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All right, we've had a good break, but time to get the new thread off the ground.

Starting with ugilick's suggestion from the last thread, we have King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard.

To that I'd like to add additional options of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, and The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (No relation to Jurassic Park, but there are some dinos just the same....)

And for the kidz, since we think of the children here, we'll jump forward a few years to:
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (this one was published in 1912, but it takes place in the 1800s so it still counts, shut up)

According to wikipedia, King Solomon's Mines is considered to have kicked off the "lost world" genre, usually consisting of (then) modern explorers finding hidden civilizations fill of fabulous wealths that somehow slipped through the cracks, and there have been many many imitators that are still influencing fiction in major ways today. (Looking at you, Wakanda.)

Whichever you read, make sure to get the full unabridged version, and not one that's been edited or dumbed down for "modern readers". (The industry's code word for retards.)

Also, we're going to be doing these threads a bit differently now, since the old ones tended to get pretty messy, and make it difficult to search back for any particular book discussion when the threads went all over the place and anything could be anywhere.

I still like the idea of covering multiple books at a time, that way if somebody's not feeling one or the other they can still participate. And all if you have any other books on this theme that you want to recommend, go right ahead.

New thread will be launched in September, and we'll have the major contributors to this one decide on a new theme.

All these books are pretty old so it should be easy to find a free copy, but if you're having trouble with that just DM me.

"One of us, one of us, one of us!"

Will start reading tonight! Found it free on kindle.

I'll give it a whirl :) I'll look through my books this weekend and try to find something from the right time period that I've read already to recommend :D For now Sherlock Holmes and Poe's stories spring to mind, the latter wrote some adventure-type, but dark, short stories - he had a guy called Hans Pfaall (sounds like a sneeze) visit the moon in a hot air balloon and The Gold Bug is kinda adventurous in a let's talk about ciphers and codes for 20 pages kind of way. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson would definitely fall in this category. Maybe also Call of the Wild by Jack London, is that adventure?

Just thought, Heart of Darkness might count as a kind of dark 19th century adventure story?

I'll try to read one of them but I might not finish it because I'm pretty busy with other things. I'll pick one later this week when I'm not stressing about my science and engineering camp's homework and simultaneously having to study the 8th grade curriculum because I somehow got into all the honors classes and my mom doesn't want me to skip learning anything. 

I think I might read Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. 

Awesome! Have you had a chance to start?

If you're not used to older books, the writing style can take a little getting used to. Might be a thing best done when not in a hurry and without a bunch of distractions around so you can really focus.

I just started it this morning, and I am liking it so far. 
 

You're right, the writing style did take a little getting used to but I got the hang of it. And yeah, I find that for me to actually have time to read and fully comprehend what's happening I have to wake up really early before anyone else is up so I can have some peace and quiet for me to focus in. 

The long windedness and formal nature of books from that time period always seemed strange to me considering these authors were writing on paper, by hand, and so you'd think they'd have wanted to get to the point a little faster. But it grows on you after awhile, it's kind of nice immersing yourself in a time when nobody was in any kind of hurry.

It's nice to see the Book Club running again!
I'll try " The Lost World" because dinosaurs are interesting, and I haven't read it before.

So, we should be done at least one of those books by September or end of July/August?

Glad to have you joining the club, you always seem so excited about everything!

We're aiming to wrap up this thread by the end of August and then let the new one run through September, but of course things can happen.

Thanks! Though I'm a picky reader sometimes, I really enjoy stories! I also think it's great that you even have forums like this! Sounds like a plan considering the unexpected. Then, I'll write about the book here when I'm done from it (if things don't happen). ;)

Oh goody, I'm already half way through King Solomon's Mines anyway. ^_^

Dinosaurs adventures are AWESOME!!

I finally finished going through "The Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle, and here's my review/thoughts on the:

*SPOILER ALERT*

Beginning

The start of this story was a bit boring for me since romance stories don't interest me much (even though it was Edward Malone's unrequited love that lead him into the adventure). The author masterfully describes Challenger at the start. Challenger is a bit too aggressive, but he's clever and kind to his wife. It was a slow and steady intro, but gradually got more eventful. A fight between a reporter and scientist, then a very active conference. How the group travels to South America in a way based on actual 19th century travels there, and how they meet the Natives, all made the story more realistic, in which I liked. I didn't know bamboos grow in South America until it was mentioned here.

Middle  

This is where it actually starts! Finally halfway through the story, live dinos come into action! A Pterodactyl herd, a Iguanodon encounter, and even a T-Rex attack (I think it was a T-Rex like dino). I was surprised to see smart Apes in a war with a tribe of small people in the same land as the dinosaurs. That natives tribe even keeps Iguanodons like cows! WoW! The middle was the best, most action packed part of the story. A part I liked was that where Malone just went walking in the night to a lake so far, and on the way back he simply fell into a trap for Apes or dinosaurs while running away from a dino. Something strange was that attack on Malone where his head was almost twisted off. I would like to note that John Roxton is a great hunter (good thing he came along), and that Zambo is simply a great person (considering his loyalty and kindness).

End

After all that hardship, at last a return home. Even after the long journey and live Pterodactyl specimen, I'm sure that some people were probably still doubtful. I think that Gladys was simply a self centered person, the wrong girl to fall for. Good thing he realized reality, even though too late. At least he learned some life lessons from that dangerous adventure, and gained some good friends.Summerlee was quite smart to make a profit out of crystals from the blue clay (and share it with the three others of course). The ending of this novel seemed satisfying.

End of review/thoughts on "The Lost World". (It would be exciting IF it was real!)

I was going to say that South American bamboo was found only in the habitat of their pterodactyl varieties, but then I looked it up too. Huh.

Anyway, congrats on being the most productive one in the club!

I should probably do some more reading soon.

Thanks!!

I didn't believe it at first too (I though that they only grow in east Asia), but apparently there are at least three varieties of bamboo that are native to South America.

You are also pretty active here too! I send you my "Great Commendation" for always watching over the forums. 

Awwww, thanks. It's my duty to watch over the forums after accidentally tanking a lot of the discussion here with the Discord.

Actually I'm hoping to become more involved in things again soon and participate in more activities like this, what I've mostly been doing the last few months are forty second shitposts from my phone while distracted by other things.

So how we doing here folks?

... I failed. I am nowhere near finishing the book and have been reading other things. I do plan on finishing it at some point but because I am reading it on the family ipad, (Totally the only reason) things have been going slow. I can only read 3 pages without my brother taking it to play minecraft or my dad to watch a show. 

 

The very notion of a shared family tablet repulses me on a deep and visceral level.

Save you birthday and Christmas money and get a Fire 7 from Amazon, they're just $50.

I'll try, but that might be hard considering I don't get birthday or Christmas money, I mostly just get books or a Barnes and Noble gift card. (Books are expensive though, so I'm not complaining!)

Edit: Oh, and a few days ago I got my hands on a physical copy of King Solomon's Mines, so I might just try and read that and write a week late review on it instead. Is that allowed? 

Oh, just saw this edit. Sure, go for it. Thinking we might as well do away with a hard deadline and just leave this going until there seems enough interest to move forward with a new theme.

Ugilick and Avery were the most active posters in the old thread and with them having vanished this might have to sit for a bit.

Okay, cool! I'm almost done with the book, so hopfully I'll write somthing about it in the next few days. 

Oh right, I was supposed to do this...

Well I'll do it tomorrow(or not).  

A short story I really enjoyed when I read The Jungle Book was "The Undertakers."



Contributed.

I think I'll start reading "Journey to the Center of the Earth" soon.

It's almost the end of the month and I haven't finished the book yet. It's sad how this Book Club slowly died, but it's not dead yet!!

I went with King Solomon's Mines. Although I cheated by having the kindle read it to me while in the bath.

It's okay, I think. As long you know the whole story (whether you listened or read the whole book).

The club lives on!