Spirit of the River

A few days ago I finally received an email about the foreign language books I supposedly sent to them (for the background see: First experiences with Fishpond's SmartSell ). It took them forever to send me the reply. The excuse was that they needed to get the info from the warehouse - but what kind of warehouse needs such a long time? Anyway, the list I received was a long list of books I've never heard of and they were all in languages I don't even speak. Instead of being greedy and dishonest, I told them that I had no idea who the books belong to as they are clearly not mine. That's the end of that story! Why they thought those books belonged to me I do not know. Maybe they arrived in a parcel on the same day as my books arrived and maybe the sender had forgotten to place a packaging slip into the parcel. It might be that Fishpond then assumed the books would be mine. I hope they will find the owner of the books and if not, pass them on to a charity or a library that...

“Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.” - J.R.R. Tolkien on his critics J.R.R. Tolkien is the writer and linguistic who inspired me since I was a teenager, he's been part of my life for more or less 18 years. I always enjoy reading " The Hobbit " and " Lord of the Rings " and try to read at least one of his books each year. I also enjoyed a lot of his other works, including his more linguistic and historic works. In this post, I would like to share some of my favourite Tolkien quotes with you - and many of you will be able to guess who said what! J.R.R. Tolkien All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be w...

Often, when I am not in a good mood, I wonder which books would help me to find new hope, to smile, to get a lighter heart again. There are hundreds and thousands of books out there, so I am sure there are many inspiring, motivating books - fiction as well as non-fiction. What are books that you can recommend for different moods? Are there any books that cheer you up?

Just to keep you updated: I still did not receive a reply about the non-English books they said I sent to them. So what happened there? Just bad customers service?