This has been a bad week. Maybe the worst week in the past year, in terms of my non-writing life, and definitely the worst week in years in my writing life. I've been crying, sleeping badly or not at all, plagued with pain--crunchy muscles in my back and neck, my old hip injury flaring. I feel cold all the time.
Bad times will pass, of course. I'm like a boulder--I can take some weathering. It helps to have a good book to read, and yesterday I went and hid in the library and read THE IMPOSITION OF UNNECESSARY OBSTACLES by Malka Older.
'Hid' may not be the right word. I set up a post in the corner of the computer lab, beside the printer and some noisy children, because there's a window there that looks out on the bike racks, and I prefer to be able to see my bike when it's parked, if I'm going to be inside for a while. I have three different bike locks and a tracker in the frame, but, well. We have a bike theft problem in my city. Not really worse than other cities, I suppose, but I really like my bike and I don't want it to go missing.
I was, also, soaking wet, since I'd been biking in the rain and wind, and so I was freezing, and under florescent lights, in an uncomfortable plastic chair, and people kept calling the librarian over to explain how to use the printer. This is more or less how my week has been going. But at least I had a good book to read.
IMPOSITION is a really cute book. A well-constructed cozy mystery in a fascinating, innovative setting. Older uses language beautifully, including languages other than English--so if you speak a second language you get to feel quite smart when you understand the connotations of words like comemierda (lit. 'shit-eater'). I love the characters, although my one complaint is that I almost felt like we didn't see enough of Mossa, since the characters are separated often. This is a book that somehow feels both perfectly classic, and fresh and new. A great read for avoiding going home / drying off in an only-moderately-warm library while the wind howls outside.
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