Was this book originakky written in French?

Thanks, Diana. That is what is confusing me, too. It was my impression that the "lost in translation" category was for books originally written in another language and translated into English.

The book was originally written in French and entitled Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. The concept of the category is books orignally written in a language other than English. I finished it today. Can not say that I was truly impressed with it. I have been a fan of Verne in the past and this is his most famous work. However, I found it dragging and dull. This is also the ultimate don't judge a book by its cover read. The cover consists of a huge hot air ballon with French flags. The main character Fogg, is English and does not even ride in a balloon. They mention the balloon once in the entire book and they are not even seriously considering it. This is one of those rare instances where the movie was better for me than the book. The 1950s movie not the 2004-05 Jackie Chan one.

Michael - I agree that the very end is a letdown (I don't think I have to spoiler the fact that Fogg makes it, but thinks he didn't, because he forgot about the international date line), but I do like the last dash across the Atlantic.

Thanks for the info guys...I was going to read that book but maybe not.  I didn't know it was written in French originally, so that is my lesson for the day!

Maybe I'll read The Phantom of the Opera for my lost in translation challenge.  I haven't read that book in alomost 12 years and I'm sure there is a lot I have forgotten.

I knew the French didn't pronounce hardly any of their words right. Apparently they aren't goot with numbers either. Quattre-vingts equals 80???

[ottanta giorni]

Quatre-vingt is four twenties which is eighty :-)

Forty in french is quarante.

Michael, that's too bad you did not like the book. Was it Journey to the Center of the Earth that we read together last year? I liked that one.

It's an ok book, but I think it was better as an armchair-travel book for people in the 1800's than it is a good adventure story today. It's also not science-fiction, so it's odd that it's become such an iconic book for Verne.

I thought Around the World in 80 Days was charming.  But I didn't really care for Journey to the Center of the Earth.  I wonder how 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is?  Anyone read it?

I just finished The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (originally written in French) and I have to say I enjoyed it.  I came to the book only knowing the basics of the story, not having seen the play or movie.  It was a quick read and quite the page turner the last one hundred pages or so.  Life changing, no, but still good entertainment.  I also appreciated the smoothness of the translation.  I'd recommend it if someone were looking for a book for this category and didn't have anything else lined up (or maybe hates their current choice?).  This challenge is pretty fun, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought to read this book without it, and now I have an idea what all the Phantom hype is about!

The Stranger by Albert Camus:  This is the story of a quite ordinary man who is content with his quite ordinary life.  When his employer asks if he would like a change and move to Paris to work in a new branch of the business he says it doesn't matter as he is quite content with his life as it is.  But life has a way of throwing curves at people sometimes and this little man finds himself quite unexpectedly committing a murder.  He is, of course, arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.  The story began with this little man attending the funeral of his mother.  Like his mother, he thinks, he is quite ready for the next stage - death.  What an interesting little story!