Book Coma: when a person is so engrossed in a book, they are unable to stop reading it until they finish the book.
Food Coma: a state of sleep or extreme lethargy induced by the consumption of a large amount of food.
I started the Easter holidays with only one thought in mind-rest and recuperation, away from frantic traffic jams and peopled restaurants and cafes. All I needed was peace and quiet and to just read.
My first reading goal was to finish John Steinbeck's epic tale of woe and deprivation, 'Grapes of Wrath,' which I had put off finishing until I was in a better frame of mind to deal with its sad story of grief, loss and dashed dreams. I managed it in the end, but left a little unsatisfied by the ending which felt unfinished.
Outside my bedroom window, I could hear the hum of cars, motorbikes and trucks going by on the highway, supermarkets and shops must have been packed with last-minute shoppers. Holy week meant church services busier than usual, which I opted out of this year, religious zeal somewhat lacking.
Instead I delved into another book, this time on geopolitics, 'The Power of Geography' by Tim Marshall, another read I had left unfinished. Firecrackers went off outside at night as I delved into chapters on Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, Spain and Australia, immersed in countries in the sweet solitude of my bedroom, faraway from observant and fasting-deprived elderly women and the louder than usual incantations of the priest in a church packed with people.
Easter Sunday arrived (after soup and boiled eggs the night before) with promise of a feast. As the array of meat, potatoes, pasta and salad was spread out on my aunt's garden table, I remembered the chapter I had read on Ethiopia in Tim Marshall's book about famine and the Joad family's food deprivation in 'Grapes of Wrath.' I was lucky I thought. Luckier than a lot of people who had less. Of course on Easter Sunday you eat more than most days, only because there is so much of it, food and then the promise of desserts and from a book coma comes a food coma where all you want to do is go home and sleep it off.
Before you know it, the urgent, religious week is over and with relief things slowly go back to some form of normalcy. After finishing 'The Power of Geography' I am now delving into another book and quite happy to do so after a walk by the beach and a coffee.
For me the Easter break is a time of resetting and starting again and reading helps even if it is combined with too much food, but that too is a kind of celebration, a moment of thankfulness and gratitude that for another year there is food on the table and seconds and thirds to go with it.
With all that is going on in the world food and books are a consolation. Everyone retreats into what they feel for them can bring happiness and fulfillment and forget all that brings pain and disappointment. Everyone moves on with the times and hopes for better days or at least stability and to see another year through.
