Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

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sk8cynic

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #1

Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I am going to be having surgery in two weeks, and I am on the hunt for good reading while I'm on the mend. Can anyone recommend any good books?

I'm not a big fan of fantasy/science fiction - most of what I read is usually in the vein of history, humor, skating (but of course!), and for the occasional mind candy, suspense fiction (but not horror).

I'm also looking to catch up on skating programs from seasons past. If anyone can make a copy of old skating tapes, I am looking for 2002 Nats, 1998 Nats, 1998 Nagano, and 2002 SLC (I had a couple of these at one time but they accidentally got taped over).

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

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mike79

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #2

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I would recommend anything by Toller Cranston. He's always so opinionated that it makes for really interesting reading.

Good luck with your surgery.

 

K

Kara Bear

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #3

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I just read Jane Urquhart's The Stone Carvers and it was amazing. It a bit history-ish, but very much ficton. Urquhart is a beautiful writer.

 

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DORISPULASKI

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #4

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

If you like historical fiction, Dorothy Dunnett's the Lymond Chronicles (6 books with the names of chess pieces in the titles, based around the time of Queen Elizabeth I are really gripping) They are about 20 to 25 years old, but can still be bought.

dpp

 

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Show 42

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #5

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Stock up on videos or dvds.......comedies, some say, speed the recovery after illness or surgery........best of luck and let us know how you're doing.....42

 

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4dogknight

Guest

• Apr 15, 2003

• #6

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I want to second dpp's suggestion of Dorothy Dunnett's
The Lymond Chronicles and also suggest Dunnett's more current House of Niccolo series, set in 15th century Low Countries (Bruges). This is an eight book series dealing with merchants, bankers, petty warriors and nobility.

Further suggestions:
Barbara Erskine's Lady of Hay and Child of the Phoenix.
Any of the Jane Austin books/movies/mini-series. I think the
Brontes are too dark for convalescents.
The ever popular GWTW (Gone With The Wind)
Like dogs? - any of the Susan Conant dog mystries
Like cats? - any of the Lillian Jackson Braun The Cat Who
books
if you can find them, The Roselynde Chronicles by Roberta
Gellis.

And then there are the Ann Perry books and the Clive Cussler books (Dirk Pitt series).
When I was recouperating with a broken thumb, I reread the Ayn Rand books, selected Shakespeare plays, selected Greek dramas and comedies, The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte and the Advise and Consent series by Alan Drury.

Can you tell I'm a reader?

4dk

 

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dlksk8fan

Guest

• Apr 16, 2003

• #7

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I just got through reading "A Beautiful Mind" and found it very interesting. You could read the book and then watch the movie. I thought the movie was good too, nothing like the book.

 

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Grgranny

Guest

• Apr 17, 2003

• #8

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

With the last two surgeries I had I was going to organize my tapes and catch up on magazines but never got to do it. I got along so well (in my seventies) I didn't have much recuperation time. Just got busy and did my work. So, don't count on too much layover time!:lol: Of course, that last one on my knee, got that infection and had to spend 5 more days in the hospital, but once I came home, just got busy. Still need to organize my tapes. :rollin: If you like Wheel of Fortune, you can go to their site and play it. Do you like needlework? If you don't want to think and can knit, make dishrags.

 

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Pookie

Guest

• Apr 17, 2003

• #9

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Any of the Jane Austin books/movies/mini-series. [/quote]
I second 4dk suggestion! :lol:

Absolutely the Pride and Prejudice miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I can't watch it enough. If you haven't already watched it, it is a must whether you are having an operation or not.

Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds is really good too.

Of course Jane Austin's books are always enjoyable.

Good luck with your operation.

 

J

Joesitz

Guest

• Apr 17, 2003

• #10

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Sk8cynic - First of all, good luck with the surgery.

More than 99.9 per cent it works. But there is the aftermath. I believe humour is the best for convalescence. If you have access to TV, I would suggest some Benny Hill videos or Faulty Towers, but then I am an Anglophile. Think about what would make you laugh and get it on video.

It does work and in no time you will forget the surgery.

Joe

 

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Grgranny

Guest

• Apr 17, 2003

• #11

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I hope your surgery goes really well and not much recuperation time. Do they give you any indication of how long you will be recuperating?

 

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sk8cynic

Guest

• Apr 18, 2003

• #12

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Just wanted to say 'Thank You!' for the suggestions and well-wishes. I'm placing my order with Amazon today, and I should stay plenty occupied while on the mend.

 

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DORISPULASKI

Guest

• Apr 21, 2003

• #13

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

4dog, Just sent in an order to Amazon for all 8 Niccolo books by Dunnett. I checked, and the Lymond Chronicles are indeed available.

Thanks for telling me about them!! For years after Lymond, I kept checking on Dunnett, but she was not writing more historicals at that time. The detail (and for that matter, the correctness of the detail with the Lymond series was amazing.
I am expecting the same of Niccolo.)

dpp

 

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4dogknight

Guest

• Apr 22, 2003

• #14

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Dpp
Let me suggest two additional books:
The Dorothy Dunnett Companion and The Dorothy Dunnett Companion (Volume II) by Elspeth Morrison.

When I first read the Lymond series, it drove me up a wall translating the Latin, French and Italian quotes. And I really had to research to find out more information about the people she referred to.

Here’s a quote by Dunnett from the first Companion Foreword:

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The novels are full of allusions – to classical and Renaissance prose writing, to poetry, to songs, to liturgy, to folk verse and ballads and plays, to proverbs and jokes, some of them not entirely delicate. They appear in a number of languages. They were and are the plums in the pudding.
I didn’t note where I got them. Only when the first twelve, the first fifty, the first hundred readers’ letters began to arrive asking for the source, the second verse, the translation, did I realize what a hole I was in. I have stayed in a hole for thirty-four years.
Until now. For this book, Elspeth Morrison has had to recreate the skills of one of our more illustrious Edinburgh shades, and turn detective. In doing so, she has laid open my own thinking of thirty years recovering for me forgotten nuances and deep laid plans and designs.[/quote]

I checked amazon.com and both books are available at $10.50 each paperback.

I strongly recommend these books because you’ll get so much more out of the Lymond and Niccolo series. (Although reading both series without the aid of the Companion, made me brush up on my French and Latin.)

 

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DORISPULASKI

Guest

• Apr 22, 2003

• #15

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

I managed to get most of the stuff in the Lymond Chronicles--at the time I was finishing up a double major in college-Physics and Latin, minors in history, ancient Greek and math. It was the French that I had to brush up on at the time. Are the Niccolo novels full of the same kind of stuff? At this point, after a career spent in engineering, my Latin and Greek are rustier than they were. I will probably need the companion these days. Thanks for the suggestions.
dpp

 

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Ladskater

Guest

• Apr 22, 2003

• #16

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

sk8cynic :

There are many good figure skating books, but also a "must read" on my list is "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee - if you have not already read it. Also I highly recommend the movie - now avaliable on DVD. It's one of my guaranteed to make me cry movies. I also recommend a book by Barbara Kingsolver - "The Poisonwood Bible" which is right up there with "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Do you like Woody Allen movies? "Annie Hall" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" are his best.

Also "Shakespear In Love" is a great movie

I could recommend lots more, but this is it for now.

Best Wishes for a speedy recovery

Ladskater

 

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rgirl181

Guest

• Apr 23, 2003

• #17

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Italo Calvino <em>Cosmicomics</em> and <em>T-Zero</em>. They sound sci-fi, but Calvino just uses physics to make very humanistic stories. I love them, but not everyone's cup of tea.

Guiseppe di Lampedusa <em>The Leopard</em>. One of the greats.

Vladimir Nabokov <em>Lolita</em>. Read the book, watch the Kubrik version of the movie, read Nabokov's version of the script (which Kubrik didn't use), then watch the Adrian Lyne film version (Jeremy Irons as HH--cool), then write me about what you thought of it all.

Fer darn fun: The DVDs of "The Larry Sanders Show" is out and available for rent. I love it and still LMAO watching it. I think the whole world works like this. I watch it and imagine people in figure skating in the roles.

Almost forgot: The ultimate hilarious, sick humor, recovery entertainment: The DVDs of "The Singing Detective." It's coming out as a movie soon, but this is the one with Michael Gambon from about 20 years ago as a PBS miniseries. This has the most hilarious musical number in an operating room ever.

Hope they give you one of those pain medicine pumps. Those babies are great
Rgirl

 

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Grgranny

Guest

• Apr 23, 2003

• #18

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Those medicine pumps are great and you don't get nearly as groggy. You don't want something that will make you laugh too hard. Depends on where your stitches are but that can be mighty painful. (I lost count after the 15th surgery.) You don't want to try anything too heavy as your brain just won't comprehend all that well. Of course, it depends on what kind of surgery as to how groggy, etc., you will be.
Exactly what date is your surgery?

 

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sk8cynic

Guest

• Apr 23, 2003

• #19

Re: Suggestions for Post-Op Entertainment

Monday the 28th. I have to be there at the ridiculous hour of 5:00 in the morning, so I'm debating just staying up, since I rarely get to sleep before 2!!

I had the PCA pump when I had back surgery, and it was truly a godsend. When I had my appendix out (emergency surgery, so no laparoscopy), I didn't have one, just a shot in the hip every 3 hours, and the difference in pain management between the two was amazing!!

Can't wait to dive into the books (if they ever get here ). If they show up before Monday, I doubt I'll get ANY sleep this weekend, much less the night before! :lol: