Just finished Paradise by Koji Suzuki, the guy who wrote The Ring Trilogy, on which the movies were based. The story in Paradise spans ten thousand years, and as many miles, linking successive generations in an ethereal quest for love and finality which chases down time as if it were no more than a constraint. I've always thought that time is an illusion promulgated by mankind in order to make sure that everything doesn't happen all at once.

This is Suzuki's first novel, but it was only translated into English this year. While kind of pulpy, it does hold your interest sufficiently so that it can be read at one sitting, or lying (laying?) as in my case.

The book itself is presented as a type of trilogy, with the first portion being set in the distant past, the second in the 1800s and the third in 1990. Be on the lookout for the red deer whose forelegs are outstretched toward the sun. Basically the moral is that "love abides".

Also the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska is open for business which figures quite prominently, and if true would hold great promise for the election of Sarah Palin in 2012, in which case this blog will be written from Fiji.