The portable TARDIS

For all non-Whovians (non-Doctor Who fans): the TARDIS is the time machine/spacecraft the Doctor uses on his travels. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space and basically it gives the screen writers an opportunity to set any episode in any time period or place of their choosing (real or imaginary). The first time I caught it on television was an episode with Agatha Christie, so I didn't recognize it at all because I thought Doctor Who was meant to be strictly sci-fi (at that point there were no aliens or strange creatures in sight). But I digress.

This whole thing is meant to be about books. Yes, books. Because they are the true TARDIS, the real transporters to alternate worlds and times. Anytime, anywhere, you open one and a few sentences in (less if the book/author is really good) you are somewhere else entirely. Not just that, you are someone else. You delve deep into the mind of characters and narrators, sometimes to such an extent that you find yourself with a completely different set of ideals. It happened to me with Gone with the wind; less than half way in and I was shamelessly rooting for the South (which is something I can't say I'd sanely do).

I'm one of those people that wants to know it all. So I will pick up books (most of them fiction) on practically anything. The fall of Troy. The American civil war. The Victorian age. Avalon-related books. Children's classics. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Teen fiction, you name it. And then there's the language. The sweet music of how the words are magically put together. Both in English and Portuguese, some books I pick them up not because I'm interested in the subject-matter, but rather because of how beautifully the phrases flow. Some authors have the gift of turning something bland into a hipnotic read; it's all so pretty you just can't look away and stop yourself from reading just another page. And another. And another.

It's my greatest source of existencial angst to be forced to acknowledge the fact that I will never read all the books I'd like to. And if I do cover all subjects, I will only be scratching the surface. So I'll never really be much of an expert in any kind of genre, because I can't commit to just one! I've never read anything set in Ancient Egypt, or about the fall of the Romanovs, I've never read Murakami (I bought Kafka by the shore in 2006, it's pathetic, I know...) or most of the great classics. If only I could read in my sleep...

Also, dear Whovians and non-Whovians, books are bigger on the inside. Think about it. Think of all the hours you invest in them, all the emotions you go through, all the worlds you get to know and things you get to find out. It's a hurricane-sized turmoil enclosed in just a few square inches of paper. Luckily, after you finish one there's always loads more to follow.

Unless you don't want to finish. In that case, just do as the Doctor does and rip out the last page. Then it never has to end.