To those who might be checking in on this blog and are curious as to how we pick a book...well, we try to pick our next book before the end of our book discussion evening. If we don't, we have a text group where we bring up a couple choices or we discuss among a few of us some books we have placed on an active list. Our group is very agreeable to what is selected.
The Saturday after our last discussion I sat down at my laptop and looked up several popular current classic book lists. From there and my memory of books our group has been reluctant to read along with eliminating the books we have already read on those lists I compiled a short list that I placed at the bottom of this blog page. If a book was listed on multiple lists that we had not read, that was older than 50 years old and that we as a group had thrown out in the past I included it. There were many books that I didn't include. Other members of our group are encouraged to submit books that I will include on the list. The list is changeable. After a little more future exploration of the book list, I may move them to the right side where we may decide not to read them so we don't forget that we put them on the do not read list.
We like to watch a movie of the book after we discuss. There are usually several versions to chose from. The one we settled on for Around the World in Eighty Days was a three part series with Pierce Brosnan playing the main character of Mr. Fogg. While that version didn't follow the book half the time, we still enjoyed it. Also, each episode of three was around 1 1/2 hours so we watched part one with the discussion night and scheduled a second night with snacks while we finished with parts 2 and 3.
We always love the good food provided at our discussions. Several of our members were able to make it to at least one of the group discussions.
From our recollections around the table of having watched the Disney movie in our past, we were all surprised when we read the book to find there was no hot air balloon nor a dirigible as a form of transportation. Speaking for myself and a few others in the group, I found the book to hold my interest quite well and was quite action packed. It reminded me of the works of Edgar Rice Borough, who is the author of such works as the Tarzan of the Apes book series and the John Carter of Mars series and many more.
I particularly liked the character of Passportout. I'm sure I'm not alone in liking this character. He was quite the problem solver and a huge asset to the success of the mission of traveling around the world in 80 days.
Phileas Fogg came across to me as a social introvert and possibly on the spectrum, not picking up on social ques and having a gaming addiction similar to what young men have now days with his extreme liking of the game whist (similar to Spades). Mr. Fogg being a creature of strict time schedules seemed contrary to the Mr. Fogg who was able to transition into a calm traveler when faced with the challenges of his planned travel schedule having some unforeseen gaps, delays and obstacles, not to mention the challenges of an ever changing mealtime schedule. This also gave the character of Mr. Fogg a unique personality that intrigued me.
I liked the subtleness of the growing love of Aouda to the man who rescued her from her impending demise. It makes sense that she would have love for the man who cared for and protected her.
Detective Fix was a wild card for me. I never could predict if he was going to soften to the good character of Mr. Fogg or continue to be the pursuer.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I found the two chapters (25-26) about which Jules Verne portrayed Mormons to be the standard mixture of truth, myths and misinformation that continue to be spread by people who think they know about the church but are not informed practicing members of the church. However, colorful characters and practices of polygamy did exist in the time frame of this story. The church has not supported the earthly practice of polygamy since 1890, roughly 134 years. I do find it interesting that many authors find the church to be interesting subject matter to include in their works.
All in all, the book, the food and the association with the ladies in this group is always enjoyable!
Sharon
PS. This post was written prior to March 1, 2024. Book group meeting dates were February 16th and 23rd.
2 comments:
Which version of "Alice" are we reading?
I bought a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and figured that was the correct book.
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