COVID Fucking Sucks
Currently reading:
The Black Tower by P. D. James
Books finished this week: 1
★★★★★
Where this book came from: Ordered from Barnes & Noble back in 2021
Why this book: I had also ordered myself a copy of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle (which, yes, is still in the Library) and I wanted to read his big award-winner first.
Thoughts: This is one of those books where you don’t necessarily want to say you loved or enjoyed it, because there is so much here that oscillates between upsetting, disturbing, and truly horrifying. So I guess I’ll say I was strongly moved by this book, and by Cora’s story. Colson Whitehead’s writing was so immersive and poetic, even in the darkest and most depraved moments.You feel this novel as you devour it.
Library updates:
The last few weeks have been pretty quiet. Too quiet. So I guess I should’ve known something big was going to happen.
I didn’t send a Sunday Missive last weekend because I was home most of that week for Thanksgiving and didn’t have much to report on. When I got home Sunday afternoon, I started readjusting to being back in my own space after spending five days back in my parents’ house. On Monday, I had a busy work day, catching up, and laid down for a little afternoon nap. After work, I settled in to read. I finished ’Salem’s Lot (woo!) while I was home, so, for the first time since Labor Day, I was able to read a book of my choice without guilt. I settled in with The Underground Railroad, desperate to finish it because I was hooked.
I was in maybe the last thirty pages of the book when I started to feel truly tired and gross. I thought at first that it was just post-holiday mental exhaustion and planned to go to bed early (once I finished my book). I spent a lot of time outside on Saturday, helping my parents decorate for Christmas and then watching a boat parade (hashtag-Long-Island), and it was freezing that day, so I assumed I was just feeling run down from that, and would maybe end up with a cold I could push through over the week.
But I started to feel worse, and out of habit, I took a COVID test. This one told me to wait ten minutes, but after three minutes, the two lines were already there. We had a good run, folks—three years COVID-free. But my luck ran out this week. What makes it double annoying is that I got my latest booster less than two weeks ago, so I somehow caught it before the booster had time to kick in.
I know this isn’t news to most people, but wow, COVID fucking sucks. I have never been as tired and achy and gross-feeling with any other illness. I was pretty sick back in May with something that required antibiotics to defeat, and even that didn’t keep me bed-bound all day like this did. That said, trust me when I say I am thrilled that I only really had to grapple with fatigue, aches, a mild headache here and there, and a lot of sneezing. I know so many people have had it a lot worse over the last three years.
I spent most of Tuesday in a kind of twilight state, dozing on and off and spending my waking hours staring at my phone or my iPad. (I watched so much YouTube, y’all.) I barely moved from my bed, both because I couldn’t summon the energy to get up and because moving fucking hurt. I felt less dead on Wednesday, but crashed pretty hard that night. Thankfully, by Thursday, the fatigue, brain fog, and body aches had basically dissipated and it mostly felt like the dregs of a nasty cold.
Knitting two rows and reading maybe ten pages was too taxing those first two days of being sick, but I’m back into it all now, and I am glad to be fully in P. D. James season. I always feel the urge to check in with Dalgliesh in the winter—a good English mystery just feels like the perfect thing to curl up with on a cold night. I associate James’ books with reading in front of my parents’ fireplace during winter breaks.
Technically, The Black Tower is a reread, but according to Goodreads, I first read it ten years——a full decade!!——ago and I literally don’t remember anything about it, so I’m counting it toward the Library. The book opens with Dalgliesh in the hospital after a long illness, and grappling with what to do next with his life. Fitting.
Closing thoughts:
If you haven’t already, get your COVID boosters!!! And buy more tissues, just in case.
