Tagged: Les Misérables

David Bellos Les Miserables Novel of the Century

Book Review / Books and Reading

The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables by David Bellos

The short answer is that if you love the novel or the musical Les Misérables, then yes, you should run right out and buy a copy of The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables by David Bellos. If you are what Cameron Mackintosh calls a “Les Mis freak,” then this book is definitely for you. But it is also for those who love literature in general, who love a good “behind-the-scenes” documentary, who are fascinated by literary history, or who love reading about how authors work. I couldn’t...

Crescent City, California

Homily

Redwoods, Oceans, and Big Skies: Homily for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

If you drive to northern California through central Oregon, you cross the state line on US 199, also known as the Redwood Highway. As you continue into California, you reach a certain point where it feels like you’ve entered a fairytale. It feels like your car has shrunk, and now you’re driving a Hot Wheel, because there are these massive, massive trees stretching above you, over your head, these ancient redwoods. And if you get out of your car and walk around the groves of redwoods you feel...

Jean Valjean

Books and Reading / Homily / Movies / Spirituality

Les Misérables and the Transfiguration: Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

The Academy Awards are this weekend, and normally they don’t hold much interest for me, but this year I’m pleased to say that one of my old friends is nominated for a major award. I’ve been teaching the novel Les Misérables for almost twenty years and it has become a steady companion to me each Lent as the eighth graders and I read it at this time every year. The latest movie of the novel is a film version of the Broadway musical starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway,...

Books and Reading / Movies / Music / Spirituality

How Is the Music of Les Misérables Like Liturgy?

That’s the question that Jeffrey Tucker looks at in an article at The Chant Café. The score is unusually text driven, just like liturgy. The singers in the film were chosen not for their singing ability but for their acting — which makes the singing more authentic in some way. Their voices were not ruined by too much training and affectation. They seemed authentic because of this — again, a point that is replicated in a liturgical context. I highly recommend that every priest and singer needs to see...