3 Reasons to Read "The Count of Monte Cristo" This Summer

Details for signing up, the best translation, and the week-by-week reading schedule.

Hi there Big Readers!

Summer is upon us, which means it’s time to dive into one of the most epic and thrilling stories in literature. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, was first published in the 1840s in French, with the first English versions appearing shortly thereafter. It quickly entranced readers worldwide and has remained among the bestselling books ever.

This newsletter has all the info you need to get started, including reasons to read this classic novel, details about subscribing, which translation to get, and a week-by-week reading schedule.

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3 Reasons to Read The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

1. It’s the ultimate tale of revenge and redemption

The Count of Monte Cristo’s themes of betrayal, hope, revenge, and redemption are as relevant — and entertaining! — today as when the book was first published in the 1840s. Main character Edmond Dantes is almost like a 19th-century Batman in how he makes himself a new person after a devastating tragedy.

2. The characters are unforgettable

For me, it’s the characters that make or break a book. They’re the real difference between three stars and five stars. Even if a story is great, it won’t stay with me unless we’re given rich and complex characters.

The characters found in The Count of Monte Cristo are among the most memorable you’ll ever encounter. From the noble and wronged Edmond Dantès and his loyal allies, to the conniving villains who plot against him, each character is intricately drawn and deeply human, making for a deeply engaging and emotionally resonant experience.

3. It’s a masterclass in plotting

Part of why The Count of Monte Cristo has endured for nearly 200 years is for its expertly crafted plot. Dumas weaves a sophisticated web of intrigue, suspense, and surprise that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last. Beyond being entertained, you’ll also be learning from one of the masters of narrative construction.

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Subscribe Today!

When you subscribe for just $5/month (or $50/year), you’ll get the following:

• Weekly recaps with background, contextual material, and highlights from that week’s chapters

• Access to our robust weekly discussions, where you’ll get invaluable insights from other readers

• The motivation and accountability to read a 1,200-page book! Even a great story sometimes requires a bit of endurance.

Our reading schedule starts next Sunday, June 11 (see below for more on that), and given the book’s length, we’re going to take it nice and easy at the pace of about 70 pages per week. We’ll end up finishing around mid-October.

Since summer is a busy time of year, I’m structuring the weekly posts a little differently than from previous books. You’ll still get emails every Sunday morning, but I’ll trade off full-length recaps with shorter, more discussion-based posts.

If you need more convincing, here’s what some Big Read subscribers said just this week after finishing A Tree Grows in Brooklyn:

“Reading it again as part of The Big Read added another layer of enjoyment and great joy. There’s something deeply gratifying about sharing something you love with others and learning that they love it, too! Thank you!!”

“Thank you for making our reading experience even better with your weekly summaries and by providing extra materials and insights to us, Jeremy! I'm so glad I read this book, and I'm looking forward to reading The Count of Monte Cristo, which I know the basic plot of, of course, but have never read. The Big Read is an extremely enjoyable project — thanks, Jeremy!”

“A great experience with a book I might not have read if not for The Big Read. Jeremy is an excellent literary tour guide. . . . Thank you to all my fellow readers for highlighting what struck them — it makes the experience richer.”

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Which Translation Is Best?

TL;DR: Get the Robin Buss translation, published by Penguin Classics. Buy it here from Bookshop.org.

For some rather uninteresting reasons, figuring out which edition to go with is tricky. Most versions of The Count of Monte Cristo don’t even list a translator since they’re primarily based on the first English translation, done anonymously in the 1840s.

You’d be okay with any edition, as long as it’s unabridged — the story isn’t substantially different between the various publishers.

But to get the full richness of the original text, I highly recommend Robin Buss’s 1996 translation. It’s the only unabridged edition that remains faithful to Dumas. Published by Penguin Classics, it’s readily available online and in most bookstore chains.

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Reading Schedule

As noted above, we’re starting next Sunday, June 11, and we’ll read about 70 pages per week. Keep in mind that the reading schedule is just a guideline. Read ahead if you feel like it, or save a couple of weeks of reading for a single sitting.

The idea is not to have a rigid system but rather a rough guide so that the recaps and discussions make sense.

Here’s the Google Sheets link to the schedule.

Here’s a downloadable PDF:

The Count Of Monte Cristo Reading Schedule Sheet1

40.3KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

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I know this was a lot of information! Don’t hesitate to comment or email me back if you have questions or comments. I’m really looking forward to this one!

-Jeremy