Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

So I'm devouring my way through Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days" and enjoying it, but not as much as his "Journey to the Centre of the Earth." Not yet.

Phileas Fogg is the Englishman who talks very little and has a devoutly specific routine to his life. Until he takes on a challenge to travel around the world in just 80 days. 

Set in London in 1872, Verne continues his ahead-of-time storytelling as Fogg sets off by train, boat and elephant to accomplish his bet with his trusty servant, Passepartout.

Passepartout devised a plan to rescue an Indian lady who was about to be sacrificed, but it happened with minimal fuss or trouble, unlike the trials of life and death contained under Mount Sneffels in Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Perhaps the more dramatic stuff will be coming soon . . .

Book Review: "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth" by Jules Verne

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth."

A very well-written book, told from the point of view of Henry, Professor Hardwigg's nephew. They embark on a journey which sees them enter the crater of Mount Sneffels in Iceland, roam around in the interior of the earth, before exiting out of another volcano crater in Italy.

The story revolves almost exclusively around three main characters: 1) Professor Hardwigg - mineralogist, obstinate, determined, maybe a little crazy but ultimately right; 2) Henry - the Professor's nephew, analytical, level-headed; 3) Hans, the Icelandic guide who accompanies the Professor and Henry on their journey. Hans is perfectly disciplined, reserved and an immaculate handyman.

The characters compliment each other nicely and the narrative and dialogue flows smoothly throughout the story.

The three characters endure a few fascinating encounters with different sorts of weather and environment conditions below the earth, along with huge plants and animals and seas. The most interesting part of the story for me also turned out to be the most frustrating. 

Professor Hardwigg and Henry discover a cemetery of human bones and see in the distance another HUMAN living in the interior of the earth. Disappointingly for the reader, they freaked out and ran away and nothing more was mentioned of this. It seems that Jules Verne had this immense idea and then kind of backed out of it, and didn't quite know what to do from henceforth.

After that encounter the story rapidly closed up right at the time when I was just getting in to it and expecting the three of them to find a way to the very centre of the earth.

One more thing that irritated me was their exit from underground to ground level. Henry kind of passed out as they were accelerating on a man-made raft balancing on rushing lava, so as he is the one telling the story, he wrote how he didn't remember anything after passing out until they were lying on the side of a volcano in Italy! Man, that frustrated me so bad!

But nevertheless, it was a great read, very worthwhile and I definitely recommend this classic if you haven't as yet opened up its pages and joined the great adventure it is.

Teaser Tuesday with Jules Verne

MizB hosts a pretty good book event called Teaser Tuesday. We simply choose a couple of sentences from our current read and tease you all into reading the book yourself! Let's hope this works, then . . . 

You really should pick up Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and read it. Here's a teaser: 

"When I at last began to resign myself to the fact that no further aid was to be expected from man, and knowing that I was utterly powerless to do anything for my own salvation, I kneeled with earnest fervor and asked assistance from heaven."

Me with the subject of this week's Teaser Tuesday

A great teaser, don't you think? I'm relishing each page of this adventure. Click here to read my latest review of the book. 

Have I persuaded you to read it?!

Jules Verne provides a great adventure

It was way back in 1864 that Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth" was published and made available for public reading. At almost 150 years old, this work has stood the test of time and continues to charm its readers, particularly me!

Professor Hardwigg and his nephew Harry, accompanied by an Icelandic guide, Hans, descend into the crater of Mount Sneffels where the real journey begins. An intriguing tale of survival and discovery ensues. 

This book is written from the point of view of Harry and mixes great fiction with scientific fact and a whole barrel of thrilling discovery, which even in this year of 2013, still resonates as remarkable.

I have several more chapters to finish this delightful novel!