Land That Time Forgot

Edgar Rice Burroughs is a master of escapist adventure stories. The Land That Time Forgot lives up to his standard. The story is the relation of a story found in a bottle in Greenland.

The story from the bottle describes the adventures of s submarine builder from California. The ship he was sailing on was sunk by a German U-boat. The narrator and a girl are only survivors. (Thanks to lifeboat that flies out of the water and just that right time.) They get rescued by British ship. However, the same sub then sinks their boat. However they manage to capture the sub before they are sunk. The captain of the sub just happens to be the ex-fiance of the girl.

In spite of hoisting the union Jack, no friendly boats want to get near. So they set sail for elsewhere. Meanwhile, one of the Brits is a German spy who throws out communication and navigation equipment and attempts to kill the narrator and poison the water.

All this makes for a great adventure (and a good chunk of novel). However it is not until well in to the novel where the "title" becomes apparent. Eventually they find an uncharted and seemingly inaccessible landmass. Luckily there appears to be a subterranean stream and they happen to have a sub.
In the land they encounter dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers, neanderthals, and various other humanoids and ancient animals. The various groups of people appear to 'evolve' by moving from one tribe to another ( though the author seems to have given up before pursuing this extensively). The different groups seem to show some views of 1910s views of race and evolution.
The actual experience in the land is somewhat rushed and is almost a letdown from the ship voyages. (Though there are two more books in this series, so it may be well worth it.)
In the end, the Germans sneak away in the sub, many graves of the Brits are found, and the hero marries the girl right before sending his story off in a bottle.
The novel depends heavily on chance encounters. This makes it fairly unbelievable, but does not distract from the adventure of the story.