Dear Influenza, please go away

Tonight is my fourth night with the flu. At first I pegged it as a cold, but now I'm not so sure. I haven't felt this sick since leaving Arizona last year after the Super Bowl, when for a week straight I went to bed around 6:00 a.m. and woke up maybe 90 minutes later to start working. There was no question what made me sick then, but I can't really figure what got me this time. Not that it really matters, I suppose. Sick is sick.

I haven't been sitting around doing nothing, though, which is probably at least partly why I'm still not feeling well. I read a few books and wrote somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 words. That's about 56 pages of a paperback (~250 per page). Still a long way to go, though.

John Grishman: "The Appeal"
I mentioned this one a few weeks ago when I was halfway through: "It's not especially good, but I didn't really expect it to be." Eh, it got better. I enjoy a good legal thriller every now and then, and Grisham is the master, but it would be nice if every once in a while he wrote a book that didn't take place in Mississippi. I bought this title when I had five minutes to spare in an airport bookstore. I played it safe and was neither thrilled nor disappointed.

Stephen King: "Pet Sematary"
My friend Bubbleman gave me an old copy of "Pet Sematary" when I visited him in the East Bay months ago. Maybe I should go back more frequently. I hadn't remembered ever reading the book or seeing the movie, but it all seemed eerily familiar as I plowed through it. I've only read a few, but this is my favorite King novel to date.

Joe R. Landsdale: "The Bottoms"
Landsdale works wonders with the first-person narrative. The setting itself is a central character, the sign of a job well done. The plot is no slouch, either. Plus he makes the Ku Klux Klan look stupid, icing on the cake. Edgar Award Winner in 2001.

PS: I just counted -- being sick is boring! -- and I have 23 books that I've bought but haven't read yet. Not sure what I'll read next. Probably something by Philip Roth, David Ignatius, Stella Rimington or Daniel Silva. I guess I'll figure that out now. I was going to write some more, but I'm not feeling up for it. Maybe I'll just take some medicine and go to bed.