For the last couple of months I’ve been laid up with a bad back and so haven’t been watching many movies. I also haven’t been able to sit at a desk and do any writing. This means I’ll probably be taking a break from Alex on Film shortly. But I have been spending a lot more time reading — there’s always a silver lining! — so I’ll try to keep updating here and over at Good Reports, where I just posted a review of John Vaillant’s Fire Weather.
I decided to cancel my year-end Books of the Year post this year because I just didn’t read enough new books. Good Reports even spent most of 2025 on hiatus. But I’ve been adding a lot of book reviews here in my series on true crime, comics and graphic novels, and mystery and detective fiction. I’ve also been spending a lot more time with the classics, which I enjoy but isn’t something that leads to a lot of new content. In a mad world though, it’s helping keep me sane.
Alex Good 
new isn’t always better!
Any updates on your back? Or is it more waiting to get scheduled for stuff?
And final question, what decides if a book gets reviewed here or on the Good Reports site?
LikeLike
Yeah, in terms of age new is rarely better.
I have an MRI scheduled on my back on Wednesday. Hope I can make it!
I am the decider! I just review what I feel like now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope that mri gives some clues to the doc about what can be done. Having that going on for months sounds brutal.
Reviewing what you feel like sounds really nice 🙂
LikeLike
I’m just hoping for some clarity at this point. But I’m probably going to have to make some changes in my life going forward. Which could be a good thing in some ways.
LikeLike
You could report on all those comics you’ve been reading, I’m sure they count.
LikeLike
I’ll likely keep doing that. And posting pictures of bookmarks. Those are relatively easy posts. I just can’t sit down and write long pieces anymore.
LikeLike
Did you have an accident to cause the back ain or is it just out of the blue that it happened? Sorry it’s giving you such problems. Hopefully the MRI will help to sort out what needs to be done.
LikeLike
Just out of the blue. I’ve always had a bad back that would go out every 18 months or so. This time it just never got better. Fingers crossed! If I can find out what’s wrong then I can make plans for care and treatment. But with backs there isn’t a whole lot you can do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I damaged mine in my early twenties, carrying a sofa up a spiral staircase 🙄 had problems for a few years, and injections into the spine that helped, doesn’t bother me much anymore, thankfully, but at the time it was so debilitating, so you have my sympathies.
I take it the bookmarks are still in limbo, so annoyed about that and wondering if the godamn post office has messed up or lost it.
LikeLike
Well, I’m hoping for the best.
I think mail is slow around Christmas. Plus we didn’t have any delivery for most of last week. Usually everything gets through eventually!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fingers crossed 🤞
LikeLike
“Hope I can make it!” I assume you’re joking, but is it really a major trial getting from A to B? How far away is it? You surely aren’t thinking of walking it, are you? I know you don’t have a car, but if you did, could you drive it?
LikeLike
I’ll be taking a cab. But it can get bad. On Boxing Day it was very bad. If my appointment had been on Boxing Day I would have had to cancel and reschedule. I wouldn’t have been able to get in or out of a cab. But most of the time it isn’t nearly that bad.
LikeLike
Yikes! Here’s hoping you get some answers on Wednesday. Not knowing can’t make it any better.
LikeLike