Around the World in 80 Days, Closure

How satisfying to slash a perfect, thin black stroke through a Classic on my TBR List. This book was simply unlike anything I've ever read before. Funnily enough, I encountered no hot-air balloons which I had anticipated from the cover. Perhaps those weren't balloons, per se, as I'd thought. Ah well, I'll have the matter elucidated soon enough.
Now, I have to say: I was rather expecting the ending of the book. It was utterly foreseeable, the simple error of miscalculating the sly passage of twenty-four hours, unbeknownst to Fogg and his crew. Still, that didn't take much from the thrill of comprehending that Fogg, in fact, would realize a comfortable life alongside his Indian princess of a wife, Aouda. I really must discover how to pronounce her name accurately...
Now, the pinnacle and crux of this novel was clearly the scene in which Fogg and Aouda "got together." I read the passage so fast and so excitedly that I had to go back and re-read it more slowly. I thought the event so...magical!
Honestly, I'm so excited right now I can hardly string together coherent, intellectual words to wrap up my impression of the book. Suffice it to say that this was a book I am glad to have read before I die. I might update this post later, might not.

Notable Events:
* Mr. Fogg purchases the lesser half of the Henrietta so as to burn it for fuel to reach Liverpool.
*Mr. Fogg gives a well-earned blow to Fix after his release from jail. "He walked to the detective, looked him steadily in the face, and with the only rapid motion he had ever made in his life, or which he ever would make, drew back his arms, and with the precision of a machine, knocked Fix down."
-"Well hit!" cried Passepartout. "Parbleu! that's what you might call a good application of English fists."
(Verne, 152)

*Last, resonating sentence of the book: "Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?" "That" referring to the acquisition of a charming companion who made Mr. Phileas Fogg "the happiest of men." (Verne, 163)

Around the World in 80 Days, Part 2

I'm a little over half way done with the book as of now. So, yesterday, I grabbed a notebook and set to writing the thoughts that occurred to me while reading the novel, which proved to be rather imprudent as I ended up writing more than reading. Here are some of the notes I came up with:
phlegm, and phlegmatic:
I knew this definition: thick mucus produced in abnormal quantity in the respiratory passages.
I didn't know it meant this, too:
2. cold indifference.
3. calm fortitude
Either way, I'm not about to compliment somebody for their "phlegm" in the face of adversity any time soon.
phlegmatic: not easily excited, slow to respond.
Page 44: "lugubrious". Wow. What a word. Apparently it just refers to something dismal. AKA: They could have used the word "sad." Found that amusing.
I loved loved loved the closing of Chapter 12! Page 46, when Sir Francis Cromary says in response to Fogg's inclination to assist the beautiful Indian hostage, "Why, you are a man of heart!", Fogg replied, "Sometimes, when I have the time."
Yeah. Epic. I think it speaks for itself.
So the thought that came to my mind here was this, scrawled in my oh-so-neat handwriting: "He's an interesting character, to be sure. Not so dreary after all."
One last note before I retire: On page 47, when the Indian guide forewarns Fogg of the risks they are taking in attempting to rescue the Indian damsel-in-distress, Fogg responds with his ubiquitous "That is foreseen." Here I penned hard on the paper: "GAWD I LOVE HIM---this book!"
Ironically, on that very same page, Passepartout's newfound love for Phileas Fogg is acknowledged.

Await Part 3