Out of My League

     Well, first of all hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I will be posting things about what I am reading inside of class, as well as thoughts of what I am reading outside of it (which may or may not be in several parts). I will likely be describing my thoughts on the reading or what I have read thus far, and may be criticizing or appreciating various aspects of whatever I am writing about. So lets begin.
     This week, I finished Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870). Quickly summed up, the book follows Mr. Arronax and Captain Nemo aboard the submarine The Nautilus as they travel 20,000 leagues across the sea. Some may consider Verne's work as the mother of science-fiction, due to the absurdity of the ideas he wrote about in his day and time--although they certainly seem less absurd in our modern era.
     Despite talking to other people, who say to have enjoyed the book, I can't with an honest mind say that I liked it. I thoroughly appreciate the science-fiction genre, and in that statement I can say that I appreciate Jules Verne for kick-starting the idea, but this book appealed to few of my fancies.
     One reason I failed to like this novel is that the main character, Mr. Arronax, describes his trip and what he sees in as many vivid details as possible. Initially, I enjoyed reading this but after the fifth or six time it happened, I got very bored, very quickly. Arronax lists the Latin names of every fish he sights, as well as several sentences of what their appearance. My small understanding of marine biology failed to identify many of the creatures, save for the cuttlefish and other similar species. I glazed over many of these details in the latter half of the book, due to them having no real contribution to the plot, or characters, in the novel.
     These long segments of detail were interrupted by small amounts of humor, and some action such as when Captain Nemo and Mr. Arronax explore the lost city of Atlantis, the much too short battle with the giant squid, the ice berg, and the maelstrom are examples of this. Sadly, these moments never really lasted any longer than a page or two and the story went right back into description.
     Overall, the book was not so good. I can understand the purpose of the way it was written--a journal written by a biologist who wished to record every detail of his journey--but that I think made it the biggest turn off for me. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then I would suggest you read it, but if you are more attracted to the modern day sci-fi (see Ender's Game, Dune, 1984, or any of Crichton's novels) than you might want to pass this up. Or maybe not, it's always good to see the origins of these things.
    At least I got a cool cover.

(Word Count: 500 words)