The GMG Pickwick Club

[vandermolen]

Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities





This is a very famous book obviously but how many people have actually read it? It is a well constructed novel that is easy to read. It is historically based but it is not a "heavy" read. It is based around a certain number of characters in, and some common to, the two cities concerned. I had forgotten the level of detail that dickens employs in his descriptive narrative in relation to the French Revolution. As always with Dickens wonderful characters inhabit the pages. I found it, once again after many years, to be an engrossing read. It was well worth another reading.

It's one of the only Dickens novels that I've read twice Fergus. I have a very soft spot for it as it was one of my mother's favourite books. I do, however, find Lucie Manette to be a rather drippy character and difficult to see how she inspired so much passion in others! Sidney Carton, on the other hand, is a marvellous invention and those end scenes are overwhelmingly moving. Madame Defarge was another great invention.

[vandermolen]

Dickens: Great Expectations





This was an interesting reading of this work. I thought that I had remembered it but I was wrong. The book is full of wonderful characters with a straightforward, basically linear plot. It is also a book that is packed full of wonderful images, sometimes portrayed almost photographically. The standout ones are obviously those of the early scenes with the convict as well as those scenes associated with Miss Havisham. But there are many more that are wonderfully evocative which had been forgotten by me. Also the rich tapestry of characters was also something that came to light again for me. The writing of Estella's character was wonderful and the description of Wemmick's character and his domestic environment have become some of my favourite portrayals by Dickens. Wonderful writing indeed.

Definitely a favourite of mine along with David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities. My favourite character in Dickens is Betsy Trotwood in David Copperfield. As I get Hay-fever in the Summer and don't like hot weather, I tend to say inside, in a darkened room with the curtains closed - I like to think that I model my life-style, on these occasions, on that of 'Miss Havisham' from 'Great Expectations'.
In a second hand bookshop (despite my wife's ban on me visiting such places) the other day, with my daughter and my new son-in-law, I bought her a copy of 'Dotheboys Hall'. I was most interested in this - the book came from the 1930s I think and consisted of all those sections of Nicholas Nickleby which featured Wackford Squeers and Dotheboys Hall, extracted from the rest of the novel. Dickens may well have been horrified but IMO they are by far the best sections of the book.

[aligreto]

It's one of the only Dickens novels that I've read twice Fergus. I have a very soft spot for it as it was one of my mother's favourite books. I do, however, find Lucie Manette to be a rather drippy character and difficult to see how she inspired so much passion in others! Sidney Carton, on the other hand, is a marvellous invention and those end scenes are overwhelmingly moving. Madame Defarge was another great invention.

Definitely a favourite of mine along with David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities. My favourite character in Dickens is Betsy Trotwood in David Copperfield. As I get Hay-fever in the Summer and don't like hot weather, I tend to say inside, in a darkened room with the curtains closed - I like to think that I model my life-style, on these occasions, on that of 'Miss Havisham' from 'Great Expectations'.
In a second hand bookshop (despite my wife's ban on me visiting such places) the other day, with my daughter and my new son-in-law, I bought her a copy of 'Dotheboys Hall'. I was most interested in this - the book came from the 1930s I think and consisted of all those sections of Nicholas Nickleby which featured Wackford Squeers and Dotheboys Hall, extracted from the rest of the novel. Dickens may well have been horrified but IMO they are by far the best sections of the book.

Different people get many different things from Dickens which, I suppose, is one of the true marks of a great author, Jeffrey.




I must admit that you are the first person that I have known who had Miss Havisham as a role model. Be careful there, Jeffrey, as I presume that you remember how she ended up.   

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Karl, and good for you.
I posted above that I was about half way through the book on May 5th [cannot remember when I actually started it] and only finished it on May 27th which says a lot to me. 
That must be some kind of record for me.
The other thing that I noticed was that the struggle also prevented me from delving into another, "lighter" book as a digression. Such was the demand on my [feeble?  ] powers of concentration to enable me to keep up and locate both plot and characters at any given point.
Oh well.

I don't say that I quite coasted through it meself

[vandermolen]

Different people get many different things from Dickens which, I suppose, is one of the true marks of a great author, Jeffrey.




I must admit that you are the first person that I have known who had Miss Havisham as a role model. Be careful there, Jeffrey, as I presume that you remember how she ended up.   

Haha - good point Fergus!
That David Lean film of Great Expectations remains the best film adaptation of a Dickens novel ever made IMO.

[aligreto]

I don't say that I quite coasted through it meself

Let us say a challenge 

[Karl Henning]

Let us say a challenge 

Forsooth.

[Ganondorf]

My relationship with Our mutual friend has changed greatly over the years but for several past years I have considered it Dickens's greatest novel. The characterization is superb and more complex than before, the plot while slowly moving and laborious, is on close inspection entirely logical and well crafted. While I love Marcus Stone's original illustrations, I really would have loved to see Phiz, the man providing the most of Dickens's books' illustrations, make the illustrations instead. However, Marcus Stone's illustrations are top-notch, I especially like this one showing the agony of Bradley Headstone:

[Karl Henning]

Headstone Agonistes

[aligreto]

My relationship with Our mutual friend has changed greatly over the years but for several past years I have considered it Dickens's greatest novel. The characterization is superb and more complex than before, the plot while slowly moving and laborious, is on close inspection entirely logical and well crafted. While I love Marcus Stone's original illustrations, I really would have loved to see Phiz, the man providing the most of Dickens's books' illustrations, make the illustrations instead. However, Marcus Stone's illustrations are top-notch, I especially like this one showing the agony of Bradley Headstone:

Yes I remember being taken with that illustration and later thinking of the significance of that picture hanging on the wall.

[Karl Henning]

Cross-post:

I recently re-watched the BBC production of Bleak House (a gift some time ago from Bogey) and as a result, I've now begun reading it.

[vandermolen]

Cross-post:

I recently re-watched the BBC production of Bleak House (a gift some time ago from Bogey) and as a result, I've now begun reading it.

I remember it as a very good production.

[Karl Henning]

I remember it as a very good production.

Peter Vaughn as Tulkinghorn and Dame Diana Rigg as Lady Dedlock.

[Karl Henning]

I've finished re-reading Our Mutual Friend, even tastier than before. I'll pick up Bleak House where I left off, but first, 'tis high time I read Cricket on the Hearth.

[JBS]

I've finished re-reading Our Mutual Friend, even tastier than before. I'll pick up Bleak House where I left off, but first, 'tis high time I read Cricket on the Hearth.

And the three other Christmas novels no one ever talks about!

[Karl Henning]

And the three other Christmas novels no one ever talks about!

Fine suggestion, thanks.

[Karl Henning]

Just finished the Cricket, which I found utterly charming. I almost feel ashamed for not having read it any sooner.

[Karl Henning]

I've finished a re-read of Our Mutual Friend, some of whose passages I find absolutely exquisite. Now, I have indeed picked up Bleak House where I had left off, and finding it somehow easier going now. And I've made a start on Martin Chuzzlewit (again, inspired by the BBC production.)

[vers la flamme]

Having just finished both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, I've gotten myself hooked, much belatedly, on the works of Charles Dickens. Maybe the good gentlemen of the GMG Pickwick Club can guide me in the direction of where to go next with this esteemed author?

[Karl Henning]

Having just finished both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, I've gotten myself hooked, much belatedly, on the works of Charles Dickens. Maybe the good gentlemen of the GMG Pickwick Club can guide me in the direction of where to go next with this esteemed author?

I'nm a huge fan of Our Mutual Friend.