that's better!!

I started reading a Martina Cole book last week (The Family), and gave up in disgust after about 15 pages. I don't like being told what to think when I'm reading, I like to be shown what's going on. So that's going to be recycled to a charity shop!
To cheer myself up, I decided to read some good writing instead and found an unread Ursula Le Guin novel, Powers, on the bookshelf. It's the third part of the Tales from the Western shore. That was great and as it's been a few years since I read parts 1 and 2 they were next on the nightstand!
I'm a quick reader anyway but kids lit are very quick reads. So then I went to some Le Guin SF and read The Left Hand of Darkness and Rocannon's World. They were good, satisfying reads. Le Guin, like all good SF writers, looks at our society through a futuristic lens. What would life be like in there was no gender inequality? Or even no distinct genders at all? 
After that I was off to Earthsea (D had introduced me to Earthsea about 23 or so years ago, when I was mooching about in our flat looking for something to read and he give me his copy of The Tombs of Atuan to read) for a bit of fantasy.
Then I just had to curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine and The Dispossessed.
...and after that I felt much better, the annoying book forgotten and my mind filled with good writing, good characters and thought provoking stories. Although it has interfered with my knitting, as I can't knit and read at the same time.

I've not blogged much about my team recently as it's been too depressing for words. The Black Cats have not been able to buy a goal and had plummeted down the table to 16th, only getting 1 point from the last 9 games (1 out a possible 27 pts). But today, despite going down a goal to Wigan we managed to pull back to 4-2, giving us 41 points and taking us back up to 10th. So that's a lot better. There's still 4 matches to go, and while we're not totally safe, but at least we're moving in the right direction!
So now that I feel much better I can get back to Seraphina's sleeves!