December 2010: What are you reading?

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Sun December 19th, 2010, 5:26 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Did you read the first two leading up to this or are you going in cold?[/quote]

I already read The Three Musketeers. Which one am I missing?

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sun December 19th, 2010, 6:05 pm

[quote=""Nefret""]I already read The Three Musketeers. Which one am I missing?[/quote]

Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragalonne and Louise de La Valliere. As I understand it Vicomte, Louise and Iron Mask were all published in French as one HUGE book, but the English speaking world broke them into three.

I think you'll be OK, but feel free to drop me a line if someone's doing something that doesn't always make sense - either that or read up on the historical characters on Wik.

kauldron26 · Post by **kauldron26** » Sun December 19th, 2010, 8:36 pm

Just finished fall of giants by Ken Follett. I dont think I have ever read a faster paced 985 pg novel in my life. Once he started, he gripped you and didnt let go till the end. Although alot of folks have issues with Follett, no one combines melodrama, war, history, action, social commentary, large ensembles and romance like him.

javagirl · Post by **javagirl** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 5:33 am

[quote=""kauldron26""]Just finished fall of giants by Ken Follett. I dont think I have ever read a faster paced 985 pg novel in my life. Once he started, he gripped you and didnt let go till the end. Although alot of folks have issues with Follett, no one combines melodrama, war, history, action, social commentary, large ensembles and romance like him.[/quote]

Glad to hear your thoughts on this one, kaldron26. I am looking forward to reading this one when I can get to it. I agree with your assessment about his writing, based on his past HF that I've read (POTE, WWE, The Dangerous Fortune, etc.), as well as his non HF.

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 3:27 pm

[quote=""Nefret""]I already read The Three Musketeers. Which one am I missing?[/quote]

I didn't know they were a set either. I knew the Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask were, but didn't know there was one in between. I got a Kindle for Christmas (I opened it a little early

and started downloading these novels last night). Super excited to start reading them!

I took a small break from HF to reread the Harry Potter books for the premiere of the 7th movie. I'm back to reading Jack Whyte's " The Fort at River's Bend" but thats only because Christmas is 5 days away and I had one heck of a book list for Santa!

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 3:39 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]I didn't know they were a set either. I knew the Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask were, but didn't know there was one in between. I got a Kindle for Christmas (I opened it a little early

and started downloading these novels last night). Super excited to start reading them!

I took a small break from HF to reread the Harry Potter books for the premiere of the 7th movie. I'm back to reading Jack Whyte's " The Fort at River's Bend" but thats only because Christmas is 5 days away and I had one heck of a book list for Santa![/quote]

Twenty years after was a favorite. I loved seeing *the lads* get involved with Charles' efforts to regain his throne.

You'll be surprised how different Man in the Iron Mask is from the movie versions.

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 4:12 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Twenty years after was a favorite. I loved seeing *the lads* get involved with Charles' efforts to regain his throne.

You'll be surprised how different Man in the Iron Mask is from the movie versions.[/quote]

I think both my copies are signet mass market. Looks like they missed a few books. What is a good edition to get of the others?

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 5:49 pm

[quote=""Nefret""]I think both my copies are signet mass market. Looks like they missed a few books. What is a good edition to get of the others?[/quote]

I have the Oxford World Classics. Be warned, don't read the forwards until you are done. Nasty nasty spoilers in them

Brenna · Post by **Brenna** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 6:14 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragalonne and Louise de La Valliere. As I understand it Vicomte, Louise and Iron Mask were all published in French as one HUGE book, but the English speaking world broke them into three. [/quote]

So Misfit-Would they be read in this order then?

Three Musketeers
Twenty Years After
The Vicomte de Bragalonne
Louise de La Valliere
The Man in the Iron Mask

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon December 20th, 2010, 6:23 pm

[quote=""Brenna""]So Misfit-Would they be read in this order then?

Three Musketeers
Twenty Years After
The Vicomte de Bragalonne
Louise de La Valliere
The Man in the Iron Mask[/quote]

Had to go back to Amazon and double check my review to make double sure. Yes, that is the order and IIRC when reading up on these you're best to stay with one publisher as different publishers have broken these up differently. You might 1) overlap storylines or 2) miss out things by switching around. I know these are huge books but I loved them to bits. I loved the relationship and antics when Louis fell hard of de Valliere and they tried to hide it all from Minette.

Not positive, but the Dumas that comes in the kindles are I think from the very early 1900's editions. Did your download include the six books in the French Revolution series?