Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 We keep catching the PBS plege drive broadcasts of Les Miz in Concert. Reminded me that I've never read the book. So despite a bunch of warnings about how terribly long and rabbit trail filled it is, I downloaded an unabridged version. Would anyone like to join me in reading and talking about it? I'm several chapters in (chapters are short in my translation) and am already amused that almost none of the characters from the musical version have shown up yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I'd be happy to talk about it because I loved the book! But it's been over a year since I finished it. I read the unabridged version - most of those 1400 pages were worth it. Dh and I will see the musical for the first time this August. There are many rabbit trails and I read most of them and found them interesting. There was one in the second half of the book that I just c.ou.l.d. n.o.t. b.e.a.r. to finish (I think it had to to with French politics of the time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace is Sufficient Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 There are many rabbit trails and I read most of them and found them interesting. There was one in the second half of the book that I just c.ou.l.d. n.o.t. b.e.a.r. to finish (I think it had to to with French politics of the time). The one I struggled with was a very lengthy discussion of sewers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I haven't read this since high school, but it was a favorite of mine! I would be up for reading it again if I can find it (we moved a few months ago). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I am in, but I am going to get from BN. Where are we posting, club or main board? So glad I will have something to do this summer other than pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I've been wanting to read it again as well. I read it in high school then again while in college or shortly there after. It's one of my favorites as well and love how it all weaves together. I think I may even know where my copy is! (I got the DVD in the states. It's my all-time favorite musical.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 I am in, but I am going to get from BN. Where are we posting, club or main board? So glad I will have something to do this summer other than pack. Anyone have a strong feeling about having the discussion here or in a group. I feel like sometimes the groups get forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Whatever works! Just watched the second act. WOw! Forgot how moving and emotional that was.:crying: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I downloaded an unabridged version Which version? Can you give the translator or the link, please? I just bought and watched the DVD (double feature - Fredric March - 1935 and Michael Rennie - 1952) but have never read the book, so I would like to try. Won't this be fun? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I read the first half of this unabridged and the last half abridged for my book club 2 summers ago. Based on our club's experience I have a theory that one's enjoyment of it greatly depends on the translation/edition that is read. If I knew which one to recommend I would. I apparently didn't have the right version. My opinion...when it was good, it was very, very good but when it was bad, it was horrid. :D I do need to re-read the last half in the unabridged (even a subpar one) The abridged was just hideous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 We definitely preferred the Denny translation. The one we had before that was like slogging through mud (and that was before we even hit the sewers!) Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I read the Signet translation and really enjoyed it. It's something I forget to think about when picking books. (the cover is what sold me on this one.:D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rieshy Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I'd like to join you. One of my daughters has been on my case to read this book. She adored every minute of it- even the sewers.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapsetmom Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I am reading it right now. Am halfway through the Signet Unabridgeed edition. Even though there is a little slogging, it is good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Which version? Can you give the translator or the link, please? I just bought and watched the DVD (double feature - Fredric March - 1935 and Michael Rennie - 1952) but have never read the book, so I would like to try. Won't this be fun? My iPod is using Stanza for ereader features. The version I downloaded was from Munsey's. Not sure if it credits the translator. So far it seems witty in a dry way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I am a little more than half way through this edition, which is the one TOG uses. I put it away @ two months ago but planned to finish it this summer. I'd love to join you all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 My iPod is using Stanza for ereader features. The version I downloaded was from Munsey's. Not sure if it credits the translator. Thanks Sebastian and all the others who have suggested translations. I'm off to see what the bookstore has in stock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Thanks Sebastian and all the others who have suggested translations. I'm off to see what the bookstore has in stock! The e version I got was free. Free and immediate had a certain charm. I have Amazon money and a great library so I'll probably pick up a real book too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Is there going to be a timeline for this? Just wondering if I should start reading. I found my book yesterday and looks like on my last reading I only got about half way through, guess I'll start over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Just got mine, its huge, looks like a dictionary. I hope the prints not uber small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Is there going to be a timeline for this? Just wondering if I should start reading. I found my book yesterday and looks like on my last reading I only got about half way through, guess I'll start over. I have a copy from the library. I think it is the same Signet edition you had (Cosette on the cover). So far I'm up to the section in book 1 where Jean Valjean comes on the scene. So should we go ahead and start a social group for this? Or keep it here with a thread for various sections and/or themes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I have a copy from the library. I think it is the same Signet edition you had (Cosette on the cover). So far I'm up to the section in book 1 where Jean Valjean comes on the scene. So should we go ahead and start a social group for this? Or keep it here with a thread for various sections and/or themes. I started.... still working on the bishop?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virg Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Oooh I want to join! I will download right now if there is still time for me to join! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamee Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I have a copy from the library. I think it is the same Signet edition you had (Cosette on the cover). So far I'm up to the section in book 1 where Jean Valjean comes on the scene. So should we go ahead and start a social group for this? Or keep it here with a thread for various sections and/or themes. I guess I better get reading! I think a group might be better. I had a time finding this thread again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/group.php?groupid=149 I made a discussion group for Les Miz. Try to read through book 1 An Upright Man by July 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 We keep catching the PBS plege drive broadcasts of Les Miz in Concert. Reminded me that I've never read the book. So despite a bunch of warnings about how terribly long and rabbit trail filled it is, I downloaded an unabridged version. Would anyone like to join me in reading and talking about it? I'm several chapters in (chapters are short in my translation) and am already amused that almost none of the characters from the musical version have shown up yet. I put up a new thread for discussing book 1 - An Upright Man. Never too late to join in with us reading and discussing the book. I had put Friday as a goal for reading this section, but wanted to put up a couple discussion questions in case I forget over the weekend. No one is behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 I'm digging into this book again if anyone's interested in joining me on the social group. I could use some peer pressure to keep at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelewaf Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I would love to join! I saw this on Broadway yrs ago, and loved it. Will have to catch up with reading...... What a great idea, Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) That may be my favorite book ever, I read it in 1992, in the Fahnestock/MacAfee revision of the "classic Wilbour translation". The first chapter was something like "A just man". I mainly remember that he voluntarily moved from his bishop's mansion into a smaller house when the hospital or orphanage or some such deserving group needed bigger quarters. The incredible encounter with Jean Valjean, is it also in this book? His conversation with the gendarmes who arrest Valjean is classic, where he insists that the stolen silver was a gift, and presses even more upon him than he took at first. Valjean's view of life is irrevocably changed, as the bishop claims him for good, forever. There are similarities here with works in zen and yoga. There is a story of a zen master who transforms a thief into a student by the same stratagem of making a theft into a gift. And they say that once a man falls within the benevolent gaze of the guru, he is forever caught like prey in the jaws of a tiger. The original versions of this book were also beautifully illustrated, and the drawings of Jean Valjean even served as models for the drawings in the classics comic book versions of the 1940's that my father read to us, although of course I did not know that then. One of the world's shortest telegraphic exchanges according to wikipedia occurred when Hugo, in exile in England, telegraphed his publisher for news of the fate of his new book. Hugo: ? Publisher: ! Edited July 11, 2012 by mathwonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Here is the link to the social group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I am a little more than half way through this edition, which is the one TOG uses. I put it away @ two months ago but planned to finish it this summer. I'd love to join you all! I read this one, too, but it is abridged with about half the content gone (thankfully the sewers was gone). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barybar Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 My curiosity was the other day and I ordered the dvd, I have never read the book, but if it is good...I will. Char Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Here is the link to the social group. It took me all day to figure out where my copy was. Finally I remembered that my 12 yo had picked it up one day and gotten lost for a half hour, reading it. After searching all the places I thought it should be, I finally found it on his bookshelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessedmomof4:) Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Definitely! I love the book. As of now we have only listened to it on audio but my whole family loved it down to my 5 year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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