There’s nothing like it
Curling up with a good book (or ten) when you’re sick, that is. On Wednesday I had a sore throat, marking the onset of my annual fall illness. Not for me winter flu, or spring and summer allergies. Friday was particularly miserable, shivering in the rain and on still-air-conditioned public transit, with a headache from the congestion in my head. Luckily, my cold has mostly passed. All that remains is a runny nose, lingering congestion that makes is difficult to breathe at night, and a bad cough which, if it follows my yearly precedent, will stay with me until Christmas.
I can only be glad that I don’t get sick more often than once a year. The stress of a bad cold on top of the usual scramble of the first week of classes is bad enough; being ill during exams would knock me flat. Luckily, I have plenty of great authors to help me while away a lazy Sunday.
I just finished reading Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium and its sequel, Lord of Emperors. They were very good. And incredibly…sad. I spent practically the whole second book in tears. Feeling sick and miserable might have something to do with that, but still. I’m definitely going to have to check out his other books.
Speaking of new favourite authors, I finally got around to reading some Lois McMaster Bujold. I enjoyed her first two books (Barrayar and Shards of Honor) so much that I’ve been reading everything else of hers that I can get my hands on.
The Miles Vorkosigan series is my favourite, but so far everything she’s written has been excellent. Ethan of Athos was a particularly pleasant surprise. From reading the summary on the back cover, I was rather expecting a relationship between Ethan and Elli Quinn. I was delighted to be proved wrong.
I finally finished Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which I started reading nine years ago. By the time the third book, The Amber Spyglass came out, I had forgotten what happened in the two previous books and knew that I’d have to start again at the beginning. I’m glad I did, although I didn’t love the third book as much as I’d been expecting.
To tell the truth, I think Will and Lyra’s relationship disappointed me. I was hoping they would get together, but when they did, it just wasn’t…right, in some way I can’t define. I was pleased by the two angels being lovers. Very surprising, that. Or at least, I was surprised now. At age twelve, the nature of their relationship would no doubt have passed completely over my head.
I’m enjoying all my courses, so far. I haven’t had much reading yet, though, so…we’ll see.
Tags: Guy Gavriel Kay, His Dark Materials, Lois McMaster Bujold, Philip Pullman, Vorkosigan Saga
