The GMG Pickwick Club

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

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Bogey

#220
February 08, 2016, 04:03:15 PM
Quote from: karlhenning on February 08, 2016, 08:21:54 AM
Oops! (In my partial defense, my Nook™ died, and I needed to replace the device . . . that said, I must have done so before that last post . . . .)

Cheers, Karl!
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

Brian

#221
February 08, 2016, 06:03:19 PM
I did read Pickwick Papers this January! It was a bundle of fun, sort of like a jolly English version of Don Quixote, replacing the mean-spirited pranks with gentle satire of upper-class fools. The barbs directed at the legal system and debtor's prison struck me - all these years before Bleak House, Dickens already had his lifelong target in his sights.

But of course mostly the book is a load of fun, particularly the rival newspapers, Mr. Winkle's attempts at sport, and Sam Weller's father's concerns about the perils of marriage. I had a good time. :)

Karl Henning

#222
February 09, 2016, 01:22:38 AM
Yes, it is good fun!  After I've cleared the snow off the cars, I'll read some more on the train . . . .
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

Bogey

#223
February 12, 2016, 07:53:27 AM
Quote from: karlhenning on February 09, 2016, 01:22:38 AM
Yes, it is good fun!  After I've cleared the snow off the cars, I'll read some more on the train . . . .

Dickens and trains?  Hmmmm.
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

aligreto

#224
February 23, 2016, 08:43:46 AM Last Edit: April 18, 2016, 08:26:06 AM by aligreto
I have just finished reading Master Humphrey's Clock, a book containing great characterization and wonderful, evocative storytelling. The added bonus is, of course, the appearance and important contributions of both Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Weller senior during the course of the proceedings.



Jaakko Keskinen

#225
April 18, 2016, 05:15:39 AM
Uriah Heep, after being slapped by David: "Copperfield, have you taken leave of your senses?"
David: "I have taken leave of you."

Okay, as much as I disliked the "natural aversion" David feels towards Heep... that was pretty damn impressive ass-kicking line.
"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

Bogey

#226
April 24, 2016, 05:58:41 PM
Quote from: Alberich on April 18, 2016, 05:15:39 AM
Uriah Heep, after being slapped by David: "Copperfield, have you taken leave of your senses?"
David: "I have taken leave of you."

Okay, as much as I disliked the "natural aversion" David feels towards Heep... that was pretty damn impressive ass-kicking line.

Indeed. 

About to start watching this in installments:



The reviews are good to excellent, so I am hopeful.
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

Jaakko Keskinen

#227
April 25, 2016, 07:16:16 AM Last Edit: April 25, 2016, 07:18:29 AM by Alberich
I'm rewatching the Emmy award-winning BBC miniseries about Little Dorrit. Impressive, most impressive. Anton Lesser superbly humanises mr. Merdle, as does Tom Courtenay with William Dorrit. The real gem is Andy Serkis as Monsieur Rigaud/Lagnier/Blandois, in many ways improving already one of the greatest novels ever written. In the novel Rigaud was rather one-dimensional moustache-twirler. Flintwinch's actor is pretty terrific also.

Time to make top11 of all the Dickens novels that I've read.

1. Little Dorrit
2. Our Mutual Friend
3. David Copperfield
4. Great expectations
5. The Old Curiosity Shop
6.Oliver Twist
7. Barnaby Rudge
8. A Tale of two cities
9. Hard times
10. Nicholas Nickleby
11. Dombey and son

4 more novels to go: Bleak House, Pickwick, Martin Chuzzlewit and Edwin Drood. I'm thinking of moving to Pickwick next. Not yet, but one of these days...
"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

Jaakko Keskinen

#228
May 22, 2016, 07:43:22 AM Last Edit: May 22, 2016, 07:49:27 AM by Alberich
Otherwise the same list but now I've started to like Our Mutual Friend a bit more than Little Dorrit. In fact, as the time goes by, I like it more and more. And now I've started to like Wegg, not as much as Riderhood and Headstone, but still. Like Riderhood, he's funny which makes one enjoy his antics. In fact G.K.Chesterton said that when he's not scheming he seems like a last person likely to scheme. I could say the same thing about Riderhood too.
"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

zamyrabyrd

#229
May 22, 2016, 08:44:07 AM
Quote from: Alberich on May 22, 2016, 07:43:22 AM
Otherwise the same list but now I've started to like Our Mutual Friend a bit more than Little Dorrit. In fact, as the time goes by, I like it more and more. And now I've started to like Wegg, not as much as Riderhood and Headstone, but still. Like Riderhood, he's funny which makes one enjoy his antics. In fact G.K.Chesterton said that when he's not scheming he seems like a last person likely to scheme. I could say the same thing about Riderhood too.

I ordered the BBC series after finishing Little Dorrit, Martin Chuzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend. I really enjoyed the film of Dorrit. It was interesting to see how those places must have really looked after trying to reconstruct them in my imagination.
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

aligreto

#230
July 18, 2016, 01:41:58 PM



I have just opened the door [Chapter 1] to this establishment. I have not entered these premises for many a long year and I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the occupants and its history once again.

Jaakko Keskinen

#231
August 29, 2016, 07:39:26 AM
"With a disappointed face, Silas mentally consigned this parrot to regions more than tropical."

I love these getting crap past the radar-moments  :D Similar example can be found in A Christmas Carol.
"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

#232
August 30, 2016, 11:02:56 PM
Quote from: Bogey on April 24, 2016, 05:58:41 PM
Indeed. 

About to start watching this in installments:



The reviews are good to excellent, so I am hopeful.
That's a very good series. I recently watched that fine old movie of 'David Copperfield' with W.C. Fields as Micawber. It is one of my favourites of the novels and the most autobiographical I think. I watched it on TV but enjoyed it so much that I have ordered the DVD version.
"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).

Bogey

#233
November 23, 2016, 03:01:12 PM
Well, time for some Dickens to be brought out.  Always feel his pull this time of the year.  And will start with The Chimes tonight.

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

Bogey

#234
November 24, 2016, 06:05:16 AM
For those not familiar with The Chimes story, here is the start.  It is worth your time to read Dickens personification of "the wind".  It will not take you long, and you'll be better for it. :)

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/the-chimes/1/
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

Ken B

#235
November 24, 2016, 10:50:43 AM
Quote from: Bogey on November 24, 2016, 06:05:16 AM
For those not familiar with The Chimes story, here is the start.  It is worth your time to read Dickens personification of "the wind".  It will not take you long, and you'll be better for it. :)

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/the-chimes/1/
I feel better already; kinder; warmer; more willing to accept even the most obnoxious GMGers, the most persistent telemarketers, the most odious politicians. I feel forgiveness flowi Oops. It's gone.

Bogey

#236
November 26, 2016, 07:29:05 AM


Enjoying Timothy Spall in the 2007 BBC production of Oliver Twist.
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

Bogey

#237
November 26, 2016, 07:31:01 AM
Quote from: Ken B on November 24, 2016, 10:50:43 AM
I feel better already; kinder; warmer; more willing to accept even the most obnoxious GMGers, the most persistent telemarketers, the most odious politicians. I feel forgiveness flowi Oops. It's gone.

With any post you are our newest member, Ken.  :)
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

Jaakko Keskinen

#238
November 26, 2016, 09:19:53 AM
Mentioned this in the reading thread but may as well mention it here, too: re-reading Little Dorrit, this time in Finnish translation from 20's. I heartily recommend Little Dorrit to anyone. It contains some of his best jokes and satire and psychological depth of the characters is mostly superb.
"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

Bogey

#239
November 26, 2016, 09:21:27 AM
Quote from: Alberich on November 26, 2016, 09:19:53 AM
Mentioned this in the reading thread but may as well mention it here, too: re-reading Little Dorrit, this time in Finnish translation from 20's. I heartily recommend Little Dorrit to anyone. It contains some of his best jokes and satire and psychological depth of the characters is mostly superb.

I'll head there after The Chimes.
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
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