The Summer reader is.......

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Hmm... but she was only going to bring the Kindle, remember? ;D

[Sarah]

I know! But she has to bring the Count! I wanna see it.

[Meghan]

I checked the cover and it did not have ANYWHERE that it was abridged. How big is your print? Mine's pretty microscopic. That's so weird. Because when I bought the book, I distinctly remember I looked for a version that wasn't abridged because I wanted to know the whole story. I better not have gotten gipped! grrrr

[Sarah]

Mine didn't say it was abridged either. That's why I was so surprised when I saw online that it was.

[Meghan]

According to wikipedia, my version is NOT an abridged version. However, Signet Classics did not use the standard volume from which they translated the book. So while Penguin's version is 1300+, for some reason mine is only 509. No wonder I thought you all were nuts for saying this was a long story!

Wikipedia had a great list of characters. I strongly recommend that you some how keep a list of characters while reading this book. That is probably the main "complaint" I've heard about this book--trying to keep everyone straight. But you should really enjoy the story. It was considered his most popular work (and considering he also wrote 3 Musketeers, that's pretty good).

[Alison, the guru of grace]

As I said, my Border's classic edition is 1450 pages. I think I hit the mother lode! Also, though, the print is somewhat large, pages are short. I will have to keep a character list. That's my pet peeve--reading a book and not remembering who is who.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

Gosh, Alison, 1450 pages??? It would be like reading a dictionary.

Wiki also has a complicated character-relationship chart. Oh my.

[Sarah]

Hmm, Meghan, I should have gotten the Signet Classics version then! My book is a monster! Oh well, I'm just glad I can take my time with it.

[Sera]

Ok, after all this, I just realized that my book IS the abridged one . Now, I don't know what to do. I'll probably just read this one and leave the uber-version to y'all. I would still like to read The Pillars of the Earth this summer so maybe I can do both. We'll see...

[Meghan]

I did read that some translations were during the Victorian Age (or some age) where certain subjects were banned. One of the characters is a homosexual, so that person's story probably was eliminated or altered from the story.

While I'm not going to re-read this book, I'm probably going to end up buying the longer version. I really liked the story and would someday like to read it with my daughter. So then I can find out all the things I missed out on.

[Anna]

To Meghan I joined The Rory Gilmore Book Club after The Count Of Monte Cristo was choosen for The Summer Reader

[Sarah]

Welcome, Anna!! I do hope you'll dive right in the the discussion! The more the merrier, I think. I love a good meaty discussion with lots of points of view.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

Yesterday I saw an Enriched Classics version of the Count and it's only 688 pages, so it can't possibly be unabridged. I hesitated because of the not-getting-the-whole-experience thing, but on the other hand the unabridged version is really really hard to find in here. Dilemma, dilemma.

[Sera]

Dini, it's a tough call, but I made peace with it and kept the abridged version.

[Meghan]

From what I read, it's all in the translation. Hence mine being so short but still unabridged. But honestly, you'll get the gist of the story still and it's so much fun. I'd rather you read the shortened version than no version at all!

Or email your address. I'll mail you the big bad version :)

[Dini, the master of meaning]

[sigh] Yeah, I think I might do the same, Sera. I probably won't read the book at all if I don't grab the abridged one. So for those of you reading the unabridged, do tell us what we're missing! :D

[Sera]

Yes, please do :)