Reading 1001 discussion

A wager to make a trip around the world in just 80 days starting from London. The journey takes advantage of several types of transportation. The author describes the people and the land but also math, science and new discoveries and inventions. It was fun to read this book written in the late 1800s. A very good adventure story and even a love story. 2015.

I don't think this book has necessarily aged well, but I thought it was a very fun story of an adventurous trip around the world for the time that it was written. I really enjoyed all the different methods of travel (although I was disappointed that there really is no hot air balloon travel in the entire story) and the dynamic between the core group of characters.

3 stars

The two greatest character names in literature, Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. I have never forgotten these names since the first time I read them. I cracked open my paperback copy that still has my name in it from middle school. I really didn't remember much of this book, it was like reading it the first time. I enjoyed all the misadventures of Phileas Fogg and his faithful servant Passepartout. The story was perfectible and wrapped up tightly in a bow but given all the other books that I read this was a nice change of pace.

I had seen film adaptations of this book but had never actually read the original. Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne's classic travel tale, would have been a delight in my younger years with great descriptions of foreign places in the 1870's and insight into trains, ships and elephant travel. In addition there are quirky characters with great names who compliment each other well. Even now, although I found the book largely cartoony and reflecting racial, religious and ethnic biases of the time, it was a fun read. I actually am looking forward to the rest of the Verne's on the list.

This classic trip around the world was great fun, although the writer’s style is quite leaden without much in the way of imagery or descriptions. The characters are quite simply drawn too, but the fun is in the trip.

I enjoyed the actual voyage (particularly the trip by rail across America complete with ranting Mormon and bison on the line!), the disasters that kept befalling Fogg and the phlegmatic way he carries on regardless. It’s a journey that has captured the imagination for many years, and I found it entertaining.