I instantly knew what was happening.

Within seconds I could feel it taking hold of my body. One minute I was fine, and literally the following minute my throat began tightening up as my head grew substantially heavier.

All of the Florida orange juice and painfully large vitamins I had been sporadically swallowing had let me down. Over the course of the day I was also granted a mild case of body aches to accompany my raw esophagus and pressurized head.

I was not surprised at my fate; most of my friends and family had been combating colds in the past weeks, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before my luck ran out. Fortunately, this cold is not going to escalate any further than it already has, but sometimes we do not get off so easily.

A long list of negative aspects surround winter sicknesses, but sometimes there is a bit of silver lining. Between the feverish sweats, large-diameter needles and lumbering toilet dashes, there are moments where a good book can take you far away from the mundane couch where your weary body rests.

Many of us tend to worsen our conditions by fretting over work or family-related obligations we have no rightful business attending to while contagious. This is easy to do; sit for hours covered in blankets and watch the television screen and our minds continue a loop of all we are missing.

Reading, on the other hand, requires our brains to become engulfed in not only comprehending what is written, but also creating a mental image of characters and settings. Less time for worry, more time for recovery.

If in the subsequent weeks you find yourself homebound or in a position where you have a lot of waiting to do, I have pulled a sampling of books out of my library I strongly recommend. Youngsters fall ill more often than adults, so I have started my spring reading picks with two award-winning novels I thoroughly enjoyed in my youth.

I must admit the exact details of each are blurry, but the fact that I can still recall the titles and authors after 15 or so years proves to me these were a few of the exceptional books I enjoyed as a kid. &#8220The Sign of the Beaver” by Elizabeth George Speare and &#8220My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George is a pairing of fantastic literature.

These two books capture what every young person yearns for: a feeling of independence. While doing so, both tales of self-determination also intertwine American history, family ties and an impressive dose of woodsmanship.

To this day I still remember pieces of wood lore and tactics I first encountered within the pages of &#8220The Sign of the Beaver” and &#8220My Side of the Mountain.”

Gene Hill is an outdoor writing legend who has penned many famous titles and magazine articles, some of which I have read and some of which I have yet to read.

&#8220Passing a Good Time” is one of Mr. Hill’s collections of short stories I never tire of. This book has several concise, easy-to-read short stories ranging from deer hunting in the old days to watching the &#8220big one” break off a leader and head downstream.

A large portion of my sporting volumes pertain to the canine companions that accompany us into the fields during the fall and entertain us at home the rest of the year. Many of these are training books that offer techniques and gadgetry to speed up the training process or result in a more &#8220finished” dog.

However, my favorites have always been the books that describe sporting dogs in action. Doug Traux assembled a masterpiece when he took the initiative to publish an anthology titled &#8220A Breed Apart.”

What sets this particular book apart is the fact that Mr. Traux called upon not only the biggest names in the business, but also some undiscovered talent to compose their favorite unpublished dog story especially for this book.

Some of the stories are hysterical accounts of days afield or in the blind, while others are heartbreaking tales of sorely missed four-legged friends. Keeping in mind Traux asked each author to compose his very best work, every solitary chapter is energetic and fresh.

This final book is one I spent years hearing about before I finally gave up on finding it inside any bookstore and ordered it online. When I at last had the book in my possession and got the chance to read it, I knew what all of the fuss had been about. Tom Kelly wrote &#8220Tenth Legion” in a style I had never encountered in outdoor literature.

&#8220Tenth Legion” is very short, but packed inside the covers is a philosophical viewpoint of the natural world, and turkey hunting, that is mystifyingly appealing. I personally appreciated his seemingly endless knowledge of trees and plants, which he infuses into his many anecdotes of chasing turkeys through Southern bottomland forests of the mid-20th century.

This is not a &#8220how to” book on turkey hunting, but rather an insight into an individual with an undying love of nature. I have always felt that the second-best thing next to being outside is reading about others’ adventures outside.

With a book, an outlet to adventure is only a turn of the page away, no matter if you are seated at a terminal in JFK or feeling lousy at home in bed.

– Geordon T. Howell is the outdoors writer for the Daily News. Contact him at highbrasshowell@yahoo.com.