Ironically, or not, the shelves of my friends are filled with books I did not get to...the expectation that if and when I visit I could jump right back in. My last five books: Ruth Rendall's "The New Girlfriend," Ishiguro's "Nocturnes," Patrick McCabe's "The Butcher Boy," Volume 1 of Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd." I'm soon departing Seoul so I've been on a tear as I've consumed these five in the past 10 days. Of course I still have seven left of which I'll see how many I can squeeze into my duffle or they'll once again serve as parting gifts.