Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

A mysterious stranger comes to stay in the small Sussex town of Iping. An irratible man wrapped in bandages and carrying crates of mysterious chemicals. The humble townsfolk find the stranger unnerving, but as unusual events start to occur around the town, the people of Iping are faced with a mystery the likes of which they have never seen before.

My pick for a Classic with less than 200 pages.

I've already completed the core trifecta, with this I just need to find The Mummy and I'll have Hammer bingo. I haven't read much by H.G. Wells, nor do I know much about this story aside from the name, so it should be interesting.

This one is on my 2016 TBR for the "classics". I read 2 Wells' books last year (Time Machine and War of worlds) and enjoyed them even if the characterization wasn't interesting/good. I hope this one will be better for this point.

The core trifecta is a fun idea. Dracula was a DNF for me and I never heard about the werewolf so maybe I need to have a look at it.

I'm a huge sci-fi fan so Wells has been a must read and add to my collection. I'm in the process of reading this story right now and I love it.

I'd consider myself to be a big H.G. Wells fan. Of the 4 books I've read of his, this one is my second favorite, but I have liked them all.

What I like the best is the realistic approach he took to the subject. I felt that the protagonist behaved in many ways exactly how I would given sudden invisibility. He managed to establish a trope and almost completely explore all its implications. This ability has its own flaws to go with those strengths and he explores those well also.

The second best aspect is that it is from the perspective of the afflicted, unlike Dracula or Jekyll and Hyde. We don't only see the monster from outside, we join him and experience it as well.

That was alright. I did think Griffin was kind of an idiot, but aside from that it was pretty interesting.

The Invisible Man


I will be starting this today for my Alpha-Author Challenge, a book by H.G. Wells. This is a re-read for me, but I really enjoy the story and am looking forward to revisiting it again.

Still great! I didn't enjoy it as much as I have in the past. I want to believe it was me not reading it at the wrong time versus there being something wrong with the book, because obviously the book hasn't changed. I was a little bored reading it, so it must have just been timing for me.

3/5

I am reading this for my 2016 Discard Challenge, an author born in the same month as me.

This year has been one of discovering the classics. I could not resist adding another one to my list. I am listening to it as an audiobook, and do not like the person reading it. Their voice is very ho hum making it easy to tune out the story.

Is the invisible man an angry person as a side effect or just an angry person when he does not get his way?

Side effect

It seemed to me more that he was kind of an ass before becoming invisible. Hard to tell.

This:

https://mises.org/library/invisible-m...

Is a solid analysis of the book (the author agrees with both Adam and myself.)

I agree with both of you. He was a self-centered person before, but being invisible exacerbated it.

J thank you for the link. I did not realize the economic themes in the book. I am not yet finished the story, only 3/4 done, so will have to pay closer attention to that aspect.

I am reading this for ATY2018 Week 11 "literary fiction." (I hope it qualifies as such because HG Wells is the author...)