Five famous books that contain huge mistakes

Jeff Somers is the author of the Avery Cates series, The Ustari Cycle, Lifers, and Chum (among many other books) and numerous short stories.

At the B&N Reads blog he tagged five famous novels that contain huge mistakes, including:

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

One of the earliest examples of a mistake in an otherwise great book occurs when the most famous castaway in literature first finds himself on the Island of Despair. Seeing that the ship whose wreck he’s just survived is going down, he strips down naked and swims out to retrieve supplies…which he carries back to shore by shoving them into his pockets. This mistake doesn’t really ruin the story, but it’s still amusing to think that novels have been exporting mistakes into the world for nearly three centuries.

Read about another entry on the list.

Robinson Crusoe is among Lucy Inglis's ten favorite books that explore pioneer life, Alan Gurganus's six favorite books with sympathetic characters in dangerous settings, ten great books about hurricanes, and Bear Grylls's top ten stories of survival and bravery.

The Page 99 Test: Robinson Crusoe.

--Marshal Zeringue