Rereading childhood favourites can be unsettling

Mostly I like reading books I loved as a child again as an adult - it's that happy glow of nostalgia, and a lot of the classics are really good reads even now. But this time when I was back home I dug out my (abridged) copy of The Three Musketeers because I've been seeing the adverts for the new film and wanted to remind myself what the actual plot was.

And on rereading I've come to the unsettling conclusion that the the Musketeers and particularly d'Artagnan are total dicks. Which makes me sad, because that is not how I remembered them at all!

( Rant below - contains plot spoilers )

I expect I'll still go and see the film though - I think the versions I've seen before are usually less annoying than the book was and I do like a bit of swashbuckling. (Especially with Matthew McFadyen.)