Monday, November 30, 2015

Teaser Tuesday 288: Treasure Island

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jenn of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few "teaser" sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!



This week’s teaser is from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, which I read for a group read and a mini reading challenge (a book with a pirate, ship or parrot — all three of which can be found in this adventure novel).


It was Silver’s voice, and before I had heard a dozen words, I would not have shown myself for all the world, but lay there, trembling and listening, in the extreme of fear and curiosity, for from these dozen words I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me alone.

(Chapter 10)








ABOUT THE BOOK:
Originally conceived as a story for boys, Stevenson's novel is narrated by the teenage Jim Hawkins, who outwits a gang of murderous pirates led by that unforgettable avatar of immorality, Long John Silver. Admired by Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and (reluctantly) Henry James, the story has the dreamlike quality of a fairy tale. It has worked its way into the collective imagination of more than five generations of readers, young and old alike, gaining the power of myth.

Although thoroughly British in its setting and characters, Treasure Island, has an American dimension, drawing on the author's experiences living in California, and owes no small debt to Washington Irving's ghost stories and James Fenimore Cooper's tales of adventures, and has inspired numerous novels and movies -- including Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.






4 comments:

Lea said...

I remember reading this long ago and thoroughly enjoying it
Maybe I should visit it again
Hope you are having a good day
Lea

Heather said...

Thanks, Lea-- I'm glad it brought back good reading memories. :)

Alice Audrey said...

I can't remember if I've read the whole book or not. I remember this passage, but maybe only because I've heard it quoted before. I know the book was on my grand parent's bookshelves. I'm just not sure I tore myself away from the TV long enough to read it.

Heather said...

It's highly possible you heard it quoted, maybe in one of the movie versions?