The Project

As back-to-school approaches, I always feel like I should be doing something challenging to replicate those good old school days. I have been giving this some consideration for a while. I decided that I will work on two projects, one of which I will chronicle to some degree on my blog. The other one I will do personally and will keep tabs on at a later date.

My autumnal project is to read Victor Hugo's classic 'Les Miserables' in French. I started the project a little while ago and so far, so good. I've read a couple of books in the tome already and it's as inspiring as I thought it would be.

I expected it to be harder to get through than it has been but I like Hugo's style. He does not use difficult vocabulary which makes my life easier. I do have to look up an occasional word but I don't have to carry a dictionary with me while I read which is a great help. If I had to consult the dictionary a lot, I probably would have given up by now.

There are times when his description is a little long-winded but I just skim those parts. His character descriptions are very distinct and visual. Even if I hadn't seen the musical three times, I would have envisioned the characters very clearly thanks to his detail.

I'm approaching the end to the first section called Fantine. On a number of occasions I've found myself gasping at the action taking place on the page. My eyes have also teared up on two occasions. Let's hope it stays this way.