Around the World in Eighty Days (Dover Thrift Editions)

“Around the World in 80 Days” is definitely one of the classic works and an interesting short read. I bought the version published by Dover which was translated back in 1873 (just a year after Verne wrote the original in 1872), so the English is a bit old-fashioned and the usage and meaning of some words is a bit strange to a modern English users. Nevertheless, this does not ruin the joy of...more

“Around the World in 80 Days” is definitely one of the classic works and an interesting short read. I bought the version published by Dover which was translated back in 1873 (just a year after Verne wrote the original in 1872), so the English is a bit old-fashioned and the usage and meaning of some words is a bit strange to a modern English users. Nevertheless, this does not ruin the joy of reading this short story – what made the reading experience less than perfect was that I know the ending already (and who doesn’t?). It would be ideal if I had only known the ending after I’ve started reading the book! But given that the story has been adapted into movie, cartoon and musical already, all we can do is to appreciate the genius of Monsieur Verne again by reading the book. I really admire Mr Fogg’s determination, creativity and clever mind in overcoming unforeseen obstacles. No matter what happened, he could keep his cool and then thought about a solution – I think this is what an independent traveler needs (especially us the backpackers). ~Aug 2007   hide