You know what I mean, Verne?

I finished "Around the World in 80 Days" last night.

I was originally looking for "Journey to the Center of Earth" by Verne, but the library didn't have it, so I grabbed what Fennville had in stock.

The book is an easy read and I read chunks of it in the waiting room of doctors and while waiting for my kids at school. I've always been a Verne fan. His writing makes a great companion to Dickens. Verne is heavy on science and short on prose, while Dickens is heavy on humanity and the flowery language.

This novel is short and its sentence structure bare-bones. It's done well to reflect the main character, Phileas Fogg. Fogg doesn't see the world as a traveller, but as someone out to prove a point. He only varies from his quest to save Aoula from the ritual burning in India, then to save three passengers abducted by Native Americans on the Great Plains.

As a true gentleman, thinking he is penniless, Fogg offers to marry Aoula. She accepts and they then discover that, due to a miscalculation, Fogg has actually won the bet. A happy ending.

Fogg makes an interesting comparison to Dickens' Thomas Gradgrind in "Hard Times." Dickens lets loose on people who believe only fact and have tossed aside fancy to science. Gradgrind realised he made the wrong choice in life with deadly consequences to his family.

Other works

I've also read "From the Earth to the Moon" by Verne. I still want to read "Journey to the Center of the Earth," especially because it's one of my favorite Rick Wakeman albums.

I've seen, in movies, "The Mysterious Island" and, of course, "20,000 Leagues under the Sea."

Thought: It's a whale of a tale. ...