Dickens Book Club

[Quark]

There's been a lot of Dickens-talk on the forum recently, and, given how scheming and opportunistic I am, I thought this would be a good time to get a discussion going on one of his works. If anyone has any interest in reading a Dickens novel soon, vote for it above. Most votes wins--no run-offs, no recounts, no filibusters. If there's a tie, I'll break it. I'm ruthlessly determined to get this going soon, so I'll close the vote in one week. Then, we can start the discussion, and much fun, socializing, and learning will be had by all.

Any Dickens novel would give us plenty to talk about. I've listed twelve of his works in the poll. Having just read Dombey and Son, I left that off the list (as well as many of the short stories and more obscure novels), but there's still most of the major works up for vote. I'm holding back my vote to break a potential tie, but secretly I'm pulling for Little Dorrit to win. Never read it, and it sounds like a very important nineteenth-century novel with heart, humor, and humanity. Votes for that would make me happy, but maybe picking a more popular novel would attract more posters to the thread. A book like Great Expectation has more name recognition, and it's something that everyone should read at least once. Anything would work, though.


http://www.leweslibrary.org/files/images/turtle_reading.JPG
Perhaps it's time to do some grown-up reading?

Feel free to make a pitch for a certain novel, or tell me how stupid of an idea this is. I don't mind what happens in the chat below, as long it's loosely related to Dickens, book clubs, or Quark. If I left off a major work in the poll, let me know and I can put it up there. For summaries of the books, you can check reference books like Dickens A-Z (1999) or Critical Companion to Charles Dickens: a Literary Reference (2006). Many are available online, too.

Oh, and if you don't take part in this book club, go participate in some other one! Without book clubs, LitNet is just another forum.

[OrphanPip]

Well I voted for the Pickwick Papers, because it's his first full novel and a book club might as well start from the beginning.

I'd be happy with Great Expectations, David Copperfield, or pretty much any of the others.

[johnw1]

I've plumped for A Tale of Two Cities since I've not read it and heard very good things about it - and it's short. Possibly would join in with a re-read of Our Mutual Friend though.

[L.M. The Third]

Are you going to do this during specific months? As in a book a month, or just as it works for readers? I presume that you'll keep on doing Dickens book-club reads, so hopefully I'll be able to join for some.

[dfloyd]

until you have seen some of the Dickens' dramatizatons, especially those made by Masterpiece Theatre. However, some older ones in B&W are great because of the actors/director in the film versions. The two David Lean produced in the late 1940s, Oliver Twist and Great Expectation, are exceptional with a heavily made up Alec Guiness as Fagin. John Mills as a grown up Pip is unforgetable. Pip's friend, Herbert Pocket, is a not so made up Alec Guiness. Jeanne Simmons, in one of her first roles, is a memorable Estella when she humiliates Pip when he comes to play at Miss Haversham's.

And who can forget Ronald Coleman as the dissolute Sydney Carton. He is so good that you don't mind the Bastille made out of paper maiche.

In the twilight of his career, Alec Guiness portrays Little Dorrit's father who is condemned to spend his life in a debtor's prison. Diana Rigg is the haughty, but beautiful, Lady Dedlock of Bleak House. In another black & white movie, Allister Syms is the best ever Scrooge.

All of Dickens' novels plus a Christmas Carol have been dramatized with the exception of Barnaby Rudge and Dombey & Son. See the movies, then read the book. Dickens novels are not mysteries!

[Quark]

I presume that you'll keep on doing Dickens book-club reads, so hopefully I'll be able to join for some.

I actually hadn't that far ahead. I was just testing the water to see if there was any interest. Suddenly, though, eight people have already voted in the first two hours. If there's this much support for another Dickens book, yes, I'll definitely start another poll and a second discussion.


Are you going to do this during specific months? As in a book a month, or just as it works for readers?

Just as it works out for readers. I don't want it to drag out over a year (see the Aeneid thread), but I think we can just let it play out and see what happens. Besides, if we end up reading a large novel like Bleak House, it will be hard to keep everyone to a set timetable--since we all read and post at different speeds.

[Dark Muse]

I have only recently started reading Dicken's and haven't read much by him thus far, but I have enjoyed what I have read, I would be interesting in this. I went for Tale of Two Cities, becasue I have been wanting to read that one, but could never quite self-motivate myself to do so.

[novelsryou]

I just finished ATOTC so I voted for Great Expectations which is sitting on my shelf.

[mal4mac]

I've read all of these except for Our Mutual Friend, but I'd be happy to re-read any of them.

Martin Chuzzlewit, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Barnaby Rudge are not obscure! Not as likely to appear on lists, perhaps. Out of these three, I've only read Martin Chuzzlewit, and I think it deserves to be on this list.

Reading Dickens is al lot easier than reading the Aeniad. Why not set a target for reading the chosen novel in a month?

[Quark]

I went for Tale of Two Cities, becasue I have been wanting to read that one, but could never quite self-motivate myself to do so.

A Tale of Two Cities is a good one. Besides having some of the most memorable opening and closing lines in literature, it also has one of the best character arcs in all of literature. I'd read it again. You know, it's actually a little like a sensation novel--if you're familiar with that genre. It's all about wrongful imprisonments, mistaken identity, shifting laws, narrow escapes. It was published in All The Year Round's alongside many other sensation tales like Wilkie Collin's novel The Woman in White, and some of that seemed to rub off on Dickens during the years he was writing A Tale of Two Cities.


I've only read Martin Chuzzlewit, and I think it deserves to be on this list.

Agreed, but I'm finding that I have no idea how to add an option on a poll. Anyone know how to do that?


Why not set a target for reading the chosen novel in a month?

There are still a lot of variables--like how many posters will participate, what novel we're going to read, and the speed at which everyone reads--so I'm a little loath to set a target when so much is undecided. If there's eight people posting and we're trying to read through all of Our Mutual Friend, then this will take more than a month. I intend to move us through the novel a few chapters at a time, and we can have a string of mini-discussions about each part of the text. As long as there's sizable interest I'll keep the discussion on that part of the text before moving on. This seems like a successful strategy for going about these book clubs, and it's worked on both the Lawrence Short Story Thread (which has over 3,000 posts) and the Chekhov Short Story Thread (which has gotten over 1,000 posts). That being said, maybe there will be a loose, informal target for when we should get to the end of the novel (like a month or two).

[L.M. The Third]

I won't be able to join this months, as I've too many books going at once. But if you keeping doing Dickens-reads, then hopefully I can join you soon.

[mal4mac]

Agreed, but I'm finding that I have no idea how to add an option on a poll. Anyone know how to do that?

I'm happy with your list, it provides a good selection. So unless someone else complains, I wouldn't worry about it. Anyway, Martin has now lost the chance to attract early votes, so you will just make the poor chap look worse by adding him to the list now :)

[MagicalSoul]

I've read the Tale of Two Cities and was okay. I read it to improve my English and then was caught by the way this auther writes, so I read Hard Time which was great. I read it twice, analyzing as much as I can.

Dickens is one of my favorite authors. I look forward to read all of his books. After getting rid of university, soon I hope. :)

[cgrillo]

I voted for Our Mutual Friend. I have a new, untouched copy that I've been dying to read...

[prendrelemick]

I think I'll vote for Pickwick Papers, but a very difficult choice.

[IceM]

I voted for Our Mutual Friend because teachers and well-read peers in high school alike have gloated about how brilliant the novel is, and how brilliant they are for reading it when I haven't.

[Three Sparrows]

I would really like to read Nicolas Nicolby, but I do not own the book and I do not know when I can get it, so maybe I will just watch until next time. Looks like this is gonna be a good club though!:D

[Quark]

I won't be able to join this months, as I've too many books going at once. But if you keeping doing Dickens-reads, then hopefully I can join you soon.

With how many votes this poll is getting, I'm guessing that there will probably be interest for another discussion. It might be a while before we finish up this one, though, as Dickens novels tend to be large, intricate, and multi-layered creations that take some time to read and discuss.


I'm happy with your list, it provides a good selection. So unless someone else complains, I wouldn't worry about it.

It does annoy me, however, that I can't remember what I need to do to add a option to the poll. I thought I remembered doing this before, but maybe I'm making that up. In any case, if there's another Dickens discussion, I'll put Martin Chuzzlewit in the list of nominations.


I voted for Our Mutual Friend because teachers and well-read peers in high school alike have gloated about how brilliant the novel is, and how brilliant they are for reading it when I haven't.

Well, prepare to join that club of insufferable geniuses, because it looks like Our Mutual Friend is about to win. There's still five days left for voting, but Our Mutual Friend is up three votes to its nearest rival. Here's the breakdown so far:

Our Mutual Friend: 6
Great Expectations: 3
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club: 3
David Copperfield: 3
A Tale of Two Cities: 2
Hard Times: For These Times: 2
Bleak House: 1

Total Votes: 20


I would really like to read Nicolas Nicolby, but I do not own the book and I do not know when I can get it, so maybe I will just watch until next time.

Nicolas Nicolby is on my list to read, too. I'd like to get to it at some point.


Looks like this is gonna be a good club though!:D

Oh, it better be.

[dfloyd]

the last complete novel written by Dickens. His last novel, of course, is The Mystery of Edward Drood which was incomplete at his death. Our Mutual Friend was the first Dickens novel I read since I had a copy of it which I have forgotten how I got. Years later I watched the BBC dramatization of the book. It was so good, I read the book again. I would advise anyone contemplating reading this novel to watch the BBC series. It will give you a clearer picture of this Dickens classic.

[mal4mac]

I would really like to read Nicolas Nicolby, but I do not own the book and I do not know when I can get it, so maybe I will just watch until next time. Looks like this is gonna be a good club though!:D

You can get a copy at "The Old Curiosity Shop", I got my copy of Black Haus there...

[hannah_t]

I'm not voting this time, since I've read 2 Dickens books this year, and am concentrating on other Victorian authors in order to be prepared for my A Level Lit exam at the end of the year :) But I think this is awesome, and will definately be joining in over the summer holidays when I have a minute to myself to read what I want to. Gotta love Dickens :)

[Quark]

Years later I watched the BBC dramatization of the book. It was so good, I read the book again. I would advise anyone contemplating reading this novel to watch the BBC series. It will give you a clearer picture of this Dickens classic.

Yeah, and you can get most of the BBC adaptations online at YouTube or elsewhere. I'll post links to the dramatization for whichever book we end up reading.


I'm not voting this time, since I've read 2 Dickens books this year, and am concentrating on other Victorian authors in order to be prepared for my A Level Lit exam at the end of the year :) But I think this is awesome, and will definately be joining in over the summer holidays when I have a minute to myself to read what I want to. Gotta love Dickens :)

The thread should last until summer. Good luck on exams!

[Quark]

Great Expectations is catching up.

[Scheherazade]

I wouldn't mind reading Hard Times.

(Moving this thread to the Dickens subforum).

[Jozanny]

All I know is I just popped in and decided that I must steal Sche's signature; it should be my epitaph!

As to Dickens, (and pray tell does he even have an epitaph?) I voted for *Friend* and don't know why. I skimmed, and only skimmed, an enthusiastic great writer is Dickens article over the winter holiday, and it talked about all that tremendous energy of his emotional pain that went into all those lengthy manuscripts, but I cannot keep thinking about how much I hated the death scene of the toy-dollish first wife in David Copperfield.

How much does subjective taste get in the way of appreciating legitimate achievement? I do not consider this spurious; my academic advisor contested with me over Dickens, and the Jamesians broke into a heated argument (wherein I wisely did not post a squeak) between the mostly dead terminal degree scholars, their students, and one of those non-scholar queer fanatic persons who latch onto an author (I had one of my own in the 80's and yes, it is queer in terms of in outer space out there) over what Dickens works achieve or don't, and to be honest, I've always been inclined toward impatience with the melodrama.

[OrphanPip]

Dora is a fairly unsympathetic character, we're apparently supposed to pay more attention to how her childishness and complete lack of character serves to educate David and ignore the fact that she's nearly sickeningly pure even by usual Dickensian standards. What I can't wrap my head around is why Dickens named one of his daughters after the character.

For a novel so much about defining an individual's identity this moment of investing oneself entirely into the happiness of another person fits well, but it would be nice if there was something moderately likeable about Dora. I've always felt that her obsession with the puppy mirrors David's obsession with her.

[Jazz_]

I think I'll vote for A Tale Of Two Cities...

It's been a while since I read any Dickens, I'm looking forward to it :D

[Quark]

Only one day left to vote! Then, I'll start a new thread on the novel that wins. It's looking like Our Mutual Friend is going to win right now, but there's quite a few books with three votes and one with four that could catch up. In the case of a tie, I'll break the vote, as I haven't put a vote in for anything yet.

[hoope]

Why do we have to vote for one.. ! it was so hard ..

I mean Great Expectation is a great book.. Hard times i read it .. but i find it hard in the begninning .. Yet a good one too.. Tale of Two cities.. all are great works !!
Oh christmas Carol i wanted to choose for once.. but then i said coz its a short story maybe i should go for the big novels.. though from my point of view .. its an amazing story with a motive & goal .. !
However my choice was Oliver Twist the first book i ever read for Dickens , i was only in grade 6 - that is why it makes difference for me .. ! i love it :)

[Quark]

Just a few more hours until the poll closes!

[Quark]

Poll closed! With 7 votes, Our Mutual Friend wins. I'll start a thread for it tomorrow. I'm already about a third of the way through rereading it, but things will probably go quite slow for the first few days while people start to read.

Thanks for voting everyone. I was pleasantly surprised to see so much interest in Dickens. If the discussion goes well, I'm sure we can start another thread on a different Dickens novel after we finish Our Mutual Friend.

When I start the Our Mutual Friend discussion tomorrow, I'll post a link here to the new thread.

[Dark Muse]

Our Mutural Friend is one of the few Dicken's novels I have acutally read, and though I enjoyed, I just cannot read it again, it is quite thick, and well it wasn't that long ago since I read it. But I may drop in on the discussion.

[Aravona]

I went for 'The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby' - I do love Dickens, but his wonderful books have been tainted by GCSE disection of his novels.

[blazeofglory]

I like Dickens for he was really against the corrupt capitalists of his days and there is a stench of socialism in his writing and some raised their voices against the books of Dickens

[caspian]

I guess I just increased the stats, my late vote went for "tale of two citys". I've resently bought it. It's so pleasant to see there're still many Dickens novels i've not read. I love Dickens, can read him any time. "mutual friend" is just fine. I haven't read it.

[Jozanny]

I will make a reluctant attempt to start the novel this weekend :arf:. To turn a phrase on an old comment Scheherazade made in relation to Hardy: I have read enough of Dickens to know why his detractions stick in my throat, but a significant period of time has elapsed since I sat and stared them in the face.:yikes:

[Quark]

The Our Mutual Friend thread is up:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=876692#post876692