I Bet No One Who Knew Victor Hugo Asked Him For Directions

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well Les Miserables has been finished with no tune to bother me. Makes me wonder whether I've been the only person in Britain who has rather read the book than watch the musical once it became popular.

Of course that makes me out as a snob, which trust me I'm not. Just a reader me. Perhaps to prove that let's begin by saying that whilst by no means the worst book I've read so far this year I doubt I'm going to read one as annoying.

For what happens seems to be this. You as the reader are hooked as the plot unfolds. You are turning (in my case swiping) every page. Suddenly though it appears out of your view that Victor has gone to his characters and said something along the lines of "Yes I know it's tough mes amis. Liberte, equalitie, fraternitie and all that so I tell you  what. Why don't you just a have a coffee and a croissant and I'll take over for a while?"

(A quick aside. If you're insulted that I haven't put any accents on the French words the explanation is simple. I don't know how on the laptop)

And this happens constantly throughout the book. All of a sudden, with a link to the plot that is tenuous at best,unclear at worst and constantly mind numbingly boring we suddenly get Victor's views on everything ranging from Waterloo to religion to slang (yes really!) with all manner of subjects in between.

You may remember that I said after reading Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes that I'd reckoned the author had pummelled all the stories he left in a bottom drawer into the novel. Well I reckon the same happened here except that we're talking opinion pieces. It just read as if Victor stuffed  the book with everything he could.

Just imagine you're lost and happen to come across Victor and ask him for directions. He will get you to where you want to go but in the longest most unnecessary route possible where there could have been a quicker route to your destination. For the reader of Les Miserables the destination is the return to the actual storyline....because when you reach it it's worth it.

When it goes into proper novel mode this book is gripping. Believable people coping in extraordinary situations. For although the goodies/baddies are clear, even the goodies have shades of grey within them. When in novel mode you can see why this book is a classic.

So Les Miserables then. A great book sprinkled with literary mogadon...which is why it's also annoying.

The next book amongst the great ebook unread is Winter In Madrid by C J Sansom.A relatively modern novel (2006) which is good as I haven't read one for a while. We'll see how it goes.

Until the next time.

The Reader's Climb Up The Mountain Of A Big Novel

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Firstly let's a quick bit of housekeeping...literally. Barring any unforeseen disasters we'll be leaving Bridgend on Friday. Spending a couple of weeks with a friend who has kindly offered to put us up in a town called Barry until we've found a place to rent in Penarth/surrounding areas before going onward to buy.

Things are a bit tense for wife/daughter at the moment. For one of the few conditions I set out (which let me stress that wife did not object to) regarding the move was that in the extremely unlikely event of this falling through then we would have to stay in Bridgend for at least two years because the next school year would be the beginning of daughter's exam period. We are expecting this to be completed by Monday though (as I'm writing this on Saturday) and that scenario is very much worse case.

The second bit of housekeeping is, shall we well say literaturelly, as it's regarding books. The correspondence between Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson was finished very quickly. It's alright, but it's one of those books where you've got to be in the right mindset before reading. The fact that it was relatively short though helped.

Unlike the next book I'm reading.

For in another show that my Kindle has a sense of humour in my random way of picking the next ebook to read it's thrown up Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Yes,zut alors! another work by a French writer. How unpatriotic, treasonable am I? (That's for those Hard Brexiteers reading. Saves you the bother of responding).

Now this a big read. Apparently (already started reading it) I've over twenty one hours left to go before completion and it's going to be quite a while given the probable lack of spare time I'm going to have next week before I finish it. So I've picked the wrong novel really in the wrong moment and yet stubborn that I occasionally am just moving on with it.

Not all big novels are a reader's mountain. If a book is clearly written and to be read as a bestseller then though it might seem daunting the terrain is actually quite simple. Your brain can read it in first gear. There are no hidden crevices or sudden avalanches. Nothing will make you want to turn back, even slightly. But for Les Miserables (I refuse to call it Les Mis) that's not possible.

Perhaps alternate with slimmer books as I've done with normal sized books in the past (and will do so again in the future)? For me no. A book like this demands that for what it can give you must devote your whole reading time to it.

Even giving it more time to read would be a mistake. Because unless you're completely gripped ploughing into a book would eventually make it seem as if you're wading into treacle.

No the best way to read a big important book is not to change your reading habits at all. Just be patient and accept that climbing the mountain will take a bit longer. The feeling you get when you've finished though will be far more exhilarating.

So I'd better continue reading then.....

Until the next time.