530,982 words.
Now all I need to do is finish the decorating job that has gone awry and I may return to some kind of regular blogging schedule.
Blog Stats
- 328,026 hits
(Entirely Subjective) Ratings
Email
lizzysiddal at yahoo dotcom
Meta
Recent Comments
Tweets
- Theme-reading 1930's Spain: Mendoza's Englishman in Madrid and Rodoreda's In Diamond Square @maclehosepress @ViragoBooks #translationthurs 1 day ago
- European Literature Night 2013 wp.me/p6Kae-2VR #translationthurs 1 day ago
- Edinburgh's European Literature Night 2013 bit.ly/16MOfCX @EdinCityofLit 2 days ago
- European Literature Night 2013 bit.ly/16MOfCX 2 days ago
Categories
Read 2013
Highlights from German Literature Month I and II
5 from the archive: Contemporary German Fiction
89 Novella and Short Story Writers You Should Read
GLM II Author Index
20 German Novels You Must Read
14 Women Writers You Shouldn't Miss
Keeping In Touch With The Magic Mountain of German Literature
The Magic Mountain of German Literature - Translators Recommend
The Magic Mountain of German Literature - Publishers and Authors Recommend
What to drink when reading Jakob Arjouni
What to drink when you're reading Heinrich Böll
What to Drink When Reading Hans Fallada
GLM I Author Index-
Recent Posts
- European Literature Night 2013
- Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson
- Les Misérables vs Lady Audley’s Secret
- Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
- Meet the translator: Sam Garrett
- The Dinner – Herman Koch (International Giveaway)
- Poem of the Month: Descriptive Jottings of London – William McGonagall
- On Writing – A L Kennedy
- Thoughts on the London Book Fair
- Gallivanting into Spring: 5 minutes from the Piccadilly Line Part 3: London Book Fair
Blog Archive
Other Content
Awesome well done some going all the best stu
Well done! And it looks like you made a lot of notes so writing the review will take you some time too. Good luck with the decorating!
that looks like one of my books. i have a thing for post-its
happy decorating! now go watch the movie and have a good weep!
I will be looking forward to reading your review, Victor Hugo gives us so many themes to consider.
I do think that the musical took the essence of the story, (do you agree?) that good actions are important, the plot progresses because of good actions, and I purchased copies of the book about 8 years ago for my grown up children.
I did read that Hugo reworked the book and republished it making it longer, and the convoluted and repeated plot does show us this. However, I will overlook this, and still consider this is a great novel.
I have to confess to not reading the 50 pages on the battle of Waterloo in detail, what did I miss? I understood Hugo wanted to make an accurate history of the war.
I did admire Jean Valjean being larger than life, extra strong, able to get out of difficult situations, even having a filed watch spring that had been sharpened to use as a tool that cut ropes after he was captured and bound up. This book is a thriller (is it?) and the plot carries you along.
There is a novel ‘Cosette’ by Laura Kalpakian (Harper Collins 1997) that tells the story of an adult Cosette, married to Marius, who is involved in the political scene in Paris, publishing a newspaper. I did not complete reading it, as I had it for company when having a varicose vein operation in hospital, I should read it again when I am in a more positive mood!
It is easy to look at Hugo’s novel with our modern eyes and our knowledge of well worked plots, I assume this ranks as the greatest 19th century novel? Do people consider it better than Dostoevsky?
thanks for this column, I enjoy reading it
Jane