I made one of my bucketlist goals to re-read the classics, which I can't stand. Most are too wordy, somewhat irrelevant, too ridiculous and hard to swallow while you need to be glued to some type of reference material to be able to understand what you are reading. And no the Disney movies of the classics mostly bore me as well depending on the exact film.

Anyway there was no definite amount of literature necessary to be read and so I chose to go with a hundred classics along with my normal reading pile before next April. Upon researching various classics that I can put into my reading list I have noticed that not everyone considers the same books as classics such as "Black Beauty" seems to be missing from many lists. Anyway this is #17.

First of all the Disney version was interesting but definitely like most other novel-based movies truly not the same. I still like how they made Esmeralda in the movie pretty, the hunchback was acceptable and some of the beautiful music, which was playing in my head a bit while I read this book. Strange combination.....

Anyway I had read "The Hunchback" once and it was okay while now getting a chance to read this version I can say that I truly like it. The writing is simple, easy to understand and the story has been cleaned up in its presentation to the reader so it moves fast in the giving of the plot then the conclusion. You are able to actually keep your spot without trying to flip back through to see where the path split off.

Meanwhile some of the pictures weren't exactly on the matching side while Esmeralda was drawn too old looking for her near tender age of 16. But otherwise it did add to the story.

So if you are a non-classic fan like me I would definitely recommend reading this one if you are required to. Or if you are just getting into the classics for the first time and need something that isn't hard to digest again this would be a wonderful book to get your hands on..... ( )

I like this book. ( )