Love in the time of Norovirus (or, how I spent my Panama Canal cruise vacation)

If you have to be diagnosed with Norovirus while you're on a cruise ship, then for god's sake make sure you have the following:

a) a VERY supportive spouse (because while he didn't have it, he still had to be quarantined 24 hours -- as opposed to my 48)
b) a very large suite with a big bed and a very nice balcony -- I swear, if I was down in an inside room with no air from the outside coming in or unable to see the sun and had to be confined in my cabin, Larry would have probably been dead or our relationship destroyed by my utter bitchiness
-and-
c) lots and lots of decent books to read while you're out laying in the sunshine on your lounger chair on aforementioned balcony.

Now, personally, I don't think I had norovirus; I think I was suffering from my own stupidity. Ice in Acapulco. As I lifted my glass to drink my diet coke, I'm thinking about the last time I was in Mexico and had a drink with ice and got really sick, but I also figured I was at a hotel restaurant so it had to be safe, right? But 13 hours later, after spending an entire night with Montezuma's revenge and cramping, I figured I should probably go to the ship's doctor and get this done with. Oops. So off we go, my dh and I, down to deck 1. A few minutes later I'm getting back on the elevator with immodium in hand and tears on my face -- I've been confined to my room for 48 hours, Larry for 24. I didn't have any other symptoms -- I should have had a fever, been vomiting, and had aches and pains -- but rules are rules. I wouldn't have minded or cried if we were going to be at sea for the next 2 days, but oh no. I have to go to the doctor the day before we're stopping in Costa Rica, where we were going to do an eco tour in the rain forest. It was the only port (out of 6) that I really wanted to go do something, and I'm stuck in my room. The day we got there, I was so pitiable that our room steward came in the evening with a t-shirt for me because he felt so sorry that I couldn't leave the ship. I mean, I totally understand, because if it was norovirus, then the doctors couldn't take the risk of me passing it along to someone since it's extremely contagious. So I made a lot of jokes about being confined to quarters, ate a lot of room service soup (at least it was quite tasty), played a lot of extreme sudoku, laid out in the lounger chair in the hot sun and read a LOT of books. My husband deserves a medal, I must say. So what follows are the books I read (not all of them under the norovirus containment, but all on my 3-week vacation).