I had different plans for a post today but I have caught the library cold my coworkers have been passing around and putting together thoughts is not easy. I will save it for another time.
I am not feeling so very poorly; a sniffle now and then, a cough once in awhile, a sore throat. Typical cold and mild symptoms for which I am grateful as my coworkers have had it worse than I do. The worst part of a cold is the general feeling of tired run-downness that makes it hard to muster energy to do much of anything. As a result I have spent the largest part of my weekend reading Dave Eggers’ The Circle. It is so good! I just started it on Friday (or was it Thursday night?) and I am about three-quarters of the way through it already. So at least this is the sort of cold that doesn’t prevent reading. I don’t like being under the weather but if I can read it makes it bearable.
Bookman had to work yesterday and when he arrived home last night just in time to make me dinner he says, “I brought you some chicken soup.” Since we are vegan I knew it wasn’t really chicken soup but I thought perhaps he had stopped at the store and picked up a can of vegetable soup or something. Oh no, he did much better than that! He had stopped at the bookstore and brought me home a book! He’s such a sweetie.
The book he brought me is Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great. It’s just been published and already getting rave reviews from several bloggers I like. Bookman is excited about the book too. He tells me, “now I expect you’ll have a long list of books you want to read by the time you are done with this.” Oh yes, I expect I will. “Before you go off ordering them or borrowing from the library, check our own shelves, we probably have a good percentage of them.” But of course. We both enjoy reading SF/fantasy and while I brought a respectable collection to the marriage, Bookman had even more, which causes me to tease him now and then and say things like, “You know I married you for your books, right?”
Of course I had to take a little break from The Circle to read a few essays in the Walton book. I enjoyed them very much. I have decided I could gobble it down if I let myself, but I am not going to let myself. I am imposing a limit of one or two essays at a time on any given day. That will stretch the book out for a number of delicious weeks. Best chicken soup ever!
That’s a wonderful present!
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Jeanne, I know! He’s such a thoughtful fellow 🙂
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I’m so glad you are enjoying The Circle, Stefanie. It was much the same with me, I started it on a Friday and I think I was done it on Sunday. I just couldn’t put it down even though I was a bit busy with other things at the time.
I hope your cold gets better. Take it easy. Get lots of rest. And read some good soup!
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Cipriano, I know you really liked The Circle and I have read a few other good reports of it so I expected to like it but I didn’t expect to like it this much! My cough got a little worse overnight and my voice is fading so i am staying home from work today which means I can finish the book! Oh I mean, rest and read more good soup 🙂
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Darn, [semantics]… maybe I shouldn’t have wished that your cold got “better” — because it seems to have only gotten better at being a cold! What I meant is, “I hope your cold goes away!”
There.
Maybe that will fix things!
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Thanks! It’s not gone yet but I am feeling much better 🙂
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I hear from some of my fellow techies that you have to be willing to suspend your knowledge of how tech actually works to enjoy The Circle. I can usually do that, but haven’t been in the mood to do that yet. Maybe I’ll get to it eventually. I’m usually quite late to get to books. I’m just reading (and loving) Cutting for Stone now.
I often have to suspend knowledge of science to enjoy a book, too. I have a harder time doing that, particularly with sci-fi, where I tend to be irretrievably annoyed if the author didn’t do his or her homework.
The Jo Walton book sounds delightful!
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Oh, and I hope you feel better soon!
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Tungsten Hippo, thanks! It’s not that the tech in the book is so wrong, it’s that it doesn’t exist yet and whether it could ever work like it is described is debatable. Also, it is astonishing how fast something is created and how perfectly it works. So I suppose if you really know tech it might be a bit teeth grinding but I don’t think it is so very far off base from reality conceptually at least.
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This book should be perfect for me, then, since I’m not in the least tech-savvy. My daughter just got me an ipod so I could listen to books when I walk. I just have to figure out how to get the books on there.
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Oh…and feel better soon, Stef.
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Grad, thanks! I spoke too soon Sunday about not feeling so very bad, but I have turned the corner and am on the mend. What a nice gift from your daughter!
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The Bears want to send you some honey for your cold but while I am very glad they are such thoughtful Bears I am trying to persuade them that by the time it arrives you will hopefully be better. This is the second mention I’ve come across to this new Walton. I hope it’s available over here. Keep nursing your cold and we all hope you’re better soon.
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Alex, thank you and the Bears for your thoughtfulness! I took the day off from work yesterday but am feeling much better today.
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Now that is a great way to treat a cold! Hurrah for Mr. Bookman to the rescue! I hope you feel better soon. Oh and you must tell us more about the Walton book after you’ve read more of it.
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Iliana, books make the best chicken soup! Bookman is so thoughtful 🙂
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i bet this book will fight your cold quite effectively. Get better soon!
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smithereens, thanks! feeling on the mend 🙂
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Aha, reading backwards I now find out that you did catch your cold from your co-workers! See, they should have stayed home, too! I am very interested to hear what you made of the Eggers, as he’s a writer on my must-read-soon list. And I’m also interested in the Jo Walton book, having noticed the other day it was out. It seems a very sensible direction for her to take after the novel of hers I read, which championed so many fantasy and sci-fi books without explaining to a novice such as myself what they were about. Looking forward to that review, too.
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Litlove, aren’t my coworkers nice? Eggers was pretty darn good but it could have been better. Will explain soon 🙂 I’ve already seen several good blogger reviews of Walton’s book and I have read the first couple of essays, so far so good!
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Now that’s my kind of chicken soup, too! Even if it doesn’t improve your cold it improves your mood!! Bookman is such a nice guy! I must check out that Jo Walton book now!
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Isn’t a book the best soup? Since a cold is something you just have to suffer through it is very important to improve the mood!
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Oh, I love that – calling a book Chicken Soup! What a creative fella.
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He’s definitely a keeper! 🙂
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