While doing some blog hopping for a Links I Loved post last year, I came across Nick’s blog One Catholic Life through which he takes part in multiple reading challenges ever year. He’s hosting a reading challenge himself this year to read the unabridged version of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo in its entirety.
Because the book is conveniently 365 chapters long, it’s the perfect opportunity to pace ourselves through it during the year by reading one chapter per day. Les Misérables had been on my TBR list for a while and I’m always looking for opportunities to keep up my French proficiency, so I decided to take the challenge and read the book in the original French language version.
I studied French for about nine years in middle school, high school and college, and I’m pretty fluent. The more you don’t speak a language, the easier it is to lose your ease with it, however, and reading out loud really helps with keeping up pronunciation and comprehension skills.
I’m two weeks into the Les Misérables Chapter-A-Day Read-Along and I’m finding that reading a chapter of the book out loud each night (with my rabbit happily listening along) is really helping me get back into the habit of speaking French regularly. The language in the novel is surprisingly not too archaic (though the book was published in 1862) and reading the book on my kindle is making it so easy to look up any words that I’m not sure about as I go along.
I’m a bullet journal person and so I made a spread for the challenge in my new bullet journal for 2018 (below). Aside from helping me keep track of my progress, it’s keeping me motivated to mark each chapter as completed by the end of the year.
If you’d like to sign-up for the Read-Along yourself, here is a link to Nick’s sign-up post on One Catholic Life. He’s also provided a handy Reading Schedule and catching up if you want to join shouldn’t be too hard, since most chapters in the book are only 5-10 pages long. Nick also made this official graphic for the Read-Along you can use in any sign-up posts.
I’m really loving the posts Nick is publishing every week on his blog for the Read-Along providing structure and context to the parts of the novel we’re reading for that week. Deciding to participate this year has felt like a lovely way to share such an important piece of literature with other lovers of reading and fiction around the world.
Have you read Les Miserables or are you joining in this year’s Read-Along? Let me know in the comments!
For more recent posts on Novels And Nonfiction check out my 2017 Wrap-Up, my Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2017, 33 Original Bookish Gifts For The Reader In Your Life, my Author Spotlight of Andy Weir and the 10 December 2017/January 2018 Book Releases I’m Excited About.
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What a great idea! I’m reading a Tale of Two Cities in a similar vein but by using the Serial Reader App which delivers a small part everyday to your device.
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Never heard of that app before. Sounds very interesting!
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I’ve been using it for just over a week and I’m hooked!
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I’ve heard of this app a few times, sounds interesting! 🙂 I don’t think I could have more than one book going at a time that I was reading in this slow way but I’ll have to keep it in mind for next year!
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I was thinking of trying another classic on the app but I’m just sticking to the Dickens as well.
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This is a brilliant idea! I’m going to sign up!
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Awesome! 🙂
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Excellent idea! Sounds like an interesting way to read this book. I’ve read it a few times in the past and it certainly provides a lot of fuel for thought.
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I’ve found it really thought-provoking and inspiring even just 15 chapters in 🙂
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I remember reading Les Mis in my high school French class, but have lost all my French! Good for you for doing this!
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Thank you for this post! I wish I had known about this earlier. I am interested in participating, but I have some catching up to do. I think it may still be doable though. 🙂
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I think it’s totally doable! I’m only at 5% in it on my kindle and I’m caught up so shouldn’t be too bad to get up to speed 🙂
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This is a fantastic idea. I’m a little intimidated by Les Mis – the same way I felt about War and Peace when I tried to tackle that last year. I love your bullet journal progress pages. What a great visual help to get through the year.
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Ahhh, it’s been quite a few years since I’ve read it and what a fun way to plan your year! I hope you enjoy it and so great that you are reading it in French! Way to go!
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