Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne 1873 / 252 pgs Classic

It’s incredible how many classics start from a bet—Green Eggs and Ham, for example.  Yet, a £20,000 (roughly £2,200,00 in today’s currency) wager made at a club and our hero, Mr. Philias Fogg, are off with his servant French Passepartout to journey around the world in eighty days.

The Journey would go east from London and utilize mainly Steamers and Trains. However, an elephant ride in India does change the story.  As Mr. Fogg had the Journey planned out, it doesn’t go quite a planned as any incredible adventure does, and it goes off course several times.  The team rescues a woman in India from being sacrificed in a funeral pyre.  All the while, Mr. Fogg is being pursued by Detective Fix, who believes that Mr. Fogg was the thief that stole £50,000 from the Bank of England and desired the reward money. 

This novel is a classic of Vernes that, once I picked up, I couldn’t put down.  It is a beautiful read with twists and turns that keeps the reader on their nerves.  He does world descriptions like Journey to the Interior of the Earth.  However, not in nauseating details like 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.  Just enough to make the story even more believable.

I would recommend this book for a good journey with Mr. Vene. 

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and an excellent book,

Lopaka