From Grenada...

houston

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Long stories for the bookies

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 1862. With 365 chapters it is one of the longest novels ever written and would keep any reader occupied for a lot longer than I could stand. I opted for watching the mini series on CBC last winter. Fascinating story it was. Great acting and never ending drama that revolves around a character named Jean Valjean during the Napoleon years. Captivating story with rarely a dull moment.
Highly recommend watching the 4 parts of 2 hour instalments unless you have about 3 years to read the book.
Les Miserables was a big hit at the theatres for several years but I don't understand how such a long story could be told in the span of a 2 hour play.

houston

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

The Arctic Grail,
The Quest for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole.
Pierre Burton 2001.

This one is about the search for a shipping route from the west to the east. Not so interesting for most but the cold and icy arctic region has become a hotly contested area during the past 20 years as global warming exposes more access to the many resources hidden beneath.
My favourite story of the Arctic is of the failed Franklin expedition. Can't imagine being an explorer up there, in those days.

houston

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

Sorry for the error. That quest for a shipping route was from the east to the west, directionaly speaking.

houston

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

The Panama Canal was a wonderful feat of engineering for trade routes. The Northwest Passage was an entirely different story of brave people risking life to find a short route from Northern Europe to South Asia.
To this day it is an important passage. With the opening of the waters there will no doubt be a lot more sea traffic.
Stay tuned said the Inuit seal hunter. Big boats passing through.

houston

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

Arctic Haulers is an interesting program. Haven't seen it for a while so I'm not sure if it still airs.
It's about the ships that race against time and ice to deliver the much needed supplies to the remote northern communities. The sea lift runs through the summer months until maybe September at the latest. Many of those communities only get one delivery per year.
I often wonder about the freshness of fruits and vegetables up there.

https://www.cbc.ca/television/higharcti … -1.5365100

New Historian

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

https://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World- … 006093638X

Great book about Magellen's voyage, the first person to complete a "circumnavigation" of the world - although he himself didn't complete it. Like all of them, he was a real c*nt.

houston

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

Looks interesting, though I take it you are not a fan of Magellen.
Stories do tend to change over a span of 600 years. Wasn't the earth flat back then?

New Historian

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Re: Long stories for the bookies

Lol no competent sailor believed that for a second, the horizon proved the earth's roundness every day! Who (today) could ever be a fan of those "icons" of the dim and dismal past? They called it the Dark Ages for a good reason, life was "harsh, brutish, and short". Rich and powerful treated the poor and powerless worse than dogs. But yeah, a great read, based on diaries of people on the voyage. Of course, Magellen treated the Indians he encountered along the way like shit. Well that came back to bite him: karma is a bitch, bitch. History, ah does love it!