20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Before I wrap up Nine Princes in Amber (as well as Devil in a Forest by Gene Wolfe), I want to take a second to say a few words about Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

For the love of God, do not read this book. Do not, especially, read the unabriged version.

You know all the cool parts you see in the movie versions? Attacking ships? Finding Atlantis? The giant squid? Those make up—I shit you not—about 5% of the book.

The rest is page after page of the characters sitting in front of a window, identifying and classifying the fish that go by. For paragraphs and pages they do nothing but do this. I am not making this up: our ancestors were easily impressed.

I know it's banned book week, and probably impolitic to discourage you from reading. It's probably worse to talk shit about one of the pillars of science fiction. But seriously, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea sucks hard.