Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

Buddy read starts in September.

I'm off, and reading... and I am reminded that Doyle was one of the leading suspects in perpetuating the "Piltdown Man" hoax.

Do tell..

I loved this book years (and years and years and years and years) ago when I read it. I loved all the Professor Challenger stories. I'm (as always) to over committed so i won't drop back for a reread, but they're I'd recommend them. May run them down later...again LOL.

PiltDown man was the missing link, found in a rock quarry in ENgland. THen as testing got better they found it to be the scull of a Roman Soldier and the jaw bown of an Orangatang. Not everyone has access to those things.

Piltdown man got writtien into the text books and I, because I am a victim of LA schools was taught "Piltdown man" in jr high. It was a hoax.

I don't know if Conan Doyle was in on the hoax or not...but the Professor Challenger stories are still good.:

http://www.tiac.net/~cri_a/piltdown/w...

Conan Doyle was a "Creationist" and he did his writing in the era of Darwin and the Scopes Monkey Trial. That's why people believe he faked pilt-down man, as a means of proving that those people who believed we we descened from monkeys had no idea what they were looking at when they made their conclusions.

Nuff of that. Still reading. Not far enough into things to make a call yet.

The article above notes he was also known as a practical joker and some thought he was in on what started as a sort "gottcha'" sort of joke. Is there anything to it?? don't know. But wouldn't like that to take away from the fact that the Challenger stories are good. i always liked them far better than Holmes (never really got into S. Holmes. I know that's a shattering confession, but as Bertie Wooster might say, "there you are." LOL)

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "The article above notes he was also known as a practical joker and some thought he was in on what started as a sort "gottcha'" sort of joke. Is there anything to it?? don't know. But wouldn't like ..."

I agree Mike. It's just a curious side show. There's no reason for it to paint his writing any-one way or another. I just collect curious things in my head. It's sort of like an attic.

Ya me to, my brain is sort of a junk-yard...but I used to win at Trivial Pursuit pretty often.

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Fujii Mermaid whenever I hop onto here and read the newest posts. I haven't heard of this one but I admire a well done, clever, and fun hoax.

I plan to start my reread of this sometime next week.

He talks about Darwinism in the early chapter that's what cued my memory. These days my head's so full, somethings got to fall out before something else can get stuffed in.

@mike, I'm prtty good Trivial purusit too type games too. Especially "A Time to Remember" which has you pick the year something happened and all they give you is a headline.

It's a rare talent, as in rarely valuable, but it's nice to have when it counts.

I have just started reading it. I like the humor and the descriptors. It's surprisingly easy reading for a Victorian novel. Maybe it's because I've read a lot of stories written back then lately.

Finally started this tonight. I know I've read it before but my memory is very vague so it's like new again.
The humor is unexpected and it does seem to be an easier read than others from the same era. Also surprising is the portrayal of the male and female roles. Not as dated as I would have thought.

Started reading last week, not a lot of reading time this weekend. Mostly watching sports and drinking. When I started reading, all I could think of was, what a man wouldn't do for the love a good woman. I sure hope he gets what he wants in the end.

I was finishing up some other books this weekend. I hope to get this finished in a few days.

Gladys, well how Malone was fawning over her, ticked me off a bit... I was curious about how Challenger dealt with his wife. It worked in the book anyway and very symbolic.

It might be nice to remember how the genders dealt with eachother in romantic settings in the Victorian Era.

There's a reason Freud came about during this time.

Yeah, Malone's adoration of Gladys was a bit annoying. She wasn't worthy. The Victorian age had some interesting male/female dynamics to be sure.

I have to say I love Roxton's character.

I'm at 75% and I hope to finish it soon.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Yeah, Malone's adoration of Gladys was a bit annoying. She wasn't worthy. The Victorian age had some interesting male/female dynamics to be sure.

I have to say I love Roxton's character.

I'..."

It was more than made up for in the end I think. I was hoping for a similar outcome. It made her worth having... of course I still don't like her... but it was worth it.

My review is posted... yes, I know it needs editing, but it's more or less intelligible. I hope it makes as much sense to you as it did to me.

Roxton is a Man's man. Somebody needs to love him (Female... when you start talking "Man's man" it gets kind of messing when also talking about love. ... not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Oh, I didn't mean that kind of Man's Man. LOL!

I thought your review was excellent, Hugh.

I finished this book and I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun and smooth reading. Doyle spins a tale very well.

So, next book in the series or John Carter of Mars for the next read? (or maybe Burroughs "The Lost Continent" to offer a good comparison?)

The Lost Continent is fabulous. I read it in a days time... great story.

I read the John Carter books back in the '60s and loved them...I'm sure they'd seem young and dated now (I have most of, if not all of them somewhere on my shelves).

I do have plans to read John Carter of Mars, Hugh.

And for the record, that's the first of the bunch and very classic. John Carter of Mars. You can get the entire set of Barsoom books (wich saves you the trouble of figuring out which one's which) for cheap on Kindle. John Carter is a very robust man's man kind of hero.

I downloaded all the John Carter books on Kindle. Just need to read them!

If you like romance, action and Old world story telling, you'll like John Carter of Mars. Barsoom is as good as Tarzan.

Better :)

I wanted to say better but I was holding back. There are some real Tarzan fans out there.

When did Burroughs live?

1875 to 1950.

That's what I thought. He must have written "the Lost Continent" as a near future story. (Either that or I picked up an unusual adaptation)

He wrote several "lost land" type stories. His best know works are Tarzan and John Carter but he wrote other "series": the Pellucidar series, the Venus series, the Caspak series, The Moon series, the Mucker series and then you have his "other sci/fi fantasy works" including Lost content, but then he also wrote Jungle stories, western stories and so on. I think he might be said to have been a "prolific" writer LOL.

Yea, he turned out some books alright.

I'm sorry to say I didn't like The Lost World. It was ok, IMO. I was a little bored with it, maybe it was just the mood I was in.

You don't have to be sorry about that, Eileen. I'm sorry you didn't feel that your time was well spent though.

You don't have to worry, we still love having you around. Mike didn't like James Rollins (Gasp) but we still love having him around too.

You know, if everyone agreed with everything I said... it would get pretty boring around here.

Yah..but now I have come in through the kitchen...I'll never live down the Rollins thing.

I'm okay with you not caring for Lost World...and note how I didn't make a bad joke or something about it!

I'm so proud of myself.

LOL, Mike! And you know you can come in the front door as long as you keep wearing the hairy "I <3 Watership Down" T-shirt. (Just kidding, I love reading your reviews. They help me get a feel for a book when I'm on my book prowl.)

Eileen, I didn't care for it either. I read it before and didn't like it but tried again for the group read. I think the language was a little too formal for me. Some of the ideas a bit too dated. And I'm not a fan of the books from that era having social commentary.
I didn't hate it though. Just not for me.

It wasn't a bad book, I think the characters didn't really thrill me. I didn't really find any of the people in the book that interesting, so I guess I didn't care what happened to them. I did like some of the action with the monkeys and Indians. The ending was ok.

I didn't hate it either, Traci.

I was watching the 2001 version of The Lost World with Bob Hoskins as Challenger and James Fox as Summerlee, and Tom Ward as Roxton. I don't know what it is, but I just love Roxton's character. Both in the books and movies. I think Hoskins was very close to the book version of Challenger in temperament. I didn't get to watch all of it though.

Yes, Hoskins made a good "Challenger" in that one. I had the feeling that Challenger was larger, but it didn't seem to matter.

That one was closer to the book than the old series (which was fun, but not much like the books).

They added the female character, or so I recall. I don't think I'd forget that much in just a year. :)

They added one. There was "Gladys" in the book, but...she was a major bitch.

TV and Movie do that, add female characters or make a sex change. Of course, the old syndicated cable series did a good job of adding female characters that never existed.

You're right about Gladys, and I didn't like her either. They do seem to add female characters, particularly love interests.

Yes, I think female characters probably test well in their focus groups.

Though, I think Jennifer O'Dell's appeal was to males 13-80, and it had nothing to do with romance.

I was a big fan of Marguerite on the tv show. She was highly unpredictable and the chemistry between her and Roxton was great. That's why I watched the show, and for Roxton! :)

Maguerite was a lot of fun. Malone was a bit of a "whiner" Challenger did okay, but the guy they had playing Challenger reminded me more of Summerlee.

The Chemistry between Roxton and Marguerite was a lot of fun. They always found a way to bring a damsel in distress out of a jungle tribe when they needed one too.

Roxton, was more fun than the rest o fthem.