I have finally starting reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo…and it’s putting me in a Paris mood!
Happy weekend!
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Tag: Victor Hugo
What Are You Reading: Mostly, Les Mis
I think it’s time for another installment of What Are You Reading? 🙂 What I have been reading is lots and lots of science fiction, but I’m getting down to the end of my stack. I’m midway through Federation, leaving just one Trek book left from my original plans…and quite a few new additions to the To Be Read list after reading everyone else’s reviews for the Sci Fi Experience!
But for the moment I’m stepping away a bit from the sci fi. In my ongoing quest to finish series, I have the next installment of the Pink Carnation series, The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. It’s a series of historical fiction romances–with spies!–and while some are better than others, they’re always quite a lot of fun.
After I check that one off, I’m finally diving into Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I bought a big, thick, not-too-heavy copy and am ready to go on that one. I was debating about which translation to get, and then in the end I wound up with a copy that doesn’t list the translation–even though I spent five minutes in the book store peering at the table of contents, the jacket flaps, etc. I did discover in the (very long) table of contents that the book is divided into five parts, so I might intersperse other reading in between–or not, if I’m being carried along by the story.
If I do intersperse, I have a handful of quick reads that ought to be a nice break from the long and dense classical fiction…Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, a graphic novel; The Four Seasons of Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem, which is more or less a picture book collection; and The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, which may not be short in itself, but is a collection of short stories I could dip in and out of.
Hmm…as I consider all this, I kind of feel like Les Mis is the heavy-gravity planet that all my other reads are currently orbiting around (it’s all that sci fi reading…) I am slightly intimidated, but also excited. I’ll let you know how it goes!
In the meantime…what are you reading?
And as an addendum note–this is my 500th blog post! *tosses confetti*
Saturday Snapshot: Notre Dame Cathedral
During the week, I reviewed Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame–a wonderful and surprisingly complex Disney cartoon. Naturally, for Saturday Snapshot, I thought I’d share some pictures from my visit to the cathedral last September!
I went in the morning, on the theory that it would be less crowded. Contrary to what this picture suggests, this actually worked–it was even busier by the time I left.
The lighting is very bad for photos inside the cathedral, so apologies for the fuzziness–but I managed to get a shot of this lovely statue of Mary and Jesus. And after I got home and rewatched Hunchback, I realized this is the statue Esmeralda addresses her beautiful song to, “God Help the Outcasts.”
After seeing the inside of the cathedral, I went around the corner and got in a long line to go up in Quasi’s towers–and up many, many narrow winding steps. Google brings back differing numbers on how many steps it is, but the majority opinion seems to be 387. I believe it! If you watch Hunchback, look for a scene of Quasi and Phoebus on steps that look a lot like these.
It’s worth all the steps for the views from the top! And definitely worth it for the gargoyles. After all, I had to go up and see Quasi’s gargoyles. 🙂
After I came down from the towers, I went in search of another literary/movie reference–also by Victor Hugo. Apologies, as it’s somewhat grim…but I remembered that in the 1998 film of Les Miserables, when Javert went into the Seine there was a beautiful view of Notre Dame behind him. So I went down to the walkway beside the Seine, and I’m pretty sure this is the spot…
Not to mention, from down there you can’t see all the crowds!
All in all, Notre Dame was wonderful to visit–a beautiful place, and then there’s all the literary references too.
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Tales of the Marvelous 