Group Read - Les Miserables - 6months Jan-June

[Anne ✨]

A thread for reading & discussion of Les Misérables over 6 months Jan-June

Here is a 6 month Reading schedule (approx. 60-70pgs/week with 'catch-up' week every 5th week) . This is just a guide to help you keep on track, feel free to read on your own pacing! (There is also a 12month schedule for Les Misérables here. Feel free to move back and forth between the threads based on how quickly or slowly you are reading)

Jan 7-13 - Fantine, Book 1
Jan 14-20 - Fantine, Books 2-3
Jan 21-27 - Fantine, Books 4-6
Jan 28 - Feb 3 - Fantine, Books 7-8
Feb 4 - 10 - catch-up week
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Feb 11- 17 - Cosette, Books 1-2
Feb 18 - 24 - Cosette, Books 3-4
Feb 25 - Mar 3 - Cosette, Books 5-7
Mar 4 - 10 - Cosette, Book 8; Marius, Book 1
Mar 11 - 17 - catch-up week
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Mar 18 - 24 - Marius, Books 2-4
Mar 25 - 31 - Marius, Books 5-7
Apr 1 - 7 - Marius, Book 8
Apr 8 - 14 - Rue Plumet, Books 1-2
Apr 15 - 21 - catch-up week
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Apr 22 - 28 - Rue Plumet, Books 3-5
Apr 29 - May 5 - Rue Plumet, Books 6-8
May 6 - 12 - Rue Plumet, Books 9-12
May 13 - 19 - Rue Plumet, Books 13-15
May 20 - 26 - catch-up week
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May 27 - Jun 2 - Jean Valjean, Book 1
Jun 3 - 9 - Jean Valjean, Books 2-4
Jun 10 - 16 - Jean Valjean, Books 5-6
Jun 17 - 23 - Jean Valjean, Books 7-9
Jun 24 - 30 - catch-up/final discussion

[Tiina]

I've decided not to restart reading the book, as I started it last year and only finished the first volume. Therefore there's a reasonable chance that I'll finish it within six months, although I'll make no promises. I'm currently on the part about Marius and damn, it felt so good to return to this novel after a rather long break! The words and phrases are mesmerizingly beautiful.

[Jazzy]

Mion wrote: "I've decided not to restart reading the book, as I started it last year and only finished the first volume. Therefore there's a reasonable chance that I'll finish it within six months, although I'l..."

I'll be catching up to you before long!

[Tiina]

Jazzy wrote: "Mion wrote: "I've decided not to restart reading the book, as I started it last year and only finished the first volume. Therefore there's a reasonable chance that I'll finish it within six months,..."

Catch up?! Dear Jazzy, at the speed I'm going at it, you'll surpass me and by the time I finish it, you might have fully read it one more time! :D

[Jazzy]

oh i don't know, I feel as you do about Hugo's mesmerising beauty with words. My heart pounds and I am re-reading a story I know so well, but feel as if I haven't known it really at all. I'm enjoying every moment of it. I'm trying to read 30 or so pages a day, although that may be less when my music classes start up again :)

[Jazzy]

I am just starting Fantine book 4

[Elizabeth A.G.]

Just downloaded Les Misérables for my Kindle (a free edition from Amazon) and hope to keep up with the group. This is a book I've been wanting to read, but daunted by its length. So, thank you, Anne, for the schedule (and for the year reading schedule as well.)

[Sami]

Having schedule is great, thanks for pulling it together. I am hoping to get and stay ahead of it, just so I can have a few weeks off just in case.

[Jazzy]

Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "Just downloaded Les Misérables for my Kindle (a free edition from Amazon) and hope to keep up with the group. This is a book I've been wanting to read, but daunted by its length. So..."

How very exciting! Which translation did you get?

[Elizabeth A.G.]

Thank you, Jazzy!!! I didn't look very carefully at the book I thought was such a great deal, and actually downloaded an abridged edition which I didn't want to read, even though it was free. Went back to Amazon and downloaded the Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee translation for only $5.00. So, now I have an abridged and unabridged edition. LOL! If it weren't for your question about translation, I would have started the unintended book, so thank you again :-)

[Jazzy]

Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "Thank you, Jazzy!!! I didn't look very carefully at the book I thought was such a great deal, and actually downloaded an abridged edition which I didn't want to read, even though it was free. Went ..."

Let me know how it reads! I read the Hapgood the first time and am reading the Denny this time, it reads easier, I think Hapgood may have translated practically word for word? Not having a good enough grasp of French I'm not sure, but the Denny is meant to make the reading convey what Hugo was trying to say in the way that he was trying to say it.

[Jazzy]

I've just read up to Part One - Fantine, Book Six - Javert (191pp) in less than 6 days.

If you read 40pp every day you can read Les Miserables in 30 days. (1 month)
If you read 30pp every day you can read it in 41 days. (1 1/2 months)
If you read 20pp every day you can finish in 61 days. (3 months)
If you read a mere 10pp every day you can finish in 123 days - only 4 months!
and suppose you can only manage 5pp a day? That would be 246 days - or 8 months!

So everyone can do this in well under a year!

[Jazzy]

Part One - Fantine, Book Seven - The Champmathieu Affair, chapter 3

[Elizabeth A.G.]

Jazzy wrote: "Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "Thank you, Jazzy!!! I didn't look very carefully at the book I thought was such a great deal, and actually downloaded an abridged edition which I didn't want to read, even th..."

When I investigated editions, the Hapgood translation wasn't a favorite. The Denny version got good remarks, but overall rating was leaning toward the Fahnestock/MacAfee. So, not knowing how to judge, I'm trying that translation. Plan is to start today or tomorrow, if I can get some current reading done.
BTW I love your calculations for reading !!

[Jazzy]

Why cheers, Elizabeth! x

Day 11, and I'm on page 320 - a smidgen over quarter of the way read at 26%!
Just starting:

Part 2 - Cosette
I. Waterloo
Chapter 19 - The battlefield at night

Waterloo is one of the more difficult passages in the book, as Hugo goes on a bit of a tangent in his story to that of Napoleon, Wellington, and a host of characters and events. (However captivating it is, full of breathtaking drama and steeped in history, you wonder when the story will continue). Grand swathes of text in many chapters that I now realise are perhaps portents of things to come. Only 1 chapter left in Waterloo, then I will embark on II. The Ship Orion.

[Tiina]

I remember being stuck at that part, when I was reading the first volume last year, Jazzy! I have to say, part 3 went a lot faster than I expected and hopefully, part 4 will be equally fast and enjoyable!

[Jazzy]

Mion wrote: "I remember being stuck at that part, when I was reading the first volume last year, Jazzy! I have to say, part 3 went a lot faster than I expected and hopefully, part 4 will be equally fast and enj..."

Ah well, I will warn you that later on, everything is flying along full of emotion and at a critical part of the story, Hugo decides it is a good time to teach us about the history of the Parisian sewers for quite some time.

But they would write for the newspapers and they got paid on how many were sold and the stories would have to go on and keep people's attention. Everyone wanted to know what happened next but they had to learn about the sewers to find out!

[Jazzy]

Day 13.

I'm on page 385 of 1232 of Les Misérables (31% - averaging 29.6pp per day):
Part Two: Cosette
IV: The Gorbeau Tenement
Chapter 1: A Vanishing Quarter

[Jazzy]

Day 15.

page 430.

Part 2: Cosette
Book Six: Le Petit-Picpus
Chapter 2: The Order of Martin Verga