Grr
One of the most annoying things for a book lover can be abridged books. I am not trying to criticize those who like them, but personally, I want to have the real thing. Because of this preference, I was filled with righteous
anger when I found out that our copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite books, was heavily abridged. Almost two thirds. It is entirely to Dumas' credit that I liked it so well even when abridged (his wording was not changed, only entire episodes were snipped). Thankfully, I figured out before reading it that our copy of Les Miserables was also edited. There is a place in the world for abridged books (if not in my world ;-), but what made these two examples worse is that on the cover was written "Unabridged Edition". What kind of low-life does that sort of thing, lying about the completeness of their book? We used to have an abridged copy of The Three Musketeers, which did not say if it was abridged, but at least it did not say that it was unabridged. Grrrrrrrr.
4 comments:
I think that The Count of Monte Christo is one of the hardest books to find unabridged copies of.
I completely agree about abridged books. I had the same experience with The Count of Monte Cristo--finished the book and then found out that it was an abridged copy. Now you've made me fear that our Three Musketeers may be abridged, too, because it says nothing on it but "See the major motion picture!".
Hi Merry K,
I've been reading your blog for awhile; I'm a homeschooled high school senior. I love books - I'm going to be an English major in college next fall.
I completely agree about the abridged thing. Another one to watch out for is War and Peace. Usually, even with abridgement, the book looks big enough, so they don't put a note.
Grrr.
Hi Elinor! I've read your blog a lot though I haven't commented, and I noticed that we share many of the same interests.
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