I'm so dizzy...

...and no I'm not blonde!

I've not been well over the past 10 days or so and I've not simply lost my reading mojo, I've actually been finding reading nearly impossible. As anyone who knows me will understand this is not a happy place to find me in.

I've found the solution though - short stories. I've never been against the format as such but being a fast reader I've always preferred a longer story with lots of plot and character development.

However having balance problems and then side effects from the medicine I've needed to try something different, and it was the short story to the rescue.

I've been dipping into some of the Sherlock Holmes stories (who me - inspired to do so by the BBC series Sherlock? No! Never!) and really enjoying them. For short stories they have a lot of plot and character and it would seem that perhaps I also only have an aversion to modern crime as I am loving the problem solving that Conan Doyle creates.

When my mind has felt too woolly I've been trying other short stories and books of essays. Unusually for when I am ill the comfort reading of my 1930s school stories has failed and Elinor Brent Dyer's short stories left me cold, as did the chapters of PJ O'Rourke, Matt Frei and Justin Webb that I tried. I am quite enjoying some of Annie Proulx's short stories but they are hit and miss and it is definitely only *some* of them I am enjoying. And as a side not how did they get a full length movie out of Brokeback Mountain.

Anyway the next case for Holmes and Watson beckons so I shall leave you with a gratuitous shot from Sherlock and thank the BBC for encouraging me to try something different*



* And just as an aside to Mr Norfolkbookworm - just cos Sherlock owes a lot to Dr Who and inspired me to try something new this doesn't mean I will become a convert to that series!