Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like ‘maybe we should be just friends’ turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love. Neil Gaiman

• Iain M. Banks, “Look to Windward”
• Anne McCaffrey, “Freedom’s Choice”

I’ve been wanting to read both Banks’ Culture books and McCaffrey’s Freedom series for a long time.

I also borrowed some books from Helene.

• Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, “Good Omens”
• Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts, “Daughter of the Empire”
• Robin McKinley, “Beauty”

I really need to take a few pictures of the City Library when I have a digital camera. Amazing place. If you’re in Stockholm, you should make a quick visit there just to have a look at the building.