Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books: (Very) Mini Reviews of Two Classics

Who AM I?

That's a good question ... I'm a daughter, a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend ... and there's so much more! But for the purpose of this blog I am a first and foremost a reader.

When I was in the first grade I read The Hobbit and my love of Fantasy took root. By the time I left elementary school I had completed the entire series as well as The Belgariad by David Eddings. Seventh grade brought me the beginning of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series ... which is still not complete. High school and college introduced me to the classics and to history. My reading disappeared for several years when I had a child. Then I started a book club and it came back in full force.

Today I read anything that catches my eye ... at the moment that includes historical fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, and any titles I find interesting. I'm always on the lookout for the next great find ... any suggestions?

Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

audiobook: 12.42 hours

narrated by David Case

I love the musical and I love the movie so I finally decided to give the book a chance. And I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I found several parts in the original story that had been changed for both the musical and the movie and, surprisingly, I found the biggest changes to be BETTER than the original storyline - go figure! (I mean really?! How rare is it that the movie/play is better than the book?!) Still, I thought the book was great and am definitely glad I gave it a shot.

Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

audiobook: 6.83

narrated by Grover Gardner

This book was a favorite of mine when I was a kid and I read it many, many times throughout childhood. Recently I got a review copy of the new audio version of Huck Finn so I decided to revisit Tom's story before moving on to Huck's. I have to admit ... I was a bit disappointed in TOM SAWYER. Sad but true. It is still a "good" story but it is much simpler than I remembered, and much more a children's story than I realized at the time. From what I understand (and vaguely recall, though I'm not trusting my memory on this) Huck's story has more adult themes (and more adventure! That's something that I definitely remember.) so I'm still looking forward to listening to that one.

6 comments:

Teacher/Learner said...: These are two classics I haven't gotten to yet. I love the adventure in Huck Finn & wondered what Tom Sawyer was like. Maybe their differences are due to Huck being older than Tom (I think) and so the themes would be closer to adult than child content?; March 30, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...: Curious if the Les Mis audio is abridged? I read the book last year and LOVED it. I also love the musical but its been so long since I've seen it on stage that I'm really only familiar with the music--can't think of the big changes off the top of my head.

I'm sorry you were disappointed in Tom Sawyer. Think it would be a fun one to listen to!; March 30, 2011 at 9:04 PM
Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...: Teacher/Learner - If I remember right, Tom and Huck are about the same age ... but I guess I'll figure it out when I get to that book!

Trish - I don't think the book was abridged ... I'm usually very careful to NOT get the abridged version, but I have made mistakes in the past. :); March 30, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Alyce said...: I haven't read either of these, but I love the musical of Les Mis. I did like Huck Finn.; March 31, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Nan said...: I'm not a Mark Twain fan at all. Actually not much of a classics reader in terms of books like these and Moby Dick, etc.; April 1, 2011 at 10:02 AM
Ann Summerville said...: I've been meaning to start reading classics. Interesting that the movie/musical was not as good as the book.
Ann; April 1, 2011 at 10:20 AM