From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

 

For the sixth year in a row, I started off my reading for the year with Jules Verne. I ran out of Verne books that I had heard of before by year three of this tradition, so I've had to do a bit of digging in recent years to find new stories to read. With this one, however, I got rather lucky. I came across From the Earth to the Moon in a used bookstore about a year ago, so I saved reading it for now. Based on the title and cover art on my edition of the book, I assumed that this would be a novel about a space mission to the moon, full of dense scientific descriptions of moon topography. Basically, I was expecting 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but in space. As usual, my assumptions proved to be totally wrong.

The plot begins in 1865 with four members of the Baltimore Gun Club: President Impey Barbicane, General Morgan, Major Elphiston, and Secretary J.T. Maston. Each of these men are enthusiastic inventors of artillery that distinguished themselves with their creations during the Civil War. When the war ended, however, they found themselves without purpose. With no wars going on, and no conflicts on the horizon, there was no need for them to develop new weapons. To assuage their boredom, President Barbicane suggests a massive new project--to build a giant cannon and shoot a projectile all the way to the moon. Their overall desire is to achieve something that has never been done before with artillery, and they also hope to attract the attention of any species that might be living on the moon and open up a line of communication between them. The entire gun club, and the general public, enthusiastically agree to the project and they start working on it straight away. 

Their first priorities are to determine how to make the projectile, how large to build the cannon, and how much powder to use for propulsion. They use data from their past creations and mathematical calculations to decide these issues, and then set about raising money and choosing a location to build in. As they want to keep the entire project housed within the United States, they end up choosing Tampa as their launch site. They ask for donations to fund the project, and people from all over the world are so enamored with the idea that they have no trouble raising what they need. Before long, they are in the building phase and everything moves along according to plan.

While their cannon and projectile are being constructed, they receive a mysterious telegram from a Frenchman named Michel Ardan. He proposes to seal himself inside the projectile and make their mission to the moon a manned one. After meeting with him, the group must decide whether they will allow him to do this, and then see if they can have a successful launch.

I ended up enjoying this book, but I think you have to be a specific type of person to like it the same way I did. From the Earth to the Moon is a very fitting title for this novel, because the entire story is about the process of getting to the moon. It ends on a big cliffhanger and we don't get to see the full results of the project up close at all. If you want the rest of the story, you have to read the sequel, Around the Moon. This is a book about drafting plans and constructing artillery. Verne leaves no detail out, and most of the pages in the novel break down the math, physics, astronomy, and costs associated with the project. He is as accurate with his information as someone writing in the nineteenth century can be, and it's clear he did copious amounts of research to make the plot of this novel as believable as possible. I was absolutely blown away by his prediction that either Florida or Texas would be the best place to launch the projectile from, as both of those places are closely tied to the U.S. space program now. As a perfectionist who really enjoys planning, I liked reading about the meticulous process Barbicane and his pals went through. I would assume that a lot of readers, however, might get really bored with this.

The characters were very typical Verne characters. With Barbicane you have the stalwart, preternaturally intelligent leader. With Maston you have the overly-enthusiastic and loyal sidekick. With Ardan you have the likeable French guy. All of his classic archetypes were there. I do have to say that none of the characters here particularly grabbed me, as the text was more about the process of making the projectile rather than about the characters as individuals. There was no one as distinctive as Captain Nemo, for example. What made them fun. however, was all the gentle ribbing Verne does about their American-ness. I thought it was hilarious how he poked fun at the American enthusiasm for guns and firepower. Towards the start of the novel, he explains that, "the sole preoccupation of [the Baltimore gun club] was the destruction of humanity from motives of philanthropy, and the perfecting of firearms considered as instruments of civilization." He goes on to describe its members as, "an assembly of exterminating angels, otherwise, the best fellows in the world." Almost all of them are missing a limb or two from their creations, but that doesn't cool their ardor for gun design in the slightest. His sense of humor was excellent, and it was pretty amusing that the jokes he was making back in 1865 were still funny today. He wasn't mean-spirited with his teasing though, and you could tell that he rather admired his heroes' uniquely American grit.  

I would probably stick From the Earth to the Moon somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to ranking the Verne novels I have read. It wasn't too heavy on the scientific exposition (at least compared to some of the others I've experienced), but it wasn't super-memorable either. I also think it was a little bit of a disappointment to leave the story so incomplete. It's basically half of a story. If I didn't have a tight schedule to maintain with my Classics Club list, I've probably just go ahead and read Around the Moon next, but as it is, I might end up waiting until January 1st of next year to see how this one ends. It's still a great read though, especially for old school science fiction fans like me.    

Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2021 (A Travel or Adventure Classic): 1/12

Total Books Read in 2021: 1

Reading Reflection: 2020

 

Well, 2020 sure didn't go as planned, did it? I remember starting off the year with so many hopes - places I wanted to go, things I wanted to do, and books I wanted to read. Pretty much everything, except for the reading, fell through. Thank goodness for my reading goals! Being stuck inside isn't so bad when you've got a nice big stack of novels by your side. I always knew that I loved literature, but it ended up being my absolute saving grace this year. You know that old quote about reading giving you a place to go when you have to stay where you are? It has never been more true. 

Now that 2020 is finally drawing to a close, it's time to reflect on how each of my goals and challenges went. Here's the breakdown:

My Goodreads goal was to read at least 50 books in 2020. This was a conservative goal and I expected to surpass it. I ended up with a grand total of 91 novels read. I have always wanted to get to 100 novels in one year, but with the amount of ridiculously long classics I read, that probably won't be happening anytime soon. In any case, I'm quite happy with this number. You can view my year in reading here.

I needed to read at least 20 books from my Classics Club list this year to stay on track to finish, and I ended up reading 22. I'm very pleased with the amount that I got through, especially because this was the year I conquered the two series that I put on my list - The Lord of the Rings and the Little House books. Next year is the final year of this five year challenge, which leaves me just 18 to go. It's not going to be easy though, because I have quite a few long classics left. 

I did finish the Back to the Classics Challenge for the sixth year in a row. It was as fun and enriching as always. My final wrap up post is here.

I also finished my True Books 2020 challenge. I ended up reading a total of 14 nonfiction books throughout the year, smashing my previous record of 10. I really enjoyed most of them and I think it was a good thing to get out of my reading comfort zone. I don't think I will be repeating this challenge next year, as I want to focus more on mood reading in 2021, but I will still try to reach for some nonfiction from time to time. 

I did end up finishing my Then vs. Now Challenge as well. It took me all the way until December, but I made it! Each month this year, I read one of my favorite novels and compared it to a different book by the same author. My results in each match up were mixed. I really enjoyed some of the new books I read, but my two worst reads of the year (Imaginary Friend and The Last Man) came from here too. I did like getting a chance to reread a whole bunch of my favorites and I'm happy to have reviews for more of these here on the blog now.

There were a few instances where rereading a novel made me like it a little bit less. I wasn't so blind to Eleanor and Park's issues with race this time around, and I found myself cringing at some of the slurs in We Need to Talk About Kevin that I somehow glossed over before. It's interesting to me that it's so risky to reread a favorite. The first time you read a novel that you truly love is special and impossible to recreate. As we get older, we change quite a bit; who knows how the newer version of us will interpret an old favorite? This was an interesting experience and I can see myself wanting to do it again somewhere down the road.

The last challenge I took part in this year was the StoryGraph Onboarding 2020 Reading Challenge. The point of it was to test out the StoryGraph website and see if its personalized book recommendations were accurate. There were a total of 12 prompts, and I finished all of them.

Completing this challenge led me to read several novels I would not have picked up on my own, and I enjoyed most of them. I also ended up discovering that the StoryGraph recommendations are definitely superior to Goodreads. I'm excited to continue using this site in the future to find books. 

And that's it for 2020! I'm pleased with how much I accomplished this year. With the scary and monotonous atmosphere that COVID caused, reading was an invaluable escape from reality. I've always read for pleasure, but this year it felt necessary to do so. Thank goodness I had books to turn to!  I'm ready to embark on a new set of challenges in 2021.

Back to the Classics 2020 - Wrap Up Post

2020 is (finally) winding down, and I've finished another year of the Back to the Classics challenge. This year, my reading was very diverse. I sailed on a man-of-war, searched Scotland for a perfect view, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and traveled across Middle-Earth. I read about a boy growing up in England in the 1800s and about a boy growing up in the American South in the 1900s. I read about divorces, affairs and family dramas. I read a whole lot of poems. It was definitely a journey. Here's the complete list:     

1. 19th Century Classic: White Jacket by Herman Melville (1850) - Completed January 2020
2. 20th Century Classic: The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford (1915) - Completed April 2020

3. Classic by a Female Author: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (1913) - Completed March 2020

4. Classic in Translation: The Green Ray by Jules Verne (1882) - Completed January 2020

5. Classic by a Person of Color: Black Boy by Richard Wright (1945) - Completed February 2020

6. A Genre Classic: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954) - Completed June 2020

7. A Classic with a Person's Name in the Title: Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1886) - Completed March 2020

8. A Classic with a Place in the Title : The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall by Anne Brontë (1848) - Completed March 2020

9. A Classic with Nature in the Title: The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton (1922) - Completed May 2020

10. A Classic about a Family: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (1864-1866)

11. An Abandoned Classic: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1855) - Completed August 2020

12. A Classic Adaptation: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (1962) - Completed November 2020 

I found a few new favorites this year, which was very nice. In particular, Wives and Daughters, The Green Ray, and The Glimpses of the Moon stand out as ones I will remember. In a year where a I ended up reading a lot of books I didn't quite click with, my selections for this challenge were largely enjoyable.

I finished all twelve prompts, meaning I get three entries in the prize drawing. If I should win, I can be contacted at quiet.kristina [at] gmail [dot] com.

As always, I adore Back to the Classics. This was my sixth time completing it and I'm already ready to do it all over again next year and make my way through even more books.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

 

My final prompt for the Back to the Classics Challenge was to read a classic with a movie adaptation. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was already on my Classics Club list and suited the category perfectly. The movie version of this novel is very famous in its own right, and I had somehow never seen it before. I decided that now was the time to read the book and then give the movie a try, to see how they compared.

The novel is told from the point of view of "Chief" Bromden, a long-term patient at a psychiatric hospital. He pretends like he is deaf and mute, but he can actually hear and speak just fine - he simply chooses not to interact with others. He struggles with paranoia and is subject to a lot of delusions. He believes that he and all the other patients are being controlled by something he calls the "combine," a vast mechanism that uses listening devices to break everyone's spirits and keep them in line. This idea is personified in Nurse Ratched, the head nurse on the ward. She controls the patients and staff with an iron fist, and employs several cruel strategies to keep everyone in their place.  Bromden, and everyone else, are afraid of her. 

Bromden is a keen observer as well, and as a result, he knows quite a lot about the other patients and staff at the hospital. Through his (unreliable) narration, he tells us the story of what happens when a new patient, Randle McMurphy, is admitted to his ward. Right away, McMurphy is obviously different from the rest of the men. He's loud, crude, and doesn't care much for authority. He's also extremely charismatic and quite fond of gambling. Right away, he begins making friends with the other patients and making friendly wagers with them. They bet on cards and many other random things over McMurphy's first few weeks. Eventually, as he grows closer and closer to the other patients, he starts to see them as more than easy marks. He begins to actually care about them a little and starts encouraging them to laugh and loosen up.

Of course, Nurse Ratched is aghast at these developments. McMurphy's unpredictable, boisterous behavior and his effect on the other patients are elements that she can't control, and it drives her crazy. Determined to regain her dominance over the ward, she exerts as much cruel, quiet pressure on the men as she can. Frustrated with her behavior, McMurphy sets up a new wager with the men. He bets them that he can get rid of Nurse Ratched in a week. This bet sets off a chain of events leading to a violent, shocking conclusion. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a story about the machine of American society, individuality, control, and what happens when mental health is thrown into that mix. 

My thoughts on this book are very scattered, and I've been struggling to write this review for a few days now. I did enjoy reading it, and I think it's a unique story that gives its readers a lot to think about. Its characters are well developed, with McMurphy and Nurse Rached in particular being very memorable. The writing style was very readable too and the story was easy to get into. I liked its exploration of mental health issues in the sixties, including the use of electroshock therapy and lobotomies. It's clear that Kesey was no fan of how patients in these facilities were treated during this time and he does a good job conveying the barbarity of a lot of the practices typically employed. This feels like a notable postmodern classic when you are reading it, and it's clear to see why the work has endured over time. It's not exactly my favorite kind of book, but I can see why others love it. I'm sure the movie adaptation aids its popularity as well, as many of the performances in that are widely praised.

What stopped me from just writing a generally positive review and moving on here was how incredibly poorly it has aged. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are blatant throughout its pages. The black orderlies that work at the hospital are continually referred to using slurs (including the N-word at one point) and described as homosexual rapists, there is a Japanese nurse repeated referred to using a slur, and the female characters are all either evil or promiscuous. At one point, the men tell McMurphy that Nurse Rached is unbeatable because she is so old that no one can "get it up" for her to rape her into compliance, which is pretty horrible on several different levels. Of course, one can always make the argument that the time period the novel was written in excuses this. To an extent, I suppose it does. However, the sheer amount of offensive material in here seems extreme.

This novel, with it's blend of strong literary elements and outdated, offensive content made me question - at what point does a classic novel outlive its readability? If I were black, or gay, I certainly wouldn't feel like reading this was valuable or enriching to my life. As a woman, I was pretty close to feeling like it wasn't really worth the read as it was. I think this is one case where just watching the movie adaptation is probably enough, especially if you belong to one of the groups Kesey marginalizes. 

So ultimately, this was a mixed bag for me. I settled on a three star review - a middle rating for a book I felt split on. The novel is clearly notable for its time period and the story is compelling. However, it has not aged well at all, which makes me question whether anyone really needs to read it anymore. There are so many wonderful novels out there in the world. I'm still not sure if the (admittedly sizable) literary merits of this one justify me spending my limited reading time on it.

Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2020 (A Classic Adaptation): 12/12 - Completed!

Classics Club (#90 on my list): 78/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2020: 73

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

It had been a while since I read one of my Back to the Classics Challenge books, so I decided to tackle one of them next. I first picked up The Good Soldier years and years ago during my initial classics-buying phase when I was in high school. Aside from a vague recognition of the title and author name, I knew absolutely nothing about this novel before reading it. It turned out that this was the ideal way to go into this text, because it's a weird one and, as it turned out, a fun one to be surprised by.

The story is narrated by John Dowell, a wealthy American living in Europe in the early 1900s. He begins by explaining that the events he is about to relate are "the saddest story" he has ever heard. He then launches into a long-winded tale about the tragedy of his relationships with his wife Florence, and another couple, Edward and Leonora Ashburnham. He explains from the very start that he loved his wife and considered Edward and Leonora to be his very best friends. He also explains that his wife and Edward were sneaking around together behind his back for almost the entire length of their decade-long friendship, and Leonora knew about it. He was the only one in the group that had no idea what was going on.

From there, Dowell explains the long chain of events surrounding the affair in an extremely unreliable fashion. He skips around in time, goes on of short digressions, and switches the perspective from which he tells the story multiple times. Figuring out the exact order of events is a puzzle, no characters are exactly as they seem, and there are many dramatic reveals along the way that keep readers engaged. To say much more would be to spoil the story, so I'm purposefully leaving my summary vague. What I will say is that I thought The Good Soldier was unique, memorable, and definitely worth the time.

As I've mentioned here before, I tend to avoid classics that play with the traditional novel structure. I usually don't enjoy elements like time skips and deliberately confusing narration. In this story, however, I thought that what Ford was doing worked. It felt like someone was really sitting and telling me a painful and embarrassing personal story. At some points, Dowell even acknowledges that he isn't narrating perfectly, saying that, "I have, I am aware, told this story in a very rambling way so that it may be difficult for anyone to find their path through what may be a sort of maze." He forgets to mention things, circles back, and gets distracted frequently. His messy narration is both realistic and a good mirror for the messy nature of the events he is describing. He is talking about people that he loves behaving very badly, and despite everything that happens, he still feels some affection for them. He has a lot of conflicting feelings, and his attempts to show everyone's side of the story works well with the chaotic structure Ford employs.

The so-called "good soldier" in the novel is Edward Ashburnham, who was a veteran of the service in India. The relationship between Ashburnham and Dowell is quite complex, and it helps to develop the ultimate theme of the novel. Ashburnham sleeps with Dowell's wife for years, and he hates him for that betrayal. At the same time, Dowell goes to great lengths to excuse a lot of his behavior and show the more noble sides of his personality. The opinion he ultimately arrives at about him is breathtakingly cynical and delusional. It definitely made me think.

So ultimately, The Good Soldier ended up being a nice surprise. It was quite different to other classics I have read and I really enjoyed Ford's unique writing style. While I can't say it reached the rank of a new favorite, it was a good reading experience and one of the better books from my Classics Club list.


Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2020 (20th Century Classic): 7/12
Classics Club (#96 on my list): 71/100 

Total Books Read in 2020: 33

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I can't exactly remember why I initially placed The Tenant of Wildfell Hall onto my Classics Club list. It was most likely because I am a fan of the Brontë sisters and just wanted to read more from them. When I was making my Back to the Classics selections for this year, I needed a classic with a place in the title, and this seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I knew absolutely nothing about the plot when I started, but I had heard enough positive things from other bloggers over the course of the past few years that I was looking forward to it anyway. It sounds strange to say this of a novel that was published in the 1840s, but The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is kind of trendy at the moment. Lots of other readers chose to include this one on their Back to the Classics lists this year, so I was excited to see what all the fuss was about.

The plot of this story is conveyed through a series of letters from a man named Gilbert Markham to his brother-in-law. Through his correspondence, Gilbert tells the story of his relationship with the beautiful Helen Graham, the new tenant of Wildfell Hall, an old manor home located in his neighborhood. Mrs. Graham is a young widow, and has been trying to keep to herself with her young son, Arthur, and to make a living as an artist. She is unable to keep a low profile for long, however, as her neighbors begin to introduce themselves and seek her company. Not wishing to be rude, Mrs. Graham starts to form some tentative friendships with others in the neighborhood, including Gilbert, who takes quite a shine to her innate kindness and intelligence. Eventually, he starts to fall in love with her, and it is clear she has feelings for him as well, but she continually resists his advances for reasons she won't explain.

Mrs. Graham's refusal to enter into a relationship with Gilbert is far from the only mysterious thing about her. As the neighbors begin to socialize more with her, other oddities begin to emerge. She sells her paintings under an assumed name, she refuses to let little Arthur out of her sight, and she has an unusually strong aversion to alcohol. These little quirks start to breed rumors throughout the neighborhood, and pretty soon the town is convinced that she is hiding a terrible secret, like maybe she was never married in the first place, or maybe she is lying about who the child's true father is. Gilbert, still ardently in love with her, refuses to believe the gossip and confronts her directly. In explanation, Mrs. Graham gives Gilbert her personal diary, which recounts her painful past. By reading its lengthy entries, Gilbert uncovers an intriguing story full of pain, bravery, and love.

This novel was surprisingly good, and I ended up enjoying it more than a lot of the other classics I have tried recently. Brontë's writing style is easy to read and full of beautiful imagery. Wildfell Hall felt appropriately dark and moody, and the many outdoor scenes felt lush and full of life. The characters were also well-developed; the main characters each had distinct personalities and the minor characters were entertaining. The cast of villains was especially enjoyable here. Brontë is excellent at creating absolute boorish heels and describing their behavior realistically. I got to the point where I was swearing at characters in my head while reading, so I was definitely into the plot.

Aside from having a very engaging story on its own, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was also interesting in a historical sense. Brontë's exploration of how a woman was supposed to behave in a marriage in the 1800s was fascinating and more than a little disturbing. Mrs. Graham's experience with the institution was less than ideal, but the expectation for her was to quietly endure it to avoid a scandal. To leave or divorce would be socially ruinous to both her and her son. She was essentially imprisoned for life as soon as she took her vows, even though her marriage became intolerable. In order to save herself, she had to get creative and violate social conventions, and I enjoyed reading about how she went rogue to try and better her situation. I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the decisions she made towards the end of the story, but given the time period of the writing, I understand why Brontë had her make those decisions.

The only aspect of the novel that I didn't like was its length and slow pacing. At almost 500 pages, this is a long read, and sections of it definitely felt repetitive. Mrs. Graham's diary, in particular, went on for hundreds of pages and included more detail than I thought was necessary. I understand why Brontë probably wrote at such length in this section; she wanted to give so many examples of the unhappiness in Mrs. Graham's marriage that her conservative audience wouldn't be offended by the character's unorthodox behavior later on. Modern audiences today would not need so much convincing. Aside from the overabundance of information on Mrs. Graham's life, though, I don't have much to criticize. It was a good story and I liked reading it.

Now that I am finished reading, I can completely understand why so many readers like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It's extremely readable with a compelling storyline and a very tough, admirable heroine. I think this work holds up in comparison with her sisters' heavy hitters, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and is an excellent choice for anyone with a fondness for books set in the Victorian Era. This was definitely one of my favorites from my list so far and I'm quite glad to have picked it up.


Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2020 (A Classic with a Place in the Title): 6/12
Classics Club (#52 on my list): 69/100 

Total Books Read in 2020: 21