One chapter of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, every day of 2023. There are a total of 365 chapters (most of which are fairly short.) For people (me) who want to read The Brick but are intimidated by the brickiness of it (still me.) Delivered to your inbox, completely free.
I’ve gotten a grand total of 2 questions, but here’s a (preemptive) FAQ
What inspired this?
Dracula Daily and a Tumblr post from forever ago about how Les Mis has 365 chapters which are all fairly short so you could feasibly rad one a day for a year.
When is this going?
One chapter every day of 2023, with a preface on December 31st of 2022.
What translation are you using?
Isabel F. Hapgood's 1994 translation, provided by Project Gutenberg. The full translation is here and more information on Project Gutenberg (which provides free ebooks) can be found on their website.
Is that legal?
Yes! The book is in the public domain, and Project Gutenberg has also specified that you don’t need permission to use text they provide. Go show them some love! (They run on volunteers or you can donate to them here)
Will you be recording audio versions of each chapter?
I will not. There are, however, audio versions available for free at Librivox.org, on Spotify, and even on YouTube, if you want to follow along.
What if I join after you start?
You’ll get the chapter scheduled for that day. You can always catch up on our website or anywhere else you can read Les Mis. We’re using the unabridged version but abridged versions exist for a reason.
Who are you?
Rachel. I’m going to stay mostly anonymous (at least for now.) If you need to reach me you can do that here or @lesmisletters on Tumblr. Depending on how big this gets, I might make more socials, but for now I’m sticking to this.
