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 Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:34 pm
As a true-hearted Dickens fan, I'm starting this thread dedicated to his works. Feel free to post about his fiction and non-fiction here. As time goes by, if we need to do separate threads for specific works, we'll do so. Meanwhile, come here to talk about Dickens books that you've read or are currently reading. Share your insights, start a read-along, and enjoy your time in my shop. If you're struggling through some of his more difficult pieces, I'll do my best to help you! Madame Defarge Welcome, Citizen! Would you like some of my finest wine? *pours watered-down wine for the stranger and returns to her knitting* I will tell you a small thing about me. I will do anything to defend my Republic. I will give my last sou, my dying breath, my child's final crust of bread to defend it. True citizens of this Republic will always be welcome here. Be on your guard, however! I have always my red rose on the bar. If I should put it in my hair, it is to identify you as a spy...the patrons of this bar will know to ignore you.
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:49 pm
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:30 pm
oh good I have read one of his books, it was great expectations. I didn't like that fact that my english teacher said something like you wont like this book, everyone hates this book but we have to read it (or maybe she was referring to a character or something) but she really set the stage nicely to begin that book,..... what do I remember of this book, sadly nothing. Quote: Its not how many good books you get through, but how many good books get through to you -can't think of the author I do remember pip and the lady in the old house (thats a sad story) and the robbers in the begininng okay, if a discussion gets going I bet I would remember more, he does have really create his characters beyond the paper, really fleshes them out. I seemed to enjoy that and I might even be so bold as to say I enjoyed the book.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:24 am
What I love best about Dickens is that he was a radical social reformer, who used his fiction to expose the flaws in the customs of his time.
Some of his essays (I'm reading through The Uncommercial Traveller among other things) deal with similar topics to his fiction.
I haven't read Great Expectations in awhile, but if I remember correctly, the main theme was that Pip was encouraged by all around him to rely for his future on these expectations. The effect was that he never developed any skills with which to earn a living. There was a similar plot line, with an even more disastrous effect, in Bleak House.
In The Pickwick Papers, he takes an opposite tack, and shows a wealthy, well-meaning, if somewhat naive, gentleman who decides to do something active with his life. The results are often amusing, and generally heart-warming.
I'm reading Oliver Twist now (which I mentioned in another thread), because I'd only seen movies -- and those were years ago. By focusing on one unfortunate boy, Dickens shows us so much about prejudice, social injustice, judicial ignorance, crime, and greed. Yet he rarely preaches -- he pokes, but he rarely preaches -- so we read the story of this poor boy and feel it more deeply.
In A Tale of Two Cities, he shows us what happens when injustice goes too far. Although he compares England favorably with France, it's clear that there's a warning implied.
Dickens: what a radical!
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:49 pm
i think I should like to read oliver twist and will, mayhaps after the mormon book.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:58 pm
I read Oliver Twist when I was in High School. I remember enjoying that one. I've tried to read Great Expectations 2-3 times. I just never seem to be able to get past the first couple chapters.
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Aria na`Hael Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:02 pm
Great Expectations was pretty weird, as I recall.
Oliver is an easy read, mostly, and having seen a movie helps -- as Dhar pointed out in her Shakespeare thread.
I'm trying to imagine what dickens would be writing about now, in the US, under the Bush administration. Kenny-boy, Haliburton Oil, the repeated attempts to take away our constitutional rights, the Supreme Court's "eminent domain" ruling of last year. It's a rich field to mine, yeah?
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:05 pm
I don't think Great Expectations is all that accessible, either. It's probably better to read thing like A Tale of Two Cities or Hard Times.. A Christmas Carol.
Then I would read David Copperfield before I read Great Expectations. I think of them as the same book, actually, but GE was written later and was much darker.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:02 pm
I read Great Expectations in the 8th grade (I believe it also appeared in one of my literature books, but we didn't read it that year (fortunately; I dislike reading books twice in a row) ). All I remember about it is that it was interesting, and that I liked the characters and the imagery. And Mrs. Joe calls someone "the dunderheaded king of the noodles."
I read Oliver Twist in 9th or 10th grade. I remember my impresson of it being similar to my impression of Jane Eyre in that the story is interesting, but it's a story. If going for symbolism or cultural analysis (as English essays tend to do), it's not particularly heavy in either. But then, I was smaller then than I am now, so I might have just missed all of the good points.
Others in my school read A Tale of Two Cities, which presumably is better in that regard. I wouldn't know; I haven't read it yet. I expect I will eventually.
And that, as they say, is all I have to say about that.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:37 pm
Kai Errant (fortunately; I dislike reading books twice in a row) ). That's how I usually grade my books rofl If I've read it just once it was so-so to awful. If I read it twice it was good. If I read it more than twice it's somethign I will keep rereading periodically.. it was THAT good. Shakespeare counts that way.. as does Jane Austin.. in fact I remember a historical anecdote that had a person asking their friend if they read.. and they replied that they did, all six novels, every year. That implied that the person kept reading Jane Austin. She IS that good. I can read her novels over and over again. The same is true of Francis Hodgeson Burnett's Little Princess and A Secret Garden. GREAT books. The reason to re-read? because with the truly wonderful books you get something new from them each time. eek
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:48 pm
Dharmagirl The reason to re-read? because with the truly wonderful books you get something new from them each time. eek This is true; there are several books that I should and probably will reread at some point (which may or may not include HGG, Good Omens, and Dune, probably everything I've read for English class... and that's all I got off the top of my head) because there is just so much in them. However, unless they're so completely chock full of information or plot or humor, I don't have a desire to re-read what I already know.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:22 pm
Kai Errant Dharmagirl The reason to re-read? because with the truly wonderful books you get something new from them each time. eek This is true; there are several books that I should and probably will reread at some point (which may or may not include HGG, Good Omens, and Dune, probably everything I've read for English class... and that's all I got off the top of my head) because there is just so much in them. However, unless they're so completely chock full of information or plot or humor, I don't have a desire to re-read what I already know. and to be honest , as I become more well read the list of things I wish to reread become fewer. I think that's because as time has gone by I usually encounter the same old stories book after book. It's often like re-reading the old books, really.
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