Month: July 2023

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

E.F. Sunland

20 Books of Summer 2023: Book 3

Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon is the first book in a two-part series. It mocks American gun culture as it was in the late 1860s by depicting the “Gun Club” sitting around, bored, at the end of the Civil War. Most members are missing at least one limb, but they remain passionate about guns, cannons, and explosives. The club’s president, Impey Barbicane, comes up with an idea to shoot a projectile to the moon. Eventually, it’s determined that people will travel to the moon inside the projectile. Part 1 ends shortly after launch, and since I haven’t read part two, I have no idea how it turns out.

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All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

E.F. Sunland

20 Books of Summer 2023: Book 2

Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is one of those classics that doesn’t seem quite worth reading because you think you already know what it’s about. It takes place in the trenches of World War I where Paul and other young Germans have been pushed into the war because “at that time even one’s parents were ready with the word ‘coward’; no one had the vaguest idea what we were in for.” (7) Like all books centered around WWI and the horrors of trench warfare, there are many bleak and violent scenes, but quiet moments and philosophizing help the book coalesce into a moving narrative. read more