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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Seafaring Challenge, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. The Swiss Family Robinson


Wyss, Johann. The Swiss Family Robinson.

First published in 1812, this novel is about how one family survives a shipwreck and how they come to create a new home for themselves far away from civilization. I read the book because I have literally been hearing how *wonderful* it is my whole life. Yes, The Swiss Family Robinson is one of my mother's favorite books. But in childhood, the closest I could get to the novel--the closest I would get to the novel--was an abridged version. But even the abridged version, I gave up after a few chapters. So I was determined to not let 2008 go by without reading--really reading--this classic.

What did I think about it? Honestly? Well, it's still not my cup of tea. I still don't like it. The violence. The brutality. The absurdity. Granted in 1812, I'm sure it wasn't an absurd idea to kill animals for fun, for sport, or for a "learning" opportunity to learn what it was and how it worked. But for me, I saw it as a bunch of guys--a father and sons ranging in age from small to teen--who thrived on killing animals. True, some of the kills were for food or to protect their lives, but others seemed more trivial for me. Yes, the family needed to eat in order to survive. But I think some of it was pure overkill. But as I said, this wouldn't have ruffled any feathers in 1812 when it was published. I think--although I am not sure--that there was a philosophy that to study an animal meant to study the animal's corpse.

Besides the death of all those animals, and the passing dangers of island life, the book is filled with lessons and descriptions. The father has the need--and I'm not negating the need in actuality--to share every bit of knowledge in his head. And I'd be the first to admit, that if I were to be shipwrecked on an island, I'd want this guy around. First of all, he knows everything. It doesn't matter what subject. It doesn't matter how random or trivial, how broad or specific, this man knows it all. He knows how to do everything, how to make everything. This man is more knowledgeable than a walking set of encyclopedias. Now, if you were actually on the island and fighting for your survival. Receiving lessons of this sort, would be necessary and beneficial. To the ordinary reader--okay just this ordinary reader--some of the lessons are well, quite honestly, boring. You could skip these passages altogether and still follow the basic story.

One other thing that irritated me about the book. The woman never is given a name. The man isn't either, by the way, but he is the narrator. He is the "I" of the story so it isn't so obvious. The kids all have names. The animals all have names. The wife? Not named. I'd rather Grizzle the donkey be called "the donkey" or "that donkey" than to go 377 pages through a book where one of the main characters is simply called "the mother."

And it should be a crime what Wyss did to Grizzle by the way. Seriously. That's just wrong. It's beyond calloused or cruel.

8 Comments on The Swiss Family Robinson, last added: 1/10/2008
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2. Searfaring Challenge Update

I Heart Paperbacks is hosting a challenge, the Seafaring Challenge. The challenge officially starts November 1, 2007 and runs through January 31rst. The basic criteria for a challenge book is simply this: it must feature something nautical. See the site for official rules and suggestions. The site to post links to reviews is here.

So far I've read:

The Redemption by M.L Tyndall
Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

To successfully finish the challenge with my stated goal of reaching admiral, I need to read two more books.

I am a little over halfway through Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

Which leaves me one book short....I'm not sure what I'll read yet but here are some possibilities:

The Reliance by M.L. Tyndall
The Restitution by M.L. Tyndall
Beloved Castaway by Kathleen Y'Barbo
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

1 Comments on Searfaring Challenge Update, last added: 12/30/2007
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3. The Redemption

Tyndall, M.L. 2006. The Redemption.

For those readers seeking adventures with pirates in the Caribbean, then The Redemption by M.L. Tyndall is a nice, safe choice. A Christian romance. You'll find adventure but no smut. It is set in the seventeenth century, 1660s to be exact, and our hero--a dashing reformed pirate--and our heroine an English lady in search of a father she never knew....are about to meet and be thrown into a love-to-hate relationship. Charlisse Bristol. Edmund Merrick.

The more she pondered her situation, the more fear squeezed her heart. She was alone on an uninhabited island in the middle of the Caribbean, with no reasonable chance of rescue. Charlisse Bristol, daughter of Lady Helena Bristol, granddaughter of Lord and Lady William Rochester of Hampstead, raised in the luxury of London nobility, yet for all her noble blood and courtly training, she had no idea how to survive on her own. Still, she felt no regret for leaving, and therefore resigned herself to accept whatever consequences fate had in store for her.

Personally, I had a hard time believing that any of these characters could have ever existed. The adventures took them all over the place, and there was plenty of suspense and excitement, but to me it felt just silly. A bit too melodramatic. A bit too over-the-top. It is what it is. If you're looking for a light-hearted, fun, silly read...then this certainly qualifies. I'm not saying it's an unsatisfying read. It isn't. It just isn't "serious." I never took the characters seriously as people. I never took the 'danger' or 'adventure' as real. But there's nothing wrong with a silly but satisfying read. So I'm NOT slamming the book. I'm not. It was fun.

0 Comments on The Redemption as of 11/10/2007 1:58:00 PM
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4. Seafaring Challenge


I Heart Paperbacks is hosting a challenge, the Seafaring Challenge. The challenge officially starts November 1, 2007 and runs through January 31rst. The basic criteria for a challenge book is simply this: it must feature something nautical. See the site for official rules and suggestions. The site to post links to reviews is here.

My goal is to reach the fourth rank--admiral--by reading four books.

Here are my choices:

The Redemption by M.L. Tyndall
The Reliance by M.L. Tyndall
The Restitution by M.L. Tyndall
Swiss Family Robins by Johann Wyss

Alternates:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis




0 Comments on Seafaring Challenge as of 9/18/2007 9:33:00 AM
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