Well, I procrastinated on my runs for two days, and then I had a routine doctor appointment that ended up in a giant pity party. First the doctor noticed that I could start my shingles vaccine. OK. And then she noticed that I was due for a cholesterol test. OK. So we finish and I get dressed and a nice nurse comes in and stabs me with the vaccine and I have to pretend to be brave (I am not). No lollipop or nothing.
And then I toddle over to the lab section and get another needle stuck in me so they can pull out some blood, and again I do my best impression of an Actual Adult. Still no lollipop. And then I head back to my car plotting to award myself extra dessert (I'm ignoring what the doctor said about healthy diet and exercise habits, because they just stabbed me with NEEDLES) and just as I'm about to drive off I glance at my arm and I've soaked through the measly bandage in my elbow and am dripping blood all over my pants. So I head back into the building looking for some better bandaids to the consternation of the front desk people and the lab gives me the wrap treatment along with some pointed questions about blood thinners or something. And there is blood all over my pants. Humph I think.
So I go home and make the family take me out to dinner because that was a rotten afternoon and also my arm hurts from the shot and my elbow looks all bruised. So that was really nice. And then I went home and fell asleep, expecting my personal pity party to end, but it had only begun. I kept waking up because my arm hurt, and the next day I was FATIGUED. I would have taken a COVID test except they were downstairs and that was way too far to travel. I tried to read and moving my eyeballs was exhausting and required a two hour nap after each chapter. I never ate all day, because 1) the food was all the way downstairs and 2) eating seemed a lot of effort. I could have texted my son for help (he apparently assumed I had gone somewhere when he didn't see me around the house) except I forgot about the existence of voice-to-text and couldn't summon the energy to twiddle my fingers. The doctor had warned me about the second shingles shot, which I'm due for in a few months, but didn't expect this one to be a big deal. Well, wow. I am not looking forward to the next one.
So I go home and make the family take me out to dinner because that was a rotten afternoon and also my arm hurts from the shot and my elbow looks all bruised. So that was really nice. And then I went home and fell asleep, expecting my personal pity party to end, but it had only begun. I kept waking up because my arm hurt, and the next day I was FATIGUED. I would have taken a COVID test except they were downstairs and that was way too far to travel. I tried to read and moving my eyeballs was exhausting and required a two hour nap after each chapter. I never ate all day, because 1) the food was all the way downstairs and 2) eating seemed a lot of effort. I could have texted my son for help (he apparently assumed I had gone somewhere when he didn't see me around the house) except I forgot about the existence of voice-to-text and couldn't summon the energy to twiddle my fingers. The doctor had warned me about the second shingles shot, which I'm due for in a few months, but didn't expect this one to be a big deal. Well, wow. I am not looking forward to the next one.
By the weekend I was mostly back to normal, although I skipped the run portion of my usual talk and walk followed by a run.
I'm still safely on only two pages of currently-reading on Goodreads. I'm at 31 books checked out which includes some picture books. Most of which I haven't lost.
I'm off to check out the other books at The Bookdate's It's Monday, What Are You Reading headquarters. And since I read the Harry Potter play, I'll also sign up at the Children's Book central version, held at both Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. And then I will dive around to see what everyone else has been reading.
Started
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor. The Foolscap Bookclub was doing AfroFuturism, or AfricanFuturism, so I reread this. There was a wait for the ebook so I got the audio.
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea, Rebecca Thorne. For next week's Cloudy book club.
Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros. The June Sword and Laser book club pick.
Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat, Gary Paulsen. The next audio from the next shelf in Renton Highlands Library for my Reading My Library Quest.
Completed
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor. The narrator made this book even better -- I liked it the first time but thought the prose was a bit off. But with the accent changed from my Texan/Seattle to what I assume is more authentic for a Himba woman, suddenly her sentences took flight. I enjoyed the discussion and how the author moved between SF depictions of alien interactions and communication and more mundane issues of defying parental expectations and cultural limits.
Blood Vow, J.R. Ward. Because I tend to giggle at the premise, I don't read these very often, but they are a fun occasional snack. The males especially like to experience every emotion at 10X volume -- they aren't just worried parents, they are questioning the limits of a universe that would allow their precious child, the only reason for existence, the creation of every happiness, to experience any worry? (Of course, the kid doesn't just need a shot, she needs a drastic operation on every bone in her body or something). And then when their adoption hits a glitch, the wallowing is deep and depressing, which makes the resolution even more hilarious (the guy with a distant connection shows up, sees that the kid has a stable family going on, and signs off on it, and then gets adopted in himself. No worries! Everyone is happy! Cars for everyone!). The love story goes similarly. But poor Axe never gets an H in his nickname.
Purple Hearts, Tess Wakefield. Huh. I was actually rooting for her other relationship, despite the foolishness of picking up a new boyfriend days after entering a fake marriage. But we did see their friendship growing even if we have to ignore a lot of stuff.
Convergence, C.J. Cherryh. I'm enjoying these a lot and wanting to catch up. I think there's one more trilogy just waiting for me, so here I come. I liked the balance between Bren going back home and being weird among humans for going all atevi on them, and Cajeri going to his traditional uncle and being the liberal human-loving kid among atevi.
Picture Books
Gorillas, Gail Gibbons. Reading My Library Quest book from the Easy Nonfiction section, Renton Highlands library. I like nonfiction books that work as picture books like this. Good color and composition, good thruline for the information -- not quite a story but not a random walk either.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Vol 5 Part 4, Miya Kazuki. Still inching my way through. Ferdinand's absence is keenly felt by all.
Ascendance of a Bookworm, Miya Kazuki. Pausing my reread of Part 3 while I read the new book.
Cobra, Timothy Zahn. Part 50. Didn't get to this.
Warcross, Marie Lu. Still my car book, so I'm making slow progress.
Flood Circle, Harry Connolly. I am very worried about Ray. And also now the planet.
Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. It's still on my bedside table.
The Wine-Dark Sea, Patrick O'Brian. No chance to read.
The Shuddering City, Sharon Shinn. I'm enjoying this. I like her characterization, how her characters like being competent but aren't omni-powerful.
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis. From my shelves. Well, technically I have now misplaced my copy so I've checked it out of the library.
Ascendance of a Bookworm Manga, Part 2 Vol 5, Miya Kazuki. I am limiting myself to a few pages a day in this one as well.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I keep moving on to books with less stress. I'm a very stress-adverse person these days.
New Suns 2, ed. Nisi Shawl. Still going strong. Some are personal, some universal in scope.
The Greatest Thing, Sarah Winifred Searle. Cybils finalist. High school drama story.
Make Me, Tessa Bailey. My Romance Reading Group did a deep dive on Tessa Bailey last week but I didn't finish this in time.
Ship Without Sails, Sherwood Smith. Almost done!
Palate Cleansers
I'm slowly marching through these books.
50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane (no picture). OK, I found Ben Johnson a bit of a slog, but now I'm into Donne.
Stinger, Nancy Kress.
Dragon's Breath, E.D. Baker.
The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. (no picture)
The Road to Mars, Eric Idle.
The Dark Fantastic, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas.
Year of Wonder, Clemency Burton-Hill. Hmm. I like how I don't know how long each piece will be. Some days I toss a few pieces of junk while some days I deal with real stuff.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2022: Working on YA Graphic Novels.
- Early Cybils: Not done. Have on waiting on the pile
- Reading My Library. Picked up Faceoff, ed by Baldacci. Short stories from many authors.
- Libraries: Working on the 10 to Try for 2023. Need an artist and a summer book.
Future Plans
I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.I am reading:
- Book I own: China Mountain Zhang
- Library Book:The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
- Ebook I own: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea
- Library Ebook: Only Bad Options
- Book Club Book: The Fourth Wing
- Tuesday Book Club Book: Fairy Tale
- Review Book: Back Home
- Rereading:
- Audio: Fourth Wing
4 comments:
I totally misread your first sentence about the "runs" knowing that your post was about going to the doctor's! Figured it out by the end. haha I've been ignoring the shingles shot advice, even after already having shingles once, because I had such a terrible experience with the antiviral medicine they gave me at the time. Could be I'm making a mistake, but I've never had suicidal thoughts before having shingles and being on that medicine! (I may have been so off that I was accidentally overdosing myself, I'm still not sure.)
I listened to Binti #1 and #2 on audio. Great audiobook narration! I need to get back to that author, because there's one more book in the trilogy.
Good luck with your reading! You always have the most books going at once, and the most variety!
Oh you poor dear! I'm a-scared of needles, too and they really should hand out lollipops to us adults. The only time I've managed to adult-up and sit for a jab was the original COVID vaccine and one booster and then I decided I was DONE. I don't do the flu shot, I won't do the shingles shot. I don't do lab work. I'm one of those idiots who says "If there's something wrong with me I don't want to know anyway." Yeah.
I'm glad to hear you're mpstly back to normal and able to read again!
Beth, you've had the most miserable time, and I am so sorry! Needles are no fun, and I feel like people don't adequately acknowledge that—I'm sending several metaphorical lollipops for your persistence through the shot and bloodtest. The bleeding definitely sounds tricky too, and gosh—I had no idea the side effects for the shingles shot are so intense! I'm glad your energy has come back since then, because that sounds totally wild to be so exhausted and unable to do much at all. As for books, I always love seeing what you're reading, and it's exciting that you're giving The Greatest Thing a try—I think I actually nominated that for the Cybils, and it tickles me that it made it to finalist! Thanks so much for the wonderful post, as always!
I've been seeing Fourth Wing a lot on social media. I think I'm getting lots of BookTok algorithms even though I don't watch them.
Post a Comment