I managed to catch some germs in the petrie dish I work in. (Look, people of Major U, you can deny it, but I never leave the house otherwise, so I blame you.) Went to work this morning, only to leave by 11:15 a.m. It was useless trying to think with my head fulla cotton.

Who gets a head cold in July? Yep, me.

Am hoping to feel better for tomorrow, as I have too much to do right now.

What did I do with my vast free time today, then? Napped, lounged, finished reading a book. It only made a little sense, what with all the cotton.

Which reminds me. I think I’m behind on telling you what I’ve been reading. That’s low impact blogging. I can do that.

30. Lottery– Patricia Wood
Everything wraps up a little too neatly for my tastes, but this book was very good and has an interesting first-person voice. The narrator is not-quite mentally handicapped (which he is proud of) and a very charming fellow. When people take advantage of him, you’ll get mad.

31. The Calling– Inger Ash Wolfe
Inger Ash Wolfe is a pen name for a Canadian writer who also publishes literary fiction. He/she won’t come forward, but I wish he/she would so I could read the rest of her/his books. I’m swooning over these books, which are literary page turners (see the next entry) featuring a protagonist policewoman who just happens to be 62. Of course her life is in the toilet—why would anyone write about a protagonist whose life was not in the toilet?—but she’s real and interesting and just the right amount of stubborn and petty.

32. The Taken– Inger Ash Wolfe
Also loved. The crimes in these books can seem a little outlandish at times. Do mastermind criminals really exist?

33. When Will There Be Good News?– Kate Atkinson
I’ve read another Atkinson book (Case Histories) and rather liked it, but I cannot say the same for this one. It starts really well, and her writing is good, but this book wore me out. Does EVERYONE have to have tragedy in their lives? If you don’t want to write about someone’s parents, you just don’t—you don’t have to kill them all. After a while, I just didn’t care about who got killed. Everyone else in the history of the world had been murdered after all, so what was a few more people? Very aptly titled. Read Case Histories instead.

34. Official Book Club Selection– Kathy Griffin
I’m not really sure why I had to read this book, but I suddenly did. I wanted something fun, fast, girly, and there it was. I even bought it (it’s going to my best friend next, who actually watches the show, which I don’t). It was pretty much what I thought it would be, but even more interesting that I would have guessed. Now I need to rent the show.

35. Harriet the Spy– Louise Fitzhugh
I thought that I’d never read this book, but now that I know I have, I’m pretty sure I must have. I remembered certain parts when they came up. Cute. I don’t approve of all the screaming Harriet it does in dialogue tags, but cute.

36.The Secret Garden– Frances Hodgson Burnett
I thought that I’d never read this book, too, but something tells me, having read it now, that I probably started it as a kid and put it down. I had the fortitude for this time. It took some fortitude. I really wanted to get in there with a red pen in a couple of places. Blaspheme, I know. Whatever. There’s a lot of redundancy. Still, pretty good.

37. Little Face– Sophie Hannah
Read this out of order—apparently it’s a series? Really like her voice and will read more.

That was no low impact blogging at all. Now I’m tired again.