The Count of Monte Cristo

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I'm watching the movie right now -- and if I didn't have my wonderful new remote setup, I wouldn't be making this post! -- but I'm really enjoying the movie, while, when I attempted the book, and just couldn't get into it. The movie has made me realize why -- books like this were the best escapist action-adventures possible before cinema, but now, having experienced cinema, I read them and just wind up feeling "This really should be a movie, not a book!" What I look for in a book is what movies can't give us, which to put it simplistically, is more narrative and less action -- a movie does action better, while a book better handles interior monologue, metaphorical descriptions, philosophical digressions, and so on.

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