Name: Tara C. Hackney/ Date: 19th July, 2004/ Phone: 512-446-****

Book: Around the World in Eighty Days Author: Jules Verne

Publisher: Viking - The Penguin Group Copyright Year: 1996

Where Purchased or borrowed: Christian Book Distributors

What Type of Book is This: Action/Adventure

For what type of age of audience is the book primarily written: For children and young adults.

Why do You think the Author wrote it? I think Verne wrote this to fulfill his own desire to travel to remote parts of the world. He was enchanted by other cultures, peoples, and customs and wanted his readers to share his love of change and adventure. To bring to them something new and unprecedented, yet so real and exciting. His imagination and genius makes this an enriching and beautiful tale of people just like you and me, on a great adventure to discover things new and to learn from mistakes and to joy in triumph.

Briefly tell what the book was about: The story is of Phillieas Fogg - impenetrable and imperturbable, a refined member of the Reform Club and an English gentleman. Of Passepartout, a Frenchman, the servant of Fogg and most decidedly the opposite in character, he is flamboyant and gets himself into trouble with his curiosity. He is very faithful, loving and loyal to his master. Of Fix, the disillusioned detective from Scotland Yard who follows Fogg and party because he believes Philleas Fogg robbed the Bank of England. He shows that he can be a kind sort when not desperately conniving of how to catch Fogg. And of Auda, the beautiful and charming Indian Princess who is rescued by Fogg from certain death. Quiet and gentle, she is feels a deep gratitude to the one who saved her and now protects her. All of these are rapped up in a journey around the world ~ accompanying Mr. Fogg who has taken this upon himself as a bet at The Reform Club that he can traverse the globe in eighty days. £20,000 are at stake and all are at the end of their nerves, all but one Mr. Fogg - the ones who stands to loose all. He remains calm and lends strength and courage to his traveling companions, evoking a deep admiration from them all - even the shifty and guilt-ridden Mr. Fix. And in the end, Fogg finds something far more valuable than £20,000.

Which to chapters were the most applicable to your life, and/or the most enjoyable, and/or made the most impact on you? And why?

1. Well, of course chapters 12 (In Which Philleas Fogg And His Companions Venture Across The Indian Forests, And What Ensued) and 13 (In Which Passepartout Receives A New Proof That Fortune Favours the Brave.) are two of my favourites because these are the rescue of Auda from her tormentors. It shows a great bravery not only on the part of Passepartout, but also of Philleas Fogg, who risked ALL to save Auda from death. It showed a great humanity in him as he stopped his trip and went back to save her. One might get to thinking that our Philleas Fogg is heartless or cold from his cool demeanor, yet he proved here, without a shadow of a doubt that he is capable of great sacrifice and has a big heart.

2. And then in the end, (chapter 37, In Which It Is Shown That Philleas Fogg Gained Nothing By His Tour Around the Word, Unless it Were Happiness.) where he finds true love. In all his ruin, he saw that money didn't matter that much and that when one loves you as Auda loved him, you need not riches or gain to be happy. And the ending was so wonderful, for as he thought he had lost it all, then suddenly he had it all again. I liked this because it wasn't after he was rich that he said he loved Auda, but before (when he was ruined), and that it why it is so meaningful and real - for if we have riches, it is easy to say we love, but if we have nothing but love, it is true.

Quote one statement that made an impact on you, and why: "Nothing say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men! Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?" This is a beautiful statement and my favourite in the book. It says nothing of love here, but that is what it speaks of. True love is worth a tour around the world; worth everything if you find it. Philleas Fogg found it in the Indian princess he risked all for to rescue; simply because his heart was good and kind and he had great courage. He didn't know when he rescued her that he would grow to love her, but he did, and how true it is and must be indeed, for a man like Fogg. That line give the book a perfect ending and leaves one happy and refreshed that the characters here found happiness; it also leaves us saying that yes, for true love, we would make a tour of the world or more.

Did the book inspire you to change? If so, how? If not, was it really worth reading? Oh, yes! It was for sure worth reading though I cannot say that my life is changed so much. Though it was a wonderfully charming tale of adventure I don't plan on going around the world anytime soon. It was fiction and therefore more for my enjoyment than a great moral lesson. I learned countless things about other cultures and countries and people and their customs .... wow, I really gleaned a whole lot from simply reading this marvelous work by Verne. His information is very accurate for the time that it was written in. So, it was completely worth my time and every page was enjoyment in Verne's imagination.

Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not? I would definitely recommend it to others! It is a classic and a terribly lovely tale, spun with humour, adventure, narrow escapes, excitement, pursuit and much more. I know people of all ages will enjoy reading this enchanting work over and over as I do!

TÂrËåH hackney

19th July, 2004

 

~From Tara's diary~
on Operation Iraqi Freedom

9th April, 2003

Today we were looking on the internet at the news. Reading an article about the war, we could not help but feel over-jubilation when we read of the rejoicing of the Iraqis in Baghdad over their freedom from Saddam. I wanted to laugh, to cry, to sing or dance; for my soul was flooded by a wave of such sudden and wonderful emotion; if only for the fact that the Iraqis newly found freedom ~ after 25 years of awful oppression under Hussein ~ was so wonderful! How can I describe the feeling? Alas, I cannot. My excitement was not, however, for one thing alone; quite contrary, my elation was for many things. Ah - there were. indeed, so many things to be happy about, I felt as if I would fly away! A newscaster said that this day will always be remembered by the Iraqis as "the day Baghdad fell". And how many of these very Iraqis would have ever dreamed that this wonderful day for them would, or ever could, come? Isn't it so heart-touching - so exciting? I know that I was excited and touched both very much at the same time - for the Iraqis. In the quote, I suppose they mean the Day that Saddam's Baghdad fell, not the literal Baghdad. This is also a wonderful thought.

11th April, 2003

Alas, though, all of the joy which I have been speaking of does not come without a price. A very, very high price; for everything good or worth having must come with a price. Sometimes that price is considerably low; yet many times that price is devastatingly high. The price for true freedom is very high. It would, indeed, be very difficult to sum up the price of freedom in only a few words, for freedom's very high and devastating price is broad and very reaching. All is of sacrifice. However, if I had to choose just one word to tell the price of freedom, that word would be "life" - the ultimate sacrifice. For, indeed, one's life is the highest price one can pay. For is it not the Bible which says: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." (Here speaking of the priceless sacrifice that Jesus Christ paid for our sins ... that through belief in Him, the Son of God, we could have everlasting life and not be damned to hell. Oh wonderful Savior who died for us!*) Looking back to history, since the beginning of time, one can see many battles fought for freedom; and whether that battle is fought in one way or the other, there is always a dreadful loss of precious life. Operation Iraqi Freedom is certainly no exception. There has been tragic loss if life - horrid and awful. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no price to pay - no price to pay for freedom? but really; would it really be that wonderful if there was no price to pay for freedom? I cannot think it would. For without a price, a thing looses it's worth; if freedom was so easily come by, then it would not be very precious or dear.

Don't you see? It is the sacrifice that makes freedom so dearly bought, and consequently so priceless to those who receive it.

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* "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

John 3:16-18

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