Around the World in 80 Days

Around the World in 80 Days adapted by Jules Verne, adapted by Anna Lea

I had a bit of trouble figuring out what this actually was. It credits an "adaptor", but not a translator. I'm assuming that this was adapted from some English translation of the original French. There were multiple characters and the pace was perfect.

Phileas Fogg is an eccentric British aristocrat. He places a bet that he can get around the world in the unheard time of 80 days. A new assistant, Jean Passepartout, happened to join him just before he makes this bet. They journey together to complete the quest. They have to deal with steamers, trains, and even elephant travel. Fogg is willing to throw vast sums at solutions due to the money that he has at stake. His assistant gets into a bit of trouble (for things such as not taking his shoes off at an Indian temple). They are also chased by police who mistake Fogg for a thief. They have many adventures, including the rescue of a woman from ritual suicide. They make it back in what they think is just a bit too late. Later they realize they forgot to take into account the date change and rush to make it back just in time. It is a fun adventure that has been well adapted to movies and other media.

Les Miserables

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, translated by Charles E Wilbour

Les Miserables has a core story of morality and redemption. It is extremely long. (I have a copy in the original French that is three long paperbacks.) At the core, the book is a story about Jean Valjean. He is poor and commits petty crimes, such as stealing bread. He is committed to long terms in prison. He is shown mercy by a Bishop. When Jean Valjean steals some silver, the Bishop claimed he offered it to him and offered him more. This is the seed that helped Jean Valjean turn away from a life of crime and help others positively. He would later accumulate great wealth, help save people's lives and care for others. However, he had previous convictions and escapes hanging over his head. He feels obligated to reveal his true identity when others are accused of his crimes. Even at the end, when he is free, he feels a sense of shame and need to atone for his past. Eventually, others understand all the positive he has done and are willing to forgive the past.

The novel provides many incidents to show Jean Valjean's character. Javert is a police inspector who chases him through much of the novel. At one point, Valjean is part of an uprising. The group catches Javert and plan to kill him. Valjean volunteers to carry it out. However, rather than do so, he shoots the gun in the air and sets Javert free. Later when Javert does capture Valjean, he is torn between supporting the mercy shown and following the letter of the law. Unable to decide, he commits suicide.

Cosette also plays a significant role. She is a poor daughter of a prostitute. Jean Valjean cares for her both directly and indirectly. He saves the life of the man that will eventually become her husband. 

There are many other characters and events in the novel. There are also a huge amount of digressions that are general essays on topics of interest to Hugo that only slightly tie in to the novel. There is a long discussion of sewers and the benefit of fertilizing with human waste as is done in China. Napoleon and the French revolution also get coverage. I enjoyed the digressions, but I did struggle with the overall length. The audiobook is nearly 60 hours long at regular speed. An abridgement could easily make it to ten hours or less with a focus on just the key plot points. 

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle translated by William Gardiner

This book is a mixture of science and science fiction. It explores the various bits of astronomy that were known in the 17th century, and then speculates on the other species that inhabit planets and moons. The author suspects that the moon and other planets have inhabitants. They observe the earth in a way similar to how we observe the moon and other planets. It may have been written as pure science, but could easily read as a modern science fiction book.

Chameleon Races (Caméléon fait la course) (English-French)

Chameleon Races (Caméléon fait la course) (English-French) by Laura Hambleton, translated by Patricia Sommer

Various reptiles work together to race. The book is very simple. The text is in both French and English.

American Challenge

American Challenge by J. J. Servan-Schreiber

In 1967, the French were worried about the economic dominance of the United States. America seemed to dominate industrial production and innovation. Only small scraps were left for Europe. Often these "scraps" were offshoot of American companies, with small manufacturing operations in Europe. The first bits of the European Union had been started, with the treaty of Rome. However, there were challenges of agreement and enforcement, together with worries of external domination.

The author presents predictions for the future as well as an action plan for France. A "Federal EU" is detailed as a better plan. There is discussion of politics with criticism of both the right and left, with a desire for an "innovative left". Technology predictions were in some ways correct and others way off the mark. A chapter was devoted to supersonic transit. It was taken as a given that Boeing's SST would end up dominating the earlier-released Concorde. (Instead the SST never was produced, and the cancellation nearly destroyed Seattle.) The importance of computers and the knowledge economy was fairly accurate. However, it has failed to result in a massive reduction in individual working time. Instead, it seems that Americans work even longer than before. There was also a prediction that America, Japan, Canada and Sweden would be the few "high income post-industrial economies" by 2000. Europe was predicted to be in the next rung below. Well, by the time 2000 rolled around, most of Europe was fairly intermingled with the big 4. The big miss was Asia, with many east Asian countries (other than Japan) moving up the charts.

The book could easily be rewritten today from an American point of view with China substituted. There is worry today that China is dominating production. There is hope that more automation and more local production will help take back some of the Chinese dependency. America still does have a lead on research and knowledge. However, there is concern that some of that is ceded to China. Today, Americans complain of significant Chinese government supports. In this book, the French acknowledge significant American government investment in key industries. (Though the difference is the French thought they should also have government support rather than fight against it.) 

It was interesting in this time that Russia was already somewhat of an afterthought. There was earlier thought that the USSR would pass the USA economically. However, buy 1967 that economic growth had already appeared to be a mirage. The Vietnam War seemed to be the last standoff between the two powers before they concentrated on other things. 

Swann's Way

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

This is the first of the Remembrance of Things Past book (also translated as In search of Lost Time) cycle. It is a fairly long book, but only the first of the cycle. People think and dream and talk about who they want to associated with and drink Vichy water. It is a famous work. I found myself quite lost. I would seem to capturer what is going on, then it would shift elsewhere. There is a lot of talk about walking around different places. An abridgement would be useful.

The Anomaly: A Novel

An Air France flight to the US encountered turbulence and hail. It was a short term traumatic experience for passengers, but the plane landed and they continued on with their lives. Then, a few months later, the plane re-appeared in the sky - the exact same plane, with the same passengers. The US government diverted it to a special base and invoked "Plan 42" to deal with situations beyond understanding.

Scientists, philosophers and clergy were involved. What happened? Was it a wormhole? An act of God? Or are we all in a simulation? With the increasing of computing power, the simulation idea did seem feasible. 

Dealing with the multiple versions of people became an interesting experience. There were two copies of all the passengers, both with identical experiences, save the last few months. One author had committed suicide in the time being and now had a "second chance". A pilot was on his cancer deathbed - and now is repeating the process. There are many interesting events that occur with these people. 

There are also those that don't like the un-understandable. A religious zealot decides they are the spawn of Satan and kills off two clones. There are two clones that fight with each other for custody of their child. In most cases, one of the clones ends up assuming a new identity so that all can live their life in peace.

A few months later, another copy of the plane appears. This time, the government decides to shoot it down rather than risk more problems.

Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary is the story of a bored young woman who wants more from her life. She engages in a number of hedonistic activities and a engages in various dishonest behaviors. Eventually things begin to unravel and she takes her own life. It can be a challenge to keep track of what is going on at first. However, it does start to tie together well at the end.

The Bungler

Richard Wilbur's translations of Moliere are quite impressive. They seem to have a nice rhythm and rhyme in the English. (I guess it helps that the language are fairly closely related.)

I was really lost with the plot and the characters here. However, the gist was that somebody was scheming to help get somebody else out of slavery. However, his companion kept bungling up his roles and causing issues with the scheme. He might mispronounce a name or do something silly.

Most of the jokes stood alone pretty well. Even when I was totally lost as to what was happening, I would still find myself laughing. The rhythm and rhyme also added to the joviality factor. (And I found that truly amazing with a translation)

The Plague

The Plague reminded me of Blindness. Both deal with the changes in a society as they are isolated with disease. However, Camus takes a more realistic approach that further looks into the long term impact. In the end, life is existential voyage, and reverts back to the norm after traumatic events.

The Plague is longer than The Stranger. This is probably a result of dealing with an entire town instead of a single person. Philosophically, they are both similar works.

The Stranger

Camus. An existential work about a Frenchman in Algeria. He does what feels good. He kills a guy. He gets the death penalty. It was first written in French. It is short and easy to understand.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

The science seems impressive, though the story gets tedious. The tone of the story felt more like Darwin than other Jules Verne adventure novels.

In this story, there are reports of a giant sea creature in the ocean. The narrator ends up on a ship that is going out to investigate. Through a series of events, he and two others end up being rescued by a the "creature" which turns out to be the ship "Nautalis". The captain of the ship, Nemo, has recused himself from society and lives now in the sea.

The narrator and his companions are now "prisoners" aboard the Nautilus. However, they are given freedom to explore, with their only main restriction that they are not permitted to leave the ship on their own. Through this they discover all of the great discoveries that Nemo has made, including submarine travel, undersea tunnels, electric ships, precious metal and mineral stores, strange animals and parts of the earth nobody has seen. Some of the science was ahead of its time, while other has been shown to be wrong.

In there voyages, they have a few adventures, including Nemo's attacks on some unknown enemy crews. However, the main conflict is against nature, rather than man. They have to fight giant sea creatures, escape from enclosing icebergs and endure horrid storms.

Eventually the narrator and his companions (the Narrator, Pierre Aronnax, his servant, Conseil, and the Canadian, Ned Land) escape the ship on a boat and live to tell their tale.