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Jean's Charles Dickens challenge 2014-2015 (and maybe a little further ...)
Jean - I'll read-along with The Chimes if I may. I've not read any Christmas stuff apart from A Christmas Carol.
Sure - always glad to have you along John. I picked that one as "The Pickwick Club" are doing it too :)
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I'm alternating with books about Dickens, and am halfway through The Invisible Woman, which I think you've also read, haven't you Alannah? Then next month just the short Christmas story The Chimes. My next full novel will be Barnaby Rudge. There's a full annotated list in comment 1.
Great cartoon Jean!Jean wrote: "My next full novel will be Barnaby Rudge.
There's a full annotated list in comment 1."
It has been a while since I looked back to comment #1 and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I now have only one major novel left unread -- Our Mutual Friend. I hope you won't mind if I don't wait for you to get to it though :D
I have slogged my way through what I thought would be an entertaining read, The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin. Objectively, I gave it 3*, but not personally! My first thought was 2*.Here is the review, in which I say why.
Leslie - LOL! I'll be interested to hear your views on his final completed novel, though :)
edited comment re. star rating, which I changed a few hours after posting the review.
Jean wrote: "I have slogged my way through what I thought would be an entertaining read, The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin. I was sorry to give it only 2*, but in all honesty ..."Too bad! I sometimes struggle with the GR definitions for the ratings -- for example, I liked my most recent audiobook but I can't really say "I really liked it". On the other hand, I keep thinking about it & it evoked some strong emotions, so I think that the writing deserves a higher than average rating...
And I will let you know what I think when I do finally get around to my "last" Dickens -- I have the Librivox audiobook narrated by the marvelous Mil Nicholson (as well as the Kindle book) :)
Finally given in after I found it was preying on my mind (!) and upped it to 3* LOL! As you say Leslie, I too do struggle with the subjective ratings and prefer to give an objective one if I can. And I wanted to be fair. In this case I've settled on my default of 3* because of the sheer amount of research done and detail included. But my personal reaction remains that it's a 2* read. (I added the info to the review.)
Several of you rave about Mil Nicholson. Some day I would like to listen to her!
Jean wrote: "Several of you rave about Mil Nicholson. Some day I would like to listen to her!..."
Well, the Librivox recordings are free so I hope that you do! Here is the link to her Librivox page which shows what recordings she has done & whether they are solo or collaborative...
Thank you very much Leslie. This is very helpful :)
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No, I never got around to The Invisible Woman. I was advised not to bring it in but it is on my to-read list.
Alannah - If you like, you could take a look at my review - and the subsequent comments. I do provide an overview of what the book is about. And apparently I was being quite controversial in what I said!(Link in message 614.)
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I will do.
2015
I read The Chimes in December 2014.
I will be continuing this challenge through 2015, starting with Barnaby Rudge. I'll probably repeat the same pattern as 2014. So for the first part of the year it will be the novels only, and for the second half I'll alterate them with reading around Charles Dickens.
Bi-monthly reads again :)
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I will be continuing this challenge through 2015, starting with Barnaby Rudge. I'll probably repeat the same pattern as 2014. So for the ..."
Barnaby Rudge is one book I am looking forward to reading, I hope it is as good as Bleak House, loved that one.
I think Bleak House is perhaps his masterpiece, Alannah! Last time I read Barnaby Rudge I wasn't very keen. I don't think he's really at his best with historical novels, but maybe I'll like it better this time round :) Are you thinking of reading it quite soon, Alannah?
Mod
In the next month or so. It's not set in stone at the minute.
We might coincide then :) Feel free to comment here, anyway!
Starting today ...
Lovely picture! I really enjoyed the book last year, much more than A Tale of Two Cities, so I hope you enjoy it more this time, Jean.
It's by Frederick Barnard. Barnaby Rudge (as you know, of course) and Grip the raven.I'm hoping so too, John. That does seem to be the way it goes for me :)
Dare I say it, it's ripeness of judgment!
Great picture Jean! I found Grip fascinating, as I hadn't previously thought of ravens as pets.
He was based on a pet raven Dickens had, called Grip. It wasn't his first, but it was the one he loved most. And this raven died in 1841, from eating lead chips. Dickens had it stuffed, copying George IV who had had his pet giraffe stuffed.And Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven was inspired by Grip ... Russell Lowell, who was a contemporary of Poe's, rather unkindly wrote,
"Here comes Poe with his Raven, like Barnaby Rudge,
Three fifths of him genius, two fifths sheer fudge."
Interesting! The couplet made me smile although it is rather unkind as you said...
Enjoy Jean! I haven't read this one but I'm not sure I'll have time to join you at the moment
Thanks Heather, no it's not an obvious choice, and quite long too. One for completists I reckon ;)
The original engravings in this book are by two of Dickens's favourite artists, George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). Here's Cattermole's very first illustration of "The Maypole" public house, where a lot of the action will be set:
And here's some of Dickens's description of it. He often makes his buildings sound like actual people :)
"The Maypole was an old building, with more gable ends than a man would care to count on a sunny day ... It was a hale and hearty age though, still: and in the summer or autumn evenings, when the glow of the setting sun fell upon the oak and chestnut trees of the adjacent forest, the old house, partaking of its lustre, seemed their fit companion, and to have many good years of life in him yet."
Now I particularly love this picture, because it's a real place, a few minutes' drive from where I live! In Dickens's day the road was not a very easy one to travel and inhabited by highwaymen - but the building is still there. It's not the one called "The Maypole" - they pinched the name - but the original pub is this one:
And this is what Dickens wrote about it to his mentor, friend, and later, biographer John Forster,
“Chigwell, my dear fellow, is the greatest place in the world. Name your day for going. Such a delicious old inn facing the church–such a lovely ride–such forest scenery–such an out-of-the-way rural place–such a sexton! I say again, Name your day.”
And what's the beer like, now, Jean, or is your tipple something else?I think the scenes in The Maypole really were some of the most enjoyable parts of the book.
I'm really enjoying it right from the start! There's such an air of mystery with the two strangers in the Maypole, that long involved story of murder and intrigue told by by old Solomon Daisy, envigorating horserides in the pitch black across the treacherous highwayman-infested wilds of Essex, the young gentleman set upon in the dark by ... unknown foes, two claimants on Dolly's affections, and the feeling of unease and change - the brewing of the riots, just under the surface. Derring deeds afoot! And I've only read 5 chapters.Yes, all the Maypole scenes are steeped in atmosphere. I have the feeling of being sat right there with the characters, on a cold, dark winter's evening, enjoying a glass of punch, listening to the crackle of the fire, and watching the smoke curling upwards from one of those long-stemmed pipes ...
But sorry to spoil your picture John - although it was built in 1547, and is one of the oldest public houses in England, "Ye Olde Kings Head" has actually been an upmarket Turkish restaurant since 2011! :D
Love the illustration coupled with the photo Jean! Enjoy your time with the "Riots of 'eighty" :D
Thanks, Leslie! How things change though ...
Love that you can put the book into context, Jean. I always enjoy reading your comments as you go through a Dickens novel. It's so lovely to see somebody with such a passion for their favourite author
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I'm noticing far more "cliffhangers" than before in his novels. Barnaby Rudge was originally published in 88 weekly installments in Master Humphrey's Clock, between Feb and Nov 1841. So although it's a longish novel, it has a short gap between each episode compared with, say the previous one Nicholas Nickleby, which was in 19 monthly installments.Take the thrilling end of chapter 20,
"She was really frightened now, and was yet hesitating what to do, when the bushes crackled and snapped, and a man came plunging through them, close before her."
So readers at the time would have to wait until the next episode to find out that it is (view spoiler).
Or the one I've just read, chapter 30, where (view spoiler),
"I have done it now ... I knew it would come at last. The Maypole and I must part company. I'm a vagabond - she hates me for evermore - it's all over!"
Dickens certainly knew how to keep his audience in suspense! We of course can just turn the page, or swipe the ereader, but they must have found it unbearably frustrating. There's an anecdote about this, which is probably apocryphal ...
"One day a lady was at a Smiths bookseller at a train station and asked the vendor for the next installment of the most recent Dickens novel. The vendor said that he had not received them yet. She persisted and said he should have it in stock by now. The lady became irritated on the station platform.
A rather short, well-dressed man approached her and said,
"Excuse me. My name is Charles Dickens and I have not yet even begun the next installment. It is not due until next week."
Wonderful anecdote, Jean. I hadn't realised about the '88'. That explains a lot, doesn't it?
Yes - I got to wondering about the difference so just checked!
Love the anecdote Jean! I guess the weekly installments were similar to network TV shows nowadays -- have to wait 'til next week to find out what happens!
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I guess the weekly installments were similar to network TV shows nowadays -- have to wait 'til next week to find out what happens!"
I think they study their tecniques!
Yes, I often think writers of soaps have to develop the same technique of "writing to deadlines" as very early writers of installment ficion. There's really nothing new, is there? ;)
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Then in December I'll be reading one of the Christmas stories again, The Chimes.
The next novel of his I'll be reading is Barnaby Rudge.