Malheureux Sans Lecture

In High School I was proud of the classics I’d read – it took a reading of Great Expectations before I had a taste for Dickens. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dumas (tee hee), Hugo were all authors whose works I loved. Sure, I read some contemporary novels, but with so many classics I felt my time would be better used reading books whose appeal had been proven. I am guilty of a kind of snobbery when it comes to books I suppose, though I have recently read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and fell in love with it.

Recently (read: the last 5 years)however I have been in a literary black hole. I forgot what reading did for my soul. I forgot how worry and stress melted off my shoulders as I was lost in another world, late at night, lit by my bedside lamp. There I was with Sydney Carton as he redeemed his wasted life, with Jean Valjean as he died happily amongst an indescribable sadness, with Pip as he cut the puppet strings that guided his whole young life. Without these influences, and without this healthy escape, I lost much. However, I recently picked up my old habit and have started reading recreationally.

The book I tackled first (and have recently finished) was Les Misérables. I had read it years before where it became my favorite book. Actually, I loved the musical as a child, and thought that the book would help me enjoy the musical more. The reverse happened. I love the book so much, and found in it such depth and strong emotions that, sadly, the musical appears superficial to me now. I love the music of Les Misérables and always will, however the story of the musical was necessarily changed to take a ~1500 page novel to ~2 hours.

During a digital circuits lab a few weeks ago I listened to the musical all the way through. Having just read the book I was listening to the words sung with a new ear. I concluded that the songs that are truest to the book are Javert’s Suicide and Valjean Arrested / Valjean Forgiven. That said Les Misérables is a beautiful musical based on a much more deep and beautiful book. The book will always be my most prized novel.

If you enjoy the musical, then try the book. ~1500 pages is quite long, and if you find a good abridged version it might cut out some of Hugo’s long-windedness (however I did enjoy his wonderful description of Waterloo) but I don’t think an abridged version less than 1000 pages would do the novel justice.

I have found my reading soul again. So, now I am looking for a new book to read; a classic of course. I am considering the Hunchback of Notredame. If you know of anything that I would enjoy, please post in the comments.

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Now playing: Weezer – The Damage In Your Heart