The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London

The beginning of this book is amazing.  Jack London delves into the reason why he has decided to sail around the world.  He lists all his theories and all the problems in building and funding  the 45ft Snark. It is so detailed and exact that you understand the term best laid plans of mice and men.  I'm thoroughly impressed by detail oriented people.  God bless list makers and accountants.  I do not live in detail and lists (says the man who is writing a blog about 501 books!) and get turned on by people that envision a project from seed to tree.

As I go through this book it is failing to keep my interest.  Almost 40% of the book is either about building the Snark or about the first destination of the boat (Hawaii).  While there are still some lovely passages, the author starts to write about eating deep sea turtles and the joys of catching and eating Dolphin my interest wavers.  It could be my 21st century mind creeping in but I am not a fan of eating Dolphin or Turtles.  Call me old fashioned. 

As I delved deeper into the book it has continued to disappoint me.  Some of the strengths I liked in the beginning were the things that really let me down.  For starters there is a part in the book where Mr. London describes how he figured out his latitude and longitude.  He drones on for almost 20 pages.  In the end I've had to stop reading the book so I still don't know how the rest of the trip went.  Maybe I'll come back to it.....maybe not.  It has driven me crazy.

This is a book for you trainspotters out there.  I'm not one of you. 5/10

My next book is:

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I read this book when I was a kid.  Or at least I thought I had.  As I am reading/re-reading I'm not remembering much of it.  I've seen TV and movie adaptions of course but the story feels new to me which was a nice surprise.  Huck of course is resourceful and funny.  Some of the hijinks's are great and his planning and escaping near danger is what gives this book its classic nature. 

The one problem I am having with is his companion Jim.  I'm not put off by the repeated use of n-word.  As much as I hate it now I understand that when Twain was writing it was common practice to write characters in such a way.  It's his speech that is throwing me off.  Maybe it's my 21 century brain that is having trouble figuring it out.

Huck Fin really is an incredible character.  Twain really nailed it with this one.  Such a clever little chap.  Always has mischief in his mind.  Sometimes his mischief leads to bad results but most of the time he is just having some fun.  This is a book that all kids should read.  Huck keeps getting in jams with very narrow escapes.  He meets all sorts of interesting people on the river.  Give this to your child right now!

Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell

 

 

I had a mixed reaction to this book.  The writing was superb and the story itself was entertaining and riveting.  I guess the problem I had was I wanted to know more.  What had happened to Mr. Orwell in 1928 that had him down and out?  It just starts off with him being hard up.  I wanted to know how he got there.  The book is jam packed with interesting characters and mad situations.  The black humour is plentiful, the descriptions of hunger and idleness are exact.  If anything there is too much of it.  By the end of the book you are beat over the head with tales of hunger and the scams that people on the street pull to get a cup of tea and loaf of bread.  You also get the feeling that the author is holidaying as a tramp.  That he could get out when ever it suited him.  The book was released in the early 1930's and the antisemitism is rife.  Not so much from the author but from the people in the book.  Most of the people he encounters in Paris are Russians who have fled from the revolution. That left me a little cold.

 

The weird thing about reading down and out is that the last 30 or 40 pages were read during a 2 day power outage at my house.  Brisbane Australia is currently undergoing its 2nd flood in 3 years and we have been without power.  I thought that it was right and just that this was the book I was reading.....saying that I was reading the book on my Kindle and I also had a book light.  So maybe not so primitive after all.

 

I do wonder if I would have had a better reception to this book if I had just not read a grief observed and the power and glory.  2 very sad and depressing books.  Maybe it wasn't time for me to start another book about being down and out.  Lesson learned for the next time.  Saying that the next book I am reading is - The Crusades through Arab Eyes – Amin Maalouf - I hear that's a laugh a minute.

 

I rate Down and out in Paris and London 7 out of 10.