Terry Goodkind's new book in his Sword of Truth series - Phantom - is out in paperback today. I'm going to go check the bookstores tomorrow to see if they have it. Not holding my breath in hopes that they have it -- not really expecting any of them to have it. The level of literature here in Miri is frightfully lacking.

I've got a 10 Books I want for Christmas list all written up now. Going to send the list to my bro and have him buy what I can't get here in Singapore, for when he comes back to Miri.

He resigned from his current job on Tuesday and during his last month, they don't let him take leave so he won't actually be coming back for Christmas. I guess that makes it the 10 Books I want for New Year's list.

Speaking of books -- it's taking me forever to finish reading the Divine Comedy. I'm done with Inferno and on Purgatorio now (Dante just got out of the first terrace). I can only read one or two canticles at a time (mainly because my literacy isn't so great that I can just read it and be done with it; gotta read a canto... sometimes more than once -_-... then read the notes).

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my cousin two weeks ago as I stole his laptop to look up a couple words on dictionary.com:

Cuz: What are you reading?
Me: A book. *shows him the Divine Comedy*
Cuz: What's that? *points at dictionary.com website*
Me: Dictionary lah.
Cuz: Why you looking at dictionary?
Me: Because got words I don't fully understand.
Cuz: Oh. *gives me funny look* You got look up words in the dictionary ah?

Apparently because my first tongue is English, I am therefore supposed to understand every single word in the language.