The GMG Pickwick Club

Started by Bogey, July 17, 2015, 10:30:52 AM

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Bogey

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

vandermolen

Quote from: Bogey on March 12, 2017, 10:45:38 AM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5812668/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_1

Might be right up our alley, folks!
Glad you're back!
See 'Missing Members' thread.
Here's looking at you... :)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

I have never read Barnaby Rudge but have just commenced doing so.

Jaakko Keskinen

Quote from: aligreto on April 04, 2017, 08:31:38 AM
I have never read Barnaby Rudge but have just commenced doing so.

Rudge is IMO the most underrated novel by Dickens. And The Old Curiosity Shop, if you count it as underrated.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

aligreto

I do find The Old Curiosity Shop to be a great read, oftentimes quite brutal in its portrayal of its time. But that was the mark of Dickens.
I obviously cannot comment on Barnaby Rudge yet. Interestingly, I know absolutely nothing of it so I am quite unsure what to expect which makes its commencement all the more interesting.

aligreto

Quote from: aligreto on April 04, 2017, 08:31:38 AM
I have never read Barnaby Rudge but have just commenced doing so.

Barnaby Rudge is proving to be a bit of a struggle. I must admit that I an finding it difficult to engage with both the plot and the characters. I will battle on for the moment nonetheless.

Jaakko Keskinen

Reading Copperfield in english. About one fourth done. Murdstone is a frighteningly accurate description of a true sadist. Can't wait till Steerforth resurfaces in the story, along with Rosa Dartle (easily the greatest woman character Dickens ever conceived) my favorite character.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

kishnevi

Have started reading Bleak House (which I have actually never read before). 
The edition I have has the advantage of Phiz's illustrations.
http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/art/illustration/phiz/bleakhouse/index.html

aligreto

Quote from: aligreto on May 11, 2017, 09:22:59 AM
Barnaby Rudge is proving to be a bit of a struggle. I must admit that I an finding it difficult to engage with both the plot and the characters. I will battle on for the moment nonetheless.

Abandoned just over half way through which is something rarely done here. I felt that the characters were weak and the plot was incoherent, laborious and wandering.

vandermolen

Quote from: Alberich on May 11, 2017, 09:42:49 AM
Reading Copperfield in english. About one fourth done. Murdstone is a frighteningly accurate description of a true sadist. Can't wait till Steerforth resurfaces in the story, along with Rosa Dartle (easily the greatest woman character Dickens ever conceived) my favorite character.
Yes, Rosa Dartle is quite special! However, Betsy Trotwood remains my favourite character, I especially like her relationship with the kite-flying Mr Dick.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Jaakko Keskinen

"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

vandermolen

#272
Quote from: Alberich on July 01, 2017, 02:16:17 AM
Yes, Betsey is awesome!
I love her appearance at the beginning of the book where, in pressing her nose against the window when looking in, she gives Davy's mother such a fright that she goes into labour.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

aligreto

Given the season that is in it and given the fact that I have not partaken of any of Dickens' wit or wisdom in quite a while I have decided to embark upon "A Christmas Carol".

lisa needs braces

My reading of novels has slowed down considerably over the years. Started reading Dickens in 2004, with a Tale of Two Cities -- loved it very much, then started reading his oeuvre from Oliver Twist and up, skipping a couple of the works (The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge), but I have been stuck on "Little Dorrit" for almost eight years, starting over several times and once making it all the way to the half-way point. Not a bad novel by any means -- the web has rotted my brain.

However (I might've mentioned it this thread) in 2013 I revisited Bleak House and loved it even more the second time. That book is a sustained marvel throughout.






vandermolen

Quote from: -abe- on March 13, 2018, 12:11:09 AM
My reading of novels has slowed down considerably over the years. Started reading Dickens in 2004, with a Tale of Two Cities -- loved it very much, then started reading his oeuvre from Oliver Twist and up, skipping a couple of the works (The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge), but I have been stuck on "Little Dorrit" for almost eight years, starting over several times and once making it all the way to the half-way point. Not a bad novel by any means -- the web has rotted my brain.

However (I might've mentioned it this thread) in 2013 I revisited Bleak House and loved it even more the second time. That book is a sustained marvel throughout.

Great Expectations, David Copperfield and a Tale of Two Cities are all favourites of mine. I must read Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Biffo

Quote from: vandermolen on March 13, 2018, 02:58:15 AM
Great Expectations, David Copperfield and a Tale of Two Cities are all favourites of mine. I must read Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House!

You should definitely read Bleak House, possibly his greatest novel, certainly one of his most ambitious; several concurrent plot lines tie together wonderfully. He tried the same thing in Our Mutual Friend but I find it a bit of a shambles; the motivation behind the story is pretty feeble, nevertheless it has many wonderful scenes.

I would rate Great Expectations his finest novel if he had stuck to his original ending, instead he compromised for fear of upsetting his reading public.

Karl Henning

I, too, ought to read Bleak House (for that matter, I should watch the PBS series, which Bogey was so kind to send).


I was hung up for the longest time on the namesake of this thread.  I probably owe it to Dickens to start Bleak House . . . it's right there, on my Nook . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vandermolen

Quote from: Biffo on March 13, 2018, 03:32:09 AM
You should definitely read Bleak House, possibly his greatest novel, certainly one of his most ambitious; several concurrent plot lines tie together wonderfully. He tried the same thing in Our Mutual Friend but I find it a bit of a shambles; the motivation behind the story is pretty feeble, nevertheless it has many wonderful scenes.

I would rate Great Expectations his finest novel if he had stuck to his original ending, instead he compromised for fear of upsetting his reading public.

Thanks Biffo. I'll start with Bleak House then, although I know the story from an excellent BBC dramatisation ( ::)).
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

aligreto

I have recently commenced reading Martin Chuzzlewit for the first time. I am only a short way in and I find the characters engaging.