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| My literary companions during COVID-19 lockdown and convalescence from surgery. 4.8kg worth. |
I read a lot of non-fiction for work, so fiction can feel a bit frivolous by comparison. But mainly I never seem to have time. After my discharge from surgery in March 2019, I was at home looking forward to diving into a pile of books. As I got more mobile, Aotearoa New Zealand went into COVID-19 Alert Level 2, then AL 3, then AL 4 (lockdown). All of a sudden I had hours per day of transit back in my day, tons of time to read, and carte blanche from my doctors, nurses and employer to relax and look after myself.
So I turned gleefully to my to-read list and dived in. What follows is a chronological citation of my COVID convalescence collection.
The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
5 cases of COVID-19 in NZ; 48 staples extracted, 18 left in
Deeply satisfying. After page 400 a complete page-turner. Seeing the impending Luminaries TV show motivated me to finally read this book, gifted to me in 2012 by Bettina, my friend in Switzerland. Rich and layered. Only once I'd finished the book did I really feel like I knew each character. If not for my pile of 'books to read' I would have turned right back to page 1, read it again and got to know those characters even better.
Quinine - Kelly Ana Morey
20 cases of COVID-19 in NZ; NZ Orienteering Champs postponed; first home visit by district nurseAn excellent character study and well plotted story. It's unusual to read a Huia Publishers novel that so intimately and humanly explores the minds and lives of settler / colonisers. Morey let down by her publisher though - after Chapter 3 I'd found so many typos that I put the book down in frustration. Then I took up a pencil, started the book again and circled all the typos I found - 43! I had bought this book years ago for $5 in a Huia Publisher's sale. It has sat for years on my bookshop along with other unopened $5 titles such as Transit of Venus, The Songmaker's Chair and Without Reservation (still in its plastic wrapper). The writing style of Transit of Venus was painfully obtuse so was quick put down. Quinine was refreshingly precise and detailed.
To the Last City - Colin Thubron
NZ moves to Alert Level 3; hospital has applied a PICO 'negative pressure' pump-dressing to clear my wound infection
My friend Rebecca lent me this book, via her partner Uwe, via his best friend Pat (my husband). It came with a card gift of Green & Black's chocolate. It charts internal and physical journeys for each character. Strength emerges in unexpected places. The professional commentator turns out to be the least thoughtful. Its lightweightness - a mere 140 pages - made it a refreshing contrast from Catton and Morey.
The Governor's Four Hearts - James Earp
NZ moves to Alert Level 4 / lockdown; clinic appointment via phone with surgeon confirms mass lesion extracted was a leiomyosarcoma
When I visited my friend Aimee in Denton, Texas, her grandmother gave me this book, written by her brother. Her family are descended from Wyatt Earp. This was the perfect time to deep dive into James and his family's health struggles. Reading some non-fiction was a nice escape from fiction.
Watched - Tihema Baker
Worldwide Coronavirus case number surpasses 600K; queues 10-deep outside supermarket mall, so I buy newspaper and cream from night pay at the petrol station; no longer need day naps
Tihema's sister Mahinaarangi is a former student of mine, and just graduated with her PhD from Massey. Talented whānau. For this reason my friend Ange bought this book, read it, then gave it to me with her high recommendation. It took me this down time to finally read it - and I richly enjoyed it as an inventive, action-orientated and page-turning Young Adult novel. Strong shades of the X-Men, but Tihema never loses hold of his own vision and originality in his story.
Change Agent - Daniel Suarez
NZ's first death from COVID-19; I email workmates to let them know I'm cancer-free
This book links me to my previous surgery; as well as to two thoughtful postgrad students. Alan and Symon gave me this book in 2018 prior to taking leave for a fibroid operation. I started reading it a year or so later and put it aside. It was interesting but had wallowed in a long drone chase - exciting in a movie, but a bit tedious in a book. I picked up where I left off, and without other time pressures enjoyed this rollicking action-er set in a world of illegal, yet poorly policed human genetic editing.
House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
Welcome light relief for April Fool's Day; Panadol twice a day now my only pain relief
The MENSA-clever, maze-like narrative is centred around gripping action as Navy and friends explore a house that is bigger on the inside than out. I started this ages ago and as with many books set it aside - but lockdown gave me the time and determination to plough through the rest (including the very lengthy appendix). So refreshing and innovative. Each page turn feels like an event - what shape and colour will the text take next? Highly recommended that you at least find a copy, flick through and marvel at its internal asymmetry. But do go one better and allow yourself to descend into its brilliant madness.
The Absolute Book - Elizabeth Knox
COVID-19 deaths worldwide surpass 100K; my pain intensifies from hypergranulation on wound - nurse Pat tasked with treating with AgNO3 sticks
Getting rave reviews, snubbed for nomination in the Ockham Book Awards, I ordered this one online and savoured the prospect of getting around to reading it. By this time we were in Alert Level 3, so bookshops were out, but packages were arriving in the post. I was giving this ranging and engaging book a 10 out of 10 up to about page 500; then its complexity and over-reaching fantasism unravelled it. On the whole still amazing, with strong characters, imagery and events that remain clearly with me, even as fantastical as those settings were.
That Hideous Strength - C S Lewis
COVID-19 deaths in NZ reach 13; on flucloxacillin for an infection and back to tramadol, neurofen, panadol and naps
I'd read and enjoyed Books 1 and 2 of this planetary trilogy; Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and thoroughly enjoyed the immersion in literal other worlds of Venus and Mars. Now back on Earth and the mundanity of academic life and bureaucracy at University of Oxford, even though the scholarly world is familiar to me, That Hideous Strength just had not grabbed me in my first 2 tries. On this occasion, time, interest and dedication got me through. Interesting, insightful and well-paced once you get into it. Exquisite ruminations on life, marriage and sex are gems to be uncovered. Took me ages to get through, as I was simultaneously transitioning back to work. During my time with That Hideous Strength, NZ's COVID-19 death toll peaked at 20.
NZ moves to Alert Level 3 on Star Wars Day as no new cases of COVID-19 are reported and then to Alert Level 2 14th May; I peel off bandages and stop taking panadol. Back at work full-time 18 May.
