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• Pride and Prejudice finished
• From the Earth to the Moon finished

  Not the best of Verne Jules Verne was a great science fiction writer. However, amidst books like A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in 80 Days, this book - From the Earth to the Moon - doesn't hold a candle. While it is fun to read both at the beginning and the end, the middle of the story is dragged on for quite a while.
  
  Verne was not at his peak at the time of writing this, in fact it is from the early part of his writing career, and it shows. The gripping twists and plots that we are accustomed to seeing from him are few and far in between. However, the redeeming quality of the book is its fascinating detail to the science and space travel. Also admirable is the characters of the book, which are developed very nicely and are really the kind of people you want to believe in.
  
  All in all, an ok book if you are a big fan of early Sci-Fi. I posted this on 12 August 2010
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• The Swiss Family Robinson finished

  Repetitive I had fond memories of an abridged version of this book as a child, however reading the whole thing now has left me a little disappointed. Its a little too repetitive and slightly straightforward in its plot.
  
  The characters have no shades of gray which may be understandable since this is primarily a Children's classic. However if you're an adult trying to rekindle an old flame read another one, this may not suit your current tastes. I posted this on 12 April 2010
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From the Earth to the Moon - Not the best of Verne

Jules Verne was a great science fiction writer. However, amidst books like A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Around the World in 80 Days, this book - From the Earth to the Moon - doesn't hold a candle. While it is fun to read both at the beginning and the end, the middle of the story is dragged on for quite a while.

Verne was not at his peak at the time of writing this, in fact it is from the early part of his writing career, and it shows. The gripping twists and plots that we are accustomed to seeing from him are few and far in between. However, the redeeming quality of the book is its fascinating detail to the science and space travel. Also admirable is the characters of the book, which are developed very nicely and are really the kind of people you want to believe in.

All in all, an ok book if you are a big fan of early Sci-Fi.

I posted this topic last year. Replies (0)

The Swiss Family Robinson - Repetitive

I had fond memories of an abridged version of this book as a child, however reading the whole thing now has left me a little disappointed. Its a little too repetitive and slightly straightforward in its plot.

The characters have no shades of gray which may be understandable since this is primarily a Children's classic. However if you're an adult trying to rekindle an old flame read another one, this may not suit your current tastes.

I posted this topic 2 years ago. Replies (0)

Question of the Week - Question of the Week #62: Happy Birthday Charles Dickens!

I agree with Dubuas here, it has to be - A Tale of Two Cities. One of the best opening lines of any classic. Right up there with Melville in my humble opinion.

I posted this topic 2 years ago. Replies (15)

Question of the Week - Question of the Week #61: Joycean Challenges

Ulysses by far tops the list. I could not go beyond 80 pages or so and even then I was confused as to what exactly happened in those pages.

The most difficult book I have finished is Umberto Eco's - Foucault's Pendulum, and I do not recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a deep interest in the Templars.

I posted this topic 2 years ago. Replies (15)

Book Requests - Books on Buddhist teachings...

"The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons" is a pretty old book on Buddhism written in the ~19th century by Olcott. I'm guessing that would be freely available.

I posted this topic 2 years ago. Replies (2)