bookgazing | Growing Better

I thought I'd drop by to show you that my irises are starting to flower. Just one more to grow a flower and one blub I think might be a really late bloomer and then they can come in from the garage, to the slightly warmer house. That makes three alive plants at the moment, which seems like a good omen for my chances at successfully growing strawberries this summer.

I'm taking my final sick day today. My cold is gone enough that I can get out of bed before lunch and I decided it's important to go back for one day before I start Mother's Day celebrations and go to a pub quiz this weekend. It's not really fair to enjoy myself at the weekend when I've spent all week off work...I guess :)

I 've been reading blogs but I haven't posted much, because apart from sleeping the first day away I've been so busy doing all those little indoor things you never have time for during the working week. I've also spent lots of time reading. All that extra time for books has to be the best thing about a cold (apart from the comfort food). 'Guernica' was finished up on Tuesday, I managed 'Boy Meets Boy' in a day without having to rush and now I'm not sure whether to start something new or to watch more of 24 season five. Box set marathons - another perk of being full of cold. I think this time 24 might win.

I always have quite a bit of trouble deciding what to read while ill. My tolerance for sweet, but dumb is low so if I pick up a piece of chick-lit, comedy, or romance it has to be really smart to keep me entertained. However I don't want anything too brain wearing because I'm sick (sniff, sniff - milks it). A young adult romance made the cut yesterday, because I knew there was a good chance it'd be intelligent. After I finished that I had a bit of a hunt around the house for exciting historical fiction last night in case I felt like reading today and was overwhelmed by how many books you can hide in truncks, storage boxes and wardrobes. Any possible readerly whim could be accomodated by our book stash at the moment and we could start a lending library for readers who like historical fiction. Overwhelmed! So I could use your help deciding what to read next if you don't mind voting in the comments. Here are the possible selections, taken from the multitudes:

'Wench' - Doleen Pekins-Valdez: Mistresses and female escape

'Remarkable Creatures' - Tracey Chevalier: Female scientists and fossils

'The Still Point' - Amy Sackville: Artic exploration and widowhood

'The Street Philosopher' - Matthew Palmpin: The Crimean War and journalism

'Daphne' - Justine Picarde: Writers and restlessness

Whatever you pick will be my lunch time book on my first day back at work. Yay?