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I cannot believe I somehow managed to struggle through all 762 pages of the book Shadowmarch by Tad Williams.

This fantasy saga is not terribly exciting but there was something about it that kept me reading on and on to the end for some reason.

To be honest, a book must be really bad if I do not finish it after having read the first couple of hundred pages.

It's the first part of a trilogy, and before I'd started the first book I'd already purchased the second book Shadowplay (761 PAGES) in anticipation, having read so many positive reviews.

"A sublime piece of storytelling!"

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm not what you'd call an overly avid fan of fantasy. Hopefully the second and third books are better.

What especially appealed to me about the following book excerpt was the part about the saving rope being lowered from above, as if just by reaching up and holding onto it one is whisked away from the mundaness of the everyday world in which we sluggishly push along.

"But for me it was enough if, in my own bed, my sleep was so heavy as completely to relax my consciousness; for then I lost all sense of the place in which I had gone to sleep, and when I awoke at midnight, not knowing where I was, I could not be sure at first who I was; I had only the most rudimentary sense of existence, such as may lurk and flicker in the depths of an animal's consciousness; I was more destitute of human qualities than the cave-dweller; but then the memory, not yet of the place in which I was, but of various other places where I had lived, and might now very possibly be, would come like a rope let down from heaven to draw me up out of the abyss of not-being, from which I could never have escaped by myself: in a flash I would traverse and surmount centuries of civilisation, and out of a half-visualised succession of oil-lamps, followed by shirts with turned-down collars, would put together by degrees the component parts of my ego."

Remembrance of Things Past: Swann's Way - Marcel Proust

Rumor has it that I've decided to become some kind of Linux expert. So who am I trying to kid?!

At least I was happy when I came home today and discovered the big box from Amazon lying on the cabinet in the hallway entrance.

New challenges on the horizon are:

• Understanding the Linux Kernel by Bovet & Cesati
  
• Linux Device Drivers by Corbet, Rubini and Kroah-Hartman
  

By the way, there was also a more "normal" book as part of the shipment, namely:

• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

Two days ago I finished his first book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which I really liked.

On my way home yesterday, I stopped at the bookstore at the train station and purchased the following two paperbacks:

• Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Shadowplay by Tad Williams

When I realized I'd inadvertently bought book two I quickly went to Bol.com and ordered book one:

• Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

Am I getting overly addicted to buying books or what? No matter, I've got lots of time to read it all in the train, about two hours per day which is ten hours per week (or about one good novel a week).

I am sitting in the train on my way to work reading the book "The Curious Incident" by Mark Haddon.

When I finish the next chapter I look up and gaze out of the window reviewing in my mind all the stuff I just read.

Over to my left sitting next to the window, I see a younger well-dressed man who is also reading a book. Realizing unconsciously that some other stranger is gazing in his direction, he stops reading a looks back at me.

That is when I avert my glance, but just ever so slightly so that out of curiosity I can have a peek at the book he is reading. I'm always really curious what kind of books, magazines or whatever the other fellow passengers are reading.

Then to my surprise I discover that he is reading the very same book I am. It's a slightly larger edition than the copy I'm holding in my hand, but it is nonetheless the identical book. It also looks like he has read the same amount that I have, about three eighths of the book.

I wonder what the odds are that I am sitting across from someone who is reading the very same book that I am. The odds of winning the lottery are probably much better, so this is a unique moment that I should appreciate as long as possible.

Upon the first reading of the following paragraph, I was struck by its profound meaning and disturbed by its painful truthfulness at the same time. It's stuck in my head ever since, and I've reread it on a number of occasions in order to be able to soak in the totality of its forcefulness.

"At the imminent prospect of battle one experiences a wild excitement that precludes rationality. But in the boredom of waiting for it, one's mood changes. The excitement transforms itself into a kind of thoughtfulness that is solitary, but which requires the reassuring presence of others; people offer each other cigarettes in low voices, and when they pat each other's backs, their touch feels the need to linger. Some write notes or poems that will be found upon them after the event of their death, detailing regrets and previously unacknowledged longings. Others pass the time dismantling, cleaning, and reassembling weapons that are already in immaculate condition. They pass handfuls of ammunition from one pocket to the other, weighing up the best way to distribute it for ease of access. Others walk about with their hands in their pockets, smiling wanly, and with genuine affection, even at those who have always annoyed them intensely. Everyone looks at the world with heightened acuity, as though perceiving for the first time the globular abdomen of an ant, or the porous texture of snow."

- The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernieres.

Other books by him that I've read:

• Captain Corelli's Mandolin
• Birds Without Wings
  
• Red Dog

Well I finally finished the long and daunting Dan Simmons tetrology Hyperion Cantos consisting of the following four books: Hyperion (482 pages), The Fall of Hyperion (517 pages), Endymion (563 pages) and The Rise of Endymion (709 pages).

After having made my way through these 2271 pages, I would not dare expose whether or not The Shrike made it nor what important role he ended up playing together with Aenea, Raul Endymion and the blue android A. Bettik and the survival of the universe, not to mention Old Earth.

Looks mean but has a good soul.

"We may, indeed, say that the hour of death is uncertain, but when we say this we think of that hour as situated in a vague and remote expanse of time; it does not occur to us that it can have any connection with the day that has already dawned and can mean that death may occur this very afternoon, so far from uncertain, this afternoon whose timetable, hour by hour, has been settled in advance. One insists on one's daily outing, so that in a month's time one will have had the necessary ration of fresh air; one has hesitated over which coat to take, which cabman to call; one is in the cab, the whole day lies before one, short because one must be back home early, as a friend is coming to see one; one hopes it will be as fine again tomorrow; and one has no suspicion that death, which has been advancing within one on another plane, has chosen precisely this particular day to make its appearance in a few minutes' time . . ." - Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way.

I took the liberty to copy this quote used at the beginning of the latest novel by William Boyd called Restless, which I am currently reading, because I found the quote really insightful and appropriate.

In need of a spiritual recharge so that I can get myself in a rejuvenated mood of inspiration, I went to the American Book Center and bought myself a copy of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy.

By thinking positive thoughts I can achieve amazing miracles, at least that is what the book claims.

In his new book, Richard Dawkins continues the great God debate in spectacular fashion, although he has the tendency to hit hard at those poor souls who unthinkingly base their beliefs purely on blind faith.

Although from the scientific view of things he makes sense with his convincing arguments, he has the tendency to really go out of his way to put down believers endlessly. I'm not so sure the effort is really worth it.

If there truly is a God, then it really doesn't matter anyway whether or not this book is true. I read it purely for its entertainment value (and hope that in the end God will not strike me down because I am reading for fun).

After having reread the first book of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman I gained much momentum and finished the whole trilogy within a week. Truly a fantastic story. Too bad that Lyra and Will had in the end to be separated from each other for the good of the future of humanity but I guess that was bound to happen considering events between worlds and the way they were supposed to overlap.The subtle knife gets broken (purposely) and there is no turning back, but the dust ceases to drift for no reason at all and all openings to other worlds are sealed off for the sake of keeping history under control.