Please Introduce Yourself

[Kim]

Welcome Ulysse! We're happy to have you. I know Tristram is the one who invited you, but be careful around him, he can be so very grumpy! :-)

[Tristram]

Kim wrote: "Welcome Ulysse! We're happy to have you. I know Tristram is the one who invited you, but be careful around him, he can be so very grumpy! :-)"

My grumpiness is cheerfulness blended with perception :-)

[Tristram]

Glenno54 wrote: "Glad to have found a group devoted to Charles Dickens.

I read most of his novels in my teens and 50 years later have rediscovered his work as a retired person. It is going to be interesting to se..."

Welcome to the Old Curiosity Club, Glenno! If you like reading at your leisure and sharing your ideas about what you are reading, this is a good place for you to be.

[Kim]

Welcome to the club, Glenno! I hop you have some fun while you're here.

[Bobbie]

Welcome, Glenno! This is a great group and it's so nice to be gaining new members.

[Jen]

So glad I found this! I've seen one movie in theatres in the past 6 months, and that was Armando Ianucci's David Copperfield. I came back inspired to read the book, though I'm behind your schedule.

[Mary Lou]

Jen wrote: "So glad I found this! ..."

Welcome, Jen! We're delighted that you found us, too. I'm sure you'll be able to catch up with us in a few short weeks. In the meantime, I hope you'll jump into the discussions as you go. We'd love to get your opinions on everything thus far.

I haven't seen the new David Copperfield yet -- unfortunately, I'll have to wait for the DVD. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Peter]

Jen wrote: "So glad I found this! I've seen one movie in theatres in the past 6 months, and that was Armando Ianucci's David Copperfield. I came back inspired to read the book, though I'm behind your schedule."

Jen

Welcome aboard. Nothing like a Dickens novel. Please join in on the conversations.

[Kim]

Hi Jen, it's nice to meet you. Just jump into the conversations whenever you feel like it. We're a friendly group! :)

[Jen]

Mary Lou wrote: "Jen wrote: "So glad I found this! ..."

Welcome, Jen! We're delighted that you found us, too. I'm sure you'll be able to catch up with us in a few short weeks. In the meantime, I hope you'll jump i..."

I've been a huge fan of his since The Death of Stalin, and fortunately theatres are open where I live, so this was a nice Sunday morning activity. I also love his colour-blind casting.

[Kim]

Hmm, are theatres open in Pennsylvania yet? This has gone on so long I can't even remember anymore.

[Jess]

Kim wrote: "Hmm, are theatres open in Pennsylvania yet? This has gone on so long I can't even remember anymore."

Hey Kim! ---I am a theater critic here in Philadelphia so I can attest that no, they are not, but since this is the typical "Fringe" time of year you should know that theater artists are adapting to the given circumstances and are finding creative ways to still work.
Tonight I saw an intoxicating session of improvised storytelling via Youtube which is was the perfect remedy for the daily brutal televised insanity that is occurring in this country. Not sure if I can get you a link to tonight's performance but here is a peek at Nick Gillete's other work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBwe9...
Also check out HellaFresh doing an epistolary show mailed to you:https://hellafreshtheater.com/

[Tristram]

Jen wrote: "So glad I found this! I've seen one movie in theatres in the past 6 months, and that was Armando Ianucci's David Copperfield. I came back inspired to read the book, though I'm behind your schedule."

Hi Jen,

Welcome to the group! Feel free to join in our discussions. At least one of us is grumply - according to Kim - but all the rest are a cheerful lot!

[Julie]

Jen wrote: "Mary Lou wrote: "Jen wrote: "So glad I found this! ..."

Welcome, Jen! We're delighted that you found us, too. I'm sure you'll be able to catch up with us in a few short weeks. In the meantime, I h..."

Hi, Jen, and welcome! The preview of the new Copperfield movie looks excellent, but I am waiting until I've finished the book to see it.

[Kim]

Hi Jess, thanks for the info. I just saw that all Regal theaters are closing, I don't know if that means for good or just for the time being though. As for what we get to watch on television lately, I can't stand it anymore and tend to turn the thing off more and more. Last night every station we get was outside the hospital where the President was waiting for him to walk out and I was so tired of hearing about it and had no interest in seeing the guy walk from the door to the car and then the car to the helicopter, I turned the television off. We need more stations around here. :-)

[Mary Lou]

Kim wrote: "We need more stations around here..."

About the only station I watch anymore is TCM, and they make me pay extra for that. :-(

[Kim]

Mary Lou wrote: "Kim wrote: "We need more stations around here..."

About the only station I watch anymore is TCM, and they make me pay extra for that. :-("

I wish we got that station, it sounds interesting. I don't think I have a choice for that extra or not.

[Behzad]

Hi everyone :)
I'm Behzad from Iran. I've been wanting to join some sort of book club for ever. Due to my rather busy daily schedule, I feel the need to have a deadline push me forward when it comes to reading classics, which I really think I should read more of.
I was checking Goodreads and I found this group. I've already read Great Expectations and a Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I bought a copy of David Copperfield almost two years ago, and it's been sitting on some remote shelf collecting all the dust in the world. So I guess this can be a great opportunity for me to read the book (I'll do my best to keep up), learn something and make new friends along the way :)

[Peter]

Welcome Behzad

Dust off your copy of David Copperfield and please join us. You have already read two wonderful Dickens novels and I think you will find David Copperfield a great experience as well. Dickens himself once said that Copperfield was his favourite novel.

[Behzad]

Peter wrote: "Welcome Behzad

Dust off your copy of David Copperfield and please join us. You have already read two wonderful Dickens novels and I think you will find David Copperfield a great experience as well..."

Thanks Peter for your kind and welcoming comment :)
I'm already a couple of pages into the book and I can't put it down.

[Kim]

Behzad wrote: "Hi everyone :)
I'm Behzad from Iran. I've been wanting to join some sort of book club for ever. Due to my rather busy daily schedule, I feel the need to have a deadline push me forward when it come..."

Welcome Behzad, it's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're enjoying David Copperfield, it's one of my favorites. I hope you have some fun here with us.

[Behzad]

Kim wrote: "Behzad wrote: "Hi everyone :)
I'm Behzad from Iran. I've been wanting to join some sort of book club for ever. Due to my rather busy daily schedule, I feel the need to have a deadline push me forwa..."

Thank you Kim :)
I'm glad to meet you too. Reading is always fun, especially if it is with a group.

[Tristram]

Hello Behzad,

I am glad to hear you are enjoying David Copperfield so much. Feel invited to join in our discussions both on- and off-topic!

[Behzad]

Tristram wrote: "Hello Behzad,

I am glad to hear you are enjoying David Copperfield so much. Feel invited to join in our discussions both on- and off-topic!"

Hi Tristram and thank you. I've been checking the discussions, actually, and I'm looking for an opportunity to get in :)

[[deleted user]]

Welcome here, Behzad! Don't be afraid to just barge in and start spouting questions or things you want to say. That's what I did last year, and it worked ;-)

[Behzad]

Jantine wrote: "Welcome here, Behzad! Don't be afraid to just barge in and start spouting questions or things you want to say. That's what I did last year, and it worked ;-)"

Thanks for the advice Jantine :)
I usually need to summon up self-confidence in order to engage in social interactions, but your method seems more fun and practical :)

[Lauren]

Hello, I'm new here and thrilled to be joining in the fun. Thanks for having me here! I'm re-reading, "Oliver Twist" and delighting in the gorgeous words. For me, Charles Dickens can never stale.
I'm looking forward to some wonderful discussions with new friends. All the best!

[Peter]

Lauren

Welcome aboard.

Please join us in our discussions and assorted frivolities.

[Lauren]

Thanks, Peter!

[Kim]

Welcome Lauren, it's nice to meet you. Have some fun while you're here, we're a pretty crazy group!

[Lauren]

Awesome! Sounds like a good group.

[Tristram]

A warm welcome from me, Lauren! Enjoy reading and discussing Dickens, especially in times like these, which are a bit rough, on the whole.

[Laura]

Hello all,
I'm Laura 41 from Scotland. I've always been an avid reader and love the classics but have a gap in my reading as I've only ever A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations by Dickens.
Covid and lockdown has allowed me time to plan some reading and create a kind of bucket list - so I've decided to make 2021 the year I read all the Dickens novels. I'm aiming to do it by publication order so will start with Pickwick Papers in Jan.
Glad to be here and look forward to discussions etc.

[Kim]

Hi Laura,

Welcome to the group! I read Dickens the same way you are planning to. I read A Christmas Carol about forty times before I ever read my second Dickens which was A Tale of Two Cities. Then I went back to Pickwick and read my way through Dickens in the order written. I'm glad you'll be here with us.

[Laura]

Kim wrote: "Hi Laura,

Welcome to the group! I read Dickens the same way you are planning to. I read A Christmas Carol about forty times before I ever read my second Dickens which was A Tale of Two Cities. The..."

Thanks Kim,
I'm looking forward to getting started and the discussions :)

[Bobbie]

Welcome Laura, I'm sure you will enjoy this group. I love to hear from someone from Scotland since my daughter-in-law is from there and my husband and I have made two visits there. So enjoyable.

[Laura]

Bobbie wrote: "Welcome Laura, I'm sure you will enjoy this group. I love to hear from someone from Scotland since my daughter-in-law is from there and my husband and I have made two visits there. So enjoyable."

Thank you - lovely that you've visited Scotland :)

[Peter]

Laura wrote: "Hello all,
I'm Laura 41 from Scotland. I've always been an avid reader and love the classics but have a gap in my reading as I've only ever A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations by Dickens.
Covi..."

Hi Laura

Welcome to our group. During these Covid times a Dickens novel is a perfect companion. Please feel free to go into our archives and make comments on any of the chapters of any of the earlier books. Someone will always reply.

If I can be so bold ... we are beginning Bleak House in the New Year. Think about joining in with us. Bleak House is anything but bleak. To many, it is Dickens’s greatest novel.

Whatever you choose, we are glad you found us.

[Julie]

Hello, Laura--nice to meet you! My son moved to Scotland in August and is currently working in Edinburgh. I have never been there myself but would love to go. Looking forward to reading with you!

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Laura!
Scotland still is high on my list of countries I want to go to at least once. Somehow it has not come to that yet, and if things (read: covid) will allow my husband and me Northern Ireland will be first.

I agree that Bleak House is a great novel! And it certainly is one with which it will help to read in a group like we will do in January. I had to read it a second time to slighly follow the story (me being Dutch and my granddad giving it to me in English will play a part there too, I admit), I have read it at least 5 times now and am sure to still find new things in there that I didn't notice before. And that I'll learn new things from the others. It is the kind of book that is so detailed and has so much going on that I wish I had a group read like this the first or second time I read it ;-)

[Tristram]

A warm welcome from me, Laura!

Scotland is a wonderful country, and I'll never forget my tour around Loch Ness and my stay at Inverness some twenty-five years ago. And then there is the enchanting Edinburgh as well. I'd love to go again but at the moment, we are all going through home-staying days.

Like Peter, and also, like him, not wishing to interfere with your personal reading list, I boldly recommend you start with Bleak House if you want to have the full advantage of this group because this novel - my favourite Dickens, by the way - is next on our group discussion list. We are reading about three chapters per week, and in mid-December I will post a more detailed reading account. But, of course, that's just a suggestion.

[Kitty-Lydia]

Hello, I'm Kitty, I'm a writer and artist from Norfolk in the UK. My main intro to Dickens was the Oliver musical and BBC adaptations. The first story I read, when I was a teen, was A Christmas Carol.
What I love most is how the stories flow, even when the sentences go on for as long as a paragraph. The voice is so clear and the pacing is just so... sumptuous? I don't think that's the word I want to grasp, but writing nowadays has to be so snappy that it's enjoyable reading something which takes its time but never feels like it is dragging.
I got back into reading Dickens when I saw the latest David Copperfield film (and it was nice seeing some local areas in the scenes!). I'm currently halfway through The Old Curiosity Shop and I love how the imagery of the macabre and innocent are juxtaposed :)

[Mary Lou]

Welcome, Kitty! I'm excited to have someone who actually lives in the UK join our group. We're a few weeks out from finishing up Bleak House, but will be starting Hard Times soon. I hope you'll be able to join the discussions!

[Kitty-Lydia]

Mary Lou wrote: "Welcome, Kitty! I'm excited to have someone who actually lives in the UK join our group. We're a few weeks out from finishing up Bleak House, but will be starting Hard Times soon. I hope you'll be ..."

Thank you :) I haven't read Hard Times, so would enjoy taking part.

[Julie]

Hi, Kitty and welcome! I also enjoy the not-rushed-ness of 19th century novels.

Do I spy a Pride and Prejudice allusion in your username?

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Kitty-Lydia!
I love the calm exploration of these older novels as well, although I enjoy the fastness of something more modern too regularly. xD

[Tristram]

Hello Kitty-Lydia, and welcome to the group! We are starting Hard Times in early June but are going to read the short story The Trial for Murder before that.

It's nice to have an actual writer in the group, who may shed some light on narrative perspective, style and other tricks of the trade.

[Peter]

Welcome aboard Kitty-Lydia. Hard Times is coming up so what a great time to join in.

[Kim]

Welcome Kitty, I'm glad to meet you and look forward to reading Dickens with you.

[Peacejanz]

I just found out today that this reading club exists. My first degree was English from the U of Florida. Then teaching, selling and brokering real estate, then political advising, then Peace Corps (Korea - K-40), back to US for MBA from U of Central Florida, then Ph.D. in Organizational Systems from U of Florida. University prof after that - research and teach. Finally after 47 years, retirement. Body is in bad shape - not much travel anymore but my mind is still here. I love Dickens. Most of all he speaks for the underclass, for those who have not had the advantages I have had. About 25 years ago, had the chance to sit in on a grad seminar on Dickens by a Dickens scholar. I learned so much. A whole semester class on Dickens' work. Unfortunately, he died the next year so no more graduate seminars. I classify my job now as learner. Thanks to all of you for loving/or wanting to know more about Dickens. peace, janz