If you're going to get the stomach bug in the middle of July (and I don't recommend it), it helps if you happen to be sick when ABC Family is having a Harry Potter weekend. At least if you are a Harry Potter fan. It requires little effort - having read the books and seen the movies, you already know what is going to happen. It doesn't matter if you doze off in the middle of The Order of the Phoenix. Or if you decide mid-movie to retire to your bedroom to lie in front of the fan and read. This is a pretty accurate description of my last few days.
After a pretty miserable Thursday night, I spent the better part of Friday and Saturday alternating between bed with a book and the couch watching whatever Harry Potter movie happened to be on at the moment.
My main book at the moment is Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl - about her experiences as a food critic for the NY Times. As you might expect, the last thing I wanted to read about this past weekend was food. So I put it aside in favor of others...
I've been slowly wandering through the Game of Thrones series this summer - my second (or maybe third) trip through the Seven Kingdoms. I was horrified at the end of this season's final episode, and have been working my way through the books to refresh my memory. (Don't worry - no spoilers here!) So I spent a better part of Thursday and Friday lying in bed with A Clash of Kings.
When that got too heavy, I swapped it out for Stephen King's Duma Key...for some reason it has been on my mind recently and happened to catch my eye as I was back in my spot on the couch on Saturday. I got further with that than Clash of Kings because it is a faster read and there are fewer characters to keep track of. And generally, once I start a Stephen King, I just want to keep reading until I'm done.
I'm now about halfway through both books, which isn't bad considering I've done very little else for the past few days. Except, of course, lying on the couch watching Harry Potter. Even as I write this, Deathly Hallows is playing in the background. As I've mentioned a few posts back, I had started reading the Harry Potter series with my nephew Ryan. As it turns out, we got mid-way through The Sorcerer's Stone before he went away on a family vacation. A text from my sister a few days in to their trip asked permission for him to read ahead. Never one to discourage a kid from reading, I said absolutely. By the time he got home, he was nine chapters into Chamber of Secrets and dying to talk about it. So, I am letting him read the rest of the books on his own. As soon as I put my hands on my copy of The Hobbit, we're going to start on that. In the meantime, however, I'm enjoying watching him experience the world of Harry Potter for the first time.
Despite a miserable couple of days, I'm happy to say my fictional favorites have gotten me through and I'm back in the land of the living. With some help, of course, from my fabulous husband, who was handy with sympathy and Gatorade when I needed it!
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