Show HN: Read The Count of Monte Cristo and others in installments in your email

https://www.serialliterature.com/

by pipnonsense • 6 years ago

220 77 6 years ago

SCNP• 6 years ago

I like this idea but I think I would want a link in each e-mail to mark that I had read the current installment. That way, I wouldn't have them building up in my inbox if I didn't get to them. I suppose that's a bit more overhead for the developer and kind of goes against the creator's and original author's intent. I really do like this though. I signed up for the Count of Monte Cristo.

TruckMangione• 6 years ago

I want to mention that I had the exact same thought. A feature to essentially say, "I have finished this section, please send me the next one."

DetroitThrow• 6 years ago

You've spent 2 years with such a great username but only shared your thoughts just now?

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

Hi, I created this. That's a good idea. This is the first version, I intend to improve it based on feedback.

About being against the original author's intent, there is no way to escape that I think. Those original installments were published in print, some of them were installments of dozens and dozens of page. I had to break "The Brothers Karamazov" in many more installments that it was originally. It is an adaptation to a new medium, so I will have to make changes. The idea is more preserve the spirit of the initial publication and encourage people to read more fiction.

dhosek3• 6 years ago

I have a vague notion that there was something along these lines in the '00s. I think I even tried reading a book with it, maybe Call of the Wild. I imagine it works great for some folks, but I didn't find it an improvement over my existing reading practices in the least and didn't continue with it.

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

What aspect about reading fiction do you think needs improvement?

dhosek3• 6 years ago

None, really. I guess really, what I found was that this was, in many way, a worse experience than I had with paper books.

jamroom• 6 years ago

I bet it was https://www.dailylit.com

dhosek3• 6 years ago

It was. For some reason, searching call of the wild in my gmail archive didn't turn up the emails, but dailylit found it and it was, in fact Call of the Wild (yay spectacular memory for useless details). Dailylit does have a click here to get the next installment immediately feature and I read the 37 installments over three days (it's a short book).

robotresearcher• 6 years ago

In the early 2000s Samuel Pepys’ diary entires from the 17th century were republished online each day online. These were absolutely gripping. Very clever use of internet publishing.

westondeboer• 6 years ago

This is very fun!

An example at the top would be perfect, Of what the email would look like.

markx2• 6 years ago

I have used https://www.dailylit.com/ on and off for years

Why is this service better?

smarri• 6 years ago

I think this is great, thanks for making it.

julienchastang2• 6 years ago

The Count of Monte Cristo is also featured on today's Google Doodle. Does anyone know why? It is not Alexandre Dumas' birthday. Coincidentally, I am in the middle of this novel. It is pretty long :-)

pmh• 6 years ago

It's the anniversary of the publication of (the first volume of) The Count of Monte Cristo

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

Today is the anniversary of the publication of the first installment of "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the newspaper "Journal des Débats"(in 1884).

I had the site ready for launch today and already including "The Count of Monte Cristo", but I pushed the book to be the first one on the list and mention it in the title precisely because of the Google Doodle.

taejavu• 6 years ago

You’ve quoted google’s write up, but surely they made a mistake - the year should be “1844”, no?

https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-alexandre-dumas

vmilner• 6 years ago

If you can find the Robin Buss translation (Penguin books in the UK) it's definitely superior to the public domain one.

julienchastang2• 6 years ago

I am reading the French language public domain version which has its own problems; words running together and occasional spelling mistakes. I often come across these problems with public domain books (in French, at least).

jaclaz• 6 years ago

Congratulations, both for the idea and for the literature you chose the Count of Montecristo and Great Expectations, for different reasons are among my preferred books.

The Journal des Debats is available online.

The Conte of Montecristo was published according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo#Publ...

from 28 August 1844 to 15 January 1846

The original (book) has 117 Chapters: http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0720/2007023856.html

As a matter of fact the first date there is chapter 1:

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k446668c.item

And on the last date ther is chapter 117:

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k447166b/

And an indication that it is the fourth "part" and the dates where the previous "sub-parts" were published.

They are not sequential (i.e. every day), and they have long gaps, so, without checking the exact dates, it seems plausible that it was actually pubished in 117 times.

irs• 6 years ago

Something similar https://notimeforbooks.com

steven_pack• 6 years ago

That's my baby!

tmhrtly• 6 years ago

Does this use your browser's timezone or do I need to convert into another timezone when entering the time I'd like the email chapter?

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

It uses your browser timezone

hombre_fatal2• 6 years ago

I love this idea, though I don't think it's necessary to only pick books that were released through serial publication. What's useful about this project to me is that, well, reading is already hard with so many distractions, but having bite-sized episodes through email might help people make progress without the overhead of sitting down with a book and feeling guilty when they can't make progress.

Another idea is to graduate the project into a more cohesive system: one of the emails you could periodically send is the first N pages of a random, untitled book.

Subject: "[Mystery Book] A story about redemption, a wrongfully imprisoned man." —just a byline summary like that.

And at the end of the email, you provide a link they can click that will subscribe to the rest of that book.

Closi• 6 years ago

On the other hand, I love the clarity behind this system being for things released by serial publication.

Like the idea that if you read the book, you aren’t actually reading it as intended.

sswezey• 6 years ago

Exactly, its like binge watching a television show instead of piecemeal. You don't have the cliffhangers since you don't have to wait a week or a year to find out what happens next. A key tool to build suspense is rendered useless.

On the other hand, splitting a book that wasn't meant to be serial can make certain sections feel meaningless - they aren't meant to be taken separately. A perfect example is the movie adaptation of the Hobbit: you had two movies that felt unresolved and one movie that just dropped you in right before the climax of the book.

leovander• 6 years ago

If you like physical copies, check out Mouse Book Club[0].

[0] https://mousebookclub.com

rozab• 6 years ago

I think it would be great to read these works as they were intended to be read, and it's awesome you're leveraging public domain literature to do this. Not sure which I'll start with yet, but I'll be sure to sign up!

tezzer• 6 years ago

Great idea! You should specify a time zone in your selections, or identify which one you use, since the internet is available in a few different places these days.

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

I do it in the background. The hour you select will be the hour you receive your email in your timezone (if everything goes right at least lol). But maybe I should make the timezone explicit in the UI (maybe even editable).

emuss2• 6 years ago

I'd be in favor of this. I'm currently not in my home timezone, so would want to be able to change that. Good work though, super cool project!

pwinnski• 6 years ago

This is pretty brilliant. Kudos!

globuous• 6 years ago

Nice job !! I finished the count of Monte Cristo a few years ago, and I must admit I fell in love, I cannot wait to read it again. Side note, I'd love Tarantino to make his version of it, either as a movie or even better, as a show ! Maybe even in today's time kinda like Sherlock did !!

livueta• 6 years ago

It's not Tarantino, but occasional friendly reminder that Gankutsuou exists and is pretty dang good, occasional glimpses of awkward early-2000s CG aside. Jouji Nakata as the Count is easily one of his most memorable performances.

robotmay2• 6 years ago

Thank you for letting me know this exists! This sounds really entertaining.

creaghpatr2• 6 years ago

Tarantino treatment would be really cool.

stevesearer• 6 years ago

I just finished reading for my second time last week, but listened to the audiobook in between book readings and found it very enjoyable. Hearing the pronunciations and energy is sort of like a movie interpretation.

creaghpatr2• 6 years ago

Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite novel and I highly recommend it but it's north of 1000 pages...that's a lot of email installments.

7sigma• 6 years ago

Still would dwarfed by those those linked in emails

robotmay2• 6 years ago

It's one of my favourites too but it's a very quick way to find out who's the fastest reader of your friends when you recommend it to people :D

It's pretty epic in many ways, and for me it's the ultimate revenge story.

ponker• 6 years ago

The Count of Monte Cristo is worth doing the audiobook for. Absolute masterpiece. "Rebecca" is another one.

antasvara• 6 years ago

There's also a new app called Serial Box (https://www.serialbox.com/) that has a combination of new works of literature designed for the serial format, as well as some old classics.

lubujackson• 6 years ago

I've seen this exact idea before. Did you look to see if it existed first?

goatherders2• 6 years ago

Why does that matter?

scpedicini3• 6 years ago

Because if you lifted the idea from somewhere else you should disclose that fact, otherwise it comes off a little disingenuous especially in a show HN where many readers might assume that you came up with this independently.

DanSmooth• 6 years ago

Great idea! Just subscribed to get some Dumas in my mailbox.

A preview would be nice. Something to get a feel of how long a chapter might be. Also time is a fickle thing. Your 3pm might differ from mine. You might want to include the timezone somewhere. Finally: What's up with the blots that appear onclick in the upper quarter of the page?

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

Thanks! I get the timezone from your browser, so it should work as expected for you (if not, it's a bug, please let me know by replying the email). But enough people asked me about the timezone that it is worth adding it explicitly in the UI.

The ink drops are just a quirky effect that I found cool to add. Hopefully it didn't disrupt your experience (it works better on desktop btw).

stopachka• 6 years ago

Love this! Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite work of fiction — read it at least 4 times now. I saw it differently as a kid, teenager, and adult. If you read it a while ago I highly suggest a re-read

Waterluvian2• 6 years ago

I’m sold. Amazing idea.

I wish I could decide how large each instalment was.

Edit: the most bizarre thing. I’m trying to scroll and the ink is smudging everywhere and I can’t read things.

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

Ok, sorry, definitely not the experiment I planned with the ink drop effect. What's your browser/device? It should be just a drop on click/touch that disappears with further clicks or scroll.

The custom size for each installment is interesting, but tricky to do right. I'll think about it.

avisk• 6 years ago

I too see this. I am using Google Chrome browser in IPhone SE 2020.

Love your idea.

Waterluvian2• 6 years ago

Safari iPhone SE 2020.

richardbrevig• 6 years ago

Not entirely off topic, but I recently attempted sharing my life story with people via daily written installments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUC2aFkBHiw&8d3=7f5h

The video basically introduces me and what I'm doing.

jvandonsel• 6 years ago

If you like this sort of thing then you may also like Samuel Pepys' diaries read in "real time" on twitter. https://twitter.com/samuelpepys

S4M2• 6 years ago

It's a great idea, just one suggestion: would it be possible to choose the language of the novels we decide to read? For example, I am French, so I would rather read _The Count of Monte Christo_, _Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas_ or _Madame Bovary_ in their original versions.

pipnonsense10• 6 years ago

Sure. I will work on expanding the options, and it makes sense to add the original language to it too. Just not sure I can promise a date for date. If you care to send me an email to sl@serialliterature.com I will make a note to let you know when I do.

jeromenerf• 6 years ago

I recently binged public domain audiobooks while woodworking and came close to chop, cut or crush myself on Jules Verne’s not so romantic views on women, Africans, employees, etc. Capitaine Nemo is different, just beware "5 semaines en ballon".

Monte Cristo is a good summer read. The 3 musketeers and the follow ups are also great.

I get these audiobooks from librivox and litteratureaudio.com. Fantastic work is done there.

S4M2• 6 years ago

Thanks! I generally prefer books over audiobooks, but I may listen to an audiobook for a change. I read plenty of books by Alexandre Dumas in the past, and a few by Jules Verne.

I wasn't aware of Verne's views, but I would guess they were pretty common during his time, so I would abstain to pass a judgement on him and focus on his pioneering work on scifi.

aladine• 6 years ago

Love this idea. I was a fan of this novel a long time ago. I really want a bite-size reading newsletter style like this.

What I think is you should have an index of similar novels too. You can put a list of recommended novels in the newsletter email, or sent a follow up email after finishing the whole seris of 117 chapters of Monte Cristo.

calmworm• 6 years ago

This is great. Thanks for sharing!

Does anyone know of new works being written and released in installments this way? Through newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc?

joshvm• 6 years ago

This is still quite popular in science fiction and fantasy literature. There are several periodical magazines like Asimov's Science Fiction which still regularly publish new people (regular as in 6 issues a year, but you could subscribe to multiple mags).

chris_st• 6 years ago

Signed up!

I always kind of hoped Cell phone novels [0] in English would come, but I've never seen any.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_phone_novel

tvalentius• 6 years ago

Interesting idea! Can I request for more sci-fi titles like The Foundation?

tekkertje• 6 years ago

Love the idea! Finally a way to force myself to start reading some books on the list, as I keep a zero inbox policy.

lbj• 6 years ago

This is one of those ideas where I immediately go "Why didn't anyone think of this before?"

In periods of high-stress I can barely bring myself to pick up a book, but Im sure I'd read that email first thing in the morning. Very well done!

Now please, add Atlas Shrugged to the list, its due a re-read :)

publicola1990• 6 years ago

There were a couple similar services already I think in a similar vein, like DailyLit and DripRead..

But nice implementation, nonetheless...

dmje• 6 years ago

I'll go against the grain of all the people saying "why didn't I think of this, it's brilliant" and say: I'm not sure this is such a good idea.

Like: where's the place where All The Things are clamouring for your attention more than anything else? Yup, your email inbox.

Where's the place you unsubscribe from as much as you possibly can to keep it clean?

Where's the place there are even automated "unsub" tools and "zero" is considered the Holy Grail?

Where's the place you're likely to give up your literature reading when yet another urgent email from your boss pops into view?

I'm just not convinced that long form reading in your inbox is what people want, or if it'll stick.

I guess I also just think: buy the book. Buy the book, in paper form, turn off your phone and actually live the story rather than trying to turn it into some serialised, EASY snackable form. Sometimes words and books are hard, but that's often the point. Be immersed in it, lost in it, consumed by it.

I'm ready to be proved wrong so will sign up and see, but these are my initial thoughts.

jmiskovic• 6 years ago

I agree on all but the last point. Having to wait for a week to get another chapter after each of Monte Cristo cliffhangers would be more intensive experience than binging on the book.

It's partly delayed gratification, but it's also having something in your week schedule to look forward to. I experienced similar thing with Planetarium (https://www.beholder.uk/planetarium/) and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Show HN: Read The Count of Monte Cristo and others in installments in your email

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