Alex C. Telander

3 books read for LibriVox

filter sort genre era audiobooks

Dick Sands, the Boy Captain Jules Verne, translated by Ellen E. Frewer
Dick's a fifteen-year-old suddenly running a whaling ship after disaster wipes out the crew, and Verne makes you feel every mile of that responsibility. Fair warning, it turns darker on land, taking hard aim at the slave trade, and daffy Cousin Benedict chasing insects is the one bit of relief.
Five Weeks in a Balloon Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland
You’ll enjoy the jaunty mix of balloon engineering, African geography, and danger, especially with Fergusson’s cool determination balanced by Kennedy’s skepticism and Joe’s irrepressible humor. It’s episodic and very much a nineteenth-century adventure, so the old-fashioned colonial attitudes can be a rough patch, but the sense of practical wonder carries you along.
The Food of the Gods H. G. Wells
You’ll enjoy its gleeful absurdity: Redwood and Bensington’s growth food turns ordinary children into giants, and Wells uses the resulting panic to poke at English class, science, and fearful adults. It gets preachy and episodic, but the strange scale and argumentative energy make it a lively, surprisingly sharp read.

3 books read for LibriVox

filter sort genre era audiobooks

Dick Sands, the Boy Captain Jules Verne, translated by Ellen E. Frewer
Dick's a fifteen-year-old suddenly running a whaling ship after disaster wipes out the crew, and Verne makes you feel every mile of that responsibility. Fair warning, it turns darker on land, taking hard aim at the slave trade, and daffy Cousin Benedict chasing insects is the one bit of relief.
Five Weeks in a Balloon Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland
You’ll enjoy the jaunty mix of balloon engineering, African geography, and danger, especially with Fergusson’s cool determination balanced by Kennedy’s skepticism and Joe’s irrepressible humor. It’s episodic and very much a nineteenth-century adventure, so the old-fashioned colonial attitudes can be a rough patch, but the sense of practical wonder carries you along.
The Food of the Gods H. G. Wells
You’ll enjoy its gleeful absurdity: Redwood and Bensington’s growth food turns ordinary children into giants, and Wells uses the resulting panic to poke at English class, science, and fearful adults. It gets preachy and episodic, but the strange scale and argumentative energy make it a lively, surprisingly sharp read.