Please Introduce Yourself

[Milena]

Hello Imran and Pillsonista. Welcome! :-)

[Diana]

Hello everyone! I just joined and I'm excited to start reading and discussing Charles Dickens' novels.

A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield are two of my favorite books.

[Mary Lou]

Welcome, Diana! We're about a third of the way through the delightful adventures of Mr. Pickwick - feel free to jump in if you're able.

[Bionic Jean]

Welcome Diana! You're in good company here, and I think you have excellent taste :)

[Tristram]

Welcome to you, Diana! Like Mary Lou said, if you are able to get a copy of PP and start reading, I'm sure you'll have fun joining our discussions :-)

[Peter]

Welcome Diana

Please join us on our journey with Mr Pickwick.

[Kim]

Welcome Diana, it's nice to meet you. You obviously have a wonderful taste in books. :-)

[Milena]

Diana wrote: "Hello everyone! I just joined and I'm excited to start reading and discussing Charles Dickens' novels.

A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield are two of my favorite books."

Hello Diana, welcome :-)

[Carol]

I'm Carol, and have been reading Dickens since about age 13 or 14 when my parents purchased a lot at an auction, which contained the entire set - not the thing they were bidding on. My favorites are Our Mutual Friend and A Tale of Two Cities. Among my favorite characters are Samuel Weller, Sydney Carton and Lizzie Hexam.

[Peter]

Carol wrote: "I'm Carol, and have been reading Dickens since about age 13 or 14 when my parents purchased a lot at an auction, which contained the entire set - not the thing they were bidding on. My favorites ar..."


Hi Carol

Welcome aboard. Sam Weller awaits as we are reading PP now.

[Mary Lou]

Hi Carol. Sounds like a great auction - I'm jealous! Welcome to the group!

[Kim]

Welcome Carol. I would have liked to be at that auction.

[Tristram]

Welcome to the Club, Carol! As a fan of Sam Weller's, you might probably want to join our reading of Pickwick right away :-)

[Milena]

Carol wrote: "I'm Carol, and have been reading Dickens since about age 13 or 14 when my parents purchased a lot at an auction, which contained the entire set - not the thing they were bidding on. My favorites ar..."

Hello Carol, welcome! This is the first time I'm reading The Pickwick Papers and so far Sam Weller is my favourite character. :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi, I'm Doug.
I retired in January of 2017 from the electric utility industry, my degree is in Nuclear Engineering. Retirement has given me lots of time to catch up on many of the books that I've always intended to read, and re-read favorites ... like Dickens.

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities. It hasn't lost any of it's appeal for me. No-one writes more memorable characters than Dickens. That famous opening passage makes Dickens look more prescient than ever.

I don't know if I can catch up with the group on the Pickwick Papers, but I'm jumping in this evening. Looking forward to participating!

[Carol]

Welcome Doug. I just joined last week, and catching up was easy. If you're already a Dickens fan, the pages will fly by.

[Mary Lou]

Carol and Doug, we hope you'll both jump into the discussion when you've caught up!

[Peter]

Doug wrote: "Hi, I'm Doug.
I retired in January of 2017 from the electric utility industry, my degree is in Nuclear Engineering. Retirement has given me lots of time to catch up on many of the books that I've a..."

Welcome Doug. You have arrived at the best place to read and discuss Dickens.

[Milena]

Hello Doug, welcome! I’m looking forward to your joining the conversation :)

[Kim]

Welcome Doug, it's nice to meet you, finally I have someone around me who isn't a teacher. :-)

[[deleted user]]

Kim wrote: "Welcome Doug, it's nice to meet you, finally I have someone around me who isn't a teacher. :-)"

That's funny!

Thanks to all for the welcome.

[Tristram]

Hi Doug,

Although belatedly, a warm welcome from me! And I can fully agree to what you say about Dickens's memorable characters!

[Chris]

Hi. My name is Chris and I'm fortunate enough to live in the beautiful Blue Mountains in Australia. I noticed your group a couple of years ago when I first joined Goodreads and I was waiting for the group to complete its cycle and begin again with The Pickwick Papers. I noticed yesterday that you were back to the beginning.

I'm off to a little bit of a late start with The Pickwick Papers but am confident I will have it finished by 18th May. I'm reading in conjunction with an audible edition read by a wonderful reader. Many years ago I read A Tale of Two Cities ( which I loved ) and David Copperfield.

I look to reading all of Charles Dickens in order as a pleasurable challenge.

Thank you,

Chris

[Mary Lou]

Welcome Chris! You'll find that Pickwick is much different than A Tale of Two Cities, but I hope you'll enjoy it! Feel free to read the older threads as you go along, and add your comments. We'd love to hear your impressions as you catch up.

[Kim]

Welcome Chris! It's nice to meet you.

[Tristram]

Hi Chris, and welcome to the group! Don't worry about catching up with us on Pickwick: I find it harder to read this book a few chapters a week than reading it in one go because it is so refreshing - like the spring that isn't taking place outside at the moment.

[Peter]

Hi Chris

Welcome to the world of Dickens. Please join in with your comments and ideas.

[Alissa]

Hello, I discovered Dickens a few years ago when I read A Christmas Carol and thought it much better than the movies. I really love his humor and the way he describes people.

I decided to join this group to read more of his works and discuss them. I look forward to reading Oliver Twist with you all!

[Peter]

Hi Alissa

You have perfect timing. We just began our reading of Oliver Twist.

The Curiosities are a great group of people so please join our conversations.

[Tristram]

Hello Alissa,

As Peter said, this is a very good moment to join this group because we are just about to start on a new novel, and one that will provide a lot of food for thought and discussion. If I remember well, opinions on this novel were quite divided about some members here. But then controversial discussions are the salt in the soup of reading.

Have fun and don't hesitate to join our discussions!

[Kim]

Welcome Alissa,

Have fun while you're here, we have such fun here!

[Bobbie]

Hi, I'm Bobbie from Texas, not born here but I got here as soon as I could at age 8, so consider myself Texan. But I love reading anything about or set in the British Isles having heritage from there. I have been reading Dickens for a number of years but only about one per year. I read slowly and I am in several groups so it is hard for me to keep up at times. I see you are already reading Nicholas Nickleby and that is one I had hoped to read next so I will be behind from the beginning. I have 8 grandchildren, I quilt and do genealogy research and Christmas is coming up too soon, but I will give it my best shot. I am very happy to find a group to discuss Dicken's works with as I dearly love Dickens. So, I will be tagging along at the end of the discussion, I am sure, but enjoying all the comments.

[Linda]

Welcome to the group, Bobbie! You've found the perfect group for discussing all things Dickens.

I done a bit of quilting myself, but tend to get my hand into too many things (lately it's been embroidery) so I haven't quilted for many years now.

You'll find out soon enough in the course of discussions that you mentioned Kim's favorite word in your introduction. :)





(Christmas)

[Bionic Jean]

Hi Bobbie and welcome! This is definitely the best group for getting the nitty-gritty out of Dickens, and I think you'll find the pace we read at here just perfect too :)

[Tristram]

Welcome to the Curiosities, Bobbie!

Do not worry about your reading pace because we are also rather slow-going in comparison with other groups but we feel there is no rush when going through Dickens since you would not rush on a pleasure walk through an idyllic landscape. Feel free to join in on our discussions whenever you like!

[Peter]

Welcome Bobbie

If you enjoy Dickens and great discussions you have arrived!

Please join us.

[Bobbie]

Thanks so much for the welcome. I am looking forward to more Dickens reading, this will be an incentive to reading them more quickly.

[Kim]

Welcome Bobbie! I also saw that you mentioned Christmas! A day that is coming too fast, in 91 days. That sounds so sad, it will be over before I know it. I have just come back from our two week vacation, and while on our trip we stop at many lovely places it is all leading up to getting to Frankenmuth, Michigan, the home of, get ready everybody.......Bronner's Christmas Wonderland! And again, welcome Bobbie, you are in the right place for Dickens. And Christmas. :-)

[Sue]

Hello everyone, I'm Sue from the south coast of England. I retired this year after a career in finance and I'm able now to indulge in full my love of reading. Hurrah!

When I was working, I used books as a way of switching off from the stresses of the work day. I tended to read crime mysteries and historical fiction. Now that I have more time, I plan to explore a wider range of books.

Strangely I haven't read Dickens and don't know much about him. (I can leave now if you like...?)

Actually there's one exception to that. I have read A Christmas Carol but I tend to think of that as "Dickens light" compared to some of his heftier or darker tomes. So I am looking forward to reading these books alongside people who know more about him and his work than I do. I feel that I will get more out of them, and enjoy them more, in company!

[Mary Lou]

Great to have you here, Sue! We're reading the novels in order, filling in between with some of the Sketches by Boz and, in December, one of his Christmas stories. We'll shortly be finishing up with Nicholas Nickleby, so you're jumping in at a good time.

I hope you'll enjoy Dickens as much as we do. The wonderful people in this group will make it an even more enriching experience. Please join us for the Christmas read, and feel free to jump into the discussion!

[Peter]

Sue wrote: "Hello everyone, I'm Sue from the south coast of England. I retired this year after a career in finance and I'm able now to indulge in full my love of reading. Hurrah!

When I was working, I used bo..."

Welcome Sue

If you enjoy reading and would like to be with a group who love to discuss Dickens then you have arrived at the perfect place.

Please jump into our discussions at any point.

Enjoy.

[Tristram]

Hello Sue,

I join my friends in wishing you a hearty welcome to the group! You chose a very good moment because once we have got through The Old Curiosity Shop there will be astounding novels to discover and to discuss. Especially Dickens's darker works are always worth a (re-)read. So I am looking forward to your sharing in our discussions on the Inimitable ;-)

[Sue]

Thank you for such a warm welcome!

[Kim]

Welcome Sue! It's nice to meet you. I'm just taking a little break from setting up one of my Christmas villages. I had to come down for some books to use as hills. They come in so handy, just as long as I don't take one I happen to be reading. :-) Well, back to it, and again, welcome!

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "Hello Sue,

I join my friends in wishing you a hearty welcome to the group! You chose a very good moment because once we have got through The Old Curiosity Shop there will be astounding novels to d..."

Once we get through TOCS there will be astounding novels? What about TOCS? :-)

[Sue]

Thanks Kim and I’m intrigued by the idea of Christmas villages made of books, am I missing a new seasonal tradition here?!

[Julie]

Congrats on your retirement, Sue, and some good plans for starting it out!

[Kim]

The books are my hills. They are under the cotton at different levels so my villages aren't just sitting in long rows. I'll post a picture once I get back to the computer. Right now I'm saying not so nice things to myself because I broke the head off one of my people unpacking him and 30 seconds later broke a lamp post in half. My husband is warming up the hot glue gun as I sit here.

[Tristram]

Kim wrote: "They come in so handy, just as long as I don't take one I happen to be reading. :-)"

I have got a brilliant idea as to what books to use as hills then. Can you guess? It starts with "The Old ... " and ends in "... Curiosity Shop" ;-)

[Sue]

Kim wrote: "The books are my hills. They are under the cotton at different levels so my villages aren't just sitting in long rows. I'll post a picture once I get back to the computer. Right now I'm saying not ..."

I'd love to see the pictures when you have a moment Kim, it sounds lovely.