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Viral blues
May. 11th, 2005 10:27 pmHola hola, I'm still recovering from what seems to be a stomach virus, which is why I've not been posting lately, since my updates would mostly just be lists of symptoms: migraines, fevers, unpleasant bodily functions, interrupted sleep (to attend to the aforementioned bodily functions), interrupted wakefulness (to catch up on missing sleep or try to diminish headaches), repeat ad nauseum (sorry, but pun intended).
Anyway, I am feeling better, with fewer (or more manageable) headaches now and so far no fever today.
I didn't leave the house, though, since (apart from needing to have the bathroom handy) when I did so on Monday morning, to attend a meeting with Sara and an editor, I wound up overextending myself too much and coming home utterly drained.
Tomorrow, though, I hope to brave leaving the house. Tonight, I at least shaved (both beard and also head, since I was getting a bit shaggy all over) which is a step toward making myself look presentable enough to face the world again soon.
I also finished writing a thousand word article an editor had asked for, but I may think I'm more coherent than I actually am, so who knows if the editor will like it.
I have managed to read a bit, in between dozing off, or vice versa. THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES were perfect, since they're so short that I could finish off an entire book in between waking up to attend to unpleasant bodily functions and before falling asleep again.
I also read two YA novels by Avi recently--CRISPIN and MIDNIGHT MAGIC. I found them both to be overwhelmingly bland and uninspired. I don't understand all the fuss about Avi, since as far as I was concerned there was not a single plot twist, everything was telegraphed from page one and the rest of the book was just walking through the paces. I also didn't find the characters very interesting.
The opposite is true of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series. I've grown to respect Paretsky more with each volume. I recently read both TOTAL RECALL and BACKLIST. Both are difficult subjects, but I think she does a good job of nuancing them. In BLACKLIST, she uses attacks the Patriot Act with a multi-layered mystery that winds up going back to the McCarthy witch trials against homosexuals and communists, actual or suspected, and all sorts of corruption and etc.
Every time I read one of her books, I get a sort of hopeless feeling about current life in America, although the books don't leave me feeling hopeless at all, in fact the opposite. But all the political and corporate shenanigans that V.I. tangles with just leaves me feeling like I'm born into the wrong world or something, I'm not equipped to face such things and so much bias (and I'm "lucky" enough to be in a relatively privileged position, being white and male, if also gay/Jewish) not to mention all the ridiculous and paranoid abuses of power thanks to the Patriot Act and so on.
I don't know. I've gotten off on a tangent I didn't mean to rant about. Maybe it's time for another nap.
But i do recommend the Sara Paretsky books. I find the characters very well done, and the types of crimes V.I. uncovers to be very tangled and Paretsky's treatment of many issues to be very subtle and nuanced.
(The one exception is her non-series book GHOST COUNTRY, which I found so flat that I can't get past the first chapters...)
Anyway, I am feeling better, with fewer (or more manageable) headaches now and so far no fever today.
I didn't leave the house, though, since (apart from needing to have the bathroom handy) when I did so on Monday morning, to attend a meeting with Sara and an editor, I wound up overextending myself too much and coming home utterly drained.
Tomorrow, though, I hope to brave leaving the house. Tonight, I at least shaved (both beard and also head, since I was getting a bit shaggy all over) which is a step toward making myself look presentable enough to face the world again soon.
I also finished writing a thousand word article an editor had asked for, but I may think I'm more coherent than I actually am, so who knows if the editor will like it.
I have managed to read a bit, in between dozing off, or vice versa. THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES were perfect, since they're so short that I could finish off an entire book in between waking up to attend to unpleasant bodily functions and before falling asleep again.
I also read two YA novels by Avi recently--CRISPIN and MIDNIGHT MAGIC. I found them both to be overwhelmingly bland and uninspired. I don't understand all the fuss about Avi, since as far as I was concerned there was not a single plot twist, everything was telegraphed from page one and the rest of the book was just walking through the paces. I also didn't find the characters very interesting.
The opposite is true of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series. I've grown to respect Paretsky more with each volume. I recently read both TOTAL RECALL and BACKLIST. Both are difficult subjects, but I think she does a good job of nuancing them. In BLACKLIST, she uses attacks the Patriot Act with a multi-layered mystery that winds up going back to the McCarthy witch trials against homosexuals and communists, actual or suspected, and all sorts of corruption and etc.
Every time I read one of her books, I get a sort of hopeless feeling about current life in America, although the books don't leave me feeling hopeless at all, in fact the opposite. But all the political and corporate shenanigans that V.I. tangles with just leaves me feeling like I'm born into the wrong world or something, I'm not equipped to face such things and so much bias (and I'm "lucky" enough to be in a relatively privileged position, being white and male, if also gay/Jewish) not to mention all the ridiculous and paranoid abuses of power thanks to the Patriot Act and so on.
I don't know. I've gotten off on a tangent I didn't mean to rant about. Maybe it's time for another nap.
But i do recommend the Sara Paretsky books. I find the characters very well done, and the types of crimes V.I. uncovers to be very tangled and Paretsky's treatment of many issues to be very subtle and nuanced.
(The one exception is her non-series book GHOST COUNTRY, which I found so flat that I can't get past the first chapters...)
