Now Playing: Beethoven, Symphony No. 7, "Poco Sostenuto--Vivace."

Not that anyone misses this particularly, but thought I'd post a wee something up here. There might possibly be some photos around [ somewhere ], too.

Since I theoretically have so much time to read these days, I may post a few short reviews of books. The first happens to be a pair of books, The Paradise Wars and The Silver Hand, Books I and II of the Song of Albion trilogy by Stephen Lawhead.

Both books are set in a quasi-Celtic Britain, the premise of the plot being that a pair of Oxford students are whisked away to Albion thanks to a sort of space-time discontinuum. What follows is set almost exclusively in the Celticized world of Albion, in which characters from Celtic legend predominate.

The plot moves swiftly and intensely through a story that grows increasingly dark from the first book to the second. Since Lawhead is a Christian author, the imagery in the story is unmistakable as a salvific figure arises from the most unlikely corner. The moments of triumph shine vividly against the extremely dark acts of evil with which the hero and his tiny contingent of followers must contend.

Overall, the plot is a simple, classic struggle between very good and very evil. Very good appears to be weak and outnumbered; very evil is--well, very evil. From a human perspective, though, such a plot often mirrors our experience on this earth, so books that follow that experience can be a refreshing reminder of the inevitable triumph our world will have in Christ.

The third book in the trilogy, The Endless Knot, is sitting next to my laptop, waiting its turn.