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The Count of Monte Cristo and Great adventure books

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Nin
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 10:54 am
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I took that list from dhsgpt as to read list...

Watership down :love: :love:

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Mummpizz
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 11:28 am
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Winnetou :love:

Even I swoon for him. I once even dreamt the strangest dream; I sorted boxes on the area of the old cloister in Lorsch, my home town, and Winnetou helped. He wore small steel-rimmed spectacles. It was a tedious job, and Winnetou had to leave, but he promised "to send his sons who would help me". And I answered that I rather ride the prairies with him and leave the boxes to somebody else, and he smiled ...

pointless, but from that day (night) on I could never imagine him without spectacles.
:scratch

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Rodia
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 12:00 pm
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NIN! BER! You spoil me. :D:D:D:D

Mummpizz, I grew up on Winnetou... when my father told me May never actually went to America and wrote it all while in prison, that only made the books better. I used all the Indian tricks when I was a kid...running shifting weight to one leg, etc... great fun. I remember I always had the worst trouble imagining Sam Hawking because his description was so...hmm...detailed...when I put it all together he looked like a monster and not a man. :D

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Mummpizz
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 1:13 pm
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I discovered Winnetou when I was 33. I let him be again with 34. It was a short encounterm, but a remarkable one.

My brothers had "all the books" as it is so often the case, but I found them boring when I was young (both brothers and May books).

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Primula_Baggins
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 3:06 pm
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Alatar, did the Redwall books come out over there (Bryan Jaques)? A long series of novels about animal knights and ladies. My daughter's devouring them.

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Alatar
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 3:27 pm
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Prim,

Yes, I've seen them but never read them. I belive they have been televised in some form also? I'm not sure if it's animation or people in suits.

Ah, here it is:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/Sh ... s_Redwall/

Animated apparently.

Incidentally there are animated TV series of The Animals of Farthing Woods and of Watership Down although I much prefer the Rosenberg movie.

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Semprini
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 3:47 pm
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Frelga, I do hope you are not knocking the Count. Otherwise, he would come back from the deads and take his revenge. :)

I am sad to hear that it is difficult to find an unabridged version of Monte Cristo. It is one book that cannot stand to be abridged, I am afraid. It is entirely narrative driven with an intricate plot without any contemplative moments. Cut one branch of the tree and part of its flowers would be gone forever. Other books may be abridged. I have in mind War and Peace and Les Miserables. I would not read them in an abridged version for all the gold in the world, but I understand that some people are bored by Tolstoi's repetitive historical comments and by Hugo's endless digressions (and those who gave up don't know what they have been missing: some of the most powerful moments in literature). But in Monte Cristo, there is no generous flesh that can be cut, only the skin of poor Edmond Dantes who lost everything, spent 14 years in a prison for a crime he did not commit and vowed to have his revenge.

dhspgt, it is great to be able to read you again. Your style is inimitable. I would dispute the inclusion in your list of Quichotte, Moby Dick and Heart of Darkness. Not because I disliked them. I loved them all (although I've been slightly disappointed by Heart of Darkness). But I find them to be contemplative books. Contemplative books turn you into an action man, while adventure books such as Monte Cristo turn you into a contemplative and meditative man, a dreaming man. When I read Monte Cristo, I dream that I am all powerful like him. When I read Quichotte or Moby Dick, I ponder about art and the meaning of life and decide that life has to be lived at a human level and so I stop dreaming. Oops, sorry, you did not want me to define an "adventure novel". :)


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Nin
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 7:24 pm
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I wondered if "Les Misérables" could even count as adventure novel... it's such a read! I reread the disgression about "hargot" a good dozen of times - it was delectable.

And Karl May.... when I was a kid, a real young kid, I wanted to marry Winnetou :oops: .... anything else to say?

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Semprini
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 7:51 pm
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Like LOTR, Les Miserables is one of a kind. I would definitely not count it as an adventure novel. Hugo wanted it to change the world (see his beautiful foreword, (from memory): "As long as injustice and poverty exist on this earth, books such as this one will not be useless, etc...") and it actually had a significant impact on the way the poors were treated in France (I actually think it had an impact in all of Europe).

I've never heard of Winnetou. :)

Last edited by Semprini on Fri 15 Apr , 2005 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Frelga
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Posted: Fri 15 Apr , 2005 8:26 pm
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I think I saw some Winnetou movies, but that's another forum.

Semprini, I agree that the Count should not be abridged. They seem to do it by cutting out one of the storylines entirely. :rage: One such editon made a snide comment in the foreword about the book being written in a time of "more leisure" or some such. May the Count come back to haunt them.
Semprini wrote:
Contemplative books turn you into an action man [or woman :P], while adventure books such as Monte Cristo turn you into a contemplative and meditative man, a dreaming man.
This is a very interesting and profound idea and my "gem of the day" so far. I agree entirely.


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dhspgt
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Posted: Sat 16 Apr , 2005 4:38 am
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:)

Last edited by dhspgt on Fri 22 Jul , 2005 11:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Rodia
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Posted: Sat 16 Apr , 2005 6:37 pm
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Nin :P So you had a crush on a handsome, young, smart and honourable Indian Brave. Ummm...nothing wrong with that. ;)

I just used to pretend I was friends with him and Old Shatterhand and we'd ride around the prairies together, yeeha. :D It's these books, come to think of it...hah, I just realised why I played Wild West games all my childhood.

*thinks fondly of all her cowboys*

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Semprini
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Posted: Tue 19 Apr , 2005 9:24 am
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I wander. I let the author be my guide in his country and I taste the fruits of his garden. Then, I wonder and ponder. Then, I wander again.


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Mummpizz
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Posted: Tue 19 Apr , 2005 10:55 am
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Rodia wrote:
Nin :P So you had a crush on a handsome, young, smart and honourable Indian Brave. Ummm...nothing wrong with that. ;)
Would you have married him if he wore spectacles?

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Nin
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Posted: Tue 19 Apr , 2005 12:46 pm
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My husband has glasses... it has not kept me from marrying him.

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Frelga
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Posted: Tue 19 Apr , 2005 8:05 pm
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Rodia wrote:
I just used to pretend I was friends with him and Old Shatterhand and we'd ride around the prairies together, yeeha. :D It's these books, come to think of it...hah, I just realised why I played Wild West games all my childhood.
It was the same with me and the Musketeers. :oops: Funny thing, in all my pretending I never wanted to be the "love interest". Either I was Athos, or I was the first pre-teen female musketeer ever, waving my sword. In fact, two of my friends adressed me as Athos for some years, and we still sign letters by our musketeer nicknames (for some reason, we had no Porthos).

That, BTW, is my only beef with Count Monte Cristo. I could not imagine any way to put myself into that story.

Winnetou... so you are saying the books are good? I've seen some movies, I think. I fear I am too old for that, though. :(


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Amrunelen
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Posted: Tue 19 Apr , 2005 9:49 pm
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Ah...but put yourself in the shoes of Edmund Dantes. Take a look through his eyes. You're young, from a poor family but going to be a success, found the love of your life...then you are betrayed, sent to prison for something you didn't do, at last you make an escape and by luck become very wealthy...you seek out to repay those who were kind to you and have revenge on those who betrayed you, all under the charming alias of the Count of Monte Cristo.

Granted, it's not something most normal people experience in their life or could even have something to compare to, but it interesting to imagine. :D Although, when reading The Count I did feel more like a person observing everything, rather than someone who was involved, most of the time, but I loved it none the less.

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Semprini
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Posted: Wed 20 Apr , 2005 8:14 am
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When I was young I was dreaming that I was d'Artagnan, among other things. But I never dreamed of being Edmond Dantes. I admired him, I was impressed by him, I was mystified by him. And I was with him all the way although I was also finding him frightening. But I did not wish to be be him. Who could want such a thing? He is the typical 19th century romantic and gothic hero. You empathize with his tragic and inhuman destiny but you do not want to share it. Perhaps, Frelga, you need to identify yourself with the main character of an adventure book to enjoy it, hence the reason why you enjoyed more The Three Musketeers than Monte-Cristo. I do not have such need, hence perhaps the reason why I prefer Monte Cristo, which is, IMO, Dumas' masterpiece.


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