Public Domain Readers discussion

Each month we will read a public domain book in a certain genre, about a particular subject, or by an chosen author. Report which book or story you've decided to read. Feel free to discuss what you're reading and the author's writing style. Don't forget to leave a review of your selected work.

September's chosen theme is a vehicle.

Some sort of vehicle must play an important part in the story or the main characters should be on a type of vehicle for the majority of the book. (Too bad Chitty Chitty Bang Bang isn't public domain.)

Here are a few examples:
Five Weeks in a Balloon
The Motor Pirate
Diane of the Green Van
Miss Santa Claus of the Pullman
The Indiscreet Letter
Overdue The Story of a Missing Ship
Little Miss Grouch: A Narrative Based Upon the Private Log of Alexander Forsyth Smith's Maiden Transatlantic Voyage

Well done for that list, Lanelle, it looks like some are well worth reading. It's not the easiest topic to think of titles for (at first at least, well I'm not doing very well anyway).

The first idea I had was A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow by Aleksandr Radishchev, but it probably doesn't fit the theme. It's him travelling in a carriage in Russia, but more of his observations of what he meets, not what happens in the carriage. I guess it would fit the theme 'travel' and maybe 'society', 'memoirs', etc.

Though it does raise the question of whether non-fiction would fit here too. Though maybe a purely academic question because I doubt it would be easy to find non-fiction works of someone describing mainly their experiences in a vehicle. Maybe something exists with someone making a rail journey and talking to other passengers.

This, in fact, would make a good documentary film about Russia, travelling around on the trains and talking to people about life and the world. Would make a nice series even, doing the same in various large countries. I'll get on the blower to the BBC about this immediately.

I think A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow would work, Mark. The instructions say the main characters should be on a type of vehicle for the majority of the book.

I wonder how much of Henry Ford's book, My Life and Work, is about his automobiles?

I read The Indiscreet Letter for the first time about three years ago, and really enjoyed the unusual style of writing and topic. The entire tale occurs on a train ride traveling to Boston, Massachusetts.

I decided to read it again for this month's themed story, and I think I liked it more this time. I gave it 4 stars. I highly recommend this novella to anyone.