I’ve been wanting to read a Robert Louis Stevenson novel since I noticed Kaggsy @ Bookish Ramblings marking Robert Louis Stevenson Day several years ago. (If you’ve missed her writing, here’s a recent glimpse of her 2023 post and 2024’s.) It’s actually celebrated on November 13th, but I’m posting a day in advance, to keep the chatter about The Blind Assassin on Thursdays this month for MARM.
My copy is an old Octopus Edition, which includes Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Black Arrow. It’s been unread on my shelf for decades, one of those books neglected because I knew the stories from films, plays, and comics. And because of the use of language, as it’s set in the middle of the 18th century. (At least, I remember the old-fashioned language being a Thing on earlier attempts.)
Treasure Island (1883) seemed to perfectly suit my mood this autumn, however: reading in the evenings, as the darkness approached earlier and earlier. The initial set-up, with the family running the Admiral Benbow Inn, the establishment where the old sailor takes a room and a stool for regular rum consumption, was giving Jamaica-Inn energy (I know, RLS was first!) and because I learned it had been published as a serial (1881-1882), that’s how I read it, just a chapter or two in a sitting.
With other versions of the story, I don’t remember the struggle to balance the demands of a problematic guest/tenant with a dark past, or the increased stress when Jim Hawkins’s father falls ill. I didn’t remember any waiting period, wherein The Captain was a feature, while he anticipated the arrival of other sea-faring individuals, seeking to secure their—or someone else’s—treasure. All that I remembered were the scenes from the island. (The Wikipedia page has all kinds of interesting information about the inspiration for the story, but take care to skip the summary to avoid spoilers.)
More than anything specific, I remembered Jim’s fear. And the need for him to act, despite his fear. Because it was originally published in installments, there are many suspenseful moments, designed to hold readers’ engagement. An early one, when Jim is still young and is hiding with his mother, focuses on how paralysed he is, by fear. As the story unfolds, there are other, even more diabolical events, which require that he act with courage.
By the time the action had shifted to the sea, and ultimately to the island, by the time there’d been a bloody and highest-stakes mutiny, even sitting down to read directly after dinner meant turning on the brightest lamp and dragging a shawl across my shoulders and a quilt over my knees. It was a good read, which made Stevenson a pile of gold too. I like to think that I’ll carry on with this volume, for the next couple Novembers.
What’s the last book you’ve read that eluded you for many years?
I’ve never read this book, but I want to remedy that, and read it with my kids. We are currently reading Harry Potter, for reference. They’re 7 and 10 – do you think this could work as a read aloud for them?
I know that you have had some great readalouds (Catstronauts Forever!) but I doubt this would be very satisfying unless you could find a version written with children in mind. I mean, you might like it–it’s suprisingly murdery– but I’m guessing it would be one giant-eye-roll for most Catstonauts’ fans. Have a peek at the first couple page online, and tell me if I’m way off?
I haven’t read Treasure Island, as I never was much interested in adventure stories, which probably reveals more about me than I’d really like to!
The last book I read that eluded me for years, only really eluded me for about 10 years. It was published in 2008, and given to me in physical form in 2014, but I did want to read it from soon after it came out. It’s Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge.
One that I read this year that was seriously long in the tooth – as in published before I was born – was Frank Dalby Davison’s Dusty. I was so glad to have finally read that, having read his best known novel, Man-shy, in the 1960s.
I liked mysteries and stories about ships when I was a kid, but it was tiresome that the main characters who had all the “real fun” seemed to be boys. But I suspect that it was really the old-fashioned language and the tiny print and the illustrations (borrrrring, pen and ink… which I love now, but didn’t then) that put me off this.
That is a long time to wait for Olive, but she is worth waiting for. And I really like your take on the question, in terms of how long of a gap there is between an early reading of an author and the time take to return to their work. I will have to think on that!
I’m sure I read Treasure Island as a boy, though I no longer own it. The (similar-ish) book I remember better is Jim Davis by John Masefield. I can only see Kidnapped on my shelves now, a copy I gave my son for his 11th birthday.
For the first several days, I persisted in saying I was reading Kidnapped (despite obvious presence of both treasure and, soon, an island). That will do for next November!
Masefield…I have Box of Delights and Midnight Folk on my TBR, but neither is readily available up here.
I should have been thinking of RLSDay! I think I’ve read all the novels now, but I could reread one of those–or one of the travel books I haven’t read. I remember Treasure Island as pretty fun.
I read the book longest on my TBR this summer. I won some contest in 7th grade and asked my teacher for this book on the Mob in Chicago–I don’t know what I was thinking!–and finally read it this summer.
Until Kaggsy started on about it, I didn’t even know there was such a day. Her reread of DrJ&MrH this year made me think that would be a good one to revisit.
Oh. Emm. Gee. How much do I love that story! In the sixth grade, I was fascinated by UFOs. We had our own ideas about girlhood, I guess!
I haven’t read these stories since I was in primary school – you do make a good case for a re-read at this time of year!
Apparently, at Kaggsy’s house, there is cake for #RLSDay. /whispers Pass it on.
I have a distant memory of reading this in 3rd grade, which suggests it may have been an abridged or “for children” edition. I remember it feeling a little stiff and archaic (like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, which I read at a similar time) but I did feel engrossed in the story.
I must have read a lot of picture books and early chapter-type books called this, with a little about the ship and a lot about the island itself, because I felt sure that I knew the whole story…but there are some murders and I was a little bothered myself by certain scenes, even now; I probably would have melted into a puddle if I’d read/heard the actual story in grade three. And this was a book for children! /whimpers
To my eternal shame, I’ve owned a copy of this and never read it! Maybe I’ll make time for it next year for RLSDay!! 😀
I consider books like these my 20Somethings (I have a list and am making pathetic progress) because they’ve lounged unread for more than twenty years on my shelves. It makes it somewhat less disturbing than doing the ACTUAL math of it all.
It’s a very long time since I read this but I do remember an outdoor performance of an adaptation in which seagulls flew overhead adding to the atmosphere.
Oh, what a lovely image! I recall one indoor performance where the storm on the island literally scared me out of my seat (maybe fourteen years old), but it would have been much more realistic with seagulls. hehe