"What wouldn't I give now for a never-changing map of the ever-constant ineffable? To possess, as it were, an atlas of clouds."

I have just finished one of the greatest novels I have ever read. I am, as always, somewhat at a loss now as to what to do now.

Does anyone else feel that finishing a fantastic book feels like losing something? I figure that instead of being melodramatic and silly, I'd rather recommend the book to everyone!

I'm sure some of you will have read it already but if not, I urge you to pick up Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I can't really describe it; praising it would be too lengthy. Here's an excerpt; please get a copy and enjoy it.

"A true suicide is a paced, disciplined certainty.People pontificate, "Suicide is selfishness." Career churchmen like Pater go a step further and call in a cowardly assault on the living. Oafs argue this specious line for varying reason: to evade fingers of blame, to impress one's audience with one's mental fiber, to vent anger, or just because one lacks the necessary suffering to sympathize. Cowardice is nothing to do with it - suicide takes considerable courage. Japanese have the right idea. No, what's selfish is to demand another to endure an intolerable existence, just to spare families,
friends, and enemies a bit of soul-searching. The only selfishness lies in ruining strangers' days by forcing 'em to witness a grotesqueness."