MobileRead March 2013 Special Run-Off Vote

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

He voted for In a Sunburned Country in the preliminary, so ...

And I would have voted that way had there been another tie. Personally, I'd much rather read Verne, but I don't consider it to fit the category as I understand it.

So which is the best and most complete currently available English translation?

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Well, I voted for the other guy, as I wasn't really in the mood to read 20,000 Leagues, even though I helped nominate it. Now I have to decide if I want to:

1. Release the hold I placed at the library for In a Sunburned Country.
2. Keep the hold and read it anyway, whenever it becomes available.
3. Read 20,000 Leagues, seeing as I've never read it before.
4. Forget both books and continue doing my own thing.

Option 4 works for me. I didn't have high hopes for this category and am not remotely interested in reading ancient scifi.

Originally Posted by BelleZora

By the way, I'm just finishing The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and am loving it. Every month I've learned of and read wonderful nominated books that did not win.

Thanks for the input. I'd heard good things about it and now I'll move The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry up my to-be-read list.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Darn, I really don't want to read Twenty Thousand Leagues. Last year I felt the same way about Ivanhoe, but I enjoyed it and read it quickly. I felt more favorable to A Thousand Miles Up The Nile, but it took six weeks to finish it even though it was worth the effort. So I guess I'll just do it.

By the way, I'm just finishing The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and am loving it. Every month I've learned of and read wonderful nominated books that did not win.

Originally Posted by Synamon

Option 4 works for me. I didn't have high hopes for this category and am not remotely interested in reading ancient scifi.


Thanks for the input. I'd heard good things about it and now I'll move The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry up my to-be-read list.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was my first choice, and is available via Overdrive. I may just go ahead and read this anyway.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Option 4 works for me. I didn't have high hopes for this category and am not remotely interested in reading ancient scifi.

I did try to nominate something Science Fiction and current. But it didn't take.

[GA Russell]

I read 20,000 Leagues in high school and loved it. That was nearly fifty years ago, so I'll look forward to it.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And I would have voted that way had there been another tie. Personally, I'd much rather read Verne, but I don't consider it to fit the category as I understand it.

I figured. I didn't think Verne was a good fit for the category so almost voted but I didn't feel right voting for something that I knew I wouldn't read. It isn't available from my library at all (e-book or p-book) and it is outside my budget.

I came close to voting though, just to tie things up till you got back and see some of the reactions.

[crich70]

I voted for Verne in both polls. I was actually surprised that it did win in the Run-off vote due to how close it was. I will be participating in the discussion of the book on the board. I already have it on my Paperwhite ready to be read too.

[WT Sharpe]

I just ordered a used paperback copy of the completely restored and annotated version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea translated by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter. I couldn't find an ebook of this much-praised edition.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All I can say is I'm going to be rather annoyed if all 21 people (who voted for Verne) do not participate in the discussion thread. It's not fair to vote and then just F off.

I very well may not read Verne because it's not the new translation.

And when the new translation is out, I will nominate Verne again using the new translation loophole.

I'm trembling in my boots at the idea of your wrath. However, I have already downloaded the Mobileread Library copy of "20,000 Leagues" and intend reading it, so I hope to survive unscathed.

[orlok]

I have set myself a lower 2013 reading target this year, 52 books, and if I read every one of the various book club selections, it's not going to leave much time for the books I really want to read. And 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a book I read in childhood, so I'll give it a miss.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And I would have voted that way had there been another tie. Personally, I'd much rather read Verne, but I don't consider it to fit the category as I understand it.

So which is the best and most complete currently available English translation?

There is a translation by Frederick Paul Walter done in 1991 with the original illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou for $2.45 in the Kindle book store.

http://www.amazon.com/original-illus...+under+the+sea

It claims to be "an unabridged translation from the original French" and the illustrations are certainly very good.

For the same price 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Full Version (Annotated) (Literary Classics Collection) [Kindle Edition] is available. This uses the older Mercier translation--but not the cut version of it originally published in English. It is actually quite a good translation in its original form. If the language sounds dated, remember that it is more-or-less contemporaneous with Verne himself. However, judging by what I have read so far of the two, Walter's translation does flow more naturally.

There are several complete works of Verne--but I'm not sure which translation they use. The Greatest Hits of Jules Verne (Five Books) [Kindle Edition] for only $1.23 does use the Walter translation which one of the reviewers describes as "excellent, modern and unabridged".

Halcyon Classics I've usually found reasonably good and the Verne collections are described as "unexpurgated" but the specific translation isn't given, though a set done in 2009 by Raleigh St Clair Books does use the modern version.

The copy in the mobile read library is a complete version prepared by Harry T--and it's bound to be pleasant to read and excellently formatted.

[WT Sharpe]

Project Gutenberg has the 1991 Frederick Paul Walter translation which he dedicated to the public domain. Note that this is not the version that has been so widely praised, but does form the backbone of the completely restored and annotated edition 1993 translation by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter. It's also known as Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, a title F.P. Walter felt was closer to the original. The 1993 version is published by the Naval Institute Press and is not available in ebook form.

[WT Sharpe]

I just checked Harry's upload to see which one it was, and I'm happy to report that it's the 1991 F.P. Walter translation. Knowing Harry, the formatting will be excellent and he will have proof-checked this one extensively.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20981

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I'm trembling in my boots at the idea of your wrath. However, I have already downloaded the Mobileread Library copy of "20,000 Leagues" and intend reading it, so I hope to survive unscathed.

The way I look at it, when you have a vote such as this one where it's close most of the way, a vote should not be placed unless the voter is going to be reading the winning book and participating in the discussion thread. All you are doing if you don't is screwing others who voted for the other book.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I just checked Harry's upload to see which one it was, and I'm happy to report that it's the 1991 F.P. Walter translation. Knowing Harry, the formatting will be excellent and he will have proof-checked this one extensively.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20981

That is excellent news! Thus, unless they really want the older version, there's no need for anyone to read it, as a good modern version is right here in Mobile Read.