Thursday, December 14, 2006

Book update

Finally, an update on what I've been reading (unfortunately, it hasn't been much.)

Book #23 took me a long time to read and I'm not totally sure why. The subject matter was interesting and the book was engaging and easy to read but I found that I wasn't in the mood to sit and read for hours on end about poverty. That said, I learned a lot from reading Out of Poverty: and Into Something More Comfortable by John Stackhouse. Stackhouse is a foreign correspondent with the Globe and Mail and in this book he travels to impoverished villages and war-torn countries in order to discover some of the ways the people were trying to raise themselves up without the aid of NGOs. He discovered that people could be incredibly resourceful and savvy when given a push in the right direction. This book was incredibly insightful and if you are at all interested in international development, I would recommend it.

For book #24 I decided to go with something light after spending months reading about poverty. I've always enjoyed Philippa Gregory's historical novels so I sat down with The Constant Princess. I wasn't immediately drawn into this book about Katherine of Aragon's rise to the throne but as I read more I found it harder to put down. Like all of Gregory's novels, she portrays Katherine as a strong woman who has a few flaws. There's not much else I can say about this book except that if you've read and enjoyed some of Gregory's other books you will most likely enjoy this one as well.

Gifts for book lovers

Do you have a book lover on your shopping list who is particularly hard to buy for? Head over to 50books.com and check out the Second Annual Holiday Gift Guide for some seriously kick-ass suggestions.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Woe is me

Last night I had the worse case of what I ruled out as appendicitis so assumed was really bad gas. I've been feeling off since Friday evening so haven't been eating a heck of a lot and have been sticking mostly to salad and bread. After having a small piece of pizza for dinner last night my right side under my ribs really started to hurt. It was incredibly uncomfortable, my back was killing me, I couldn't sleep and by 2:30am I was in tears.

A. decided that he was taking me to the hospital and after a fairly short wait and a painful examination the doctor determined that it was most likely gall stones (apparently greasy food can set off an attack.) They took some blood, hooked me up to an IV and gave me some morphine. That was only the second time in my life I'd had morphine but man is it ever good stuff. My scalp was instantly tingling and within a minute or two I was feeling better. The doctor let me lie there for about an hour and at 5am sent me home with some Tylenol 3 and a requisition for an out-patient ultrasound. I'm really hoping it's NOT gall stones but I'll keep you posted.
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