Les Miserables, Anna Karenina

Calvin · #1 10-03-2005, 11:07 PM

Seeing as most of you are fourteen, fifteen years old and older (and therefore most of you have probably read the books mentioned in the title), I think it'd be interesting to see what you all think of Anna Karanina and Les Miserables.

Last year I read the latter, and fell in love with the story. It came as no surprise to me that it would take 1200 pages to tell such a tale, although one hundred pages describing the history of a convent and a bishop is a bit much when the bishop has about fifty pages of action following, and the whole history of Waterloo (stop it with the freakin' well!) and the history of the sewers of Paris which Jean Valjean roams around for about twenty-five pages (although Victor Hugo, much to my surprise, never went in depth on feces [although it would have been much to my shagrin to have encountered fifty pages on how French people take a dump]).

The length helped me get emotionally involved with the characters, and in turn, I felt emotionally evolved with everything that happened to them. I cried when someone died, I hurrahed when someone was triumphant, etc.

This year I decided to tackle Anna Karenina.

So far, so good.

So, discuss...
-Les Miserables
-Anna Karenina
-Other classics

**Wes** · #2 10-03-2005, 11:14 PM

Calvin! Where have you been dude! good to hear from you!

I have not read either of those (I about fainted when I saw that Les Mis is 1000+ pages). lol

I have read several classics within the past five years that I never read in high school...

Dracula - Bram Stoker... Gave me a whole new perspective on the story since I only knew it from movies. Great little book.

Phantom of the Opera - I loved this one and it's way better than the music (even though I love the musical).

A tale of two cities - Very hard reading Dickens but it was well worth it. I liked it, but really have desire to read it again.

Great Expectations - Probably one of my favorite of the classic books. Great story and I wish someone could really capture this one film the way I see it. So far nothing has come close IMO.

Calvin · #3 10-03-2005, 11:41 PM

Hey, glad someone remembers me.

I'm not sure I much care for Dickens. Personally, I think he's a bit overrated. Or maybe he's just not my style.

Hah, Dracula. My friend and I watched the 1979 move version. The Movies-in-fifteen-minutes version is hysterical (Hon? Were you attacked by a herd of doilies or something?).

I will say that A Tale Of Two Cities was very impressive. It is a far far better thing that I do, than I have ever done...Madame Defarge (knit pearl knit pearl knit pearl).

**Wes** · #4 10-03-2005, 11:53 PM

[QUOTE=Calvin]

I'm not sure I much care for Dickens. Personally, I think he's a bit overrated. Or maybe he's just not my style.
[/QUOTE]

I agree. I tried to read David Copperfield and was bored to tears half way through and never finished it.

But he does have several stories like A Christmas Carol that are just classics and still good stories to this day IMO.

The only thing is the "old English" is just so hard to read that it makes Dickens very much an effort just to understand what he's saying.

Much like CS Lewis in Mear Christianity is just hard to understand, much less grasp the concept he's talking about!

Calvin · #5 10-04-2005, 12:02 AM

Hah, David Copperfield...what fun.

Yeah, he did some terrific stuff (A Christmas Carol is just...brilliant). In general though, I just find him kind of bland and drab. Of course, that was Victorian England.

ErioL · #6 10-04-2005, 07:59 PM

Dracula IMO is one of the best books. None of the movies I've ever seen have done it justice. Les Miserables was a good movie, but I didn't read the book.