What I'm Reading: Ships and Dragons

Since I've been confined to bed rest these past three weeks I've had plenty of time to indulge in my favorite pastime, reading. Daniel has been very good about supplying me with new books. I finished the entire Naomi Novik series of books about Temeraire the Dragon fighting for the British during their war with Napoleon. I think they call that "historical fiction" which is an oxymoron for sure. Daniel chose these books and, I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled with the concept at first glance. She's a wonderful author, though, and I quickly got hooked.

Currently I'm reading the final book in the Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. I had just finished another of her series when I found this one at the bookstore. We won't mention to my podiatrist that I was scooting around a bookstore instead of sitting at home with my leg elevated. Yesterday Miss Lady asked what I was reading, so to intrigue her into possibly reading it herself when I'm finished I just shrugged and said, "Oh, nothing special. One of the main characters, a 14 year old boy, just finished sawing off and stitching up the leg of the pirate who kidnapped him and stole his father's ship. He might live, if the poison from the sea serpent's bite doesn't kill him."

Hee hee. I'm always trying to encourage Miss Lady to read more since it seems like such a chore to her because she only reads school textbooks. The other day I sat in the kitchen while she was doing dishes and casually started reading out loud from a book about a girl her age who was fleeing from a band of outlaws who were trying to catch her because she could hear dragons and understand their "mind speech". Did I mention that I like books about dragons? When she was finished with the dishes I stopped and told her that since I'd already read the book before she was welcome to finish it. She took it to her room and stayed up that night reading it. Now if I could just find a sneaky way to get her to start enjoying vegetables more...