The Healing Power of Books

[zdashamber]

So, I've had a pretty nasty pointless cough for the past ten days or so. I mean, is my diapraghm connected to the V-point of my ribs? I should have gone ahead and taken that class in college where they got to dissect a person over the course of the semester. Then I could come up with better bullshit theories for why I particularly hurt there.

Books to me have always been an analgesic. Like, say, advil, they can hold off pain (particularly emotional aches) long enough for the body to deal with the cause. However, on Friday evening, I had the odd experience of a book's curative powers extending to the physical. That is, when I started the book, I was coughing and hurting; over the course of reading it, the cough became more rare and productive, and then went away entirely.

Alas, the book's power seems to have waned a bit since I finished it. However, perhaps that's the effect of the overdose I took on Saturday. Let's just say, if I was fitted with a radio tracking collar, yesterday scientists would have come to my house to make sure I hadn't died.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

If you are a reader to the point that reading is almost effortless, far faster than hearing the words spoken aloud, then reading is innately pleasurable (especially if what you're reading is at all interesting), and it gives you something to focus on other than the pain.

This fails to work if I am so sick that reading becomes an effort. This usually happens only if I am actually becoming delirious, or incredibly nauseous.