Today's word of the day is "despondency."

via The Daily What

Despondency

state of being despondent; depression of spirits from loss of courage or hope; dejection.

I would cling to unhappiness because it was a known, familiar state. When I was happier, it was because I knew I was on my way back to misery. I've never been convinced that happiness is the object of the game. I'm wary of happiness.

-Hugh Laurie

The world is rapidly shrinking.  As more satellites are launched and civilization continues to spread about the globe, it's getting harder to find any true mysteries left unsolved.  The age of exploration and adventure seems dead and forgotten.  Or is it?

In Benjamin Parzybok's debut novel, Couch, three twenty-somethings embark on an epic quest that takes them from their apartment in Portland, OR to the furthest reaches of myth and human experience.  Along the way they meet attractive journalists, steampunk enthusiasts, nefarious collectors, helpful councils, drunken guerillas and many others.  For it seems like the couch has a destination in mind, somewhere that it wants to go, and it's up to the three roommates to ensure it arrives there.

What makes the book interesting isn't it's seemingly unique premise - though the idea of an act of furniture moving expanding into an epic quest of identity is certainly intriguing.  What makes the readers follow along in the story are the three main characters - Thom, Tree and Eric - each with something off about them, and each with a carefully formed personality that intensifies and/or undergoes some changes in the course of the journey.

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