Psi-Lord wrote:'The Scarlet Letter' is a literary milestone in my life, because it was the first unabridged 19th century novel I've read in English. I absolutely love novels written by that time (Machado de Assis' 'Dom Casmurro' and José de Alencar's 'Senhora: Profile of a Woman' and 'Five Minutes' are definitely my three favourite books ever! And right now I'm reading a book with short stories by José de Alencar, such as 'O Ermitão da Glória'.), but I had never dared read one in English till I bumped into a copy of 'The Scarlet Letter' my ex-sister-in-law lent me.
It seems that your literary preferences are very similar to mine...
I have read "Le rouge et le noir" translated to Portuguese about 10 years ago, because at that time I didn't know French. But I have read "Manon Lescault" in French because it was only about 3 or 4 years ago. Ok, maybe "Manon Lescault" has an easier vocabulary than "Le rouge et le noir", but I think that if it was nowadays I would try to read "Le rouge et le noir" in French. I like challenges, at least when I think that I have some chances of being successful...