A long bout of pneumonia, with not much I could do but lie abed and read. First the Xmas Books:

Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy: Starts out fun, but gets confused later.
The Rum Diaries (Hunter Thompson): Aimless drifting, but entertaining.
A Deepness in the Sky (Ventnor Vinge): Not as good as the wonderful Fire in the Deep.

...and then I ran out of new stuff, and started to plumb the mustier shelves of my library, and found....

Philosophical Dictionary (Voltaire): which holds up very well after 250 years! Witty, wise and strangely current!