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Updates from the Lair 7/13/14

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Updates from the Lair

Updates from the Lair is my weekly wrap-up post that includes what happened in my real life, what I’ve been reading, my posts from the week, and what I’m thinking about reading next week (and would love your advice on!). 

I’m in CANADA! I’m writing this on Saturday so I’m currently preparing to leave for Canada, but by the time you read this, I will be waking up in Canada and frantically practicing for the first presentation of my research ever! And I can’t freaking get rid of this freaking headache D: I’ve been slowly responding to comments and commenting back, but between being completely exhausted, drugged, and traveling for three weeks straight, it has been a bit rough. So if I haven’t responded to you yet, it isn’t because I don’t love you, it’s because I love you too much to write a crappy response ;-).

Update on back pain and life stuff (feel free to skip to the books ;-) ):

Let me start by saying this has been a completely nutso week for reading and life. I’ve been teaching computer science to high schoolers and organizing the rest of their learning while driving back and forth to Lansing, MI (1.5 hour drive from the camp) every other day for doctors appointments. I met with my neurosurgeon when an appointment time miraculously opened up. Turns out I have a massive hemorrhaged disc on the left side of my spine, but none of my symptoms are on the left side. Instead, I have a smaller hemorrhage on the right side that apparently is causing the excruciating pain in my back and leg. The left side bulge apparently “should have been cut out last month” it is so large and they are completely baffled as to why my symptoms are the opposite of what they should be. Therefore, my neurosurgeon wants me to get some more tests to try to figure out what is going on and not do unnecessary surgery. So I had an EMG on Wednesday where they stick needles in muscles from my butt down to the my calves to see how the nerves are responding when I flex (flexing muscles with needles hurts btw….). They also applied a current to my lower leg and foot but I didn’t really care about that at that point since the needles were out and my muscles were spasming from laying flat…. During this time my neurosurgeon upped the strength of my Vicodin and started me on Valium for the muscle spasms and to hopefully make me able to sleep. Between high schoolers, sleeping only a few hours each night, and being drugged up, I just haven’t had the brain power or will to read/blog/do anything besides stare at the wall. So why am I typing up this blog post instead of staring at the wall? Because it makes me happy to continue to do normal things when I can and telling you about my week makes it easier for some reason <3.

My Book Week

The Queen of the TearlingI was supposed to love this book. I enjoyed the first chapter when I read it about six months ago, so it seemed the perfect time to finally finish it. However, The Queen of the Tearling falls back to traditional fantasy in a lot of ways including ridiculous levels of description and a very slow start. Given the state of my brain currently, I just don’t have the patience or concentration for this right now. I have DNF’ed it, but with a “it’s not you, it’s me” sentiment ;-).

Trial by FireMy reading group decided to start tackling September releases since there are so darn many of them and we started with Trial by Fire. The beginning has some unrealistic moments, but once I got to the magical world part, I’ve been enjoying myself quite a bit. A reading group member has already decided to DNF since the writing is pretty simplistic, but that is just what I need right now and the magic is fun.

The House of the Four WindsI loved the cover of The House of the Four Winds and decided to give it a try this week since I’m in the mood for female pirates and adventure. The prologue did not disappoint! I’m already completely hooked on this book with it’s tongue-in-cheek humor and wonderful female characters. I’m at about 6% I think, so I’ve hardly even gotten in to it, but unless things go horribly wrong, I’m smelling a four-star rating at least :D.

HoundedFinally, I started Hounded as my next audiobook and OMG if you listen to audiobooks and enjoy urban fantasy you MUST listen to this series. I’m at about 75% and it is amazeballs! The narrator is simply fantastic, especially his narration of Oberon, the MC’s faithful and mind-speaking Irish Wolfhound. This audiobook just makes me so happy and always puts me in a good mood. I want an Oberon now please!

And in case you missed it, these were my posts this week:

Reports from Other Lairs

Check out Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday for the reviews and discussions I found this week!

Next Week’s Reading

(books up next on the reading list, thoughts?)

City of a Thousand Dolls Storm Siren The Terror of the Southlands

So I grabbed City of a Thousand Dolls from the library since I downloaded the sequel and I have a set date for the review of Storm Siren so I’m bringing both of those in my suitcase to Canada. I still need to finish Trial by Fire and The House of Four Winds, so I figure that will take up the plane ride to Canada anyway. I’m also thinking of starting The Terror of the Southlands since I need happy and fun fantasy right now and I loved the first book. However, I’m really undecided in general, so feel free to look at my For Review Consideration list and tell me what you think I’d enjoy right now.

Happy Reading!

Anya from On Starships and Dragonwings - Anya

© 2014, Anya. All rights reserved.

The post Updates from the Lair 7/13/14 appeared first on On Starships and Dragonwings.


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