In the meantime I've finished reading a collection of short stories nominated for our biggest sf-f/fantasy awards (they were really good) and now I'm reading a collection of s-f retellings of popular legends, written by well-known Polish writers. It's OK, but as for retellings, I very much prefer the darker style of Angela Carter for example.

Taking a short break from fantasy and s-f, today I read a short non-fiction book about wolves. On my computer, as an exception, as it had a lot of colour photos. I've always thought that wolves are fascinating animals and the book was a really interesting insight in their lives, hunting and feeding patterns, as well as history of their extermination in most of Europe.

While on holiday, I finished the military s-f novel I was reading (the "Afghanistan in space" one). I really enjoyed it, it was fast-paced, with likeable characters and some nice twists in the plot - and the fact that I know the author and heard some of her stories from her stay in Afghanistan only added to the fun factor.

Now I'm reading an urban fantasy by another friend of mine, so far I'm enjoying it.

I'm at 4 completed books now, as in addition to Harari and Brunner I've read two Polish novels (among them one by my high-school friend).
At the moment I am reading Polish military s-f written by an army doctor who spent some time in Afghanistan (and it shows). The book is very entertaining, has several likeable characters (bonus points for the fact that they are on different sides) but it's quite long and I'm halfway through.

Vikings is the only series that I am watching - we're currently mid-way through season 3, season 4 is still waiting on the HDR. It's fun, it's well-made and it looks pretty realistic - although my husband, who has an MA in medieval history, would sometimes shout out things like "a rosary?! a helmet with a nose guard?! impossible". But then again, nobody else would notice.

Jean Michel Jarre's new album, Electronica 2. So far listened to it only once, seems great as background noise to working (I can't work with music that is too distracting, especially if it has lyrics in any language that I know).

Well, Sanderson did his thing again - he wrote a book and a few years later decided to write a sequel, which turned to be two books - and that's still not the end, as there is book four planned for sometime next year or later. But "Wax and Wayne" books are still much shorter and lighter than the rest of his stuff. And he's got much better as a writer in those years between Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self.

Since I spent most of the weekend on the train or standing in lines (reading - I went to the biggest s-f convention in Poland), I finished reading the book by my high-school friend. It's really strange - a bit of fantasy, a bit of horror, a bit of magical realism - and a lot of truth about depression and all those little hurts that we carry on from our childhood and that influence our lives, unless we finally come to terms with them.
I had one small problem with the book. It's written mostly from the protagonist's PoV and in first person - and I couldn't help but see my friend in those parts, so many things about her life that I know of overlapped. Still, a very good book.

I've already started another one, a novel by a Polish philosopher, who started out writing folklore-based fantasy and now writes something I have no name for. It's not realistic prose, although actually there are no fantastic elements in it. But the language, the language is beautiful and captivating. So captivating that in fact after reading each of his novels so far I had bouts of thinking in his phrases.