Laid Up, Then Laid Off

Hello, readers!  I’m back from my convalescence.  Surgery went well, and the pain that has been plaguing me for the past five months should be behind me now.  I’m feeling better, we have a treatment plan, and I’m already full of more energy than I’ve had all year.

So then yesterday my employer laid me off.  Ouch.  I got a nice severance package, though, and I’m taking a few days of R & R before starting the job search in earnest on Tuesday.  (Monday is FilmChris’ birthday, so that day will be spent doing things that make him happy, like watching movies and playing video games.  You know, normal 12-year-old boy stuff.)

I’m making big plans for the next few weeks, to take advantage of time off and good health.  I plan to finish editing the book, writing more blog posts, and reading more great books.  But right now, I need to finish unpacking boxes from this move before the boxes from my desk show up.

Distractions from Blogging

Hello, readers.  Sorry for the slow posting lately, but it won’t get better for another week or so.  FilmChris and I are packing up the apartment to move to a new place, and I have a medical procedure ahead of me this week.

Those of you who know me know that I’ve been dealing with mysterious abdominal pain since late November.  On Wednesday, I’m having exploratory surgery, and we might get answers that day as to the source of the pain.  I’m crossing my fingers, toes, and everything else I can.  Having been in daily pain for nearly six months has been no good at all.

In the meantime, please mind your punctuation and spelling.  I won’t be gone long.

Lost in a Good Book

Over at FilmChris, Sundays are for lists.  I’m borrowing the idea a day early. 

I’ve been extremely fortunate lately to have time to read and even more fortunate to have a pile of hard-to-put-down books at the ready.  So I’ve been thinking about Books You Can’t Put Down.   You know what I mean:  you pick it up with the intention of reading just a chapter before bed.  Then you find yourself at 2 a.m., feverishly reading, convincing yourself that you don’t need the sleep, you just need to read one more chapter of this delicious story. 

The only sad part about reading Books You Can’t Put Down is that eventually, you’ll finish them.  When that happens, I wander around the house aimlessly, muttering to myself, waiting to find the next great read.  It is nearly impossible to find the right book to follow the Book You Can’t Put Down.  (It’s like when that poor Megan Joy had to follow Adam or Kris or… well, anyone else on American Idol. ) Imagine my utter delight to have  a string of such books around lately.  

Here’s what I’ve been reading:  Four Seasons in Rome, Three Cups of Tea, Loving Frank, and It Sucked and Then I Cried.  Each one has been so hard to put down, that I’ve found myself reading almost non-stop.  And since I finished It Sucked earlier this week and passed it on to a friend, I’ve been wandering the house, muttering to myself.   It’s a sad, sad picture.  No one should have to live this way, dear readers.

So if I share my all-time favorite Hard to Put Down books, will you reciprocate?  What are the books that you couldn’t put down?   Not sure?  Here’s another criterion I use:  when I think of the titles of these books, I wish I hadn’t read them yet, so that I could have the joy of discovering them again.  I don’t mean necessarily great literature when I list these (though some of them are); they just have to be Hard to Put Down.  They interfere with your day-to-day activities. 

Here are the ones that come to mind for me (and that I heartily recommend) in no particular order:

Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
Run, Ann Patchett
The Magician’s Assistant, Ann Patchett (Ok, apparently Patchett in general.)
Saturday, Ian McEwan
Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Harry Potter, all of them, J.K. Rowling
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Kite Runner, Khaled Hossein
A Virtuous Woman, Kay Gibbons
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The World According to Garp, John Irving
Cider House Rules, John Irving
Devil in The White City, Erik Larson
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
Four Seasons in Rome, Anthony Doerr
It Sucked and Then I Cried, Heather Armstrong
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan

I know I’m leaving off some great ones, but those are the ones that come to mind today.

Ok, dear readers, it’s your turn.  What is the next Hard To Put Down book I should read?