The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

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Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, and also almost completely new to fiction reading. It's something that I just never really got 'in to'. That was until recently, whilst reading a set of reviews for a film that I was wanting to see, and a lot of the comments read something along the lines of "Good film, but I preferred the book". This started getting me curious as to what people actually got from reading books.. it is something that just never really appealed to me, let alone to say that I could possibly prefer one to watching a film. So I decided to give it a try to see what all the fuss was about, and downloaded a mystery novel to my iPhone. To my surprise, I actually rather enjoyed it.. so much so, that after I had finished the first one, I proceeded to download another, and I read that too! Once that was finished I decided to give an actual book a try, and so I'm now reading a paperback called Stay Alive by Simon Kernick. I'm not far enough into the story to make any comments as yet, but I have to say that I'm enjoying my newly found reading experience.

Anyway, the reason behind this post is that I was wondering if anyone could possibly point me towards a decent copy of The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne? There seems to be many copies available ranging in price from a pound or two (Wordsworth Classics) all the way up to some silly prices. I didn't really want to purchase a really poor quality version (which I'm assuming the Wordsworth Classics version just may be), but on the other hand, I didn't want to pay over the odds for a copy that was no better than the cheap options.
None of my local book shops keep this in stock and so unfortunately it isn't as simple as going in and feeling them for myself. I'll almost definitely be ordering it from the internet, and so all I really have to go by is an image of the front cover, with no real indication of the quality of the book. I'm not saying that I need the finest quality book available by any means, but I was just hoping for something half decent.

I was hoping that some of you guys may own a copy of the The Mysterious Island and be able to recommend one to me? Maybe the Wordsworth Classics version is actually really good? There is also a slightly more expensive version by 'Modern Library Classics'.. would this be a more appropriate option (the price would certainly suggest so), or is it just an overpriced version comparable to the Wordsworth Classics?

Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

Russ

[Attempted_Eloquence]

As far as I'm aware, there is very little difference between the various versions and you would be far better off paying less for the wordsworth classic than splashing out extortionate amounts on something that may not be worth it. If you're not happy with the cheaper version after purchase, you can still buy a slightly more expensive one afterwards without wasting too much money.

[brado10]

This was a stupendous book. It held up to Jules's excellent books an our expectation.

[Wreade1872]

Why don't you just read it on your iphone if you don't mind reading off that. Pretty much everything from before about 1920 is FREE online (and legal). Check out manybooks or gutenberg.org , or join a library. I don't pay for books i haven't already read if i can manage it.

I can't say i think very much of The Mysterious Island. 20,000 leagues is great but i've yet to find any other good Verne books. Mysterious Island isn't so much a story as it is a DIY guide to building your own civilization, and from that point of view its fine but from an actual plot POV its not exactly compelling.

[leann77]

I like to read off of my phone I have it with me all the time so I can always read a page or two when I can, and when you find a good book it is hard to put it down.