Treasure Island, Chapters Thirty to Thirty-Two

In which Long John continues to try to play both sides, the doctor gives a vague warning about the treasure, the treasure hunt begins, and spooky portents abound; and in which our narrator apologizes if he at any point mixes the pirates' voices up.



Once again, here are the notes for these chapters, along with my own note that the "junk" the pirates have for breakfast is salted beef, and that "marish" is just another word for "marshy."

With that out of the way, here's today's Wyeth illustration, showing Jim being led on a line by Long John, complete with crutch and parrot, while on the treasure hunt:

16:01 - "For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear."

And, of course, I apologize for the lateness of this update, especially after the absent one last week, but Thanksgiving, y'know, got the best of me. Another entry (the last one for Treasure Island!) will go up tomorrow night to help catch up. Don't forget to check back!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Twenty-Seven to Twenty-Nine

In which Jim returns to the stockade only to find it occupied by the pirates, who summarily try to depose Long John, who manages to sweet-talk/threaten them into changing their minds, while letting Jim know privately that the jig is up, and in which our narrator might have lost some of his upper register, hopefully to be regained soon.



As usual, here are the notes from the 1908 edition. Really, I feel that some, like "avast" and "batten down your hatches" could be figured out from context, but then again, our culture has had a further century since then to absorb "pirate talk." There might be other things I could probably note, but I'm not feeling so great so y'all can figure things out on your own.

I will, however, share the illustration that comes along with this installment, of the mutinous mutineers (...you heard me) preparing Long John's Black Spot from Dick's Bible:

25:00 - "About half-way down the slope to the stockade, they were collected in a group."

Oh, and maybe I should really prepare myself better for when I come across sentences like "In that position I could easily have my way with him," because HAHAHAAAAA!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

We've run aground

Hey everyone, I'm afraid that tonight's post will be a bit delayed due to the last couple of days' schedule topped off with a brand-new sore throat leaving me unable to finish the latest recording. I'll get it up as soon as I can, probably with a double post at some point next week. Thanks for listening!

Treasure Island, Chapters Twenty-Four to Twenty-Six

In which Jim's dang fool plan mysteriously works, allowing him to commandeer the vessel, which he decides to run aground (no no, on purpose) with the assistance of the injured pirate Israel Hands, who is surprisingly not to be trusted.



Geez, the only thing in these chapters 1908 decided to note was "yawing," but these chapters especially have a whole bunch of nautical terms that are not necessarily well-known by all, so here's a handy glossary to help you out. I probably should've supplied this earlier in the story. The only thing I have to add is that the Execution Dock Mr. Hands refers to is, not surprisingly, a dock in London where executions were held by the British Admiralty Court for crimes at sea, like pirating, smuggling, and mutiny.

But, more importantly, we get to see this illustration of Jim up in the rigging, aiming both pistols right at Israel Hands's face, while Hands prepares to throw his dagger into Jim's shoulder:

32:58 - "'One more step, Mr. Hands,' said I, "and I'll blow your brains out!"

Action! Excitement! The obligatory attempt to sanctimoniously show the villain the error of his ways by threat of Hell!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Twenty-One to Twenty-Three

In which there is an attack on the stockade, successfully repulsed by our heroes at a cost, following which Jim gets a dang fool notion into his head to desert and attack the Hispaniola himself in a tiny little boat.



Eh, the notes this time around are also scanty, and mostly could be figured out from context, but there they are anyway. I've got nothing really to add, but we do have two illustrations this time around!

First up, we've got the pirates attack on the stockade, and we've even got the obligatory pirate holding a cutlass in his hand and a dagger in his teeth:

5:37 - "The boarders swarmed over the fence like monkeys."

A bit later, we've got the drunken fight between coxswain Israel Hands and some unnamed pirate in the cabin of the Hispaniola:

24:54 - "It showed me Hands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle."

And seriously, Jim, what the crap were you thinking, abandoning the stockade to be manned by only two uninjured men? I bet there aren't even any bad repercussions from his rash act of desertion.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Rob Reviews: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

A couple of things about this post: First, yes, this is not me reading to you. I think I will start occasionally and irregularly breaking up the reading by posting book-related things like reviews or opinion pieces and whatnot. Second, I originally wrote this* and posted it on my personal blog that is very, VERY irregularly updated back in April 2010, but since the movie adaptation of this book came out this weekend (to rather mixed reviews), I figured this was as good a time as any to repost this. And, of course, it's a book about books.

For some reason, when I go to the library I often get out books on a theme, usually unintentionally. A few months ago (because I take a while to read and, more importantly, write), the theme was "books and censorship." Oddly specific, I know. It largely started because of a novel that happened to catch my eye in the young adult section: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, about a young girl who steals books in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death, all sort of things that appeal to me.

Treasure Island, Chapters Eighteen to Twenty

In which our heroes set up camp in the stockade, though one we don't really care about gets killed, they are rejoined (and the narrative is resumed by) Jim, and Long John attempts a parley.



Wow, apparently there's only a single thing they decided was worth noting in 1908, and that's "Davy Jones," which they didn't even get right. To be fair, though, the only other thing I think I'd note is that Captain Smollett whistles "Come Lasses and Lads" to himself, which, like "Lillibullero" might not be well known to Americans in this day and age, so that there link might help you out.

As for our illustration here, we've got Captain Smollett making sure the pirates have a real good target to site on by running the flag up a makeshift pole in the stockade:

4:36 - "Then, climbing on the roof, he had with his own hand bent and run up the colours."

In other news, between chapters 19 and 20 I broke my microphone. It still works, but the mic is hanging onto the base by a wire and had to be propped up to let me finish recording. Ah well.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Fifteen to Seventeen

In which Jim encounters certified maroon Ben Gunn who weirdly sounds a bit Texan, and we switch narrators to the doctor for a bit, hearing how they left the Hispaniola with a mess of supplies to barricade themselves in an old stockade, only to be cut short by a cannon.



Here again we've got notes, and just so you can truly understand what the good doctor keeps talking about, here's what the song Lillibullero. They also don't tag "jolly-boat," which just kind of gives me the giggles. Oh, and I'm pleased to see that an illustration from Treasure Island is used right there on the Wikipedia page!

Speaking of illustration, Wyeth didn't do the flight form the Hispaniola as seen in that aforementioned illustration, but he did give us our first good look at poor old crazy Ben Gunn:

0:45 - "I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine."

And of COURSE, after last installment talking about how glad I was to have more Long John and less doctor, captain, and squire, we switch over to the doctor narrating a few chapters I'd forgotten about, all with no Long John in sight. Of COURSE. I'm still rather proud of calling them "the Three Stodges," though.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Twelve to Fourteen

In which Jim alerts the captain et al. to Long John's treachery, the men begin to be openly disgruntled, a cunning plan is hatched, and Jim sets foot upon Treasure Island to discover that there are still honest hands. Or, y'know, were.



Not many notes from our friends in 1908, and none at all from Chapter Fourteen. I don't actually have anything to add either, this all being more or less self-explanatory, I suppose. We're getting good into the killin' now!

Speaking of killin', here is the captain, the squire, the doctor, and Jim distributing loaded pistols to the men they're sure are honest, of whom there are unfortunately only three:

14:58 - "Loaded pistols were served out to all the sure men."

And, much like poor drunk Mr. Arrow, farewell to Alan and Tom, the latter of whom at the very least managed to die onstage, unlike the other two.

Also, I'm glad that we're gonna be getting more scenes with Long John than with the Three Stodges up there, because MAN are they boring.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Nine to Eleven

In which the Hispaniola sets sail, with the squire and the captain no fans of each other, the captain is uncertain about the voyage, and in which Jim falls asleep in an apple barrel (as you do) and discovers treachery among the crew, and in which our narrator is pretty sure that at one point he slips from "pirate dialect" to "southern belle" for some reason.



Here are the notes again, though I'm not sure why they felt they needed to define "gentlemen of fortune" as their euphemism for pirates when Jim himself does that in the actual text. Many of the notes, naturally, deal with nautical terms, and among those they skipped include "capstanbars," which are the spars on the winch they used to raise and lower the anchor or to set heavy sails. You know, these things. We've also got the boatswain (sounds like "bosun"), who is the sailor in charge of the ship's hull and rigging, and the coxswain ("coxun"), who is in charge of the smaller boat on the ship and its crew. Some of the place names are perhaps more obscure now than they were in 1908, like Goa, a major Portuguese colony in India.

Also, since there's talk of pounds and farthings, here's as good a time as any to talk about British money. Before they decimalised things in 1971, you had four farthings in a penny, twelve pennies in a shilling, twenty shillings in a pound, and twenty-one shillings per guinea. Yes, a guinea and a pound are almost exactly the same but not quite. Then of course there are other coins, like crowns (worth five shillings), sovereigns (officially worth one pound, but made of gold so kinda worth more sometimes?), halfpennies, and oh just look at this. I can't imagine why they would want to change this perfectly comprehensible system to boring "100 pennies per pound."

The illustration this time around is our first glimpse of Long John Silver, entertaining young Jim in the galley with his filthy-mouthed parrot, Cap'n Flint:

13:47 - "To me he was unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley."

Also, bonus! I forgot to include this illustration last time, despite the fact that it's described in great detail in the text itself. This one is from the original edition of Treasure Island, well before Wyeth took up paintbrush, and is the map of the island itself:

See if you can follow along!

Finally, to Mister Arrow, we hardly knew ye. Seriously, you didn't even have any lines before you, like, drunkenly staggered overboard.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Six to Eight

In which, spoilers, a treasure map is found, an expedition is mounted by the loose-lipped Squire Trelawney, with the assistance of the one-legged cook, Long John Silver, who I am certain is exactly what he appears to be.



Most notes I would make are already covered by those 1908 notes (though I do like how they say, basically, "We don't really know what Long John is saying here. He may just be babbling." I will, though, note that they make reference to Long John's wife being "a woman of colour," and later referred to in the text as "his old Negress" and I believe clarified as being from the Caribbean. The good squire's further remarks let me know that the "casual racism" tag will assuredly be getting a good workout during this book.

We get another fine Wyeth illustration during these chapters, as well:

17:21 - "I said good-bye to mother and the cove."

According to N.C. Wyeth's Wikipedia entry, his works are "sometimes seen as melodramatic." I can't imagine why.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters Three to Five

In which Billy Bones lets on that his old comrades are after his sea chest and is delivered the Black Spot by a scary blind man, the bodies begin to pile up, the inn is lost, and Jim bemoans the weakness of women, or at least his mother.



Here again we find useful the notes from 1908 (though I find it curious that they noted Blind Pew's "tap-tap-tapping" and not the curious phrase "grope down the dingle," where "dingle" apparently means "a small, wooded valley." It also doesn't count "swabs" — do I need to tag pirate slang? — which means "good-for-nothings," and since Billy is referring to doctors who perform blood-letting as such, I wonder if it's not more accurate than Stevenson maybe intended. "Apoplexy" is also a fun, old-fashioned word for a stroke.

We also see another example of the curious anonymizing that was common in many old school novels, like in the first installment where the year is listed as "17—." Here, Mr. Dance dispatches a man to "B——," wherever that may be. I'm sure there was some valid reasoning behind it at the time, but it's really annoying for reading aloud.

Oh, and we get another good illustration from Mr. Wyeth! This one shows that terrible old Blind Pew flailing around after all his mates abandoned him, before being trampled to death by a horse. Good times.

26:35 - "Tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades."

And I suppose I needn't really have worried so much about being stuck with Billy Bones's voice, as things turned out.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!

Treasure Island, Chapters One and Two

In which there is a most obnoxious sea captain takes residence in the Admiral Benbow inn, where young Jim Hawkins observes an unpleasant reunion with an old comrade; and in which our narrator once again forgoes the use of a British accent, except when it appropriate to use the "pirate" dialect.



Whee, new book! I hope you had your fill of lady voices in Alice and Anne, because... well, I'm reasonably certain that in Mrs. Hawkin's one line in this installment, we've already heard most of what we're going to hear from who I'm pretty sure is the only female character in the whole book. This one's a bit dude-heavy.

Upon looking for illustrations for this, I stumbled across an online version of a 1909 edition of Treasure Island that conveniently contains chapter notes for much of the unfamiliar terminology (written, of course, from a 1909 perspective; thus, the reference to "bleeding the patient" being common practice "up to fifty years ago." Anyway, saves me a bunch of trouble.

A couple of things not covered there, though: the dedication to "S.L.O., An American Gentleman" refers to Samuel Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's at-the-time eleven-year-old stepson via Stevenson's wife, Fanny Osbourne. The two were very close, and Lloyd (as he was known) later went on to collaborate with Stevenson on several works.

The note "To the Hesitating Purchaser" makes reference to (William H. G.) Kingston, (R. M.) Ballantyne, and (James Fenimore) Cooper, all earlier writers of sea stories.

As for illustrations, I was not able to find any reference to illustrations in the original printing of Treasure Island (save one, which we'll get to later), but it seems the definitive set of illustrations are those from legendary illustrator N.C. Wyeth from a 1911 edition. In fact, it's this set of illustrations that really helped him make his name, and many (including himself) consider them to be his finest work.

We start out of course with his manly pirate men cover:

Followed of course by the colorful title page, showing the specter of a hanging looming over the frightened heads of the pirates upon finding a dead man's bones:

Then of course we move on to the illustrations in the text itself, starting with Mr. Billy Bones atop the rock with his spyglass:

5:04 - "All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope."

And last, we've got the fight between Bones and Black Dog, with the former chasing the latter out of the Admiral Benbow and into the street and dealing an unfortunate injury to the inn's sign:

19:40 - "One last tremendous cut, which would certainly have split him to the
chine had it not been intercepted by our big signboard of Admiral Benbow."

One thing I guess those notes up there don't mention though: "chine" just means "backbone."

Looking over these illustrations now, perhaps I shouldn't have made Billy Bones quite so... old-sounding. Ah well. I'm stuck with the voice now.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg. No reading ahead, though!