The Les Miserables Reading Support Group

[Elle]

Angus wrote: "Do they have the same list of songs? Gosh. Mukhang mag-aadik ako, haha!"

Hello guys!! Super fan din ako ng Les Mis at natapos ko na ang unabridged ver. dahil sa sobrang kaadikan ko sa play. :)) Ni hindi nga ako makapag-aral mabuti sa finals last sem dahil dun e. Hahaha! Meron silang i-rerelease na soundtrack on Christmas Day. Di lahat ng kanta nandun. :) Yung highlights lang daw pero walang A Little Fall of Rain. :)) Good luck guys! Handa-handa rin po tayo ng tissue. Hahahaha :)

[Elle]

Fantaghiro23 wrote: "Oh, I love the rules for this! May I join? Big fan of the musical. Like many of you, know the entire libretto by heart. But have never read the book.

I also need a long read that will last me from..."

Hello po! : )Ako rin po naiyak nung makita ko si Colm sa Bring Him Home at One Day More. Hehe! Buti nalang siya si Bishop of Digne sa movie. :D

[Angus]

Hi Honey, everyone's welcome! Actually, introduction pa lang ang nabasa ko, hehe.

Hi Ayra, welcome! Pwede ka rin sigurong maging cheerleader to support us. :)

[Elle]

Angus wrote: "Hi Honey, everyone's welcome! Actually, introduction pa lang ang nabasa ko, hehe.

Hi Ayra, welcome! Pwede ka rin sigurong maging cheerleader to support us. :)"

YAAAAAAY!! Salamat po! Hehe! Go lang guys! Sa una, akala niyo mahaba (well, mahaba naman talaga XD) pero promise, sobrang worth it basahin niyan. Mga ilang araw lang, magugulat nalang kayo na nasa last chapter na pala kayo :"> GOOD LUCK GUYS! :D

“He was fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends.” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

[Malot]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaa buti kayo may copy na... Wala pang copy dito sa NBS Tarlac and mukhang by christmas ko pa makukuha yung copy na bibilhin for me. I cant wait for the movie. January 16,2013 daw ang release dito, how true???

(magdadala ako ng towel sa sinehan)

[Heldervert]

pasali....malot ebook n lng ulit...

[AennA]

Whoa! Narattle ako bigla ng nakita ko ulet yung schedule ng showing kanina online. :))

Kaya, basa basa na! :D

[Tricia]

Kamusta, Dec12 na, di pa ako nakamove on! Haha! Sana matapos ko to. (May Life of Pi pa ako!) ngarag lang haha

[Angus]

Eek! Anong araw? Gosh, tapusin ko na nga si Charlie at nang makabalik na.

[Rhena]

Join din ako guys! :) Kailangan ko ng kasama sa pag-iyak/pagfangirl! What page are you in? Kakastart ko pa lang kasi.

[Alexa]

Hindi pa ako nagsastart, haha. Pineprepare ko muna feelings ko kasi this is a very serious book :))

[Mae]

[JL]

I just downloaded the album from the Les Miserables Original London Cast (since newbie plng ako kay Hugo: I haven't seen the musicals nor any of the movie adaptations), and I'm just listening to the songs while reading the book :)
Oh my, que ganda naman pala ng mga kanta dito, and it seems I can already get the gist of the story just by listening to the songs :) Sarap tuloy mgconcert...(sa banyo, maganda kc acoustics parang nsa theatre lng -
"I dreamed a dream...")

[AennA]

Page 43 pa lang ako! :)) Feeling ko ang layo na ng nababasa ko, pero less than 50 pages pa lang pala. :))

[Alexa]

JL wrote: "I just downloaded the album from the Les Miserables Original London Cast (since newbie plng ako kay Hugo: I haven't seen the musicals nor any of the movie adaptations), and I'm just listening to th..."

TRUE :") kilig to the bones nga when I saw the trailer eh. It made me much more excited to read it!!!

[Mae]

Guys! Guys! I know this is a thread about the book and not the movie BUT... the Les Miserables: Highlights from the Motion Picture soundtrack album is getting released today! *happy dance*

JL: YAY London Cast Recording! I like that one more than the Broadway Cast Recording. :D

[Angus]

Okay, I'll download that na rin.

And I will start reading naaa. Intro pa lang ang natapos ko, hahaha!

[Aaron Vincent]

And JL just sang I Dreamed a Dream. Can you imagine him singing this part, "He slept a summer by my side... He took my childhood in his stride..." LOLOLOL.

[Mae]

Now JL has to do that live. HOHOL highlight. :))

[Bennard]

JL, may intermission number ka na next F2F.:D

[Tina]

I'm not reading Les Mis, but I saw the comment. Ayan, intermission number! :D JL, magready ka na! :P

[Aaron Vincent]

Bennard wrote: "JL, may intermission number ka na next F2F.:D"

Bennard, daddy mo yan. Magpakaserious ka nga at bigay respeto sa daddy mo. :D

[JL]

Aaron Vincent wrote: "And JL just sang I Dreamed a Dream. Can you imagine him singing this part, "He slept a summer by my side... He took my childhood in his stride..." LOLOLOL."

uurrgghhh, troll comments. di ka pa ba nagiging bato, Aaron? Neway, db let's be serious for a change :)

I only know yung start: "I Dreamed a Dream..." tapos wala na, pero Aaron seems to know the whole song kaya sya mgpapatuloy! Yey!

[Tina]

Aaron Vincent wrote: "Bennard wrote: "JL, may intermission number ka na next F2F.:D"

Bennard, daddy mo yan. Magpakaserious ka nga at bigay respeto sa daddy mo. :D"

So if JL is Bennard's daddy...and JL is our Lolo...then...Bennard is our...daddy? Srs question! :D

[Bennard]

Aaron: Ay oo nga pala. I forgot my manners.:D

JL: Sing for me, daddy! (sounds wrong?)

Tina: The complications of the family tree. Hahaha.:D But please don't call me daddy. Bata pa ako.:D

[Mae]

Then that makes Rhena your mommy? Pero ang tanong... sino si Lola? Heh. Hehehe. Hehehehehe.

Si Cosette walang parents because (view spoiler)[Fantine dies. T_T (hide spoiler)] :( - Ayan, para hindi masyadong off-topic. :P

[Tina]

Mae: Yung "Heh. Hehehe. Hehehehehe." mo natawa ako. No comment. :))

Now I'm tempted to read along with you guys. Let me think about it until after Christmas. (view spoiler)[Tapusin ko muna yung Isle of Blood. Haha! (hide spoiler)]

[Aaron Vincent]

Tina: Tito? Hindi siya pwedeng maging daddy natin. Masyado siyang mabait(view spoiler)[serious? (hide spoiler)] to sire mean children. Hahahaha.

Bennard: Sounds wrong nga. Para kang si Phantom... but does that make JL, Christine, the angel of music? :D

Mae: Naghahanap pa kami ng lola.

[Angus]

Tina, I will give you the MMP unabridged edition if you decide to join. That is, if you don't mind MMPs. :D

[Tina]

Angus wrote: "Tina, I will give you the MMP unabridged edition if you decide to join. That is, if you don't mind MMPs. :D"

I don't mind MMPs. haha wait babalik ako dito after Christmas. :D I shall decide then. Nainggit ako sa inyo eh. Haha :P

[Biena]

Kakantahin ko na lang buong libretto... Ang hirap basahin nung kopya ko. Maliit! Dapat pala binili ko na dati yung nakita ko sa Book Sale.

[Joy]

May I join? :)

[JL]

Back to the topic of the thread:

Ilove this quote from the book, chapter IV: Works to Match Words:

"...transform the grief that contemplates the grave by showing it the grief that looks up to the stars."

The first attitude points to nihilistic surrender, the other doesn't disregard suffering but gives it a larger canvass on which to unfold. Underlying this bigger context is that which serves as the catalyst for transformation: Hope :)

and Jean Valjean hasn't appeared yet. yay!

[Aaron Vincent]

I read that part and I thought it was somewhat similar with a favorite Shakespearean line from Richard II:

"For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it and sets it light."

Why are you rejoicing that Jean doesn't appear yet? You are very much alike the townsfolk that welcomed him with frosty shoulders. I already "met" Jean Valjean. The Raggedy Man! :D

[Louize]

Again, me and my age does not understand MMPs...

is it Mas Maliit Pagkakasulat?

corny? sorry, nasobrahan yata ako sa Mongo for lunch! LOL

[Maria]

Chami: may free lunch din ba ang support group na ito? sponsor mo naman! =P

[Alexa]

Did you all read the Introduction? Suddenly sobrang atat na ako to start with the story mismo, but if I should read the intro, I would.

[Monique]

Maria wrote: "Chami: may free lunch din ba ang support group na ito? sponsor mo naman! =P"

Mariaaaaaa! San ka nagsususuot?? I miss youuu! :D

[Maria Ella]

Nahihirapan rin ako sa introduction. Pero you can't just let go of it kasi it explains the scenario of the story. Grabe parang sobrang hirap lang ng panahon noon. And to think France is not a developing nation. Ang sad lang.

[Tricia]

Gosh, nahiya naman ako. Magbabasa na nga ako ulit!

[Alexa]

Maria Ella wrote: "And to think France is not a developing nation."

Woah, talaga?

Sige, sisimulan ko na siya tonight!

[Maria Ella]

Can i just say this: HUHUHUHU UBER CHALLENGING ANG FIRST PART NAAATAT AKO HUHUHU maybe because i've read the abridged version before so this introduction is making me impatient to wait for valjean's appearance. Hay!

[Maria]

Monique wrote: "Mariaaaaaa! San ka nagsususuot?? I miss youuu! :D"

Moniqueeeee! hibernate mode. bawi tulog. hahaha =) miss you, friend :-*

[JL]

Aaron Vincent wrote: "Why are you rejoicing that Jean doesn't appear yet? You are very much alike the townsfolk that welcomed him with frosty shoulders. I already "met" Jean Valjean. The Raggedy Man! :D "

haha that's not what I mean! What I mean is even before Jean Valjean, the main character, enters the picture, you already have a massive and beautiful exploration of Bishop Bienvenu Myriel's character and situation. I'm just in book 1 of Fantine and I've already underlined so many passages. Pano pa kaya yung andyan na yung bida? The book is easy to read but beautifully written (or translated, it must be gorgeous in its original french).

Look at this sample passage at the end of Chapter XIII: What He Believed. In describing the Bishop's evening walks, Hugo suddenly exploded in a sublime reverie of the nightsky, which lifted my attention unaware that I have to reread it thrice just for the pleasure of it :)

(view spoiler)[

It seemed as though it were a sort of rite with him, to prepare himself for sleep by meditating in the presence of the great spectacle of the starry firmament. Sometimes late at night, if the two women were awake, they would hear him slowly walking the paths. He was out there alone with himself, composed, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies, moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations and the invisible splendors of God, opening his soul to the thoughts that fall from the Unknown. In such moments, offering up his heart at the hour when the flowers of night emit their perfume, lit like a lamp in the center of the starry night, expanding in ecstasy in the midst of creation’s universal radiance, perhaps he could not have told what was happening in his own mind; he felt something floating away from him, and something descending upon him; mysterious exchanges of the soul with the universe…Was this narrow enclosure with the sky for a background not space enough for him to adore God in his most beautiful, most sublime works? Indeed, is that not everything? What more do you need? A little garden to walk in, and immensity to reflect on. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate on; a few flowers on earth and all the stars in heaven.

(hide spoiler)]

Tina: Read it na! I think magugustuhan mo (re: refer to the quote above) :)

Blue: Yes I did! And I would like to read more about the historical background of the novel, since I know next to nothing about Louis XVII, Napoleon or the French Revolution; things referenced in the text multiple times.

[Angus]

Tina: Will wait for your response. :D

Miss Louize: Natumbok mo! Pasok sa banga. Hahaha!

Chami: Kapag naloko ko yung sa inaapplyan kong work at tinanggap nila ako, magpapakape ako. Magseset din ako ng rules. Chos!

[Maria]

Ayoko ng kape. gusto ko lunch! Saturday lunch! Echos =P

[Angus]

Nasampal ka na ba ng Starbucks mug??? XD

[Tricia]

Ang morbid ng mag-chami na 'to XD gusto ko makita yang sampalan ng Starbucks mug!

OY, kainis. Dumaan ako ng NBS Glorietta tapos ni isang kopya ng LesMis WALA. Ayoko na ng e-book eh. Di ko dinadala sa office yung Nook ko (ang bigat eh). Kainish.

[Maria Ella]

Medyo mahirap yung introduction sure na! Meron rito yung sinasabi ng kausap ni Myriel about '93. Any thoughts of significant events during 1793-ish to 1800's?

Honestly, I haven't read this book when I was in my younger years so for me, it is a bit difficult to understand France's history. May tyranny pa na hinted on some conversations between Monsieur Bienvenue and Conventionary (view spoiler)[before namatay yung latter (hide spoiler)].

Kelangan ko na talaga magbasa ng wikipedia for the historical background. :P

[Alexa]

Guys I finally read the intro! Pero sobrang naooverwhelm pa rin ako sa bigat ng book so di ko pa alam kung sisimulan ko na =)) Parang gusto ko munang ubusin lahat ng thinner books ko hehe jk