The Abbreviated Les Miserables

  The Marius Pontmercy Hate Club I'm actually serious about this! Sure, we KNOW that Marius Pontmercy is supposed to be one of the "heroes" of Les Miserables , second to Jean Valjean. But even on my first reading, there was something "off" about our young "hero". He just didn't seem all that smart or heroic. Stalking a girl is not adorbs. Killing National Guardsmen for a cause that he didn't believe in isn't heroic. And he's a stinkin' judgemental hypocrite. And a male Mary-Sue. It wasn't quite that obvious until I hit the last book-within-a-book, "Jean Valjean". When the government lost interest in hunting down the insurgents during the MONTHS of his at-home recuperation, he was handed a "get out of jail, free" card by the author. So he could live in his family home, under his own name, claim the title of "Baron" from his father, marry the girl of his dreams, collect a nice fat dowry, ...

  Les Miserables: A "Cozy Classics" rewrite for Toddlers This book is now MINE! Walked in the wind and the rain and stopped by one of those "Little Free Libraries". Whenever I see Les Miserables in a slim volume, count me in! This book is meant for TODDLERS, and there's exactly 12 words in it. So parents would have to scramble for a means to tell the story. Cuz 12 words can't quite do that! I came up with a Fun Writing Challenge: Write Les Miserables in 12-15 paragraphs, in a way that a toddler can understand it, and make it reasonably accurate and don't make up fake happy BS if it's not in the original!  I think that everybody, no matter what age and level of reading ability, should have a version of Les Miz that works for them. The politics of the original might sail over some heads, but there are some good lessons about compassion, love and redemption and not judging others solely on their pasts ...

  Les Miserables: Differences between the 2012 movie and the book I'm coming as someone way more familiar with the book's version of events, compared to how they're depicted in the movie. This is not a necessarily criticism of the movie... I found it gorgeous to look at, and I enjoyed seeing the Les Miz world visually for the first time, because all I've had to go on was my imagination previously, and maybe the illustrations and book covers of the various editions I'd read.   But, being honest, some of the movie changes didn't make a lot of sense, but when the equivalent scenes mostly made sense in their original context. Thoughts about Les Miz movie: 1) Starts with Valjean and a troop of convicts hauling a ship with ropes. They're singing "Look Down! You're here until you die or for 20 more years." But it's Valjean's last day as an inmate and Javert insensitively tells him he's free, here's...