50 books to read before you die discussion

July group read from the list.

I'm looking forward to this. Will probably read over 2 months.
Who's joining me.

Love this book!

Please share some thoughts Steven.

I expect to read this one this month. Closing in on The List.

I've started.
I read The Three Musketeers in Matric (under my desk in Maths mostly) and loved Dumas's style even then.
The prose is lyrical and easy to read. And action packed.

We are introduced to Edmond Dantes, a young first mate on a merchant sea vessel. He is confident, kind, compassionate and deeply in love with Mercedes. His good fortune has made him some powerful enemies in Danglars, Fernand and Monsieur C who conspire to prove that he is a bonpartist sympathizer, leading to his arrest just before his marriage to Mercedes.

Lisa wrote: "I've started.
I read The Three Musketeers in Matric (under my desk in Maths mostly) and loved Dumas's style even then.
The prose is lyrical and easy to read. And action packed.
"

I've started also - about a quarter of the way in. This is quite a long novel. I agree with your characterization, Lisa. It is as good as or better than anything I've read from this period. I'm quite enjoying it.

I'm much further behind Buck, it's long but it's fun.

About halfway through now. The pace of adventure has slowed - Not as engrossing as the earlier parts. Now we are involved with the Paris society. I'm having a little trouble keeping all the characters and their relationships to one another straight.

I've reached the island. Dantes was very surprised by de Villefort's betrayal.

Pretty far along now. The plot thickens and the pace picks up again. The inter-relationships are intricate, which is why I think things slowed down a bit - so that we would get to know the players. As those upon whom the Count has sworn vengeance and their associates continue their nefarious ways, The Count is ever present, behind the scenes, taking care of business. This is really a good book.

I thought The Count of Monte Cristo had been a group read a while back, so I checked our bookshelf. It was added in august of 2013, but I can't find any discussion of it. Has the group read this one before?

Finished it. It's very good. It compares quite favorably to other famous novels of the time - Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights.

The basic plot is (view spoiler)[that a young man unjustly spends 14 years in a dungeon, learns of a great hidden treasure, escapes, and with his great wealth seeks vengeance on his betrayers. (hide spoiler)] The relationships among the various characters are intricate; many of them have aliases; and the path to the end of the book is convoluted. It's a book worth rereading - we're bound to have missed things the first time through, but the length of the novel puts a damper on that for me.

I heard an audiobook that came with an ebook version. I thought it was quite odd that the audio and written versions were not the same translation, and in fact they weren't even the same edition. The chapter numbers were completely off, and there were places where things were just different. Strange that these companion volumes weren't the same. The narrator of the audio book was British, but the language was not the haughty prose one might expect from English books of this era. That may have been due to the translation from the original French.

I wholeheartedly recommend The Count of Monte Cristo.

Wow. That was quick.
I'm enjoying it very much, but don't have much time to read. Arwen gets bored if I read aloud for too long. Loves Dr Seuss...

I'm not sure if the group read this, that's before I joined I think.

I had a similar experience to yours with an audiobook, but it was Ulysses so translation couldn't explain it.
I wonder what it would be like to read it in French?

Lisa wrote: "Wow. That was quick."

About 10 days, I think. The audiobook was less than 18 hours. The ebook was 1247 pages.

Lisa wrote: "I had a similar experience to yours with an audiobook, but it was Ulysses so translation couldn't explain it.
I wonder what it would be like to read it in French?"

James Joyce's Ulysses? In English it is so surreal as to approach unintelligible.

If I tried to Read The Count of Monte Cristo in French it would be unintelligible since I'm monolingual.

Buck wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Wow. That was quick."

About 10 days, I think. The audiobook was less than 18 hours. The ebook was 1247 pages.

Lisa wrote: "I had a similar experience to yours with an audiobook, ..."

Yup, I'm only over 100 pages in. Maybe I should listen to it on my iPhone. I prefer to read myself than listen to audiobooks though, but it might allow me a way to read while hanging out with Arwen.

James Joyce's Ulysses, the chapter breaks were different. No idea why. I gave up.

I'm bilingual and am signing up to learn isiXhosa next year; but do not speak French at all; but always wish that I could read a book in its original language because I think translations change the book. This is true of Afrikaans to English translations.

Lisa wrote: "Yup, I'm only over 100 pages in. Maybe I should listen to it on my iPhone. I prefer to read myself than listen to audiobooks though, but it might allow me a way to read while hanging out with Arwen."

I listen to audiobooks on my iPhone with a stereo bluetooth headset in the mornings and during the day, then I read at night. I can listen when I drive, or when I'm doing things that require no concentration. I find that if I'm driving in traffic, or in an unfamiliar area, I tune out the book and have to backtrack (the book, not the driving). but there are lots of little times during the day when nothing takes our attention.

I have just finished the Count of Monte Cristo and thoroughly enjoyed it. 'Revenge is best a dish served cold' should be the subtitle.

Christine wrote: "I have just finished the Count of Monte Cristo and thoroughly enjoyed it. 'Revenge is best a dish served cold' should be the subtitle."

I enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo more than I expected to.

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Just started reading this and from just the first couple of chapters I already know I am going to thoroughly enjoy this book

I read this and liked it.... my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...