The Life of Pi

 I am going to have to admit I was wrong when I said I had read the best book of my 2012 reads.  NOW I have read the best book of my 2012 reads. . . .I think.  Life of Pi.  It is not at all what you would expect a book by this name to be about.  I expected it to cover the history of math, or at least be mostly about math students, or numbers, or something.  Not the delightful fantasy tale of a boy NAMED Pi from India - yes he's Indian, the Dot, not the Feather : )  - who becomes, over the course of his young teen aged years, a Christian, Muslim, and Hindu,  all at the same time, unbeknown to his parents OR any of the above religious leaders.  THEN, when his family leaves India by boat for a move to Canada, he ends up shipwrecked alone with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker as his only companion for seven months!  I know, it sounds cheesy, but as one reviewer put it, this book grabs your book loving mind like a trap and won't let go until the bitter end.  Just read it!

Here are some tidbits of wisdom I gathered from MY reading of this book - which, BTW Kyle and Brennan BOTH read years ago, told me I should read it, but I resisted because . . .well, I thought it was about math.

"It's important in life to conclude things properly.  Only then can you let go.  Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse."

"The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.  It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God."

"I must say a word about fear.  It is life's only true opponent.  Only fear can defeat life.  It goes for your weakest spot. which it finds with unerring ease.  It begins in your mind always.  One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy.  Then fear, disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy."

***** = five stars.  LOVE this book!