In which I begin to talk about books - Around the World in 80 Days

So I've been crazy-busy since I last posted, and I've only read a few more chapters of Around the World in 80 Days...which is lame because it is not a long book.  I just want to summarize some of what I've been reading until I have more read.

The basic plotline so far:  Mr. Phileas Fogg is a respectable English gentleman who does respectable English things.  He goes to his social club, is very punctual, and expects everyone around him to be exact and punctual as well.  When we meet him, he has recently hired a new servant (because his last one was not exact enough).  This servant is a Frenchman named Passepartout.  On the day that Passepartout is hired, Mr. Fogg enters into a bet with his friends.  He bets a substantial amount of his savings that modern travel can get him around the entire world is 80 days.  Once he leaves, the entire country is in a temporary uproar, everyone with their own opinion about the likelihood of his success.  Then, it surfaces that around the time that he left there was a major bank robbery in London.  The first major stop on his journey is the Suez Canal, where there is a British officer waiting to try to arrest him...fortunately for Mr. Fogg, things don't go according to plan.

My thoughts:
1.  I'm not sure if I love or hate the fact that Passepartout sounds like "Passport".  Google translate also tells me that his name means "happening everywhere"...which is sort of what the character wanted to avoid.  Passepartout sought out Mr. Fogg because he heard that he was the most constant person in all of London.  Once he enters Mr. Fogg's employ, he does nothing but travel and worry.

2.  At first glance, it seems like Mr. Fogg's actions are very out of character and unpredictable, but after thinking it over, his story reads just like any other cliche adventure - the unlikely hero enters into a bargain (a bet, orders from a superior, etc) and must travel outside their comfort zone to faraway places to accomplish their goal.  Where Mr. Fogg differs from these other travelers is that he takes no pleasure in his journey (thus far).  He does not venture above deck on the steamship, he does not converse with others (even the people that he plays cards with).  He acts as though nothing has changed, even when his entire way of being has dramatically shifted.  Between predictability, cliche, and peculiarity, Mr. Fogg just might be one of the more interesting characters I have read about in a long time.

That's all I've got for now.  Hopefully I can get some more read this weekend.

Until then.