# What are your top 4 favorite classic books of all time?



## RhondaRN (Dec 27, 2009)

And do you have them on Kindle?

Since I've downloaded about all the classics I can think of (free ones) onto my Kindle, and am currently reading "My Antonia,"  I was just wondering what everyone's top 4, (and yes, you have to painfully pick the top 4 or less ) are.

Let's see, my top 4 so far, (but I have so many left to read...and am enjoying it....) are:

Pride & Prejudice

Jane Eyre

Call of the Wild

The Grapes of Wrath.

All of them are on Kindle, except Grapes of Wrath I think.  I read it on PB just before I got my Kindle.

I'm just curious.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

hmmm .... top 4 classics ...  There are many good ones (and many one must suffer through) but my favorites?  It's such a wide open field to choose from (and only 4?) but let me try ...


Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz
J.R.R Tolkein - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale


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## summerteeth (Dec 23, 2009)

I don't have any of mine on my Kindle...

To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
Jane Eyre
Diary of Anne Frank


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

J.R.R Tolkein - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jane Eyre
Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs

sylvia


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

Pride and Prejudice
Emma
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
and North and South.


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## Rebekah (Oct 9, 2009)

Pilgrim's Progress
Jane Eyre
Mysteries of Udulpho
Fahrenheit 451


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

My four favorites are:
_Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series by C.S. Lewis
The Once and Future King  by T.H. White and
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

These are all books that I can read over and over again, and I have done so since childhood._


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

How old does a book have to be to be considered a "classic"?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Older than the reader.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

NogDog said:


> How old does a book have to be to be considered a "classic"?





Ann in Arlington said:


> Older than the reader.


Uh-oh...that severely limits my choices.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I'm going to assume a 19th century time period here and say...

Jane Eyre
Pride and Prejudice
Sherlock Holmes
The Scarlet Pimpernel (it's only 5 years late)


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

NogDog said:


> How old does a book have to be to be considered a "classic"?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_book

Mike


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I'm going to go with pre-WWII.

_Moby Dick_
_The Lord of the Rings_
_The Odyssey_ (definitely a classic  )
_The Song of Roland_


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## sleepdeprived (Jan 5, 2010)

Pride and Prejudice
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Frankenstein
The Divine Comedy (esp. Paradiso)


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

See if we're going back that far I'd have to pick:

Odyssey
Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Jane Eyre


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

The Aeneid
King Lear
Don Quoxite and 
Divine Comedy
The order of which is my actual favorite changes with my mood


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## BoomerSoonerOKU (Nov 22, 2009)

"The Count of Monte Cristo" - Dumas
"The Stranger" - Camus
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" - Wilde
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" - Twain

Hard to say those are my absolute favorites, but they are definitely four that I would recommend without any hesitation to anyone who loves books.  Picking favorites is just too hard.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

jmiked said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_book
> 
> Mike


I don't know that I agree with this article. The first definition on that page is that the work be a model of its form. Fame is not a requirement. The Wikipedia page contradicts itself. I'm reading Finnegan's Wake, which can certainly be considered Classic. It did not get good reviews when it was published and gets very mixed reviews now.

My list is always changing, but:
_Watership Down_, Richard Adams (on Kindle)
_The Count of Monte Cristo_, Alexandre Dumas (on Kindle, but the formatting is bad... I need to do my own conversion!)
_Hamlet_, Shakespeare (also in need of better Kindle formatting)
_The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, Douglas Adams (on Kindle. This book can probably be considered classic at this point).

Random House's List.


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## akagriff (Sep 8, 2009)

A Tale of Two Cities
Little Women
Grapes of Wrath
Emma


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

_Pride and Prejudice_
_Gone With the Wind_
_Botchan_
_Animal Farm_

N


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

RhondaRN said:


> And do you have them on Kindle?
> 
> Since I've downloaded about all the classics I can think of (free ones) onto my Kindle, and am currently reading "My Antonia," I was just wondering what everyone's top 4, (and yes, you have to painfully pick the top 4 or less ) are.
> 
> ...


Those are some pretty good titles


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

_The Stranger_ by Albert Camus (Not for Kindle)
_Lolita_ by Vladimir Nabokov (Not for Kindle)
_The Trial_ by Franz Kafka (Free for Kindle, unverified translation)
_Jude the Obscure_ by Thomas Hardy (Free for Kindle)


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## summerteeth (Dec 23, 2009)

Geemont said:


> _The Stranger_ by Albert Camus (Not for Kindle)
> _Lolita_ by Vladimir Nabokov (Not for Kindle)
> _The Trial_ by Franz Kafka (Free for Kindle, unverified translation)
> _Jude the Obscure_ by Thomas Hardy (Free for Kindle)


Oooh, I forgot about The Stranger... definitely my favorite by Camus. That is another one I had to read for school (for a French class in college) that I loved but probably would not have even known about otherwise.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

The Count of Monte Cristo
The Sound and the Fury
East of Eden
Crime and Punishment


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## G. Henkel (Jan 12, 2010)

The Lord of the Rings
Dracula
Horatio Hornblower series


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## JennaAnderson (Dec 25, 2009)

Wow - so hard to narrow it down. I love so many.

How about:

Jane Eyre
Secret Garden
Pride and Prejudice
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I agree with those of you who say it's hard to narrow the list down to four, but mine would be the following:

Pride and Prejudice
Moby Dick
Dracula
To Kill a Mockingbird

(#5 would be Hamlet.)


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

A couple mentions here of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ reminded me that I've not read it since I was a young(ish) lad, so I downloaded it last night.  If I had to remove LotR from my list due to it not be old enought, the TCoMC my take its place.


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## BoomerSoonerOKU (Nov 22, 2009)

NogDog said:


> A couple mentions here of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ reminded me that I've not read it since I was a young(ish) lad, so I downloaded it last night.  If I had to remove LotR from my list due to it not be old enought, the TCoMC my take its place.


Good call. If you haven't read "The Count of Monte Cristo" since childhood you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. What adult doesn't have a better understanding and appreciation for true vengeance than children?


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

That Random House lists is really infuriating.  Just like AFI's list of "100 Greatest Films" is infuriating.  Why?  Because they only include English-language works.  There's not a single novel on that list that was not written in English.  They really need to make a distinction in that list: 100 Greatest English Language Novels.  But they don't.  As if the world revolves around English-language literature!  Anyway, rant over.

My favorites:

1) "The Count of Monte Cristo"
2) "In Search of the Castaways"
3) "The Age of Innocence"
4) "Pride and Prejudice"


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

NogDog said:


> A couple mentions here of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ reminded me that I've not read it since I was a young(ish) lad, so I downloaded it last night.  If I had to remove LotR from my list due to it not be old enought, the TCoMC my take its place.


I first read it as 9 year old - and have since re-read it about a dozen times! Which edition did you download? This is the one I bought and read a few months ago (terrific translation and 99% good formatting, and a lot of excellent notes to explain the historical context of a lot of characters and events.)


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

BoomerSoonerOKU said:


> Good call. If you haven't read "The Count of Monte Cristo" since childhood you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. What adult doesn't have a better understanding and appreciation for true vengeance than children?


It wasn't quite childhood: I think it was around age 16-17, then again in my early 20's.  It's been so long that I only vaguely remember a few basic plot points -- just that I really enjoyed it, so it now should be almost like reading it for the first time.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

DYB said:


> I first read it as 9 year old - and have since re-read it about a dozen times! Which edition did you download? This is the one I bought and read a few months ago (terrific translation and 99% good formatting, and a lot of excellent notes to explain the historical context of a lot of characters and events.)


I downloaded the free MobiPocket version. I can't find any indication on it as to who did the translation, but a quick comparison to a sample of the version your recommended shows that it's not the same. I'll keep it in mind if this one seems lacking.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Gone with the Wind
IT
and the Darkover Series by MZB... 
Those are the only books I reread over and over and over.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

The Count of Monte Cristo
Little Women
The Three musketeers
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

When I got The Count of Monte Cristo there were only 5 choices and this









was the only unabridged version available. The formating leaves a lot to be desired but the translation is good.
On my next read I'm thinking of going with a different copy.


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## raven312 (Jan 12, 2010)

The Lady In The Lake
Farewell, My Lovely
Pride and Prejudice
Tarzan of the Apes


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## BasicGreatGuy (Dec 27, 2009)

imallbs said:


> The Count of Monte Cristo
> Little Women
> The Three musketeers
> Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
> ...


In my opinion, the following version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" is excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017CV9UA/ref=docs-os-doi_0


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

BasicGreatGuy, is that the Gutenberg Project version?

I have uploaded the one I created from gutenberg.org if anyone's interested. It has TOC and my own cover image. The only thing I did that might not be kosher is to remove the Gutenberg blurb up front.

Any comments on improving the formatting would be appreciated... I make a lot of my own because I dislike others' mobi formatting.


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## BasicGreatGuy (Dec 27, 2009)

Malweth said:


> BasicGreatGuy, is that the Gutenberg Project version?
> 
> I have uploaded the one I created from gutenberg.org if anyone's interested. It has TOC and my own cover image. The only thing I did that might not be kosher is to remove the Gutenberg blurb up front.
> 
> Any comments on improving the formatting would be appreciated... I make a lot of my own because I dislike others' mobi formatting.


Yes, it is. Each chapter in the Kindle version I linked to has been indexed, which I like.


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## Aravis60 (Feb 18, 2009)

This is a tough one. I'd have to say
Pride and Prejudice
Treasure Island
At the Back of the North Wind
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea


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## racheldeet (Jan 21, 2010)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevensen
The Three Musketeers/Les Trois Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas
A Study In Scarlett by Arthur Conan Doyle

I have been absorbing "classics" since I was a kid, and the vast majority of my Kindle books fall into the category.


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

NogDog said:


> I downloaded the free MobiPocket version. I can't find any indication on it as to who did the translation, but a quick comparison to a sample of the version your recommended shows that it's not the same. I'll keep it in mind if this one seems lacking.


NogDog,

How do you like the MobiPocket translation? I downloaded it a while back, but have not read it yet. I've only compared it to the paperback ed. I enjoyed (but only read halfway through) a few years ago, to see that the MobiPocket is a different translation.

Thanks!

N


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## Megs (Jan 17, 2010)

I would consider classics to be ones I re-read fairly regularly, so...this may be a weird list 

The Chronicles of Narnia
Pride and Prejudice
The Stand

...and I may have to add a fourth one later as I can't think of one now.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

DYB said:


>


Now maybe it is just personal preference, but if I were going to read a 1300 page novel, I'd pay the $9.75 for the best translation available on Kindle. The old pubic domain texts available free or cheap might not cut the mustard. For example, in the modern translation of _The Three Musketeers_, it mentioned Dumas got rather risqué between D'Artagnan and Milady, but the prudent tastes of the old translation made things more gentile to avoid violating the delicate sensibilities of the time. This holds true for the old translations of Dostoevsky, too, but I can't vouch for the _The Count of Monte Cristo_, so free might be good, in its own way, but I'd still rather pay for modern and accurate.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Neekeebee said:


> NogDog,
> 
> How do you like the MobiPocket translation? I downloaded it a while back, but have not read it yet. I've only compared it to the paperback ed. I enjoyed (but only read halfway through) a few years ago, to see that the MobiPocket is a different translation.
> 
> ...


It hasn't made it to the top of my to-be-read list yet.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

Geemont said:


> Now maybe it is just personal preference, but if I were going to read a 1300 page novel, I'd pay the $9.75 for the best translation available on Kindle. The old pubic domain texts available free or cheap might not cut the mustard. For example, in the modern translation of _The Three Musketeers_, it mentioned Dumas got rather risqué between D'Artagnan and Milady, but the prudent tastes of the old translation made things more gentile to avoid violating the delicate sensibilities of the time. This holds true for the old translations of Dostoevsky, too, but I can't vouch for the _The Count of Monte Cristo_, so free might be good, in its own way, but I'd still rather pay for modern and accurate.


I just bought the Penguin version and I have the "standard" translation from Gutenberg (1870s?). I only read the first 10 pages or so, but the modern translation really dumbs-down the language. It's just my opinion, but for example, the 19th century translation uses the word "skiff" while the recent translation uses the word "boat." Maybe the differences are better seen later in the book, but I've read from the standard translation a number of times.

Looking into this, though, I found that many editions of _The Count of Monte-Cristo_ are abridged and don't say so. This may be because the abridgment was done so early? I'm interested to know whether my prior readings were all abridged. Without tracking down the latest DTV I used (possibly it's at my parents' house) I cannot find out. For now I will start reading the original translation.

If anyone knows a GOOD, WORKING Kindle French Dictionary, I wouldn't mind working through the original! My French classes are nearly 15 years gone now!


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Malweth said:


> I just bought the Penguin version and I have the "standard" translation from Gutenberg (1870s?). I only read the first 10 pages or so, but the modern translation really dumbs-down the language. It's just my opinion, but for example, the 19th century translation uses the word "skiff" while the recent translation uses the word "boat."


Eyeballing the sample of the new translation and the old public domain, it seems clear that the old is abridged. As to which is better, though, that is a matter of taste. I haven't read either one, but readers would be advised to sample both and decide.

Here are some brief examples:



> NEW:
> 
> On the 24th of February, 1810, the lookout at Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the arrival of the three-master _Pharaon_, coming from Smyrna, Trieste and Naples. As usual, a coastal pilot immediately left port, sailed hard by the Château d'If, and boarded the ship between the Cap de Morgiou and the island of Riou.
> 
> ...


Also, since mentioned, here is the sentence with boat\skiff.



> NEW:
> 
> 'Ah, it's you, Dantés!' the man in the boat cried. 'What has happened, and why is there this air of dejection about all on board?'
> 
> ...


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

Those examples are only translation differences. All the information in each sentence is the same.

Regarding abridgment, many DTVs one could purchase are abridged, but with no indication as such. The Gutenberg version should be 100%.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

NogDog said:


> I downloaded the free MobiPocket version. I can't find any indication on it as to who did the translation, but a quick comparison to a sample of the version your recommended shows that it's not the same. I'll keep it in mind if this one seems lacking.


Mobi probably has the Gutenberg edition. Someone on Amazon posted the following comparison between the two:

PG - His wife visited for him, and this was the received thing in the world, where the weighty and multifarious occupations of the magistrate were accepted as an excuse for what was really only calculated pride...

BUSS - His wife visited on his behalf; this was accepted in society, where it was attributed to the amount and gravity of the lawyer's business -- when it was, in reality, deliberate arrogance...

Also, someone above used the term "dumbed-down" to describe the modern translation. I must object! It might use more contemporary speech patterns and more common (for today) words, but is it necessarily "dumbed-down?" Translations are always tricky - which is why there are numerous translations of every classic. Did Dumas use the word "skiff" or "boat" in his original?

One thing to note about the old translations of Dumas is that he could get a bit risque with some sexual mores and the old translations changed the text so as not to offend anyone. Someone already pointed out that "The Three Musketeers" was censored of naughtiness between D'Artagnan and Milady. From a few essays I've read about "The Count of Monte Cristo" is that some censoring was done to tone down the obviously lesbian relationship between Eugenie Danglars and Louise D'Armilly, as well as the affair between Baroness Danglars and Lucien Debray.

And - while Constance Garnett is still famous for her translations of Dostoyevsky, and is still widely read today, a lot of reading I've done on the subject of translations of his novels says that Garnett revised a lot of his writing, including leaving out things she found offensive.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

DYB said:


> Also, someone above used the term "dumbed-down" to describe the modern translation. I must object! It might use more contemporary speech patterns and more common (for today) words, but is it necessarily "dumbed-down?" Translations are always tricky - which is why there are numerous translations of every classic. Did Dumas use the word "skiff" or "boat" in his original?


Or was the new translator aware of the previous translation and wish to differentiate his work? These questions are difficult to answer and in either case we are at the mercy of the translator. In any case, I view a more simplistic vocabulary (evident throughout the very few pages I read) as "dumbed-down." I made it clear this was my opinion and that this opinion was based on a very limited selection.



DYB said:


> One thing to note about the old translations of Dumas is that he could get a bit risque with some sexual mores and the old translations changed the text so as not to offend anyone. Someone already pointed out that "The Three Musketeers" was censored of naughtiness between D'Artagnan and Milady. From a few essays I've read about "The Count of Monte Cristo" is that some censoring was done to tone down the obviously lesbian relationship between Eugenie Danglars and Louise D'Armilly, as well as the affair between Baroness Danglars and Lucien Debray.


Which is the difficulty. If one prefers the style of a censored translation, one may wish that the original could be decensored. Unfortunately this requires a good deal of ability and work.

At least this work is originally French. _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_, (which I still have never completed), has two main translations that differ far more widely than _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Unfortunately, the older of these, in the public domain, is significantly more difficult, but much easier to find (and available on Kindle).


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

DYB said:


> Did Dumas use the word "skiff" or "boat" in his original?


I'm not an expert on boats or French, but look at it as a layman, I'd say either boat or skiff would do, and it is not much of a nitpick.

What Dumas wrote: «Ah! c'est vous, Dantès! cria l'homme à la barque; qu'est-il donc arrivé, et pourquoi cet air de tristesse répandu sur tout votre bord?

French-English Distionary for *barque*: "small boat, rowing boat"

Merriam-Webster on *skiff*: "any of various small boats; _especially_ : a flat-bottomed rowboat"



Malweth said:


> The Gutenberg version should be 100%.


The Gutenberg will only be as accurate as the source they used. If the old translation was abridged, then their version will also be abridged.

Also, most of the well known classics at Gutenberg were created in the days of "Plain Vanilla Text" to use their own words. This means they were originally .txt files. These files can't contain _italics_ or foreign characters. Thus, _Pharaon_ becomes Pharaon and château or Dantès become chateau or Dantes.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Malweth said:


> Or was the new translator aware of the previous translation and wish to differentiate his work? These questions are difficult to answer and in either case we are at the mercy of the translator. In any case, I view a more simplistic vocabulary (evident throughout the very few pages I read) as "dumbed-down." I made it clear this was my opinion and that this opinion was based on a very limited selection.


In my opinion some of the more modern translations have been dumbed down, but not all. But they are still missing something. For me, using words that are accurate for the time period sets a mood that cannot be replicated with modern translations. But what I really hate are abridged versions of the my favorite book. I'll take a modern translation over abridged; fortunately I don't have to.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Sorry, but I'll take a boat over a skiff.  Just call me dumb.


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