A hundred and twenty hard fought pages.

Just home from work, have two days off, so I'm getting prepared to happily sleep until 5.

This evening finished reading from pages 122-242, got through about 40 pages and started worrying that nothing was sinking in. All I can remember from that section is the pragmatic (evil?) Pavlovian Pointsman getting lucky in a closet during a Christmas party, and an amusing dialogue between skin cells about what happens to them after they reach the upper layer of skin. It would be depressingly nihlistic but for the fact that it was cute and funny.

And I just now remembered the part about Roger Mexico and Jessica randomly dropping in on a church service for the holiday and listening to the black man uh contra tenor? Is that the phrase? Urh I should know that. Well, there's that and Jessica's ruminations on Mexico's many faults. Oh, also Mexico stated freaking OUT about the thought that the psychically gifted psi-corps he worked with was messing with his brain.

So, actually, I've remembered a fair bit of stuff I hadn't expected in that section- that's good! But I was going to say that I didn't need to worry about not remembering the stuff after that point: it turns into a section following that unlikely American lothario Slothrop who GETS TO FIGHT A GIANT OCTOPUSS!!!

Pretty awesome, I think that goes without saying. He hooks up with a spy we met earlier (she's spying on him, I should point out) while his friend gets disappeared, and he gets all his stuff stolen while he's in bed with that spy Katje- which leads to a pretty great purple sheet/toga running after a midget thief chase scene.

Yeah, that Slothrop stuff was a lot of fun to read, way more energizing than the earlier section, but still a tough go over all when you're trying to read it in the dead of night at a desk in a condo lobby. I seemed to blow through pages when I was on the bus ride home, the new risen sunlight to read by and refresh me.

Pointsman had gotten pretty sure of himself, that he didn't need to worry about Pudding cutting his funding, and it looks like it's because Pointsmant has snookered Pudding into some kind of sado-masochistic relationship (maybe with that spy from the Slothrop bit, Katje, I'm not sure, and I had thought the two parts would be operating nearly simultaneously, but then again how long does it really take to leave Slothrop in France and take up that new post in England...), mixed maybe with some kind of survivor's guilt perhaps?

Not sure if this was just before or after the Pudding stuff, but we get a pretty amazing scene between Slothrop anbd Katje on the beach. Everything we're told is pretty much from Slothrop's perspective, but we add to Katje's expressions what we know of her life in Germany, her interactions with Prentice... WE know Slothrops musings about Katje seem pretty spot on, but HE doesn't know that. Ah, I liked that bit.

And finally just got into a section where some new guy whose name starts with 'R' is observing Slothrop.

Just wanted to get that down while it was in my mind, for the sake of solidifying what's happening in this novel (a trick in and of itself) and for getting another post up.

I'll try for a third tomorrow. Who knows what about?!? Not me.

Seriously, I don't know what it'll be about. If you think I'm kidding around, that my next post will just be more of me synopsising of this book, well, you're wrong, because I've got the day off from work, so I'll be doing other stuff in place of reading. Like hopefully go to the gym so that I don't suck gym-wise.

I'm back at work Wednesday, so maybe more synopsising Thursday morning, okay?

But I am watching Transformers 3 Tuesday, so I bet I'll mention that sometime.