The Great Illness Recovery Movie Rewatch of 2016
Miscellaneous / August 31, 2016

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I spent a couple of days in hospital being treated for a skin infection.  I’m back at home now, and although I have not been doing a great deal of reading, what I have been doing is watching a whole lot of movies.   Chariots of Fire.  I’m not certain if I had seen this before, but I had a real hankering to watch the Oscar winning movie about two very different British Olympian hopefuls in the 1924 Paris Olympics.  This film was sheer perfection, from the casting to the script to the cinematography to the music.  I loved every moment of it, from the opening scene with the runners running along the beach to Vangelis’ stirring musical theme to the heart lifting final race.  I definitely have visions like Mr Bean at the 2012 London Olympics of running down that beach with the athletes.  Go watch this movie.  Now.   A Walk in the Woods.  The second movie I watched was A Walk in the Woods, an adaptation of Bill Bryson’s travelogue about hiking the Appalachian trail, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.  This got pretty mixed reviews in the cinema, so…

Travels with lymphedema
Miscellaneous / August 29, 2016

Good morning.  First of all, apologies to my regular book review readers.  This blog post is somewhat off topic, but I felt I wanted to write about it.  Feel free to skip it or pass on to someone who may find it interesting.  I will recommence regular book reviews shortly, I promise! I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on this blog or not, but I have a condition called lymphedema which means that my lymphatic system isn’t great about moving the lymph fluid around my body.  This means that without management, it collects in my lower extremities leading to swollen, uncomfortable feet and legs.  Normally this is well managed by my compression stockings.  The other issue with lymphedema is the risk of cellulitis infection.  The lymph fluid is extremely protein rich, so it is basically an all you can eat buffet for bacteria.  If one gets in, it invites all its friends and the infection can go very bad very quickly.  That is what happened to me after my vacation.  I got an infection that sent me to the hospital for a couple of days for IV antibiotics.  Fortunately, I reacted quickly this time and was able to get…

Reading roundup – August 12th 2016
Reading Roundup / August 12, 2016

Good morning and welcome to another reading roundup. This week I finished Naomi Novik’s League of Dragons, the last in the Temeraire series.  As I mentioned in my last reading roundup, I skipped the intermediate seven books of the series and relied on Tor.com’s reread.  That wasn’t such a great idea in hindsight.  While there was a lot to love about the book – especially the narration (Simon Vance, people!) – I expect some of the emotional punches passed me by.  I did very much enjoy the whole theme of draconic rights and Temeraire’s commitment to improving his kind’s lot in life.  What did irk me though was the sudden switch in goals.  It seemed that every time our protagonists came near to achieving their goals, the posts were moved and they were sent off on another errand.  It did all come together in the end, but it did bother me at the time. I gave League of Dragons three and a half stars out of five. My library hold of Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown came through earlier and I’m enjoying it very much indeed – much more than I had anticipated.  I would place it in the…

Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / August 11, 2016

Hachette was kind enough to send me an Advance Reader Copy of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin, the sequel to Wolf by Wolf.  Thank you so much, guys!  I was super excited to receive it as it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 and it did not disappoint in the least.  Blood for Blood is the second book in an alternate history young adult series set in a world in which the Hitler and the Nazis won World War II.  Our protagonist is a young Jewish death camp survivor with the ability to shape shift.  The series consists of the two main novels, Wolf by Wolf and Blood for Blood as well as the prequel novella Iron to Iron. The story starts immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Wolf by Wolf and expands the points of view to three.  It continues the quest Yael was assigned in Wolf by Wolf and deals with the fallout of the events and discoveries of the book.   What I liked The world.  Once again I was completely drawn into the alternate history that Graudin has created.  The world felt so real and fleshed out I could easily imagine our…

Reading roundup – August 5th 2016
Reading Roundup / August 5, 2016

Good morning and welcome to another reading roundup.  To be honest I don’t have a great deal to share with you this week.  It’s been a heavy week at work so I am a little tired.  Though I am absolutely loving having a kitty again to curl up beside me when I’m reading or watching TV. This week I finished Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin.  It was as wonderful as I’d hoped.  The ending in particular was beautiful.  I’m really hoping we get a few more short stories in this world. Expect a full review soon My library hold of Naomi Novik’s League of Dragons came through, so that is my current read/listen.  This is the last in the Temeraire series which is based on the Napoleonic Wars but with dragons.  I listened to and loved the first – it’s narrated by Simon Vance! – but I was uncertain about committing to a nine-book series.  So I cheated and read Tor.com’s Temeraire reread for the intervening books.  The series is definitely well worth checking out. I’m also hoping to make a start on The Poisoned Blade, the second in Kate Elliott’s Court of Fives series, the ARC of which I…

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the Script (spoilers)
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / August 2, 2016

So, the script for J.K. Rowling’s play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, billed as the eighth Potter story, was released on July 31st.  Naturally, I and the world and his dog rushed to pick up a copy.  Here are my thoughts.  I should point out that I have not seen the play, worse luck, and am going from the script alone.  Note that there will be total and complete spoilers, which I will hide after the cut. First, the non spoilery section. There was a lot I loved about it, and some things that didn’t work nearly so well for me.  I loved that the same themes that pervaded the book series – love, friendship, family, loyalty – still form the core of Cursed Child.  It was wonderful seeing how Harry, Ron and Hermione coped with adult life and parenthood (being an adult myself, it was especially fascinating.). The new characters, Scorpius and Albus and their friendship are completely adorable – Scorpius really does get all the best lines.  And, naturally, it is simply wonderful to revisit the Wizarding World in any shape or form.  Rowling’s world is utterly breathtaking.  I really wish I could see how certain scenes…