In summer of 2007, while visiting my brother in Chicago for his graduation, my dad told me that each time he traveled, he read this book. My dad’s a meticulous sort of person, just like the main character here, Phineas Fogg, and he gets ruffled easily when things don’t follow his schedule or plan. He hates delays of any sort, and gets real irritable. At least he used to. Now, he’s much less easily ruffled, and he attributes his newfound calmness to Around the World in Eighty Days. Phineas Fogg stays calm and collected on his journey, despite delays, and by reading this book, my dad says he’s been able to do the same.

It’s a silly little story, but it made me want to read this book, and I’ve finally gotten around to it. The basic premise is simple – Phineas Fogg bets that he can travel the world on a predetermined route in 80 days or less. The people he bets against don’t believe that’s possible, and indeed Mr. Fogg meets an incredible amount of delays along the way which attempt to stop him. I won’t say whether or not he succeeds, or what he learns on the way, but I will say I can see why my dad loves this book so much. It suits him.

For me, I enjoyed it, but honestly found it just a little boring. It’s an adventure novel, and I’m not really an adventure sort of person. I’m more into people, not plot. That’s not to say it isn’t good. It’s just not my cup of tea, so to speak. But, I do see why this is a classic and why it’s worth reading, and I can see why people love it. My eldest son loves it, and immediately started talking to me about the end as soon as I finished. He thought it was an exciting book.

I wish I could read this book in the original French. It’s simple enough, and I might try that one day.