Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Richard and Nicholas Crane, 1987, 236 pages.

Genre: travel writing, non-fiction, british, adventure

Basic Overview: I received this book through the kindness of cat63 , who sent it to me, overseas, when I evinced an interest in it. Subsequent research has proven to me that it is unavailable for purchase in Canada, so I am doubly grateful for the gift. Thank you!
Journey to the Centre of the Earth is written by two mad Englishmen, cousins, who decide to go off for a few weeks' bicycling to the geographical centre of the earth, which is defined as the place most remote from the open sea in any direction. To get to this isolated spot, which lies in northern China near its borders with Russia [then the USSR] and Mongolia, means that the pair must pedal their bikes through monsoons in Bangladesh, extreme heat in India, altitudes of up to 17,000 feet in Nepal and Tibet, and ride through parts of the Gobi and the Taklamakan deserts in China.

Interesting new words learned: col, burdock, barchan, loess

  

33 / 100 (33.0%)

The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins, 1878, 251 pages.

Genre: classic, british, suspense

Basic Overview: English Lord Mountbarry throws over his charming fiancee for the scheming Countess Narona, and after their marriage, calamity ensues. Murder, mysterious disappearances, ghosts, strange revulsions, and the city of Venice feature in this suspense story.

Personal Opinion: The Haunted Hotel was so much unlike the dense, detailed, carefully plotted stories by Wilkie Collins that I have come to know and love so much. It was simplistic, uninteresting, with no character development, an ending you could have guessed a mile off, and with nothing but determination to steer me towards finishing the book. I was really surprised at how the mighty Collins had fallen.
A quick trip to Wikipedia gave me some biographical details that explained the whole thing. Apparently Collins, suffering from rheumatic gout, became addicted to opium in the form of laudanum, and after the death of his closest friend, Charles Dickens, in 1870, Collins became increasingly addicted to the point of suffering paranoid delusions, and believing that he had a doppelganger with him at all times, whom he called "Ghost Wilkie". Wikipedia says that "his novels and novellas of the 1870s and 1880s....are generally regarded as inferior to his previous productions and receive comparatively little critical attention today".

I was really disappointed in this book. Expecting my usual fun Wilkie Collins read, I instead read 251 pages of drivel. Not a good choice, and a waste of my time.

34 / 100 (34.0%)

 

I had to think about this one, but when the answer came to me, I knew instinctively that it was the right one. It's to Lyman Ward, the [male] narrator of Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, which is one of my favourite books, and which won the 1972 Pulitzer. Lyman's elderly and disabled. He has degenerative arthritis which has caused his joints to lock, and he's stuck in a wheelchair. However, he has his house rigged up so he can get around it easily, and he has excellent caregivers, so that he can live independently.

Why do I relate to Lyman Ward? I'm bipolar, which is a disability of sorts. The severity of it kept me from working for several years until I could be stabilized on medication. Lyman's wife Ellen left him, unable to tolerate his anger at the disease, I have often feared [and will probably continue to fear] that eventually my spouse's incredible patience and kindness will dry up and that he'll be gone with the wind. Lyman's son, Rodman, is trying to put his father in a home, not so much for Lyman's sake but so that he, Rodman, will have peace of mind about his father's safety and health. Lyman steadily resists, and goes to great lengths to prove that he can live independently. One of my great fears is that someone in my family will put me in a home and that I will be institutionalized on a long-term basis, and frankly, I'd rather die than face that. It didn't occur to me until I thought about this writer's block question that I identify with Lyman Ward so strongly, but apparently, I do!

Apparently, if one's husband plays the harmonica to certain German Shepherds, they sing along by howling, and sometimes by jumping up and trying to remove the harmonica from said husband's mouth. It's a hilarious sight, and both Aislinn and I have been struck down by fits of the giggles!