What's a fangirl to do?

Speaking of Harriet Walter, as I was the other night, I see she's getting raves for a new audiobook reading of Hard Times. This has me torn. On the one hand, I'd love to hear her performance; on the other hand, I loathe abridgments (as you may have gathered from this anecdote). What to do, what to do . . . ?

It's like the time I found out that Hugh Laurie had done an (abridged) audiobook of Great Expectations. My inner conversation went something like this:

It's Hugh Laurie reading Dickens!

But it's abridged!

But it's Hugh Laurie reading Dickens!

But it's abridged!

But it's Hugh Laurie reading Dickens!

. . . and so on. So I finally bought it, and listened, and winced at every abridgment like a car with bad shock absorbers hitting a pothole. But still . . . it was Hugh Laurie reading Dickens. So in the end I wasn't sorry -- but I still dug out the book and savored several of the cut passages to recompense myself for having missed them.

(I have a problem, don't I?)

All I'm really saying is this -- Ms. Walter, if I go for it, you'd better make it worth it!

Comments

[christopher harris]

Good morning, Gina! I have to say that this blog entry illustrates one of my pet peeves when browsing books, especially the 'classics.' One needs to be careful that one doesn't buy an abridged version. I almost inadvertently purchased bought an abridged version of "Les Miserable" a few years ago. I know that we should encourage reading, no matter the content; but it really seems fundamentally wrong to abridge the work of any author. Either the reader wishes to read the entire work, or none of it; and who makes the decision on which portions of the book to edit out?

I remember the movie, "Amadeus" when the King mentioned to Mozart that he "...thought there were too many notes..." in one of Mozart's recent compositions. Mozart, of course, took umbrage and retorted, "Majesty, and just which notes would you suggest that I drop?" This kind of sums up how I feel about abridgment.

BTW, I am actually half-way through "Great Expectations" now and loving it. I finished "Little Dorrit" a few days ago (much to my sorrow). "Little Dorrit" is one of my all-time favorite novels ever! I am going to read it again soon.

Have a wonderful weekend! Cheers!