Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I apologize for the delay, but here is the thread for discussing our May/June selection. I will return to edit this and introduce the book properly.

We'll read this over a two month period (May 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013. I will post some background info and resources here sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, please feel free to begin discussing.

Happy Reading!

***Okay, I'm back...(Sorry for being late)


Summary (from Penguin)

‘He was no longer Jean Valjean, but No. 24601’

Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Misérables is a novel on an epic scale, moving inexorably from the eve of the battle of Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830.

Some movie adaptations:

Les Misérables (1935), Les Miserables (1952), Les Miserables (TV 1978)
Les Misérables (1995), Les Misérables (1998)
Les Misérables (2000)(TV Mini-Series)
Les Misérables (2012)


Reading Schedule is as follows:

Week 1: May 17th - 23rd (Page 1 – 224)
Week 2: May 24th - 30th (Page 225 – 448)
Week 3: May 31st - June 6th (Page 449 - 672)
Week 4: June 7th - 13th (Page 673 - 896)
Week 5: June 14th - 20th (Page 897 - 1,120)
Week 7: June 21st - 27th (Page 1,121 - 1344)
June 28th - 30th (Page 1345 - 1,400)


Les Misérables (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%...

Victor Hugo (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo


**Please feel free to share your thoughts as you read.

**Please remember to mark your spoilers.

I bought this book awhile ago after falling in love with the movie; hopefully this will give me motivation to really delve into it.

Perfect!! I wanted to read it this summer anyway! I'll have to finish the huge books I am reading right now first though. I don't think I can deal with three huge books open at the same time.

Are we setting up any kind of reading schedule or just reading at our own pace? My unabridged copy has 1400 pages so I'm thinking if I average 50 pages/day I can have it done by the end of June with no problem. I will be reading other books concurrently so probably won't get through it any faster than that.

Alison wrote: "Perfect!! I wanted to read it this summer anyway! I'll have to finish the huge books I am reading right now first though. I don't think I can deal with three huge books open at the same time."

I see you're reading A Clash of Kings , if you plan on reading the next installment, A Storm of Swords , and you'd be interested in doing a buddy read, let me know. I plan on reading it next month.

Ps: I hope you join us soon.

Appaloosa05 wrote: "Are we setting up any kind of reading schedule or just reading at our own pace? My unabridged copy has 1400 pages so I'm thinking if I average 50 pages/day I can have it done by the end of June wit..."

I apologize for delaying this. Here is the reading schedule (you can follow it or read at your own pace):


Week 1: May 17th - 23rd (Page 1 – 224)
Week 2: May 24th - 30th (Page 225 – 448)
Week 3: May 31st - June 6th (Page 449 - 672)
Week 4: June 7th - 13th (Page 673 - 896)
Week 5: June 14th - 20th (Page 897 - 1,120)
Week 7: June 21st - 27th (Page 1,121 - 1344)
June 28th - 30th (Page 1345 - 1,400)


My copy has 1,232 pages. If yours has 1400 pages, read at least 32 pages daily and you'll be done with it by the end of June... We have about 45 days. I'm going to read at least 28-30 pages daily.

Thank you for posting the reading schedule. :) I just looked at it again and it's actually 1463 but in the grand scheme of things that's not much of a difference. I will make sure to read at least 35 pages a day. Happy reading!

Appaloosa05 wrote: "Thank you for posting the reading schedule. :) I just looked at it again and it's actually 1463 but in the grand scheme of things that's not much of a difference. I will make sure to read at least..."

Hi Appaloosa05! I just started reading today and I'm almost done with Book One...loving it so far!

If anyone wants to, please feel free to post any questions about the book you'd like us to discuss, or share your first impressions or general thoughts as you read :)

Hi, I'm butting in here because I just happen to have finished reading the book after three months. I found it tough to get going at times, especially when too many digressions piled up. But I must say overall I enjoyed it immensely. Valjean, Javert and Thenardier are the characters who I think will stick in my mind forever. I didn't care too much for Cosette though. I found her quite shallow and silly most of the time. What did you think of her?

I just finally startedreading this a couple weeks ago. I am finding this very confusing, but I asked my mom a few questions about it yesterday and its making more sense. So hopefully now I will be able to get more read faster since i am understanding it more.

I am on page 350 of a 1200-page version (the translation by Julie Rose). I'm just at the part where Valjean comes to get Cosette. Loving it so far, although I did get a little bogged down in The Battle of Waterloo.