The Les Miserables Reading Support Group

[Bennard]

Ella: According sa appendix ng edition ko, (view spoiler)[yung '93 na tinutukoy sa book ay yung isa sa pinaka-violent na years ng French Revolution. Inexecute daw sa taon na ito si King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette tsaka nagsimula yung Reign Terror. So ayun. Hope that helps.:) (hide spoiler)]

[Tina]

Angus: di ko na patatagalin after Christmas. Challenge accepted! Kung sasama ka sa HOHOL sa 29, padala na lang. Will start it before the year ends. Or maybe January 1, para super motivated. :D

[BookDeliria (Dia)]

ill be reading after my cousin does. :) before watching ze movie in january!

[Maria Ella]

Bennard wrote: "Ella: According sa appendix ng edition ko..."

Thanks Bennard! I somehow gets the point of the Conventionary's sentiments of ending the tyranny. But you know, reading wikipedia entries about the Reign of Terror and of the French Revolution, they even made a fiscal policy / public policy about Law of Suspects and enhanced by Law of Maximum, na (more of a personal note, please correct me if i am wrong) kapag nag-hoard ka ng food - regardless if you are an aristocrat, huhulihin ka!

I mean, maybe Hugo enlightened us that tyranny doesn't stop from one person/family - it is more of a cancer. Now we see how Hugo reflects Social Asphyxia in this novel.

Wala lang, kung kelan ako tumanda ngayon ko lang naisasapuso ang mga ganitong babasahin. Maganda palang talaga! :)

[Aaron Vincent]

Naks. Nagresearch. Maniniwala na sana ko eh kaso Jan Valjean daw. Galing galing. Birds and the Bees Part Deux. :D

[Louize]

Maria Ella wrote: "Kung may mali ako, paki-correct na lang. :P "

Don't take it personally. Sobrang clingy na lang talaga ni Aaron, nami-miss na n'ya mang-bully.

(◠‿◠)✌ Peace Aaron!

[Angus]

Tina: Yehey! If you want, I can give it to you on a week night. :) Just let me know when.

[Malot]

got my own unabridged copy by signet classics!!! grabe 2 copies lang meron dito sa NBS Tarlac and may creases na yung book. i was too eager to buy it. i haggled with the cashier (yeah i did hahah) and scored a big calendar from NBS para nmn sumaya ang mom ko. (fave nya kasi calendars pag new year).

etoooo naaa babasahin ko na ang introduction!!! Merry Christmas to all!

[Maria Ella]

Made edit on previous post. Kinuwento pala sa book 2 ang history ni valjean. Hmmm. Talagang magkaibang time period pala.

This book. Yung author ba ang nagkukwento? Anong tawag sa ganitong structure ng pagsusulat? Curious.

Imagine France and its rural areas. Parang sa mga high mountains lang ng Scotland. Walang ilaw sa gabi. Feeling ko lang ang creepy. Parang horror movie lang. Tsktsk.

[Maria Ella]

Irate ako sa Chapter about 1817! Andaming chararat tapos sa huling statement yun lang pala yun.

Okay. Aside sa mga sinabi ni Hugo, do you guys know of any significant events during this time (aside from coronation of Louis xviii)? (Nitatamad na kasi ako magbasa ng wikipedia entries but i shall try urgh)

[Alexa]

Omg, guise, sisimulan ko na talaga to ng New Year. Promise :)) Habulin ko na lang yung 3 books left for my challenge tas sisimulan ko na talaga!

[Malot]

nasa Fantine Book 1-chapter 4 pa lang ako pero nabubusog na ko sa mga binibitawang salita ni M.Myriel. So it means, marami pang makakain na words of wisdom sa librong eto. I cant seem to shake off the comparison between V.Hugo and J.Rizal

[Sozein]

Eeeee! Sali ako! :) I've been wanting to read this book ever since I found out that my ultimate crush Hugh Jackman is playing a major role in the movie. Haha! Ang hirap hanapin ng book na to sa SG kaya dito ko lang makukuha at maumpisahang mabasa... :)

[Tina]

I promise to start this...tomorrow. I promise. :D

[Maria Ella]

Nagpakita na si monsieur Madeleine! Mayor pala siya ng isang probinsya sa Pransya. Tapos nabasa ko yung teaser sa childhood ni Cosette (meron syang separate volume di ba?). Sobra lang. Tinalo pa ang Cinderella sa pang-aabuso sa kanya. *creys

Tapos hindi ko akalai na si Javert ay (view spoiler)[anak ng isang gypsy. Napanood ko yung hunchback na movie at parang taboo at kinukulong ang mga gypsy noon di ba? (hide spoiler)]… kaya pala ganun ang tsura nya sa play. Hindi pala siya yung inaakala kong javert na police sa abridged versions. Hihi

It pays to look at some details on the economic situation that Hugo wrote on some chapters. Pansin ko na nagbu-boom talaga ang mga negosyo after the war. Dito ipinakita yung industrial revolution eh.

And how Redemption is at play here. Si Monsieur Madeleine ay walang iba kundi... isang magiting at malakas na mayor. Hihihihi

[AennA]

Wala na. Wala na. Ayoko na magbasa. Kinewento na ni Ella Umbrella! chos. :D

[Angus]

Hahaha! Nasimulan ko na. Woot woot! Inputs pala ha, eh based sa reaction ni Aenna mukhang puro spoilers. :D

[Maria Ella]

Hoi may spoiler tag nemen~~~ wahahahaha.
Kasi nga decided akong basahin ang unabridged version nito. Nabasa ko na kasi yung abridged version online kaya... hahahahahah :P

[Angus]

Bennard: Anong meron sa footnotes ng edition mo? Historical context ba or notes ng author/tranlator?

Anyhoo, sabi ko nga kay Ella last night/kanina, M. Myriel reminds me of F. Latour (Death Comes for the Archbishop). Natutuwa ako when I read about good priests kasi siguro dahil meron akong notion na ang mga priests sa literature ay masasama (blame it on Padre Damaso, Padre Salvi, et al).

Naenjoy ko yung rebuttal ni M. Myriel dun sa epicurean na senator, something about letting the rich have their materialist philosophies and the ordinary people have their Lord. Ang saya lang; imbes na semplangin niya yung mga arguments nung senator eh hinayaan na lang niya na kumatak siya for one hundred sentences, hahaha. :D

[AennA]

Hahaha! Wala pa kasi ako sa parts na sinasabi ni Ella. It's just habang binabasa ko ang posts niya lalo akong naprepressure.

I'm still recuperating from whatever emotional turmoil I went through in reading Jean Valjean's struggles. :))

[Maria Ella]

Yes yes. JEAN VALJEAN on the door knocking... ELLA CREYS

[Bennard]

Angus: Mga additional info regarding the historical context nung book. Kasi diba andaming names na sinasabi si Hugo sa ibang chapters kaya sinasabi kung sino sila at kung ano mga ginawa nila sa notes. Meron din na mga tidbits about sa book and author itself like kung paano nag-arrive si Hugo sa mga names ng character niya, etc.:)

[Angus]

Aenna: Pressure ba kamo? Kumusta naman ako na pasimuno nito at nasa page 31 palang, hahaha!

Ella: Siguro after nito, ilista mo yung mga tinanggal sa abridged version. :D

Bennard: You read them all? Ako depende; kapag nasa likod ng book yung footnotes hindi ko na binabasa. Too lazy to flip back and forth. XD

[Bennard]

Angus: Yes, I did. Hahaha. Kaya dalawang bookmarks ang gamit ko.:p

[Maria Ella]

Ang kulit naman Bennard. Dalawang bookmarks talaga hahaha. Sige pag may tanong ulit ako hihingi na lang ako ng inputs from your "second" bookmark hihihihih

[Alexa]

Because I think I'm not the only one who gets confused by all the currencies mentioned so far (at least, I hope I'm not the only one. In any case, this will serve as my reference since I'm too lazy to Google it all again), I'm going to dump all my research here. HEHE.

According to this handy answer from Juanaquena (bless her/him, whoever (s)he is)(putting it in a spoiler tag because it's kinda long):
(view spoiler)[

Quote: "Louis, also called Louis D’or, gold coin circulated in France before the Revolution. The franc and livre were silver coins that had shrunk in value to such an extent that by 1740 coins of a larger denomination were needed. The French kings therefore had gold coins struck and called after their name Louis, or louis d’or (“gold Louis”). After the Revolution, Napoleon continued the practice but called the coins “napoleons.” They had a value of 20 francs."

So a louis and a napoleon were the same and valued at the time as 20 francs.

In 1795, during the French Revolution, the government set the franc as a decimal unit:
1 franc = 10 decimes = 100 centimes
(Note: Our US dollar is a decimal unit of currency - 1 dollar = 10 dimes = 100 pennies.)
At the time a franc was of 4.5 grams of fine silver.

You can read more about the history of French currency here, if you wish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fran…

To simplfy --

After 1794, in France
1 gold napoleon (same as a louis as noted above) = 20 francs (equivalent to $4.00 of US currency in 1800)
1 franc = 100 centimes (as noted above) (equivalent to $ .20 / 20 cents of US currency in 1800 - divide $4.00 by 20)
1 centime (equivalent of $. 02 / 2 cents of US currency in 1800)
Source: http://www.cyberussr.com/hcunn/gold-std.…

The sou was the smallest value currency of all. Slightly less than 25 sous equaled 1 franc.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_livr…
(I had to do some mathematical figuring for that value.)
1 sou (equivalent of 1/8 of a US cent in 1800 - $. 02 divided by 25)


It gives value conversions from 1774 up to 2009 in US dollars/purchasing power.
With that calculator, $1.00 in 1800 in the USA had the same purchasing power as $17.60 did in 2009.

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Source


SOOOOO if my calculations are correct, as of the dollar purchasing power of 2009,

1 napoleon = $70.4
1 franc = $3.52
1 centime = $0.352
1 sou = $0.01408

And because those numbers don't mean anything to me until I know the value in pesos, I converted them to Php na rin hehe. Rounding off the exchange rate to 41 Php per 1 USD!

1 napoleon = P2886.4
1 franc = P144.32
1 centime = P14.432
1 sou = P0.57748

SOOOOOO
109 francs and 15 sous = P15739.5 for NINETEEN YEARS
(I hope this is not too much of a spoiler because I am outraged.)

(view spoiler)[And don't even get me started on Fantine. TT___TT So much Jean Valjean-level hatred in my heart right now jk (hide spoiler)]

Okay I don't think this is a spoiler naman (view spoiler)[but for all it's worth, this book is making me feel miserable. Saktong-sakto lang sa title. *goes off to read some more in true masochistic fashion*
BUT REALLY.
SO. MUCH. FEELS.
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AJA, LES MIS SUPPORT GROUP!
Somebody get me away from here so I can finally read

[Maria Ella]

Alexa!!! Thanks for the inputs. Though knowing what he earned FOR NINETEEN YEARS! ANG SAKLAP.

Andun nako sa haunting part ni Fantine. Yung part kung paano siya nakakuha ng two napoleons. GRABIDAD THAT SCENE HAS SO MUCH AGONY.

[Tricia]

Yay starting over again from where I left last year: page 16 hehe

[Roena]

hello guys! im new to this group and im going to start this book Today before, watching the movie :)

[Alexa]

Maria Ella: May masasapak talaga ako ng bongga (view spoiler)[Thenardiers, mga bastos kayo (hide spoiler)] T_T
Tricia: Akala mo ang tagal ng last year yun pala 4 days ako lang, hahaha!
Roena: Welcome! I think we're all trying to finish it before the movie so you're not alone :) good luck!

[Tricia]

Haha! Oo nga no :P saktong Dec1 ako nagstart pero nakalimutan kong balikan. Parang goldfish kasi attention span ko eh haha

[Aaron Vincent]

Blue: (view spoiler)[Hi daw sabi nila (hide spoiler)] :P

[Alexa]

Tricia: Uy, di raw true yan! HEHE. Also, I was looking at pictures of goldfish and then I found this. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]
HAHA.
Aaron: CHEEEE >:P (view spoiler)[I actually like Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen looks like Eight here so I'm totes fine with it :P (hide spoiler)]

Guys, I saw a really funny PowerPoint about Les Mis so I'm sharing it here!

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!
(though if you're:
1. familiar with the musical/movie (not really a requirement tho, I just know the songs and I looked anyway); and/or
2. not really maarte knowing how some characters end up; and
3. wanna get hyped for the movie,
Go ahead!! Who cares about spoilers anyway jk)

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[Aaron Vincent]

Sacha Baron Cohen looks like Eight???!! No. freaking. way. Paul McGann is all kinds of BAMF.

Meron din ako from tumblr! (Same spoiler conditions as above applies):

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[Tricia]

So... I'm worst than a goldfish. But anyway, still trying to read this! Naaasar lang ako sa e-book. Wala pa din makitang copy sa booksale haha

[Alexa]

Aaron: Sabi ko nga HERE eh nagbabasa ka ba

Tricia: Isang edition lang kasi ata yung complete and medj recently ko lang siya nakikita sa bookstores. Hope you find a copy! Mas madaling basahin yun kaysa sa ebook :)

[Maria Ella]

Juice ko pinatos ko lahat ng spoiler tags. Panalo! Wahahahahaha

[Alexa]

I just realized that one of the Cosettes looks like Regina George haha. Also, Comic Sans :))

[Aaron Vincent]

The Cosette in the 25th anniversary? No! Looks more like Spieling Peter's Alice.

[Tina]

I didn't go through all the spoiler tags, pero natawa ako sa Comic Sans. :))

I felt very accomplished for finishing Fantine's Book 1, tapos naalala ko parang wala pang 5% yun. Teka hahabol ako sa inyo this weekend. :P

[BookDeliria (Dia)]

hello. :) i will try to read this book before the movie comes out, pero tinatamad ako, kasi may idea na ako sa mangyayari. will try!

[Maria]

Chami, ayan ha, hnd Lampara Classics ang nabili ko.



Abridged version lang ang kaya ko. :)

[Angus]

Wahahaha! Paubos na rin yata ang mga unabridged version sa mga book stores.

Guise! Nakasalamuha ko na si Jean Valjean. :(

[AennA]

Rant Moment: Since I am having fun putting so much burden in my reading, by perpetually reminding myself to finish the book before January 16 (or 15, para may time to relax the mind), I gave myself a target number of pages to finish in a day. And to my disbelief (though I expect it) I have to read 121 pages in a day!!!

Oh well, I just marked each target pages with Post-It, and now it's waving at me like a flag at the end of a triathlon. *sigh*

[Alexa]

AennA wrote: "Rant Moment: Since I am having fun putting so much burden in my reading, by perpetually reminding myself to finish the book before January 16 (or 15, para may time to relax the mind), I gave myself..."

I'm reading all I can so I tend to go beyond my target pages, but I'm setting my deadline on January 18, which is a Friday. On second thought, maybe 17 na lang, so I can watch it on the 18th, haha!

[Maria Ella]

Kaya mo yan Aenna!!!! :D

Andito na ako sa volume 2. Parang akong nasa walking tour during the first two chapters.

Parang ganito feeling ko at page 1 nun:
Waterloo Campaign Walking tour FOR TWO FRANCS
(Then you realized, Euro na pala currency ng France hihi)

Well, magtataka ka nga sa galing ni Napoleon kasi sundalo siya, tapos ang mga kalaban nya noon ay mga tauhan ng hari at reyna. Pure Genius, as they say, (view spoiler)[umulan nga lang kaya siya natalo sa Waterloo (hide spoiler)]

Ayun lang. Andami na namang chararat ni Hugo kasi it involves the time period where (view spoiler)[Cosette was taken into care by Jean Valjean, i guess. (hide spoiler)]

WE CAN DO THIS! MALAPIT NA!!!! :D

[Bennard]

Guys, is it just me or medyo dragging ang ibang parts?:(

[Aaron Vincent]

Ako at least 100 pages a day. 350 something na ko! Kaya ko to before the 16th! hahaha

[AennA]

Maria Ella wrote: "Kaya mo yan Aenna!!!! :D

Andito na ako sa volume 2. Parang akong nasa walking tour during the first two chapters.

Parang ganito feeling ko at page 1 nun:
Waterloo Campaign Walking tour FOR TWO F..."

OH no! Nasa Book 4 pa lang ako! :))

Blue wrote: I'm reading all I can so I tend to go beyond my target pages, but I'm setting my deadline on January 18, which is a Friday. On second thought, maybe 17 na lang, so I can watch it on the 18th, haha!


:)) I don't want to set my deadline beyond the 16th of the month; I have the tendency to relax pa naman masyado, at baka isipin kong panoorin ko na lang sa last day yung movie. hahahah!

[Alexa]

Bennard wrote: "Guys, is it just me or medyo dragging ang ibang parts?:("

Yes! Pero I find the battle scenes interesting. I think those are the parts cut out sa ibang editions. Like, sa first two books ng volume ni Cosette, puro historical chuk chak lang. Feeling ko ganun yung style ni Hugo per volume, yung may bonggang-bonggang intro :))