Ivanhoe or Man In the Iron Mask -World Lit. DD Grade 10

[LisaCA]

My daughter does not exactly love literature. This year she did enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the only books I have heard her say she liked.
We will be reading much of it together so which do you think is both good in plot and would be enjoyable to listen to?

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott -VS- The Man In the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas both Signet Classics

Thank you in advance for any opinions!
:bigear: Lisa

[Faithr]

I would say The Man in the Iron Mask. Dumas writes really exciting cliff hanger endings for each chapter and his prose is a bit more readable, I think, than Scott's who tends to be more wordy and deliberately archaic.

[LisaNY]

I agree with Faithr - Dumas. I plan to read The Man in the Iron Mask sometime. I *LOVE* The Count of Monte Cristo. That would be the one I'd recommend, but perhaps Iron Mask is even better.

[dtsmamtj]

We haven't read the Man in the Iron Mask, but my dd loved Ivanhoe. We read several of the suggested books in the Beautiful Feet Ref/Ren book list. We will have to look into the other book this summer.

T

[CherylG]

is Dumas as well. Man in the Iron Mask is wonderful.

[Laura Corin]

I found Ivanhoe to be a big yawn. I didn't force Calvin to read it.

Laura

[Peela]

Lol, I haven't read the Man with the Iron Mask so I cant compare, but Ivanhoe was a surprising hit with my two last year. It is not something I would personally have got through more than a couple of chapters of- it really is archaic and wordy- but I read it aloud to them and they were enthralled- and I enjoyed it because they did! Thank goodness I didnt read anything about it beforehand or I mightnt have even tried it.

[jjhat7]

I haven't read either, but my oldest two have read both. They loved Ivanhoe, but more the "story" of it, not the story-telling. My son says the story line is rambling and winding, even though he loved it. Iron Mask was more straightforward and easier to follow (and was also great!). :001_smile:

[strider]

I have not read Man in the Iron Mask. However, I did do Ivanhoe with my Lit class this year. The pace is very, very slow. I do not consider it to be the highest quality literature either.

[emubird]

There was a BBC (?) miniseries of Ivanhoe that we watched. The kids really liked that. They couldn't get into the book, although may still do that. At least, though, they got the story of it. They enjoyed The Once and Future King more (which is vaguely about that time period).

[CynthiaOK]

I'd go with Dumas, but I'm biased because he one of my favorite authors. Ivanhoe is a great story, but it is a bit difficult to get through. And if you daughter isn't especially into literature, you'd probably do better with Dumas because he is more readable, IMO.

[CynthiaOK]

I *LOVE* The Count of Monte Cristo. That would be the one I'd recommend.

Agree! I've read all of Dumas's works (I found an old antique (25-30) volume set) and the Count is *still* my all time favorite.