Keith Carabine

Phileas Fogg must be the most confident and calm man in literature. So many times he fell behind schedule but he did not panick at all. You cheer for him when he realised he had miscalculated the days and managed to dash to the gathering point in time to prove that he got back from traveling around the world in 80 days.

This volume contains both “Around the World in Eighty Days” and “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” which I did not realize until after I had bought it. Of the two novels, I liked the former better. Both books contained adventure and humor, but I think some of the things I found funny in “Five Weeks in a Balloon” were not meant to be funny. At the start of the story, Dr. Fergusson’s buddy Kennedy tries to talk his friend out of the crazy trip, and Fergusson basically shuts him down, show more saying that he has thought of all possible obstacles and already overcome them with science. Then, about halfway through, things start to go downhill and the plot twists quickly become ridiculous as unforeseen obstacles pop up with a vengeance. In “Around the World in Eighty Days,” I guessed the last plot twist early on, but that was okay. I enjoyed the characters in that book better, too. Fogg’s stoicism was much more intriguing than Fergusson’s sentimentality. Also, the rampant racism in “Five Weeks in a Balloon” greatly offended my modern sensibilities. In “Around the World in Eighty Days,” the prejudices of the time were quite apparent, but you could forgive them because of Fogg’s kind treatment of Aouda. In “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” there was no such redeeming factor, and the racism was much more pervasive and persistent. Overall, I found “Around the World in Eighty Days” to be a much more enjoyable read than and “Five Weeks in a Balloon.” show less

Finally made it through this tome. Small print squished into the page and many pages at that made my eyes hurt from looking and my hands hurt from holding. Plus my brain needed all of its capacities to follow the story and its myriad characters. It is Dickens, after all.
I really enjoyed Esther's narrative the best. It was written in a fairly direct style. The third person narrative is much more obtuse and implicit, which made it a challenge to decipher, at times. Keeping track of who's who show more is tough, too. But it is a good read and I am glad I persevered. show less

Like most collections of short stories, a bit of a maixed bag, though the positives predominate. The shorter stories (10-15 pagers) are best, esp. A Madman's Manuscript, The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber, Trial for Murder, and The Signalman, all of which are very atmospheric and quite creepy.

A Christmas Carol remains a timeless classic, and deserves to be the most famous ghost story in Western literature. The other longer ones I found disappointing:
Haunted Man and Ghost's Bargain, a long one show more weighing in at 77 pages, I just found tedious and gave up on quite quickly. The Haunted House also was dull and lacking in atmosphere. show less