So as a kid I read every Jules Verne book I could get my hands on, I even read the Mysterious Island, Master of the World and even the obscure sequel to the Mystery of Arthur Gordon Pym. So don't suggest a rare less read Verne, I've read it. I miss having a chance to read a Jules Vernes book to read again for the first time. So is there another author to scratch that itch? It can be sci-fi, fantasy or even just adventure à la Around the World.
by exitpursuedbybear
6 Comments
Have you read the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs? I read them around the same time as a handful of Verne books and enjoyed them quite a bit.
HG Wells? Of the same period, and I did a deep dive into both him and Verne around the same time back in early high school.
You might try Lord Dunsany. He was a while after Verne but wrote great old-time fantasy.
Here are a few ideas:
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
Treasure Island (and other books) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Maybe some Kipling?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Among more recent authors, you may like Ted Chiang’s two short story collections. If you’ve seen *Arrival*, that was derived from one of his stories (“Stories of Your Life”). Although the focus is different (the story focuses more on the protagonist’s continuing along a path in life even though she knows where it will lead).
Another possibility is Kazuo Ishiguro, particularly *Klara and the Sun* and *Never Let Me Go.* Both have sci-fi and dystopian elements that aren’t obvious at first. Well, Klara’s sci-fi elements are, as she’s an artificial companion.
Quasi-related, you may like Doerr’s *All the Light We Cannot See.* A copy of *Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea* plays an important role in the novel. And while set in WWII and not science fiction, there’s adventure. Doerr’s *Cloud Cuckoo Land* has more science fiction elements and adventures around a single story from the 15th century to the future.
Ohhhh this is finally my chance to recommend “Murderer’s Ape” by Jakob Wegelius!!! One of my favorite 21st-century children’s novels, it gave me the same feeling I got reading Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson as a kid. Fantastical globetrotting capers at their finest!