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Sunday, November 30, 2003


A debacle of a return

Well, I'm back safe and sound in Chicago after a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Upon my return, facilitated by Mitch and Denise kindly picking me up from the airport, I discovered that my car, apartment, and other assorted keys had not made it to Chicago. No, they were still hanging on the key rack in Florida. Damn, but that makes one feel dumb. Well, it was not a serious crisis as I had clean clothes, my school books, and Mitch offered his couch to me until my keys arrived via airmail. Thankfully though, I have a kind, kind landlord who brought to me a spare set of keys, so I don't have to impose on the Smith's much more than I already have. So, my keys should arrive on Tuesday - until then, I am thankful for the CTA because it can get me to school pretty easy. Other than that, a smooth ride to Chicago with no airport holdups or disasters.

In literature news, I have finished Robin Hobb's seafaring fantasy novel Ship of Destiny, which completes the trilogy. All in all, not a bad trilogy, a bit slow at times, but pretty good. The story was unique, I thought, and the character development was excellent. So good that, at times, it slowed the plot down to a near halt, but since I like character development, it didn't bother me all that much. To some readers though, it may be a stumbling block. I was surprised by the ending not so much in what happened, but rather in who remained alive and who didn't. A little unusual and certainly not what one had hoped.

Whenever I finish a fantasy trilogy or other really long story, I always feel a bit melancholy at leaving a world and characters behind that I've come to know well. But, there's always the next book to look forward to, which in my case happens to be Yann Martel's Life of Pi, a strange sounding novel about the adventures of a ship wrecked boy who has as his companion in the life boat a Bengal Tiger...we'll see how that ends up. I'm a bit surprised at the book's length (about 330 pages), because I would think a story about a boy in a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger could not possibly last that long, but as I said, we'll see.

-R

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