Which ONE Dickens book to read?

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Oh well, just ordered A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. That's my weakness obviously, I can't buy only one book at the time.

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Well, I have to admit that I really like your choices. :) Which one do you think you will read first?

Probably The Mystery of Edwin Drood as it's the shortest book of the four except A Christmas Carol. Then I think I'll read Bleak House, which I forgot to put in my list, and then Great Expectations. I'll read A Tale of Two Cities somewhere in between or last.

I don't know when I'll read them though. I'm going in the army in january and I already have a list of about 15 books I will bring with me (everything from Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Nabokov, to Franz Kafka and Jane Austen).

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Originally Posted by Nico87

I don't know when I'll read them though. I'm going in the army in january and I already have a list of about 15 books I will bring with me (everything from Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Nabokov, to Franz Kafka and Jane Austen).

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Reading in the army? That will be an adventure! :D

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Probably The Mystery of Edwin Drood as it's the shortest book of the four except A Christmas Carol. Then I think I'll read Bleak House, which I forgot to put in my list, and then Great Expectations. I'll read A Tale of Two Cities somewhere in between or last.

I don't know when I'll read them though. I'm going in the army in january and I already have a list of about 15 books I will bring with me (everything from Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Nabokov, to Franz Kafka and Jane Austen).

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Good choices ;)
Good luck with the army :) .

Hehe yeah, Afghanistan actually. Heard the norwegians are having a boring time there, so will def be time for some reading.

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Originally Posted by Nico87

Probably The Mystery of Edwin Drood as it's the shortest book of the four except A Christmas Carol. Then I think I'll read Bleak House, which I forgot to put in my list, and then Great Expectations. I'll read A Tale of Two Cities somewhere in between or last.

I don't know when I'll read them though. I'm going in the army in january and I already have a list of about 15 books I will bring with me (everything from Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Nabokov, to Franz Kafka and Jane Austen).

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Wow! From Dostoevsky to Austen, huh? That really is a variety. :)

Well, whenever you get along to reading "Edwin Drood" I would be extremely curious to hear your opinion!

Good luck in the army! :)

i have only read a handfull of his novels but the pickwick papers really did make me laugh a lot . and great expectations i have since reread as i enjoyed it so much , i couldnt finish little dorrit though .

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Originally Posted by kilted exile

Everyone else around here is probably fed up hearing me say this (reading me write this dont sound right) BUT Dickens achieved perfection with Hard Times. It is definitively Dickens - memorable characters, scathing criticism of social happenings, laugh out loud humour & a dark underbelly.

For a person new to Dickens however I would usually recommend David Copperfield, and would definitely steer them away from starting with Bleak House (which while excellent is perhaps the one of his novels I took longest to get fully absorbed in - save it for later)

My top 3 of Dickens:

Hard Times
Great Expectations
Bleak House

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I definatly agree with you about "Hard Times", it is an excellent novel (it struggles for close 2nd for with (with Barnaby Rudge - a very under-rated Dickens')...but I would suggest that Hard Times can be appreciated much better by one who has a bit of experience with Dickens and would not recommend it as a starter.

I cannot cannot believe no one recommended David Copperfield. The novel touches me deeply more than his other novels.

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Originally Posted by marakatsu

I cannot cannot believe no one recommended David Copperfield. The novel touches me deeply more than his other novels.

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I would but it's the only Dickens' I've read beside Christmas Carroll in french translation...

David Copperfield is a good novel, but I think Great Expectatons is the novel I would recommend. It truely ranks with the great ones. I can't understand why Baz was disappointed.

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Originally Posted by kilted exile

Everyone else around here is probably fed up hearing me say this (reading me write this dont sound right) BUT Dickens achieved perfection with Hard Times. It is definitively Dickens - memorable characters, scathing criticism of social happenings, laugh out loud humour & a dark underbelly.

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Here Here! I second this thought. A brilliant work indeed! :)


Nico87, the books you purchased are good choices, you won't be disappointed. :)

To be honest I am not a great fan of Dickens. But if pushed to recommend some titles I suggest you start with Tale Of Two Cities and follow up with Pickwick Papers. Good luck in the army. Stay safe mate.

I've spent the past year and a half on practically nothing but Dickens.
I only have Our Mutual Friend and Little Dorrit to go through. I got half way through Pickwick and got so lost in the bazillion characters that I gave up.
This is the order I go with

David Copperfield
Bleak House
Nicholas Nickleby
Dombey and Son
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
Hard Times
Barnaby Rudge
A Tale of Two Cities
The Old Curiosity Shop
A Christmas Carol
Mystery of Edwin Drood (I liked it alot but would prefer to have a completion)
Martin Chuzzlewit

It's many years since I read Dickens, but I seem to recall Our Mutual Friend as a standout. Also the one with the Circumlocution Office (which I discovered to be an accurate portrayal of the National Health 35 years ago) - Little Dorritt, I think? Loved Pickwick Papers - especially the part where Pickwick's friends go through the lawyer's bill and decide which parts of it he should pay. Loved all of them, I think - must be time to start rereading . . .