20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)

I found the extended passages of (then contemporary) science strangely engrossing. It's an interesting question whether he thought of it as part of the intended literary effect, or just wanted to enlighten the reader - I've never looked that up.

Read this book if you ever wish to submit a thesis on tropical and deep sea fish. Enough said

Well, I certainly learned a lot about fish whilst reading this book. It's pretty good but the style (or perhaps the translation) leads to it being an unengaging read.

Very dated but still enjoyable. I'm not sure if the pages and pages (seriously) of this book which list every type of sea creature the voyagers encounter on their journey is a genius master stroke of fiction or just incredibly annoying! I think I'd probably go for the latter.