Books

So far, I have only read 10 books out of a collection of around 30 books (even though they are not the only books I have read). Those 10 books were (the most recent at the top):

Journey to the Center of the Earth- Jules Verne
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle- Washington Irving
Peter Pan- J. M. Barrie
The Time Machine- H. G. Wells
Moby Dick- Herman Melville
The Call of the Wild- Jack London
Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer- Mark Twain
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Jules Verne

I enjoyed every single book, except for two of them. It’s a 1 in 45 chance that you’ll guess the two.

Now for the summaries.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

In the mid-1800s, a professor named Otto Liedenbrock, brings his nephew, Alex, to Iceland to try and reach the center of the Earth. Hans Bjelke, their guide, goes with them as they embark on a spectacular journey that involves intense heat, rapid currents, and real-life dinosaur-era creatures. It ends when they are forced out by an eruption that lands them in Sicily, to the south of Italy. They return home, and Alex marries his love, Gretchen.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle

Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster in Sleepy Hollow, tries to win the heart of his love, Katrina Van Tassel. But his rivals, Brom “Bones” and his gang, try to humiliate him and marry Katrina. One night after a party, he returns home, only to find the Headless Horseman, the legendary ghost of a Hessian soldier from the Revolutionary War, chasing him out of the thick forest! He tries to outrun him on his horse, Gunpowder. But Gunpowder’s saddle slips and he is not able to hold on to his horse. The Headless Horseman flings his ”head”, which is kept at the right of him, to Crane. It hit his own head and later, Ichabod Crane, dies. Brom Bones ends up marrying Katrina, and laughs whenever he hears the Crane story.

In a New York settlement, near the Catskill Mountains, Rip Van Winkle goes exploring and finds three people bowling. He drinks something beer-like, and falls asleep for 20 years. He wakes up, confused about the new atmosphere. He later finds out that the colonists have won independence against the British and formed a new country, the United States of America.

Peter Pan
The Darling family kids, Wendy, John, and Michael, find Peter Pan in their room as they go to Neverland, a place that only exists in imagination. They embark on many different adventures, but most of all, they fight the pirates, led by Captain Hook. Wendy, John, and Michael use clever tactics with the help of Peter to take down the pirates and return to the real world.

The Time Machine

A man claims to have made a time machine, but other men do not believe him. However, the Time Traveler travels to the future and discover that the human race had split into two groups, the Morlocks and the Eloi. At one point he loses his time machine and goes on a long search for it, looking in bushes, near trees, and in ancient buildings. He finds in inside a pedestal with a winged figure on it and returns to the present day.

Moby Dick

An ordinary man joins the crew of a whaling ship, the Pequod, and finds that the captain of the ship, Ahab had a grudge against a large white whale named Moby Dick because he lost a leg against him. His crew had took down many whales on their journey, but Moby Dick sank the ship. Many of the sailors drowned, but a few of them survived.

The Call of the Wild

Buck, a wolf-like dog from California, is taken to the freezing northern lands and becomes a sled dog. The dogs ran many miles and suffered from tiredness and hunger. Some of the dogs died. But not Buck. He had great endurance, and he even killed the strong leader, Spitz. Buck replaced him as leader. But after many miles, three dogs remained. Buck ran away from the pack because he had heard a wild wolf’s “call of the wild”. The native people are afraid to enter a specific area because of abnormal wolf tracks created by Buck’s spirit.

I will say my piece on the last 4 books on the list next time. However, I can tell you that all 10 books are great stories to read, and that you can picture each in your mind. That is why these books are enjoyable.

Sneak Preview: The next two books that I will read might be Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There will be updates about all the other books as I read them.