Hello one and all, I wanted to pop a little note up on Savidge Reads as there may be some silence for a little while. As I have mentioned I have been feeling rather unwell on and off of late and after a several visits to mystified doctors and walk in clinics and finally a mad dash to A&E last weekend it seems now I have to have a procedure or two before I can get back to my good old self.
I’m not going to go into details or moan because its not very me anyway and at the moment no one is quite sure what’s going on. I am however going to be heading up north to my Mum’s for some respite after a visit to the hospital later this week for an ‘investigation’. I will try and pop by with a picture or two of me in my hospital gown, bet you’d all love to see that, hee hee.
Hopefully both me and Savidge Reads will be up and running good as new again in due course.
Now then lets be a bit more cheerful and have a bookish related request!!!! What can you recommend as hospital and respite reads? I was trying to get through China Mieville’s ‘The City & The City’ which I was enjoying but proved a bit too concentration orientated for my abilities at present. Would love your recommendations. I want some books which are fun (though not necessarily comic), maybe a little upbeat (though can still be literary), have delightful characters and will provide great escape, your mission is set…
Savidge Reads 
Hope all will be well soon, Simon.
Have you read Deborah Devonshire’s Wait for Me yet? Or something (anything) by Alexander McCall Smith would be good.
Very best wishes. K
I’m so sorry you are not feeling well. Hopefully you will be feeling better VERY SOON! Here are a few books you might enjoy: Travels with Charley or East of Eden, Steinbeck; Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.; All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren; Gone with the Wind; Lonesome Dove; Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris; The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough; The Covenant, James Mitchener; I Dreamed of Africa, Kuki Gallmann; Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen. Take care!
Get well soon.
Cant remember if you’ve tried Kate Atkinson? She always makes me laugh out loud – and her PI character Jackson Brodie gets into some great scrapes!
I second any Kate Atkinson book, especially the Jackson Brodie novels.
I hope you recover soon.
Hope you feel better soon! Have you ever read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? It’s pretty funny but is still a bit deeper than that in an ‘oh man, I need a box of tissues stat’ kinda way. There is also The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly– fun yet truly dark.
I’m drawing a blank on funny, except maybe some David Sedaris, which really needs to be listened to on audio. Either way, I just want to wish you good health very soon. I kept seeing your FB posts about ER visits and I was a little worried about your little self.
I am reading Middlesex right now and although I wouldn’t call it upbeat, it has a humorous tone and is quite readable.
Feel better. Hope the investigation goes well.
So sorry to hear that you are not well. I hope you get better soon.
GET WELL SOON, SIMON…
I second Martin’s wishes.
Plus, thank you for letting me know who my Pen Pal is.
You are so heroic for sending me an email when you are so sickly.
IF in hospital and I have spent a little time there,
AUDIO books are the answer.
Right now, I am listtening to Bernard Cornwall’s Alfred Series about Danes, Vikings and Christians…
Drift into the land of Norse Gods, Fighting and the Earles of Anglo Saxon Britain.
Oh Simon, you poor thing. Hope they get to the bottom of it and get you back on your feet very quickly!
Persephones are always my go-tos when I am not well – they got me through two bouts of nasty flu last year when I could barely lift my head off the pillow. Miss Buncle’s Book is especially lovely for a no concentration necessary, charming yet still literary read.
I hope they work out what’s going on and sort you out tout suite! We need to have you well.
How about some modern classics – Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, Love on a Branch Line by John Hadfield, or anything by Evelyn Waugh. I’m actually reading my first ever Western (as in John Wayne) at the moment and loving it – Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey is a real classic and very visual – how about it?
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been unwell – I hope you feel better soon! I second Annabel’s recommendation of Cold Comfort Farm, and if you haven’t read it yet, there’s Nightingale Wood, which has a lovely fairy tale feel to it and is a perfect comfort read.
You already have lots of great suggestions for reading so I will just stick to saying that I hope you feel better soon.
Get well soon, Simon! I am very sorry to hear that you are not well.
I’ll have a look at you TBR pile later this week and check if there is anything on it suitable for the occasion.
So sorry that you are not feeling well. Hope that the doctors find the cause soon and that they can treat you soon. When sick,page turner like thrillers work well and I find that cozy mysteries are soothing.
Carol Wong
You poor old thing! I hope they get to the bottom of whatever is ailing you and that you make a speedy recovery.
As for upbeat books, how about Next to Nature, Art by Penelope Lively? Short too!
Do hope you feel better soon and that you start getting some answers.
If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend The Uncommon Reader by Allen Bennett — in which Queen Elizabeth becomes hooked on reading. It’s light and very funny, in a gentle way: http://silverseason.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/the-uncommon-reader/
Hope you are on the mend soon Simon, and enjoy the time up North with your mother.
Can’t think of any suitable books but know from experience that audio books are a great idea.
You poor thing, Simon. Hope the medics can work out what’s wrong and then get you back to full health asap!
Whenever I’m under the weather I tend to go for thrillers and quick reads, the kinds of books where the pages almost turn themselves. Dare I suggest some of Maeve Binchy’s very early stuff? Or Nicci French? 😉
Get well soon Simon.
I love reading some young-adult fiction or some oldies that I enjoy in situations like this or as Kim says thrillers or happy go lucky ones.
Penguin has recently republished auntie mame, I’ve just read a few pages but its quiet fun or thrillers by Barry Eisler or Tom Clancy.
Simon, get well soon.
Being ill is criminal, but it’s a good time to get stuck into some cracking crime. Anything from Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series. I’m sure Dame Agatha or even some P D James will entertain and I know that Inspector Espinoza will delight you ……
The Magus, by John Fowles. Not exactly upbeat, but a lot of fun. It will get your mind off things for sure.
I hope the hospital sorts you out quickly, and that you can put it all behind you.
I would echo the comment about audio books – post op you are sometimes just too tired to hold a book upright. When you can, I echo Armens recommendation of “Auntie Mame”.
There have already been some good book suggestions. I would second The Uncommon Reader: ideal entertainment for bibliophiles. Away from the humorous stuff, being confined to a hospital bed might be the ideal opportunity to read Josephine Tay’s The Daughter of Time, in which a hospitalised police detective investigates the deaths of the Princes in the Tower.
If you like the audio book idea that a number of people have raised, and you have internet connectivity, you might enjoy UK-based audiobookradio.net. Plus there are some classics available in quality new recordings at Silk Sound Books.
Get well soon.
I’m sorry to hear that you have not been feeling well. I hope you feel better soon!
Hope your recovery is quick!
I hope everything goes well and you’re feeling better soon!
I must put in my vote for Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. It’s a delightfully quirky story about an OCD professional thief who ends up getting too wrapped up in his “clients'” lives. Not hysterically funny, but light, and very absorbing and creative.
My favorite comfort read is The Pursuit of Love, but I suspect you already know about that one. I am currently re-reading The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West. Quirky English characters abound.
Praying for your docs to figure things out and for your healing…
So sorry to hear this, Simon. You’ll be in my prayers.
As for the book, I suggest you revisit something you love, whatever that may be. Comfort re-reading is the best.
Diary of a Nobody looks good (my next book) right now The Widows Season (very quirky upto now!)
My prayers for a speedy recovery
Get well soon. I offered you the perfect cure all a couple of weeks ago … but you never replied. I offer it again! X
You probably now have more books than you can possibly manage and what is hoped will be short stay in the hospital and a speedy recovery. When I have taken ill and had to be hospitalized, I went right to my childhood favorites. Mine would be different than yours, but, out come the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder or the Anne Books. Try some of Gary Paulsen. Hatchet or his books, both children and adults, on the Iditarod.
Best and speedy recovery.
Sorry to hear this, but happy to know you’ll be headed to your mum’s soon. Being sick is awful (particularly when there’s some uncertainty about what’s going on) but being with family, and especially with your mother, makes it just that little bit less stressful.
As for reading material, I always love P.G. Wodehouse or Elizabeth von Arnim when I’m feeling down. I just finished Greenery Street by Denis Mackail and think it would fit the bill too.
I have been following and enjoying your blog for ages but not commented yet (i know a bit silly of me). Anyway I think you have had some really good suggestions already and can second the Alexander McCall Smith (I have read the ones set in Scotland, not yet read the African ones, but am sure they are all equally good: light but still intelligent). The first idea that came to my mind was something epic like Gone With the Wind or how about a collection of short stories, some of my favs are Daphne du Maurier: the collection might be called Don’t Look Now and other stories or The Birds and other stories. And maybe Jeffrey Archer for short stories. and one of my all time favs: David Sedaris – amy of his collections of essays. I have recently read “When You Are Engulfed In Flames” by Sedaris and can highly recommend it.
Fingers crossed you are back in action soon.
I’m delurking to add some get well wishes and to echo Rachel’s recommendation of Miss Buncle’s Book, it’s absolutely charming! The Daughter of Time is another good one already mentioned and when my husband had surgery this summer, I ended up reading a few of Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey books, light and intriguing.
Hello you 😦
Along with Silver Season, I definitely recommend The Uncommon Reader. It is fabulously sweet, funny and delightful and you will come away thinking what a dear old lady the Queeen is. Plus I know you like Alan Bennett. Then I would say get stuck into a Hannah or a Gerritson, but think you might have read all of those!
Love and hugs as always xxx
Books to read when ill….Charles Palliser, Betrayals. It’s a mix of suspense thriller and comedy or Jeremy Dronfield, The Alchemist’s Apprentice, funny and weird..both ‘take your mind off things’ reads…Get well soon.
Hope they can get a proper diagnosis very soon and get you on the road to recovery. Having had a few hospital stays myself, I would highly recommend audio books as hospitals are not quite the havens of peace and calm one would like them to be! Take care.
sorry to hear your unwell wish you a speedy recovery simon ,all the best stu
Oh I hope you feel better soon and they get you all figured out and healthy. I’m not sure what to recommend for a book… I’m a bit stuck here this morning it seems. I’ll keep thinking on it!
Feel better soon, Simon! My fingers are crossed that they’ll figure out what you have and get you on the road to a speedy recovery 🙂
As for books to read while in respite, hmmm. I would suggest somethin like A Confederacy of Dunces or Beyond the Great Indoors. Or even Dracula – which I’m reading right now and loving because it is so engrossing and such a fun read. And of course anything by Murakami or Vonnegut will help.
Take care!
Handling Sin by Michael Malone
I read it every time my health goes bad.
It’s a funny, exciting picaresque novel. It’s also one of the most life-affirming novels I have ever read.
Hope you are recuperating, enjoying the rest and that test results come back soon and all is well Simon x
Thank you all for the well wishes, I am doing ok now its all just a waiting game for scan results and a further biopsy then we will know more. Your messages have meant lots to me so thanks very much.
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