CC, I'm buried under essays and final exams (grades are due tomorrow at noon, and then I have four reports to finish on Friday and graduation out of town all day Saturday), so I won't have a chance to comment until Sunday, but I wanted you to know I'm still reading and enjoying. I'll try to comment on the parts I've missed then.
BTW, 123 pages isn't exactly accurate. In manuscript format (double-spaced, 12-point, non-proportional font), you had already hit 129 pages after part 7, so it's probably pushing 200 pages now.
See you Sunday.
