European Football Championship, cheering for Italy all the way, and although Balotelli is a bit of an "unconventional" character, here is a picture:
But how have you all been? I hope everything is well, please let me know of any news!
How is LJ (good/bad/not very good)? After the break, I feel I am ready to move onto a different platform if many of my LJ friends have moved away since I last posted. My LJ might change it's content as well as I am mostly into audio books at the moment. I have even got a new shiny Walkman for my birthday! The sound quality is fabulous, 100 times better than the sound quality of iPOD I used for book-listening previously.