Escapism

I’m done whining about the weather. NO, really I am!  Tomorrow we're getting a wee break from the wall to wall wind and rain. Naturally, this means that Ten and I will head to Nantasket at dawn for a nice long walk. We’ll say hello to the sun, ask how it spent it’s looooong vaca away from us.

My exhaustion is beginning to fade thanks to the careful ministrations of Doctor Coco. Also too, Ten. He gets my ass outta bed, makes me step away from the computer and work and hauls me to the gym.

I've got enough energy to visit the library today. For the last few days or so I've been slogging my way through a book which I'd fully expected would hit all my feebed out wants and needs.

• Escapism!
• Fantasy!
• Magic!
• Warm witty banter and droll exposition!

and mebbe most important

• Scary monsters/villains vanquished by the plucky heroine!!!

Ya know, a real ripping yarn. Did I get that? NO!

I've come to rely on Charlaine Harris. I count on her scribblings to buoy me through trying times. I curl up with one her stories and for the next hour or two I'm utterly engrossed in what up with Sookie Stackouse, Fiji Cavanaugh or any of her other wonderfully relateable protagonists.  Sadly, that wasn't the case with the latest, An Easy Death,

It had everything I thought I needed. What I hadn't anticipated was the tone – sad, downbeat and too damn much like real life with its fractured US  (Russia got the West coast). I believe I've now read ALL of Ms. Harris's books.This gives me a sad, dammit!

I KNOW that she and John Scalzi (my other go-to escapism author) are prolific wordsmiths BUT write more faster please!

"Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what's going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still."

~ Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

True BUT if I stare into the scalding flames of brutal reality 24/7 I can't hope to remain sane. Also too, this is a short life – let's mix in some damn fun with all that hard work of survival and triumphing over evil doers and shit. 

Huh? Good idea, right? 

"There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen.”
~ Arthur Conan Doyle, The Five Orange Pips