Sunday post 18; What are you reading on Monday 6

Linking up with Kimba at http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ for the Sunday Post and with Kathryn at http://bookdate.blogspot.co.nz/ for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Apparently I haven't done one of these posts in about three weeks. Or any post in about three weeks.

That was an unintended break, and hopefully one that won't be repeated. We'll see though, life, etc.

Speaking of, it's trucking along here much as usual. I started applying for jobs after the new year, and will keep doing so while I cross fingers and toes that something will come up soon. As nice at it has been to be at home for the past four months, it's time to venture out into the world again.

I've been baching the past week, J and spawn headed up north to visit J's parents and I stayed home to hold down the fort and feed the cats. They're due back tomorrow, and as nice as the peace and quiet has been, I'm looking forward to them coming home.

My reading year has got off to a bit of an unsteady start, but I have got through four books - The Gunslinger, Lion of Senet, The Distance Between Us and Magekiller #2 - so that's not too bad. Hopefully if my blogging habit is returning after three weeks in the outer limits, I'll do a short reviews post this week.

Also, hopefully, I'm going to do a post on my three favourite non-match 3 games.

As for what I'm reading ... I finished Lion of Senet today, and really enjoyed it. I'm about halfway through Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older, and I think Sierra might be one of my new favourite characters. Possibly ever.

After that ... possibly book two of the Dark Tower series, and a re-read of Captive Prince and Prince's Gambit by C S Pacat before King's Rising is released next month.

How about you? How's your week been? What are you reading?

Sunday Post 17 and What Are You Reading on Monday 5

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping 2016 is a good one!

I'm linking up with Kimba at http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ for the Sunday Post and with Kathryn at http://bookdate.blogspot.co.nz/ for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Last week was a pretty quiet one around here. That week between Christmas and New Year is such an odd time, I always think. Like it's been suspended in space, or something. Everything is quiet. Like the big inhale before the exhale of the New Year.

Anyway. I got through my annual LOTR re-watch last night, and made some good progress on my peonies cross-stitch. Now I'll go back to a 10-hour rotation, with three projects on the go. Good times, good times.

I haven't really made concrete resolutions for 2016. Just. Drink more water. Eat more fruit. Be kind. That's really it.

I took spawn to the movies last week, grit my teeth and sat through Alvin 4 or whatever it was. Spawn enjoyed it but it is not a good movie. We have a playdate today, so that should be .... a thing. He'll have fun, anyway.

I did manage a couple of posts last week; one reflecting on the past year: http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/the-year-that-was.html and one talking about making 2016 the year of the series: http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/2016-year-of-series.html

Other than that .... not a lot. As I said, it was a very quiet week.

As for what I'm reading, I'm about halfway through The Gunslinger by Stephen King and should finish sometime this week. After that I'm not sure. I might finally read Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older. We'll see.

How was your week?

What are you reading?

2016 - the year of the series

I'm starting 2016 by taking part in Sheila at http://bookjourney.net/'s First Book of the Year challenge.

My first book of 2016 is going to be The Gunslinger, by Stephen King. I'm determined to finish the series this year. Previously, I think I read up to about book three? Many years ago, though.

And that got me thinking about how I'm absolutely awful at finishing series. Just. Terrible. I'll read book one of something, think "wow, that's great" and then never read book two. It's frustrating. So I declare 2016 to be The Year of the Series.

In addition to The Dark Tower, I'm going to read the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. I read book one last year, and loved it. And once again ... didn't seek out book two. I have the trilogy now, so I have no excuse.

I'm also going to read Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. Once again, I've read the first one ... you see the pattern here. I loved Ancillary Justice but need to re-read it, I think.

That's three. There's seven books (eight if you count The Wind Through the Keyhole) in the Dark Tower series; three in the Imperial Radch series, and three in the Farseer series (I'm aware that there's a boatload more in that universe but I'm starting at the very start).

I need two more, and I want them both to be by writers of colour. Hrmmmm ... *googles*

Right. So I'm adding The Inheritance series by N K Jemisin and also the Xenogenesis series by Octavia E. Butler - once again, I read book one of that series last year and never followed up.

Onward?

Onward!!

The year that was

I have to say, 2015 was a bit average for me. Not the worst year I've ever had - 2011 and 2006 vie for that title as those were the years I lost my mother and father, respectively.

This past year, however, we did lose three cats - two to the ravages
of time, and my sweet girl, Morgana, to a car. She was my lap buddy and only two and a half. That hole in my heart is still open. That photo on the right is very typical of her. Every time I sat down, there she was. I miss that quiet weight so very much.

Let's see ... I also rolled the dice on my job and took redundancy. Which, so far, hasn't been a bad thing. I've taken the chance to kick back at home, which I've never really been able to do. But it's getting to the point, now, where I do need to find something fairly soon.

Cross fingers for me? :)

What else. Spawn turned eight in May, and he's a happy, healthy gamer kid. So that's something to be thankful for. Here he is with one of the kittens we adopted last month - Felicia, I think. Inevitably, he's fascinated by them, but he's pretty good with them and of course kittens have little claws and teeth as warnings if things get to be too much.

Speaking of kittens ... they're both black, so getting good pix is nearly impossible, but I do try. That's Felicia and Ivy in the basket. I think Felicia is on the left - her coat is a bit lighter and glossier. They're very typical kittens and so a joy and a burden to have around - lol.
What else have I done this year? I ...... have played a lot of Dragon Age. Especially since I finished work in September. I'm on my third Origins playthrough since last year, and my third Inquisition playthrough since .. well. Since September. I'm trying to limit it at the moment a little bit because I play on PC and I've found that I'm getting pain in my right index finger knuckle, if that makes sense.

I've "traced" it back to the gaming, and much mouse-clicking, so I'm taking a few days off. But look at my Inquisitors; Ellana and Gethriel (I call him Dorkvellan because well, I accidentally made him look like a dork). Anyway, don't get me started on Dragon Age, I'll never stop.

I didn't expect to love a game so much, but good golly gosh, I love it so very, very, very much of a lot.


Anyway. I also made my goodreads goal this year: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2015 and I'm thinking of pushing the boat out and aiming for 80 books in 2016. We'll see.

I also took up baking again, something I haven't done in 20 years or more, with various rates of success. I enjoy the process though, and with it being school holidays, I can drag spawn in to help me with some of it, which he seems to enjoy.

Oh! I also moved! Sort of - lol. From http://justaddbooks.blogspot.co.nz/ to here. It felt like the right time. :)

How was your 2015? Good? Bad? Average? Great? Let me know :)

Sunday Post (16) and It's Monday What Are You Reading (4)

I'm linking up with Kimba's Sunday Post here: http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/ and with It's Monday! here: http://bookdate.blogspot.co.nz/

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, or whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year.

We had a quiet one - just the three of us at home. I cooked chicken and spawn played with ALL THE TOYS. It was a good day. On Boxing Day we went to my brother and sister-in-law's for a family get-together, which was great, as we all found - after mum died - that the glue that pulled us into family things had dissolved.

So now we try to make a bit of an effort. It was a beautiful day, which is rare at the moment, and a good time was had by all.

I got what I wanted for Christmas - books, jewellery, chocolates - and so did J, so we did all right. And, as I said, spawn got ALL THE TOYS and had a great day.

Let's see. I  finally finished Uprooted last week, which I loved, and which I reviewed here:
http://lifetheuniverseandcats.blogspot.co.nz/2015/12/review-uprooted-by-naomi-novik.html and I alos did a shorts review post for We Were Liars and Umbrella Academy #0, both of which I  liked a lot.

I got Stephen King's new short story collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams for Christmas, and I've dipped into that bit, and I also got Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig which I'll dive into sometime soon, given that I'm still riding the high from The Force Awakens and absolutely plan on going to it again.

As for this week... New Year's will be quiet, but that's no bad thing. It's nearly time for the annual Lord of the Rings rewatch/new project to begin. I'll start on Tuesday and watch one part of each movie per night. I have, however, already started on the cross-stitch, it's so pretty I couldn't resist:

I absolutely love peonies, and the colours in the pattern are amazing.

I'm still working on my Grey Wardens chart, but have to concede that I need to unpick that "V" and move it over a bit. The word is "vigilance" and I don't think I've left myself quite enough room. Other than that, I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.

As for what's next book-wise ... I'm still reading The Gaugin Connection, and picking at The Martian, which was $5 on iBooks.

I'm joining in with Sheila at http://bookjourney.net/ for her first book of the year challenge: http://bookjourney.net/2015/12/05/dont-forget-to-sign-up-for-first-book-of-the-year/

I'm determined to read all of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King in 2016 - I've read the first three books but I'm going to start over on January 1 with The Gunslinger. Should be fun!

Other than that, I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I should start going through all of the books I've bought since September, perhaps. Hrm.

How's your week been/going? What are you reading?

Review - Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Ahhhh this was such a satisfying read. Sometimes you start a book and you just know it's going to have everything you want and for me, that was true of Uprooted.

Agnieszka lives in a small village in a deep valley, surrounded by mountains - and overshadowed by the Wood. Every ten years, the local sorceror, who is known as the Dragon, takes a girl from one of the villages in the valley. No one knows exactly what the Dragon does with the girls, but there are, of course, assumptions made. When each girl is done with her 10 years of service, it's not long before she is seeking life beyond the valley.

Agnieszka knows that she will never be chosen - that there's nothing really special about her. Her best friend Kasia however, is beautiful and clever and everyone knows that when the time comes, she is the one the Dragon will take.

Well. No, of course not. It turns out that Agnieszka is a witch, although it takes the Dragon an inordinate amount of time to realise that her magic doesn't work like his - or like any kind of magic he's seen.

But there are bigger concerns and Agnieszka and the Dragon must learn to work together, if they are going to save the valley from the rotten heart of the wood ...

Uprooted has a great, dark Grimm feel to it, and the story plays out at a breathless pace as Agnieszka works out how to come into her own as a witch, and also how to stand up against grumpy and hidebound wizards.

The best part for me? The heart of the whole thing though? Is the deep and abiding friendship between Agnieszka and Kasia that endures through all kinds of awful hardships. It's a warming centre to a story that has very, very dark roots.

Great, great stuff.

Shorts - Umbrella Academy #0 and We Were Liars

We Were Liars is set the summer Cady is 17. She's back on the island her family owns, looking forward to hanging out with her beloved Liars - especially Gat, who she has not seen in about two years.

Nothing, of course, is at it seems or as simple as Cady wishes it was.

Two years ago - what Cady refers to as summer fifteen - something terrible happened. Cady has a form of amnesia, which doesn't let her remember what happened then. When she does start to remember exactly what happened, it's far worse than Cady could have imagined.

I really, really enjoyed We Were Liars. There's a twist, that I've seen other people say was a bit ... weak? But honestly  it took me entirely by surprise and added a real emotional depth to a novel that - on the surface - is about privileged youth.

Gerard Way is best known as the front man  for My Chemical Romance, but he's a bit of a renaissance man as far as I know. I have to admit, I've never really listened to MCR, but I somehow follow Mr Way on twitter. I don't know how that happened, but he's kind of delightful.

The Umbrella Academy is his graphic novel series. I picked up #O free on Dark Horse when I downloaded the app to get Dragon Age: Magekiller, and I'm glad I did. The Umbrella Academy are a ragtag group of heroes, trying to muddle through and save the world.

I wasn't entirely sure of everything that was going on, but I really enjoyed the premise and the threads of story that I could pick up.