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!