Fortnightly Update #15: Stuck in a Reading Rut and Adventures in Numbness

I seem to find myself floating in a sea of books that aren't quite what I was needing lately. It may be due to my insistence on selecting romance titles due to my overall lack of wits at the moment, or possibly that they just aren't the right ones for me. Either way, in the coming weeks I'll definitely be attempting to read something that isn't romance-y and see if that solves my quandary.

Recent Acquisitions (or the Piling of the-Piles):

the-pile Additions:

None!

the-invisible-pile Additions:

Technically none, because I read the one I bought!

Currently Reading:

The Grass Dancer by Susan Power

The Pride of Chanur (Chanur #1) by C.J. Cherryh 
Both of these are physical editions, which have been a bit troublesome for me to read (again) due to the distracting numbness in my left arm that increases as I use the arm. The Kindle is so nice in that I can generally read it only using one hand.

Finished These Books:

Restoree by Anne McCaffrey
Rating: 3 Stars
As I mention in my review, I was expecting McCaffrey's best, and instead got her mediocre. The worldbuilding was nice, and the plot kept me reading, but the characters just weren't for me.

Mind of My Mind (Patternmaster #2) by Octavia E. Butler
Rating; 4 Stars
The heroine for this one, Mary, is what really made the book for me. Unlike Anyanwu, she grows up knowing Doro, and knowing how powerfully he can assert himself. However, she chooses not to fear him and because of this, develops an interesting twist to the story. This was an excellent read, but something about it didn't quite satisfy my craving for a different kind of book.

The Rule of Luck by Catherine Cerveny
Rating: 2-2.5 Stars
I kept reading this book despite many reservations. I was pleasantly surprised by a plot twist, but it wasn't enough to save it for me. I think why I didn't like it so much was that it was more romance-y than sci-fi (even though it had surprising depth of worldbuilding), and it reminded me of my arch nemesis, contemporary romance. But really, any time you have a heroine complaining to a hero about how hurt and humiliated she was by his actions, and then two pages later (in the same scene) they're getting hot and heavy, I just can't understand it. Beyond that, I didn't even like the heroine and/or empathize with her because she cheated on her boyfriend early in the book, and kept having these really vindictive thoughts about people. Maybe the author meant her to be sarcastic, but I just couldn't bring myself to like her.

In the Blogosphere:

Karina @ I, fat robot reviews The Copper Promise, by Jen Williams, a fantasy with awesome characters that sounds exactly like my cup of coffee.

Becca @ I'm Lost in Books has a great post about our political climate these days: I Need to Talk About America for a Minute.

I definitely need to start surfing blogs more or saving posts more- that's all I have for this week.

In My Life:

I think I've been complaining about my frozen arm/numb arm/zombie arm for most of this year. I recently had an EMG study done to see if something's wrong with the nerves in that arm, only to have the numbness branch out to my feet, right hand, and parts of my face. The EMG, which was relatively painless (until 3 hours later), revealed all the nerves and muscles in my left arm are normal. Because of that, I'd begun to do more stretches in hopes it would simply vanish like I want it to. Unfortunately, due to the spread of the numbness, I have a feeling I'll be undergoing more tests, and/or demanding them as I see fit.

The last time I went to see my general practitioner, she was on vacation, so I saw someone else in her office. The "doctor" (and I use that term loosely) couldn't be bothered to listen to my symptoms, instead telling me "if you move your arm, it'll get better" when I'd just (five minutes prior) told him the opposite was the case, and he then also said the arm numbness was just "fibromyalgia". When I went to see my pain management doctor to get an upped dose on my fibromyalgia meds, he did not think it was fibromyalgia (at all). He scheduled the EMG, but when my mom called back to see what was next last week, they never got back to us. Therefore, if I can't get into my general practitioner or my pain management doctor, I may have to resort to going to the emergency room if things keep progressing as they have been.

I haven't been around as much due to this lovely turn of events, which leave me a little bit more brain tired than I'm used to. When I don't feel like myself, I tend to avoid reading and writing, though I did manage to read three books in the past few weeks, so there's hope for me yet.

In other news, my grandmother's 90th birthday will be in the coming week. I'm hoping that my symptoms are manageable enough so I can go up to Montana to visit her/make her cake.

Which books have you finished lately?