French literature – Lady Book Dragon

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Bookshop.org | Harper Collins | T G Jones Online | Waterstones

Blurb

The young Gascon d’Artagnan and the legendary musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis are ready to sacrifice everything for love, glory and the common good. The wicked machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and his accomplice, the magnetic Milady de Winter, propel the devoted friends across seas and battlefields from masked balls to a remote convent, in order to defend the honour of the Queen and the life of Constance Bonacieux, d’Artagnan’s true love.

Review

I absolutely love this book and have read it many many times. My original copy completely fell apart and I lost some of the pages so this read through was a different book and a different translation which threw me to start with but I soon got back into one of my favourite stories.

The main thing I absolutely love with this book is the amazing characters. Aramis is so unbelievably vain but always wants to appear holy and devout. Porthos is all about image, he must have the best of everything and he always makes me laugh with his antics. d’Artagnan is adorably frustrating, sometimes I want to smack him and tell him to be quiet and other times I wanted to hug him. Athos was a troubled man but the perfect guiding hand that d’Artagnan needed and the calming influence that Porthos and Aramis needed. Athos is my favourite character because of his calmness but also because of his eccentric behaviour. The scene where he locks himself in the inn keeper’s cellar for weeks and drinks all the wine and eats all the food is hilarious.

The other character that was impressive was Milady. Milady is a complete psycho! She has a poison ring, she seduces men who are meant to be impossible to seduce, she happily stabs herself to appear suicidal and she is always trying to kill the musketeers. I even think Cardinal Richelieu was frightened of her at times.

The story of The Three Musketeers is well known as it has been the focus of many films but these films will never be a patch on such a wonderful book. The storylines that are based on historical events and characters work brilliantly. The book is packed full of action, romance and humour. I give this book a massive 5 out of 5 Dragons and will be reading the next book in the series very soon.

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

About the author

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors.

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon

Blurb

When a wealthy wine merchant is shot in a Paris street, Maigret must investigate a long list of the ruthless businessman’s enemies before he can get to the sad truth of the affair.

Review

Another Maigret novel, I have been on a roll with reading Maigret books but now I have run out so this will be the last one until I get some more and I will definitely be getting some more.

I was surprised at the lack of alcohol in this book in comparison to the two previous books but Maigret still drank more than the average human being.

This book was a little different to the previous two books, instead of Maigret finding all the pieces of the puzzle the puzzle appeared in front of him instead. However, what Maigret did piece together was the true nature of the murder victim and I must admit he was not a very nice man and it was understandable why someone had decided to kill him.

There were some interesting characters in this book and one of my favourites was the one nicknamed Grasshopper, she was a real character and I really liked it when she was in the book. This book really showed the class differences and how the very rich seemed to have very loose morals and the lower classes a much higher moral standard and to be honest the characters who weren’t made of money were the better people to be friends with in this book.

I really enjoyed this book and found it rather different to the two previous books I had read. Maigret is such a good character and I just love reading about him solving cases. I give this book 4 out 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

About the author

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a Belgian writer who published nearly 500 novels and many short stories. Simenon is best known as the creator of the Maigret stories.

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you