As Described

Shopping for a copy of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables was an experience in and of itself. Abridged, unabriged, large print, small print... Finally, I settled on the 'Penguin Classics' edition, ironically enough, because of the size. If I was to set out on the adventure of following a story through 1,232 pages of small print text first published in 1862, then I wanted to know I had read every word by the time it was over.

The introduction describes Hugo as... Inexact, in the path he takes to telling Valjean's story. That, coupled with a slowly firming understanding of the difference between 'Literary' and 'Popular' fiction prepared me for what I might be getting into. I find myself scantly 10 pages into the story, well versed in the altruistic nature of Monseigneur Bienvenu, but with no idea whatsoever how he fits into the legendary tale of Javert's pursuit of Valjean.

*Grin* It's going to be a long book.

At any rate, my personal literary pursuit has taken an interesting turn. Through a friend, a new acquaintance has appeared that is considering illustrating my collection of fictional Christmas Stories. I find myself curious to see what will appear, but through the connection, a little girl has already sampled one of the stories and found it to her liking.

If that isn't success, I'll find it hard to understand what is.