I’m not going to lie… today isn’t fun. Today is one of those days where all I have the energy to do is lay on the couch and bemoan how crappy I feel. In honor of this, I thought I’d put forth some book recommendations to read while home sick.
The Road (Vintage International), a bleak, post-apocalyptic tale by Cormac McCarthy. It’s spare of character names and much of the punctuation, just like your life in the sickbed is spare of any hope of ever breathing out of both your nostrils. Forget about the 2009 movie version with Viggo Mortinson playing the Man. That was nothing; only a fraction of the despair of the book. Okay, but besides all of the doom and gloom talk, this book is AMAZING, and can be read, eyes unblinking from all of the “holy crap did that just happen-ness?!” in a few hours. Perfect for a day lazing on the couch, hacking up a lung.
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration (W.W. Norton, Inc.) by David Roberts recounts the harrowing and ridiculously dangerous 1912-13 trek of Douglas Mawson and his two explorer buddies across hundreds of miles of unexplored Antarctica. They face crevasses, 80mph winds, huskies wearing out… pretty much a whole pile of awful in the name of cartography and science. When it feels like getting up to reheat that chicken noodle soup is pretty much out of the question, flip through this book and you’ll feel a little bit better about that ten foot trek to the kitchen in your 65 degree house. Plus, this is a fascinating read, even for those who don’t generally crack open non-fiction books.
Last but not least, Bad Things Happen (Berkley Books) by Harry Dolan is a must read while recuperating. His poetic prose is beautiful and witty and the story… well, it’s like something you would read in Gray Streets. (That last bit is an inside joke you’ll understand when you read the book.. aren’t you even more intrigued now?) In short, Dolan writes a murder mystery about murders at a murder mystery literary magazine. BAM! Your cold and flu-ed up mind has been blown!
But above all else, it is imperative that you not only have your great new book, your hot cup of tea and chicken noodle soup (yes, you gave in and walked that seemingly impossible ten feet to the kitchen), but you also need your rehabilitation buddy. I’ll leave you on a high note (before I go back and crash on the couch myself). Here is my cuddle buddy, Otto, and his sniffy, “Are you feeling bad, mom? Here, let me rub my nose on you and make you better” face:
Suzanne Rigdon 