Born in Brittany (a Celtic region in France) on February 8, 1828. I have to say, I like his eyes. He looks like he was a pleasant, merry sort of person. And if you haven’t seen it yet, pop over to Google and play with the doodle they have in his honor. Warning: May induce sea sickness! It didn’t go live in the US until several hours after it was live in France.
The father of science fiction, he foresaw manned space flight, moon landings, submarines. His most famous works are of course Twenty-thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days, and A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Although he is well thought of in France as a writer of quality literature, the English translations have sometimes been less than stellar, leading to a diminished opinion of him in the English-speaking world. Hopefully those days are behind us (him). I wish I could read him in his native French, zut alors!
fillingspaces.wordpress.com 
This is why I love having been born in the stark, chilly month of February – it’s the birth month of some pretty remarkable authors. James Joyce entered the world on 2/2/1882. I just learned that his mother had the same first name as mine.
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Oh that’s awesome! I really have to compile my own list of authors’ birthdays so they don’t sneak up on me. I had to wait until today to snag the picture of the Google doodle for Verne. I’m sure it went live late last night, but I was busy sawing logs at the time 😉
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Erm, I just found out it’s also John Grisham’s birthday.
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well, The Firm wasn’t bad… It’s just that Grish sort of started repeating himself, once he realized how much $$ he could make by cranking out formula that would be made into films with Julia Roberts and the like. It’s not literature, but I can’t really dog the guy when I just re-cycled a grammar quiz from last semester – and for a much smaller remuneration!
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hehehe 🙂 I have to admit I have not read his books, the subject matter just never appealed to me. Who was the author we talked about awhile back who kept a stable of writers to crank out books under his name? It wasn’t Grisham, was it?
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No, that’s James Patterson.
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Oh right, thanks.
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i love visiting the filling spaces salon for this very reason! Thank you DD for bringing us back into cultural balance with these wonderful posts.
the more i read the more i discover all that i want to read.
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Aww, thanks Rosie 🙂 I just wish I’d had more time to prepare a better post, but I’ve had very little time for any writing lately.
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Yep another person I need to read 😦
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Ah that explained Google new look. I honestly did not understand it until now.
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Yep. It was clickable, and would take you to a page of links to sites about Jules Verne. I think that was their best doodle yet, it was fun to play with 🙂
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DD,
So glad you posted this. Funny, just a week or so ago, I almost picked up one of his novels, but ultimately went with another. But he is definitely on my list.
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As we always say, soooooo many books, so little time!
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