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welp its june and I havent logged anything since january lmao oops

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Around the World in Eighty Days ⛧ Jules Verne

Notes

January 1st: The book I have (the penguin classics version) starts off with a list of things Jules Verne did in his (I thought he was a woman this whole time lol) life, in chronological order, followed by an introduction that explains his life and accomplishments. It stated how much of his influence in his writing came from his background of growing up with ship workers in his family, having his style very evidently seem industrial. It also explained that he had a pedantic obsession with making sure his stories were scientifically accurate, giving the example of his story Five Weeks in a Balloon having had an accurate depiction of how to steer a hot air balloon before it had been common knowledge, from figuring it out himself. Some things I had found interesting were that he had been the only science fiction author to have been recognized by a pope (Leo Xlll), and that he had been shot in the foot by his nephew Gaston for not lending him money near the end of his life. Also, I am not going to make any assumptions, since I haven't finished reading the introduction, but there have been some mentions that one of his works had included bits of anti-semitism, and that he had been against a jewish officer that had been arrested for allegedly sending information to Germany being retried. From what I have read, I cannot discern whether or not the introduction author Brian Aldiss is insinuating that Verne was an anti-semite, but I may find out through further reading, or from research later on. So far, quite intrigued !

January 2nd: The rest of the introduction was nothing more than a teaser for the book. I had been gifted this book because I had seen the show starring David Tennant (my husband), so I already know some of the plot, but man, it always surprises me how different show/movie adaptations can be. The Phileas Fogg in the show is much more of a nervous person, and much more self-conscious than in the book. In the book, that man is the epitome of autism. Doing the same thing at the same places with the same people at the same time every day?? Sitting at his chair staring at the clock with his feet pressed together, hands rested on his knees, waiting for it to be SPECIFICALLY 11:20 am so he can leave? That is like, the definition of autism anthropomorphized. Also how they emphasized that despite him being 40 y/o, he looked relatively younger with no forehead wrinkles? Autism. It always disappoints me when I watch the show first then read the book and realize the characters look nothing like they did in the show. Like nothing against my husband, as he is aging like a fine wine, but he is almost nothing like the original Phileas, looks or personality wise. Like one of the big points in his character in the book is that he is never nervous, and always believes that his plan is going to work out, with Passepourtout being the one getting antsy about the delays in their schedule, when in the show it's Phileas who is constantly doubting himself. I was also disappointed to see that Passepourtout isn't actually black in the book, but it probably would have been way more controversial if he was. I think both versions of the story are well written (so far), but it genuinely pisses me off to know just how different they are from each other.

January 3rd: So Phileas Fogg just set off on his journey around the world. The difference at this point between the show and the book is 7 days after he leaves he is immediately accused of robbing a bank back in England, whereas in the show he is accused of robbing a different bank towards the end of his journey. Plus, the accusation of the bank robbery was falsely made by one of the gentlemen in his club (Nyle Bellamy) to stop him from completing the bet in order to win the money. I have a theory that the man he bet in the book, Andrew Stuart, is the guy who actually robbed the bank, and is trying to frame Phileas in order to keep from getting caught and possibly to win the bet as well. Also Fix is a guy in the book?? In the show he's the daughter of one of the gentlemen at the club, an aspiring journalist, and falls in love with Passepourtout! At this point the book is SO different from the show I don't know if I know as much about the plot as I thought I did.

January 4th: Three more chapters down!! They are relatively short chapters, but still, accomplishment! I think the show may have split the character Mr. Fix into two separate ones, because I remember the unnamed character who gets Passepourtout to betray Phileas, and Fix is the third main character, like mentioned in my last entry. In the book, Fix is the one who gets close to Passepourtout in order to arrest Phileas between Suez and Bombay. Also the show changed Fix from a detective to a journalist. More autism shown from Phileas, as he keeps his same schedule on the Mongolia (boat), while also managing to find a group of people to play whist with. Plus, in the show it didn't explain how Phileas was able to keep up the times and make sure he was on schedule besides just in his head, but the book explains that he does all the math in a notebook, which makes SO much more sense. The differences between the show and the book continue to agitate me, as the book makes a specific point to explain that Phileas is not nervous or doubtful of his scheduling in the slightest, and the Phileas in the show is a nervous wreck the whole time! Despite it all I am enjoying the book, hooray.

January 5th: Now the boys are in India. There is some racism happening, but that is to be expected in a book from the 1800s. Wasn't very appreciative of Phileas accusing a server at an Indian restaurant of serving him cat instead of rabbit, because we all know of the asian stereotype. I also have no idea if it's true, but they mention a group of Indians who live in the forest and go around killing people in the name of a god, and they praise the british army for getting rid of most of them because "you couldn't dig deep below the surface of the earth without finding at least one dead body". I am skeptical. It's hard to gauge Verne's opinion on Indians since he's french and not english, but besides the blatant stereotypes he seem rather neutral. Also sad to see that Phileas bought an elephant just for transport, and that apparently £2,000 is too much. They even mention that at this point elephants are being stolen from the wild to be used in british circuses, which is so fucking sad. Hopefully the elephant gets returned. Will keep you updated on that.

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Happy New Year's Eve!

Starting tomorrow, I will be beginning my new year by reading every book in my collection, for 30 minutes at a time each day. I will include a list off all my books, in alphabetical order (by title of series or box set), and I will connect the notes and reviews to this post for easier navigation.

1984 ⛧ George Orwell

Around the World in Eighty Days ⛧ Jules Verne

The Atlas Six ⛧ Olivie Blake

The Atlas Paradox ⛧ Olivie Blake

The Bible ⛧ Oxfords World Classics

Bullfinch's Mythology: Stories of Gods and Heroes ⛧ Thomas Bullfinch

Circe ⛧ Madeline Miller

Clytemnestra ⛧ Costanza Casati

The Divine Comedy ⛧ Dante Alighieri

Dr. Mutter's Marvels ⛧ Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Dracula ⛧ Bram Stoker

Fairy Tale ⛧ Stephen King

Frankenstein ⛧ Mary Shelley

Good Omens ⛧ Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

The Great Mysteries Collection: - The Moonstone ⛧ Wilkie Collins - The Phantom of the Opera ⛧ Gaston Leroux - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ⛧ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ⛧ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Return of Sherlock Holmes ⛧ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Classic Tales of Detection and Adventure ⛧ Edgar Allan Poe - Crime and Punishment ⛧ Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Picture of Dorian Gray ⛧ Oscar Wilde

Horns ⛧ Joe Hill

House of Leaves ⛧ Mark Z. Danielewski

Hidden Pictures ⛧ Jason Rekulak

Jabberwocky ⛧ Lewis Carroll

Leonardo da Vinci ⛧ Walter Isaacson

Mind Your Body ⛧ Nicole J. Sachs

The New Evil ⛧ Michael H. Stone M.D. & Gary Brucato Ph.D.

Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology ⛧ Ed Simon

Paradise Lost ⛧ John Milton

A Peculiar Peril ⛧ Jeff VanderMeer

The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book ⛧ Neil Gaiman

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ⛧ Robert Louis Stevenson

Tomie ⛧ Junji Ito

Vampires ⛧ Agnes Hollyhock

The Vampire Chronicles ⛧ Anne Rice

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe

I'm looking forward to getting my reading up! I plan on reading/posting at least every day, but I may slack some due to classes starting up again on the 22nd. May this year be fruitful!

P.s.: Despite the fact that I will be reading the bible, I am not religious, I'm just autistic and goth adjacent.