1. I’m Finished! At long last I finished reading The Far Pavilions. I must say, after the doldrums of part five, the book really picked up. My two favorite storylines were Ash’s pursuit of his love interest, Juli, and Ash’s subsequent work as a spy in Kabul. I really appreciated the complex identity crisis Ash faced: his parents were British, but he was raised Hindu until he was nine, educated in Britain, employed by the British military in India, and loosely adopted by a Muslim family. He had three names: Ashton (British), Ashok (Indian), and Akbar (Afghan). At the end of the book, he found that he was not one of these people, but all three.
2. I’m Finished! I have reached the halfway point of my master’s degree by finishing all my schoolwork for this semester. I turned in my British literature paper on Monday and a story revision on Wednesday. I wrote about a hundred and fifty pages for class this semester and read more than fifteen books and seventy short stories. I am pleased with myself because I worked hard and earnestly and can say with a clear conscience that I have done my best.
3. And Now…Work. The only thing left this semester now is work. While the life of a graduate student concludes during Dead Week (or Pre-finals Week), undergraduates must still endure taking finals. And certain graduate students who grade for certain classes must still endure grading finals. I am, alas, such a graduate student. Early next week, I’ll be completely finished with work as well, but not until I’ve slogged through a batch of final exams. Oh well. I guess I’m almost finished.
Mostly About Books 