What Do You Read When The Flu Drops You?

by Jamie Freveletti

I have just returned from somewhere in viral purgatory. It started with a massive headache. Headaches are rare for me, so I usually try to tough them out. Of course, a doctor friend set me straight: "You can't tough it out. They rarely disappear quickly. Best to just take aspirin."

I ran the first day, but noticed my heart rate spiking. (For the non runners, interestingly enough, your resting heart rate rises during an infection. I can often predict oncoming illness this way). And from there the situation became dire. I stumbled from the bed to the computer to write, wrote fifteen words and staggered back to the bed. This back and forth kept going for three miserable days. I never was sick enough to just give up and sleep all day, but I was logging lots of hours in a darkened room with hot tea next to me in between running essential errands.

I figured out that my own writing would suffer during this plague onset, so turned to my bookshelf. My To Be Read pile is long, and I certainly got a close up look at only a portion of the stack. Here's what I have:

Strip Jack, Ian Rankin

I'm Spiritual Dammit! Jenniffer Weigel

The Devil's Company David Liss

The Complete Guide To Mysterious Beings, John Keel

The Midnight House, Alex Berenson

The mysterious beings book is actually research for one of my own. I managed to get through whole chunks of it while ill, which salvaged some of the week.

Jenniffer Weigel's book was funny and interesting, and I did manage to finish it in between bouts of aspirin.

The others are still there, staring at me. My brain was too fevered toward the end for me to continue reading. Sleeping was the activity of choice.

Now I'm feeling much better and of course back at the computer hacking away, but I wonder if I should stash a book for the next bout. If I do, I want it to be something uplifting. Happy. Seems like that is lacking when the flu is upon you. Of course a fantastic mystery or thriller would do, too.