So happy that you plan to read brazilian literature next year!! Some recommendations: The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, written by Machado de Assis; anything written by Clarice Lispector; Crooked Plow, written by Itamar Vieira Júnior; and The Words that Remain, written by Stenio Gardel. The first two authors are classical, and the last two are contemporary, but all are famous and acclamated in Brazil. I’ve always been curious to read Chinese literature, but it’s not widely available here in Brazil, so I never really know what to search for. Will be waiting for you recommendations! ❤
While I don't disagree that a modern editor would suggest numerous cuts to Les Miserables, I tend to give my sympathies to writers who notoriously resist cutting or changing even a single word. Take for example the very long chapter describing how the villain becomes corrupted during the Napoleonic Wars in the aftermath of a horrible battle. So what??? Yes, the main story line does not need all that information however when we reach the ending and need to ruminate a week or so to digest the incredible pathos of it and all those self-indulgent details, we start to grasp Hugo's mission to critique culture critically. In fact, we need a ton of information to understand the complete character arc of Jean Valjean. At least that's my opinion. I think tho were someone to ask me I'd recommend to them an abridged edition. : )
@@jamesduggan7200 you might be right, I didn’t mind the same approach in war and peace, but somehow ran out of patience with this book. Felt a bit more like an author’s vanity exercise with Les Mis for me at least.
Les Miserables changed my life. It was an absolute PRIVILEGE to read this novel. Never have I been so immersed in a story or with a character. Jean ValJean is without doubt the most heroic character in literature. It is the #1 book on my list and I’ve read many many classics.
I love when people do these kind of projects. I accidentally ended up doing my own in 2024 when I read and loved an Egyptian non fiction that led to me reading five Egyptian novels. Despite having many friends who love Les Mis it is one of the few classics that has never appealed to me, I’d much rather try The Count of Monte Cristo. Looking forward to what you have planned for this years reading Julie, India is one of my favorite countries to read books from.
I just read Les Misérables in October and November. I can understand your frustration with Hugo's digressions, but at this point in my life I was inclined to be more tolerant. I first read an abridged edition (around 500-600 pages) of Les Misérables in my 10th grade English class in the Fall of 1963, around the time of the JFK assassination. (In fact I remember first hearing the news while in that class.) The abridged edition was definitely the best choice at that time. I really loved it. But I can't imagine trying to read the unabridged edition 60 years ago. I decided to read the unabridged edition this year. Based on my love of reading Hugo back in 10th grade English and the fact that I had fallen asleep during the Anthony Quinn movie version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame when I first came out, I started working my way through the Delphi Complete Works of Victor Hugo a few years ago with the intent of enjoying them more thoroughly. I finally got to Les Misérables this year. By this time I have a much better understanding of French history than I did 60 years ago. In fact, I just finished Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon earlier this year. Also, my wife and I had visited Paris in 2014, staying in an apartment on Rue St. Antoine in Le Marais, close to the location of much of the action in the book, which made tracking the movements of the characters much easier and more interesting. Even so, it quickly became clear that the unannotated translation in the Delphi edition was not an efficient way to read it, so I picked up the Penguin edition you are holding. (Actually, the Kindle edition, which was much easier to pick up! It is fairly easy to flip back and forth to the annotations in an eBook. I don't need the aggravation of trying to flip back and forth in a 1400 page paperback.) While it is true that the plot does not move as quickly in the unabridged edition, it is still nowhere near as glacial and discursive as Proust. It was clear to me that the point of the book was not just to whip through the plot narrative. Hugo's point was to tell the reader what he thought about how the world worked. Keeping that in mind, I enjoyed the ride much more. Much of what he thought was insightful, profound, and touching; some was stupid. The last is true of all of us. We all have different purposes in reading a book. Obviously reading Les Misérables at this point in time did not fulfill your purposes as well as it did mine at this point in time. It would have been more of a slog for me even just 10 years ago. Thank you for your video and sharing your experience. Best wishes for the new year.
can we go back to hearing about jfk assassination while in class , wow , like didnt even have phone in class back then , was there like someone , some town screamer going class to class , the president is dead the president is dead
@ Somebody came late to class and had overheard something in the administrative offices somewhere. Our teacher had us go back to our work since all we had was a rumor. Next period class on Career Guidance the teacher just put the radio on with the news from Dallas.
@@cunningba hearing about the JFK assassination in class is wild! Weirdly I didn’t find Proust to be too discursive, mostly because some of his tangents give a pay-off 3 volumes later, so you get the sense that it was written with a plot in mind. Some of the tangents in Les Mis seem like dead ends in the content of the plot, so they feel far more indulgent. I’m keeping the book hoping that a few decades later, I might pick it up and see the author’s intention at last!
Great video! I also read les misérables and les essaies de Montaigne this year! I read them in the original French so our experiences might differ, but I would like to point out that older writers had different goals in mind when writing, mainly to spread wisdom while also entertaining. Novels were, and still are, a way of deepening your intellect without getting bored. They also got really experimental in the 19th century, that's why you have books like Moby dick, les misérables, War and peace etc. They tried to make the novel a serious form of literature by deepening the thoughts of the characters as well as the world building, and also by mixing fiction with philosophical and historical essays, changing how we look at the novel and giving the reader a full experience with the book rather than a mere story. I hope you enjoy more French literature, and I am glad you liked Le compte de Monte-Cristo which is an absolute masterpiece!
I just discovered your channel and I'm looking forward to your book reviews. I totally agree with your comments about memoirs. I enjoy biographies, but like you, I find memoirs "self-indulgent". I'm working through my Penguin Classics collection and appreciate the comments on the ones you mentioned.
India has so much great literature! You will definitely find a wide range of choices. “The White Tiger” is good, but I also recommend Amitav Ghosh, R K Narayan, and Arundhati Roy.
I DNF’d _Les Mis_ after about 300 pages (which I grew to hate) and then slumped for about a month afterward. His filler felt just like that. At one point it felt like he had been a tourist at a certain place, then described it while retelling the little tourist brochure he got. That may not be exactly what he did, but close enough. I detest Hugo. There I said it. 😂 I love your BRICS idea. I’m planning to focus on Chinese history with _Dream of Red Mansions_ thrown in too.
@@davidnovakreadspoetry dream of the red mansion is the ultimate Chinese classic! I got through about one volume in Chinese, too hard. I might try the penguin translation. Keen to hear how you go!
I'm currently reading Les Mis and the war scene was really boring, but I continued on. I do really enjoy the book because I see the change of Jean Valjean and how this change was organic in nature. I also loved the Bishop and his view on the guillotine as well and how all these characters are interconnected without realizing they are. This just shows that human beings are influenced by each other and how we really are social creatures, too. You can see that the author has his own views such as the "man should not take another man's life," as well as his deep appreciation for education when he wrote about Jean learning to read to seek revenge only for years later teach Cossette how to read out of the goodness of his heart. Also, each character, such as Javert, has different morals about justice, and while the author disagrees with it, he still respects it as well. Lastly, Les mis was worked on for 17 years because Hugos views on life changed, and he wanted his work to reflect on that. I'm pretty sure if he was still alive, he'll still work on it cause while he was known to be a procrastinator, he was also a perfectionist. (Something I also deal with).
@@c.lstrife I actually really enjoyed the part of the book about Jean Valjean and the bishop. It’s the last third of the book that lets it down for me. Keen to hear your thoughts when you get there!
For a second I thought you were about to say that you didn’t like The Charterhouse of Parma, and I was thinking, "but it’s so good, how can one like French literature but not this book?". You liked it, so all is well. 😂 I had to read some of Montaigne’s essays in college. It was enough for me. You are brave to take on the full version. 😁
Having to read the first volume of Proust in the original at university, the tedium of lockdown is a good corollary. I'll never be able to face a petite madeleine again. Looking forward to hearing your explorations in Chinese literature (which I will not be reading in the original).
I read the Count of Monte Cristo this year and absolutely loved it. I think it is my favorite 19th century classic. I want to continue with French classics and for 2025 have The Three Musketeers, The Red and the Black and Notre-Dame de Paris on my TBR. I'll have to look into the Black Tulip and Th Charterhouse of Parma.
I couldn't even guess how many years it's been since I read Red and Black yet somehow many of the scenes are Kodachrome clear still. Julien Sorel is a very special person, which many recognized but few appreciated.
I love this challenge. Great idea reading French literature. I am still trying to think of what kinds of books I want to read in 2025. That's too bad you didn't love Les Miserables. It's one of my favourites, though I agree it could have been edited down.
So happy that you plan to read brazilian literature next year!! Some recommendations: The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, written by Machado de Assis; anything written by Clarice Lispector; Crooked Plow, written by Itamar Vieira Júnior; and The Words that Remain, written by Stenio Gardel. The first two authors are classical, and the last two are contemporary, but all are famous and acclamated in Brazil.
I’ve always been curious to read Chinese literature, but it’s not widely available here in Brazil, so I never really know what to search for. Will be waiting for you recommendations! ❤
@@ritadefatimadeoliveira9991 saving this!!
While I don't disagree that a modern editor would suggest numerous cuts to Les Miserables, I tend to give my sympathies to writers who notoriously resist cutting or changing even a single word. Take for example the very long chapter describing how the villain becomes corrupted during the Napoleonic Wars in the aftermath of a horrible battle. So what??? Yes, the main story line does not need all that information however when we reach the ending and need to ruminate a week or so to digest the incredible pathos of it and all those self-indulgent details, we start to grasp Hugo's mission to critique culture critically. In fact, we need a ton of information to understand the complete character arc of Jean Valjean. At least that's my opinion. I think tho were someone to ask me I'd recommend to them an abridged edition. : )
@@jamesduggan7200 you might be right, I didn’t mind the same approach in war and peace, but somehow ran out of patience with this book. Felt a bit more like an author’s vanity exercise with Les Mis for me at least.
Les Miserables changed my life. It was an absolute PRIVILEGE to read this novel. Never have I been so immersed in a story or with a character. Jean ValJean is without doubt the most heroic character in literature. It is the #1 book on my list and I’ve read many many classics.
@@marthacanady9441 that was the experience I was hoping to get with this book, but we didn’t quite get there 😭
Total agree on Jean Valjean!
I love when people do these kind of projects. I accidentally ended up doing my own in 2024 when I read and loved an Egyptian non fiction that led to me reading five Egyptian novels. Despite having many friends who love Les Mis it is one of the few classics that has never appealed to me, I’d much rather try The Count of Monte Cristo. Looking forward to what you have planned for this years reading Julie, India is one of my favorite countries to read books from.
I just read Les Misérables in October and November. I can understand your frustration with Hugo's digressions, but at this point in my life I was inclined to be more tolerant. I first read an abridged edition (around 500-600 pages) of Les Misérables in my 10th grade English class in the Fall of 1963, around the time of the JFK assassination. (In fact I remember first hearing the news while in that class.) The abridged edition was definitely the best choice at that time. I really loved it. But I can't imagine trying to read the unabridged edition 60 years ago. I decided to read the unabridged edition this year. Based on my love of reading Hugo back in 10th grade English and the fact that I had fallen asleep during the Anthony Quinn movie version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame when I first came out, I started working my way through the Delphi Complete Works of Victor Hugo a few years ago with the intent of enjoying them more thoroughly. I finally got to Les Misérables this year. By this time I have a much better understanding of French history than I did 60 years ago. In fact, I just finished Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon earlier this year. Also, my wife and I had visited Paris in 2014, staying in an apartment on Rue St. Antoine in Le Marais, close to the location of much of the action in the book, which made tracking the movements of the characters much easier and more interesting. Even so, it quickly became clear that the unannotated translation in the Delphi edition was not an efficient way to read it, so I picked up the Penguin edition you are holding. (Actually, the Kindle edition, which was much easier to pick up! It is fairly easy to flip back and forth to the annotations in an eBook. I don't need the aggravation of trying to flip back and forth in a 1400 page paperback.) While it is true that the plot does not move as quickly in the unabridged edition, it is still nowhere near as glacial and discursive as Proust. It was clear to me that the point of the book was not just to whip through the plot narrative. Hugo's point was to tell the reader what he thought about how the world worked. Keeping that in mind, I enjoyed the ride much more. Much of what he thought was insightful, profound, and touching; some was stupid. The last is true of all of us.
We all have different purposes in reading a book. Obviously reading Les Misérables at this point in time did not fulfill your purposes as well as it did mine at this point in time. It would have been more of a slog for me even just 10 years ago.
Thank you for your video and sharing your experience. Best wishes for the new year.
You know, it might be difficult to find two characters more dissimilar than Jean and Marcel are. Thanks.
can we go back to hearing about jfk assassination while in class , wow , like didnt even have phone in class back then , was there like someone , some town screamer going class to class , the president is dead the president is dead
@ Somebody came late to class and had overheard something in the administrative offices somewhere. Our teacher had us go back to our work since all we had was a rumor. Next period class on Career Guidance the teacher just put the radio on with the news from Dallas.
@@cunningba hearing about the JFK assassination in class is wild! Weirdly I didn’t find Proust to be too discursive, mostly because some of his tangents give a pay-off 3 volumes later, so you get the sense that it was written with a plot in mind. Some of the tangents in Les Mis seem like dead ends in the content of the plot, so they feel far more indulgent. I’m keeping the book hoping that a few decades later, I might pick it up and see the author’s intention at last!
hey julie! great vid! I agree with you I love Middlemarch, but have reservations on Dickens! Your themed reading years sound so much fun! ❤
@@kaygal89 hello! Welcome to Booktube :)
Great video! I also read les misérables and les essaies de Montaigne this year! I read them in the original French so our experiences might differ, but I would like to point out that older writers had different goals in mind when writing, mainly to spread wisdom while also entertaining. Novels were, and still are, a way of deepening your intellect without getting bored. They also got really experimental in the 19th century, that's why you have books like Moby dick, les misérables, War and peace etc. They tried to make the novel a serious form of literature by deepening the thoughts of the characters as well as the world building, and also by mixing fiction with philosophical and historical essays, changing how we look at the novel and giving the reader a full experience with the book rather than a mere story. I hope you enjoy more French literature, and I am glad you liked Le compte de Monte-Cristo which is an absolute masterpiece!
How fun to find this video! Im currently in the middle of an all French reading spree.
I just discovered your channel and I'm looking forward to your book reviews. I totally agree with your comments about memoirs. I enjoy biographies, but like you, I find memoirs "self-indulgent". I'm working through my Penguin Classics collection and appreciate the comments on the ones you mentioned.
It’s crazy that I was planning 2025 as my year to read French literature 😮
I think i'll try that this year, read a little more french literature
India has so much great literature! You will definitely find a wide range of choices. “The White Tiger” is good, but I also recommend Amitav Ghosh, R K Narayan, and Arundhati Roy.
India literature is good. Also Rushdie and Mistry are great to add
@@whereisannah I love the White Tiger! But def hoping to read more Rushdie and Arundhati Roy.
I DNF’d _Les Mis_ after about 300 pages (which I grew to hate) and then slumped for about a month afterward. His filler felt just like that. At one point it felt like he had been a tourist at a certain place, then described it while retelling the little tourist brochure he got. That may not be exactly what he did, but close enough. I detest Hugo. There I said it. 😂
I love your BRICS idea. I’m planning to focus on Chinese history with _Dream of Red Mansions_ thrown in too.
@@davidnovakreadspoetry dream of the red mansion is the ultimate Chinese classic! I got through about one volume in Chinese, too hard. I might try the penguin translation. Keen to hear how you go!
@ I DNF’d the Penguin years ago because the translation didn’t work for me; this time I’ll be trying the Yangs - who I’ve enjoyed in other things.
My father wanted to name me Clelia because of Stendahl’s novel ! Glad to see non Francophones still reading these novels 😊
I'm currently reading Les Mis and the war scene was really boring, but I continued on. I do really enjoy the book because I see the change of Jean Valjean and how this change was organic in nature. I also loved the Bishop and his view on the guillotine as well and how all these characters are interconnected without realizing they are. This just shows that human beings are influenced by each other and how we really are social creatures, too.
You can see that the author has his own views such as the "man should not take another man's life," as well as his deep appreciation for education when he wrote about Jean learning to read to seek revenge only for years later teach Cossette how to read out of the goodness of his heart. Also, each character, such as Javert, has different morals about justice, and while the author disagrees with it, he still respects it as well.
Lastly, Les mis was worked on for 17 years because Hugos views on life changed, and he wanted his work to reflect on that. I'm pretty sure if he was still alive, he'll still work on it cause while he was known to be a procrastinator, he was also a perfectionist. (Something I also deal with).
@@c.lstrife I actually really enjoyed the part of the book about Jean Valjean and the bishop. It’s the last third of the book that lets it down for me. Keen to hear your thoughts when you get there!
For a second I thought you were about to say that you didn’t like The Charterhouse of Parma, and I was thinking, "but it’s so good, how can one like French literature but not this book?". You liked it, so all is well. 😂 I had to read some of Montaigne’s essays in college. It was enough for me. You are brave to take on the full version. 😁
@@bouquinsbooks we’ll find out if I’m brave or foolish!
Thank you for the video, might give it a chance to that Stendhal book. Cheers.
Having to read the first volume of Proust in the original at university, the tedium of lockdown is a good corollary. I'll never be able to face a petite madeleine again. Looking forward to hearing your explorations in Chinese literature (which I will not be reading in the original).
@@patternsinsand it gets better by the 7th volume of that entices 😅
@@juliereadsherbookshelf Sounds like banging your head against a wall because you know how pleasant it will be when you stop.😂
Love the theme idea! I think I am going to cover Latin America for 2025 😅
@@whatever101s everything ive read from that continent I’ve loved!
I love your videos and I totally feel you on Les Mis!
Impressive reading
I read the Count of Monte Cristo this year and absolutely loved it. I think it is my favorite 19th century classic. I want to continue with French classics and for 2025 have The Three Musketeers, The Red and the Black and Notre-Dame de Paris on my TBR. I'll have to look into the Black Tulip and Th Charterhouse of Parma.
I couldn't even guess how many years it's been since I read Red and Black yet somehow many of the scenes are Kodachrome clear still. Julien Sorel is a very special person, which many recognized but few appreciated.
Les Mis - one of the greatest. Length can be a bit trying.
I love this challenge. Great idea reading French literature. I am still trying to think of what kinds of books I want to read in 2025. That's too bad you didn't love Les Miserables. It's one of my favourites, though I agree it could have been edited down.