More book talk

You know when i started this blog i neglected to say which version of the book i was using to form the blog, i probably should have actually because i was going by page numbers instead of chapters so if anyone wanted to read along i should have said which version of the book i was using, (Sorry about that!)

Anyway, this is the copy i used, it's the penguin classics version first published in 1982.

I'm pointing this out because when i recently bought a copy of Notre-Dame de Paris i also picked up a new translation of Les Miserables whilst i was at it, for no real reason it's the exact same book just with a few different changes in the text. it's kind of like buying a new DVD just for a directors cut of a film.

Anyway this was the new copy i bought, the vintage classics version published in 2009.

I haven't re-read the entire book by the way, Christ I'm not going through that again! I just wanted to read my favourite parts in a different translation. There's nothing really that different between the two books but i did prefer the Penguin version i read. I really thought that the Vintage classic was more simplified, when i was reading the Penguin version it felt like a proper grown up book, when i was reading i sometimes had to figure out what was going on in my own mind and i really had to think about what was going on, i liked that, i liked that it made me think really hard about what was happening, in the second version i really didn't have to think that much because it all felt too simple.

Not that there's anything wrong with simplicity, all I'm saying is that i thought the penguin classics version was a better version of the book, that's the one i would recommend to people if i was gonna tell them to read the book.

Also that version doesn't use Cosette's picture on the cover! See there are actually other characters in the book!