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This is my review of the book “The Blockade Runners by Jules Verne”, which I listened to recently as a librivox recording. This is an exciting story written about the time at the end of the American Civil War. The Southern cotton trade has been largely blockaded by the Unionists and this has created a fantastic demand for raw cotton. A Scottish merchant builds his own fast shallow draft ship that can break the blockade, and load up with cotton bales that are rotting in the wharves. What starts out as a quick there and back dash is complicated by the passengers that he finds on his ship. The passengers want to arrange a rescue mission for prisoners held by the rebels in Charleston. The ship has to get the cargo to pay off the enormous costs incurred during its building, but both sides have a very large number of cannon. Any stray cannonball could put an end to the mission in one blow. This is an exciting engaging fast moving story, full of adventure. Just perfect for taking ones mind from the queues on the road. This was book 37 week 28 fiction 34 (audio book 10) non fiction 3.
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Friends, this is my review of the book The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, which I listened to recently as an audio book, when travelling around the Isle of Mull.
The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon. The five are Cyrus, a rail road engineer in the Union army, his manservant Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar), who Jules states is not a slave but an ex-slave who had been freed by Cyrus; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; his protégé Herbert Brown, a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father and the journalist Gideon Spilett. The company is completed by Cyrus' dog 'Top'. After flying in stormy weather for several days, the group crash-lands on a cliff-bound, volcanic, unknown (and fictitious) island. They name it "Lincoln Island" in honour of American President Abraham Lincoln. With the knowledge of the brilliant engineer Smith, the five are able to sustain themselves on the island, hoping that they will one day escape (Summary by Wikipedia) The story then lists a series of adventures, as the island is colonised, including fighting the pirates, and trying to escape to a nearby island. The final part of the book is totally unexpected and explains the “Mysterious” part in the title as it is the sequel to 20000 leagues Under The Sea. Finally the caster-ways have to escape as the island's volcano is about to blow up. It is claimed that the story is based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile. This was a really enjoyable book that passed the travelling time away, this was book 46 week 34 fiction 42 (12 on audio) non fiction 4 Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar Michel Strogoff is a novel written by Jules Verne in1876. I listened to it as a librivox recording
Michael was a courier for Czar Alexander II, who is sent from Moscow to the besieged city of Irkutsk, where the governor, brother of the Czar, has taken his last stand against a Tartar rebellion led by the fearsome Feofar-Khan. When telegraph lines are cut between the Russian Far East and the mainland, Strogoff must make his way through hostile territory to warn the governor of the return of the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a disgraced former officer who seeks vengeance against the Tsar’s family by the destruction of Irkutsk Sadly things go wrong for Michael and he suffers terribly. Jules goes into great detail describing the journey across the country and the cruelty poured out by the Tartar rebellion. It made very interesting listening as an account of live in at the time. Made even the more so as we listened to it travelling up and down the motorway, and able to compare the two different modes of transport. An enjoyable book that is readily recommended. The web claims that critics consider this one of Jules' finest books. An enjoyable read as book 36 week 25 fiction 34 (10 on audio) non fiction 2 So starting a new challenge 52 books in a year. The first book I have listened to is - Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Listened to the librivox recording. Amazed that the story was so different from the film I remember seeing many years ago. The original was much better http://librivox.org/around-the-world-in-80-days-by-jules-verne-2/ 51 books to go.
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Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
November 2015
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