Life and Things

It’s been a pretty quiet week for the most part, though I did get way behind in correspondence and blogging tasks. I let myself get overwhelmed with reviews all due at the same time 😧

I’m doing much better with my leg. I’m back to doing my full weekend walks, albeit with a cane still. It’s been real cold here lately, which makes me not want to walk. The other morning it was 29°F when I left work at 7am. Ugh… it’s not supposed to get that cold here!!

I ended up breaking my dietary guidelines for several days because I was brood eating. Bad mistake… My body responded with mad flares, even waking me up from sleep, the pain as so intense.

Made an appointment with yet another doctor, this time a dermatologist, for my hand. I have bumps, and a rosette that have been on my left hand for months, but gotten much worse over the past few weeks. Then a bump showed up on my right hand. The first consensus was contact dermatitis, but I’ve used the super strong steroid cream the doctor gave me for longer than the time suggested. It was during that time that the one showed up on the right hand. So… now to see the specialist…

I joined the Online Writer’s Workshop, for six months. I’ve read a few things, and critiqued one, but I’m still too shy to post something of my own :/

 

Books read, reviewed, and posted/scheduled this past week

Birds of Wonder by Cynthia Robinson, 3*

Dreams of the Butterfly by Richard Marazano, 3*

The Great Race by Christopher Corr, 4*

Spinner by Michael J Bowler, 4*

Wait Till It Gets Dark by Anita Sanchez and George Steele, 4*

Dragon Dancer by Joyce Chng & Jérémy Pailler, 5*

The Joy of Mindful Writing by Joy Kenward, 5*

SINthetic by JT Nicholas, 5*

Solis by Kat Ross, 5*

Teenage Suicide Notes by Terry Williams, 5*

 

The Castaways by Jessika Fleck, 5*

~Review by Jonas Merricksson

 

Favourite Read of the Week

 

Current Read

Proof of Lies by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

‘Some secrets are best kept hidden…

Anastasia Phoenix has always been the odd girl out, whether moving from city to international city with her scientist parents or being the black belt who speaks four languages.

And most definitely as the orphan whose sister is missing, presumed dead.

She’s the only one who believes Keira is still alive, and when new evidence surfaces, Anastasia sets out to follow the trail—and lands in the middle of a massive conspiracy. Now she isn’t sure who she can trust. At her side is Marcus, the bad boy with a sexy accent who’s as secretive as she is. He may have followed her to Rome to help, but something about him seems too good to be true.

Nothing is as it appears, and when everything she’s ever known is revealed to be a lie, Anastasia has to believe in one impossibility.

She will find her sister.’

 

Next Up (maybe)

Happily by Chauncey Rogers

Watching Glass Shatter by J. Cudney

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci

 

Book Haul

The Testament of Loki by Joanna Harris

‘In the sequel to The Gospel of Loki, Loki’s adventures continue when he finds a way out of the end of the world and plans to restart the power of the Norse gods.

The end of the world—also known as Ragnarok to the Norse gods—has occurred, and Loki has been trapped in a seemingly endless purgatory, in torture, until he finds a way to escape. It seems that he still exists in the minds of humanity and uses that as a way to our time.

Back in the ninth world (Earth), Loki finds himself sharing the mind of a teenage girl named Jumps, who is a bit of a mess. She’s also not happy about Loki sneaking his way into her mind, since she was originally calling on Thor. Worse, her friends have also been co-opted by the gods: Odin, Jump’s one-eyed best friend in a wheelchair, and Freya, the pretty one. Thor escapes the netherworld as well and shares the mind of a dog, and he finds that it suits him.

Odin has a plan to bring back the Norse gods ascendancy, but Loki has his own ideas on how things can go—and nothing goes according to plan.’

 

Final Draft by Riley Redgate

‘The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he dies suddenly—and is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.

At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is hiking through the Catskills during a thunderstorm in March and discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive.’

 

Archaeology by Gaynor Aaltonen

‘Throughout the ages, people have been fascinated by other people – who are they, what do they do, how do they live? Archaeology seeks to answer those questions about the history of mankind by analysing the remains of past cultures.

Covering the complete duration of human history and spanning the entire globe, Archaeology: Discovering the World’s Secrets provides the perfect introduction to the science of the past.

From the Napoleonic expeditions to uncover the Rosetta stone in Egypt to the forgotten Anasazi empire of the American southwest, Gaynor Aaltonen explores the various techniques used by archaeologists and how they have changed over time to the recent embrace of the latest technologies and what this means for our understanding of the past.’