Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I'm not quite sure how this is going to work out, but I want to try the circumnavigating challenge with a twist. I like reading books about journeys, so my goal is to take a book from point A to point B, then another from B to C and see where I end up.

Since I suppose a lot of books start and end at the same location, I'm going to allow myself to 'hop off', either near the end or even in the middle if I find I absolutely have to.

I've read the first book and have the next two planned out with books that have been on my reading list for ages. After that, we'll just have to see how it goes!

Anne wrote: "I'm not quite sure how this is going to work out, but I want to try the circumnavigating challenge with a twist. I like reading books about journeys, so my goal is to take a book from point A to po..."

What a great idea! Good luck!

Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne; Philadelphia to the Chatham Islands. I can't honestly say I gave this book a rave review - it has a lot of issues including racism - but my other challenge this year was to read all of Jules Verne and I started here.

It's the 19th century, air flight is in its infancy, and mad scientist Robur has invented an airship that's steerable and can fly quickly, quietly and almost indefinitely. He kidnaps three relatively innocent Philadelphians and drags them off on a tour of the planet:
Unfortunately, for Robur, his plane is grounded in the Chatham Islands, a tiny group off the east of New Zealand. There, the Philadelphians escape and make their own way home.

I don't live in Philadelphia but I didn't mind starting there, since it's my 'home from home' in the US. The Chatham Islands are also special to me, since they were the closest antipodal land to where I used to live in the south east of France.

My next book will be David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas which has been on my reading list for ages, and also begins in the Chatham Islands.

Anne wrote: "I'm not quite sure how this is going to work out, but I want to try the circumnavigating challenge with a twist. I like reading books about journeys, so my goal is to take a book from point A to po..."

I love your idea, Anne! Good luck on your travels!

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, from the Chatham Islands to Ra'iātea in the Society Islands. Wow! I really feel like I've been on a marathon pretty much all over time and space: from the 19th century Chatham Islands to Brugues to California, all over the UK then off to a dystopian future Korea before passing through Ra'iātea and both 19h century and post-apocalyptic Hawaii. Sometimes it was the people doing the traveling, but more often just their ideas.



The climax and end point of the book is really in Hawaii but there's an important section just before the end in Ra'iātea and that's where my next book starts from: Richard Connaught's Omai: The Prince Who Never Was.