What are we reading?

[BanzaiCat]

That reminds me, I read something called New York Deep earlier this year - good story. It's free via Kindle if you're an Amazon Prime member.

[Gusington]

^Interesting...

[Toonces]

I'm almost 40% through Les Miserables.  I'm seeing the show in Providence in about a month...I'd really like to finish the book before I see the show, but wow is Hugo long-winded.

Having said that, I'm quite enjoying the story.  I particularly liked the Waterloo interlude...very well-written.

[Gusington]

I saw a production of Les Mis about 20 years ago with a cool rotating stage set. Good stuff.

[Gusington]

About to start God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark.

[Sir Slash]

Oooh. That sounds good. Can you make a case for reading it?

[Toonces]

I just read a passage in Les Mis, I don't think that's what you're referring to Slash but still...

It was amazing.  If you've read the book, it's the final portion of Cosette, where Jean Valjean contemplates his experience as a galley slave to that of a convent nun.  I don't want to spoil it.  It is perhaps one of the most moving pieces of writing I have ever read.  I actually stopped, took a break, re-read it on Kindle, took another break, then re-read it for a third time in hardback to see if the translation differed (it didn't).

I sometimes wonder at Hugo's long-windedness, but then I couldn't help feeling that the amount of time he spent on the background reinforced the gravity of what happened.  Not that it couldn't have been truncated or abridged.  But the time you invest in the story makes each climatic point more invested, if that makes sense.  So, while you could skip the whole convent discussion and get to the bottom line, somehow the extraordinarily long discussion of the convent makes you appreciate how it all works out all the more.

You have to want to appreciate the literature to get this.  If you just want to get from point A to B this is not the book.  For me, I'm enjoying the voyage.  There's probably a metaphor for today's youth in there somewhere...sometimes it's ok to take a really long time and, perhaps, never get to the end but enjoy the journey for what it was...

nah...that'll never fly.

[Toonces]

Since it's open domain, I'm happy to paste the portion of Les Mis into here if someone is interested.

It's not as awesome if you're not 400 pages invested into the story, but the writing is still very elegant and worth the investment in time.

[BanzaiCat]

You have to want to appreciate the literature to get this.  If you just want to get from point A to B this is not the book.  For me, I'm enjoying the voyage.  There's probably a metaphor for today's youth in there somewhere...sometimes it's ok to take a really long time and, perhaps, never get to the end but enjoy the journey for what it was...

I actually enjoy Shakespeare, myself. That's definitely about experiencing the journey of the prose and it's fascinating (probably just to me) to see what passed for humor hundreds of years ago. I was probably the only kid in English class that liked reading Shakespeare. :(

[Airborne Rifles]

I just read a passage in Les Mis, I don't think that's what you're referring to Slash but still...

It was amazing.  If you've read the book, it's the final portion of Cosette, where Jean Valjean contemplates his experience as a galley slave to that of a convent nun.  I don't want to spoil it.  It is perhaps one of the most moving pieces of writing I have ever read.  I actually stopped, took a break, re-read it on Kindle, took another break, then re-read it for a third time in hardback to see if the translation differed (it didn't).

I sometimes wonder at Hugo's long-windedness, but then I couldn't help feeling that the amount of time he spent on the background reinforced the gravity of what happened.  Not that it couldn't have been truncated or abridged.  But the time you invest in the story makes each climatic point more invested, if that makes sense.  So, while you could skip the whole convent discussion and get to the bottom line, somehow the extraordinarily long discussion of the convent makes you appreciate how it all works out all the more.

Toonces, I know which passage you're talking about. I listened to Le Mis on audiobook a couple of years ago while running, and when I got to that passage I had to stop in the middle of my run and compose myself a bit.

[Gusington]

Slash I am only ~15 pages in but I already think God's Battalions is worth reading, even if you have only a fleeting interest in the Crusades. It is the opposite of PC and is refreshing to read without being overbearing and is short at about 200 pages.

I also enjoyed Shakespeare. I used to work for Barnes and Noble, electronically typesetting books for them, and I worked on their in-house Shakespeare line. I actually read a lot of it while I was composing the books...not supposed to do that, but it was too interesting not to. That was a cool job.

[BanzaiCat]

I worked at Book Stop a long time ago. I hated that job.  ;D

[mirth]

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once.

[Gusington]

Did you have your black light with you?

[jamus34]

Reading Leviathan Wakes by James Corey