Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas starting on July 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!

Thank you!

One of only three classics I love! Excited!

What are the other two? I have a feeling you mentioned in another BR, but I forgot. ^^

A Christmas Carol and Dracula.

Yanique wrote: "This is a Buddy Read for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas starting on July 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!"

I'm halfway through the book

LOL so fast, Aleck! We'll see you in July..

Felina wrote: "A Christmas Carol and Dracula."

Shiny! I think Frankenstein is my favorite classic...

Felina wrote: "A Christmas Carol and Dracula."

These are both great...

Indeed! I have amazing taste.

Hear hear!

I love this book. I'm not sure I'll be able to join in but I'm excited to see you all planning this one :)

Can always just hang out and chat too... I'm excited... I've been wanting to read this for forever...

Looking forward to picking this up, even though it's a whopping 46 hours... I'm driving down to visit my mom in a few days and do some work around her house; thinking of trying to make her listen with me...

This would be great for that. It’s very immersive and despite being so large, it isn’t boring.

I wanted to join but am traveling with family most of the month and don’t think I’ll have time for much reading. I remember enjoying it back when I first read it years ago.

I’m going to be really late on this one.

Mmm, I'll be pretty late too... Mom's dragging her heels...

OK, I lied. Got two chapters in today! Though this won't be a zoomer for me since I'm reading with my mom--probably take a month.

It's been ages since I read this... and I don't think I got all the way through actually, the first time... most of my memories are from the movie adaptations.

Through Chapter 2--(view spoiler)[I was surprised to see that the encounter at Elba recounted through conversation instead of getting to see it first-hand. I felt a little cheated too, that we never get to see Napoleon in exile... But it is so interesting, to read a story featuring this time period, by a French author who lived through that time period... Dumas was born in 1802, and Napoleon reigned until 1814... (1815 if you count his short-lived comeback). Comte de Monte Cristo was published serially from 1844-46.

It's heartbreaking seeing everything lined up for Dantes, just about to get all his heart's dreams...

I think the "dark Catalan" who has been walking out with Mercedes must be the friend who betrays him... with help of the ships' accountant... (hide spoiler)]

I remember nothing about this book just that I loved it.

I remember the beginning is a little slow and it really takes off when (view spoiler)[Dantes is thrown in prison (hide spoiler)]. Not a huge spoiler. So many details are fuzzy though. It almost makes me want to reread :)

It'll be another week before I meet up with my mom and try to coax another few chapters out of her. She's enjoying so far because she used to study French...

Hey, I’m still going to read this. I’ll be here just so freaking late. Sorry!!

I'm still going to finish too! I was waiting to see if I could get my mom to read more with me... but didn't happen. I just need to find time to pick up again!

I got up to Dantes's arrival at Chateau d'If, just listening for a few minutes at a time at the end of the day... and then my local book club announced that January's book club pick is this book! So I'm tabling the rest of my read to January... Anyone else want to give it another go then?

Thoughts up to now... not sure what chapter though. I'd checked it out from Libby and returned it for the next month... (view spoiler)[I was surprised that Dantes's betrayer was not actually his friend... but rather an acquaintance of his lady-love... I had always thought he was betrayed by his own best friend. That's what I get for believing the movies! (hide spoiler)]

Picked this back up again--going to try to finish by Friday. Through Chapter 15 and enjoying. I'm surprised at how short the chapters are, relatively, and how quickly the action is moving forward.

The story is more rambling than I was expecting, though it is very in-tune with the times--giving a chapter for a side character, or a very vivid dream. Each chapter is well contained though. You can tell it was originally published serially. I think I can also see what scenes would have been cut for an abridged version, though I am glad I'm reading the unabridged.

Anyway, through Chapter 35--(view spoiler)[While I was surprised at how quickly the Chateau d'If portion was, there was also several details that were not included in the movie (my sole reference for this story growing up). Like the Abbe's epilepsy, and the medicine... The moment when Dantes tells the Abbe that the true treasure is not that of Monte Cristo which the Abbe shared with him, but their friendship and the knowledge he imparted... I might've teared up a little. Dumas writes a good speech.

I really enjoyed the description of Dantes as he emerges into society again with his created persona--comparing how he has changed from a cheerful 20 year-old into a lean and lanky mid-30s gentleman with a mysterious air.

Then there's a bunch of asides checking in with Dantes's enemies... and seeing him start to weave his web...

And we meet Albert... as young and carefree as Dantes used to be... (hide spoiler)]

Classic mega-reader... continuing the BR solo :D

I did the same thing with the last 15-20 weeks of Dark Hunter in 2023, I think... yea... I was solo from July to November 2023, when the last people abandoned...

Awww, that's so sad... no one to read with you...

My local Book Club put this on the list for Friday. So I have to finish by Friday... even if no one reads my thoughts, I like getting them down...

Dark-Hunterverse was a successful weekly BR for about 20 weeks, then I continued alone for another 20-25... 30ish weeks were re-reads... then I got to read the new ridiculousness that had come out... a few more Dark Hunter books, most of the Chronicles of Nick books, and then the pirate trilogy in the 1800s... and now, after years of legal drama, she's started the Chronicles of Nick sequel series and maybe some other new releases, and I already have 2-3 books I'm behind on, that came out last year... and more enticing unreleased book titles to keep me wanting to continue, even as I rate so many of the books 2-3 stars...

I went and checked, and yea... starting around Dark Hunter book 12, I rated 20 out of 43 books 3 stars or less... past Dark Hunter book 12 and the first few Chronicles of Nick books, entries I really liked were few and far between...

This is such a great book. I'm glad you're enjoying it Nirkatze.

^_^ I've been meaning to read this for decades--it just took a local book club PLUS BR to actually make it happen... At one point I had this book checked out of the library for all 4 years of college... no one ever put it on hold so I never had to stop renewing it, lol...

@Iain--at least you're all caught up now... maybe her new stuff will land like #12 did...

The last 5 star read was actually like #26... which was a sequel to #14...

Sorry Nirkatze!! This one was my idea and then I bailed on it. I still want to read it but it’s such a chonk. So good though.

Felina wrote: "Sorry Nirkatze!! This one was my idea and then I bailed on it. I still want to read it but it’s such a chonk. So good though."

No worries! I probably wouldn't've picked it up again if it weren't for my local club. It is indeed a chonker. I'm finding it a really soothing listen though. I'm really enjoying the version I picked.

That was the weird thing about this one. By all accounts it should have been boring but it was just wonderful. And I read this back when I eyes read everything. It still blows my mind.

Yeah, I'm actually really enjoying all the little tangents and extra details... It really reminds me of Dickens in that way. Which makes sense--and actually, thinking about it, it's a similar thing that makes Wandering Inn so appealing as well. A product of serial publication, perhaps? Cozifies things.

Through Chapter 55 now--it's so interesting seeing just how wide and deep Dantes's casts his net... (view spoiler)[or more like a web, and he the spider at the center. I love how most of his traps are seeded with his targets' own greed... it is their own vices that will inevitably bring them down... Like the--I think it was Lady Villeforts? asking all the questions about poison and mithridatism, or flaunting his wealth in front of corrupt bankers... even things as small as the incident with the paired Palominos...

The innocents, the children--the generation born after his betrayal--those ensnared are more controversial... (hide spoiler)]

End of Chapter 84. "One." 'nuff said.

Finished! Wow, that was a twisty ride. I wonder what it would have been like, reading it weekly back in the day? Or how often did those serials publish? (view spoiler)[I'm a little miffed by the (very typical male-written classic) ending of the MC having a much much younger woman throw herself into his arms and declare her undying love... but I appreciate that at least the women in the story were not all one dimensional--even if they were fairly stereotypical. I especially thought it interesting how Mercedes found herself torn between two extremes--or between two graves, as she described it--to be loyal to her husband or loyal to her moral compass? I don't like how she described herself as "old at nine and thirty, with silver in [her] hair, while you--you are still young." But I'm trying to convince myself this isn't a typical sidelining of older female characters in favor or young nubile ones, but instead a lesson in how living a life of betrayal can age you.

I did like the end note--"live, and hope." Kind of like "all good things come in time." A rather nice message. (hide spoiler)]