ABC Book Challenge T – W

 

T – Traveling in it       Around the World in 80 Days (1872) by Jules Verne

The 1956 movie with David Niven and the 1989 travelogue done by Michael Palin were very good, but I think the book is better.

Phileas Fogg makes a wager that he can travel around the world in 80 days and pledges half his fortune on it. He knows he will likely spend the other half of his fortune on the expenses of such a trip. If he loses the wager, he will be penniless. His trusty valet, Passepartout, goes with him.

They encounter many challenges along the way, but Fogg is ever calm and stoic. Passepartout notices the incredible beauty of the world they are traveling through, but Fogg pays no attention to anything other than his travel schedule and playing whist with other various passengers along the way. 

 

 

U – Unhappy ending       Old Yeller (1956) by Fred Gipson

Don’t have a lot to day about this one. Everybody knows the ending of the book and the movie that was made from it. HATED the ending!! This was NOT a kid’s book in my mind. So depressing. Of course, I was also highly upset when Charlotte dies in Charlotte’s Web and I LOATHE spiders. But this category demanded an unhappy ending and I put this one at the top of the list.

 

 

V – Violent book                     Deliverance (1970) by James Dickey

Not gonna say a lot about this one, either. Perfect for the violent category, though. I read the book before I saw the movie. Both were well written and performed. Just not my kind of thing.

 

 

W – Water                               Cachalot (1980) by Alan Dean Foster

Sci-fi book from a favorite author. Cachalot is an ocean world. Most towns are built on raft-like structures anchored in the sea floor. They are temporary, and when the fishing or harvesting of minerals has been fulfilled, they move the whole town to another place. When the colonists arrived, they brought with them the various kinds of whales. The whales are the sovereign rulers on this planet.