The Les Miserables Fan Club

[UnicornTamer]

It says it was translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee, and "based on the classic C. E. Wilbour translation".

[Bilaz]

That's the one I have. I personally love it but hey, everyone is different. Here is some information about the other translations:
http://abaisse.the-barricade.net/viewtopic.php?t=2219
Maybe a more modern one would be to your taste? Or perhaps an abridged version? Because let's face it, you aren't exactly missing much by skipping Waterloo.

[UnicornTamer]

Yeah, right!

The thing is, I'm from a very literary, reading family (and mean, practically my whole family, especially on my dad's side), and abridged almost feels a little . . . wrong. Even more so because my dad had read the abridged version once and he said he felt something was missing. He says the unabridged is much better. I was thinking of skipping those parts, but that really feels like cheating! :p

Anyway, I looked at the list of translations. Very interesting. A modern version sounds interesting, really just for the novelty. I want authentic Hugo. :p For now, though, I think I'm going to have to struggle through with what I have.

[Bilaz]

Oh, you too eh? Hahaha, we were constantly struggeling with bookshelf space and to us abridged also feels wrong. In that case you've got the best. I'm somewhere around page 1000 now, can't wait to get to the barricade scenes. <3

[UnicornTamer]

Ah, the barricades. So far. :p I'm on page 314 or 315, I can't remember which since it's been so long.

To switch subjects (if you're ok, with that), my younger sister had a Les Miserables themed birthday this last year. It was so cool. My mom made us huge red flag which we stuck on a pole. She also made us red sashes to wear. We decorated the cake (or rather, pavlova) with little French flags I had made, and the table centerpiece was a cardboard barricade I made with a little Lego Enjolras donated by my brother.

We all dressed up as different characters. My mom was Fantine and my dad was Valjean (though he didn't exactly dress up!). I was Musichetta (I don't know if you'll even remember her; she's mentioned twice in the Brick; Joly's girlfriend), birthday sister was Eponine, other sister was an amazing Enjolras (she posed with the flag), and my little brother was Gavroche. Then we reenacted the barricade. Our cats were crawling all over our impromptu barricade, it was hilarious! At the end, my mom took pictures of us all lying around "dead" on the barricade. :p

We also played "Pin the Flag on the Barricade" and a game where you pull a random character name from a bag and you have to act out the character without words. To finish it all off, we watched the 2012 movie. So fun.

[Bilaz]

Oh my gosh I'm so jealous of that. <3 It sounds like the best party ever. Of course I remember Musichetta!
I did cosplay Enjolras at a convention though! My friend was R, we worked on the costumes together.
At first we were perfectly in character and actually thought of some really fun modern AU headcanons!
Sadly that was the warmest day of the year so I got a bit overheated so, ehm, let's just say that 'in-character' didn't last. If you are interested in any stories I'll gladly share.

[NormalHero]

Pin the flag on the barricade sounds fun, I should try that at a social some time

Yeah aren't cosplays with lots of layers just the best, I'm making a (non-Les Mis) cosplay with like three layers and I start sweating in it as soon as I get it on, can't wait to wear it in a crowded convention hall with lots of body heat

[Bilaz]

I had replica gun! Like an actual one, it was a real 19th century toy gun. Basically an antique toy, so cool. <3 Looks exactly like the thing Combeferre is holding in my signature. I have no idea how my R cosplayer friend got it but it was awesome.

Oh yeah, fantastic. XD It didn't help that my black boots are (fake) fur-lined, nor did the fact that the convention ran out of water for the water coolers... I ended up 'confiscating' R's bottle and drinking the whole thing. xD I also remember him buying a gameboy at the vintage game stand and us playing Tetris. Lol the heat got to me... I think I ended up singing along to the theme song about revolution? xD
Love conventions <3

[UnicornTamer]

Sounds like so much fun! My sister, who was Enjolras, was dying also in all her layers. :p I didn't die. My costume was nice and cool.

[Bilaz]

Guys, look at this staff dog from 2014!
Starts out poor:

Someone probably told him he was handsome, so he wanted to be well dressed.

It's Montparnasse.
(I know the real story of this dog don't worry it just reminded me of Montparnasse)