The Old Curiosity Club discussion
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The Three Cripples
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Sounds good, Tristram. I'm sure the Malbec in Argentina tastes as good as the lobster enjoyed in Maine.
Argentina sounds nice. I wouldn't mind some cooler weather now.I'm impressed by the details on those caroler dolls. I like their clothes and baskets.
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As to Malbec, I have had none yet but we already had some asado.
I hope you are all well whatever the weather is like.
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Thanks for getting me to look up what 34 degrees would be to me.
Kim, I hope you found your husband all right. It's 81 F here, which people where I live think is sweltering hot. Summers here honestly are so stunningly beautiful that it helps make up for an October-May rainy season that leaves our back yard underwater every February. Last spring my kid had to build a boardwalk to access his treehouse.
Hola Tristram, I'm glad to read that you're enjoying your holidays. 10 degrees brrr frio! The weather here is offering us a free sauna every day. I wish you a relaxing holiday. Enjoy your reading. And happy holidays to all the curiosities :-))
We are told it will be 90 degrees today, I have never seen Hardy country so parched. At least the swans have their lagoon, so they are OK.
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We are dry again here Julie. Our basement had about 2 inches of water, but not near as bad as some of the other people around us. Since Thursday though, the sun has been shining, not so great a thing for me (migraines), but good for drying things up again. For a day or two we couldn't get out of town, but except for a lot of dried mud for people to clean up and some of the roads still closed, we are back to normal. It's supposed to rain again this week though. :-{
I believe today is Emily Bronte's 200th Birthday.So Happy Birthday to Emily.
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I’ll raise a glass to her today.
Anybody have a spare £68,000? Maybe if we all chipped in....https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/l...
Didn't we discuss this last year? Who was delegated to hold the cash?
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As for last year’s cash Jean, I can only say the stock market is a fickle place :-))
Peter wrote: "I’ve emptied my piggy bank but still am a few pounds short. As for last year’s cash Jean, I can only say the stock market is a fickle place :-))"
I think it was put in the care of a Mr. Merdle.....
Nice study table. Dickens's descendants kept it until December 2017. I wonder what made them sell it just recently.
Do you think Bernie Madoff read Little Dorrit?By the way, speaking of names -- Madoff?!? He's a Dickens character.
Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "Do you think Bernie Madoff read Little Dorrit?By the way, speaking of names -- Madoff?!? He's a Dickens character."
Ha! True!
I'm going to see a dog that we may adopt this afternoon. He's an 11 month old white boxer (deaf - could be a deal breaker for my husband), and his name is Casper. If we get him, I'm thinking I'll stick with the ghost thing, but change his name to Marley. Stay tuned....
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By the way, speaking of names -- Madoff?!? He's a Dickens character."
Ha! True!
I'm going to see a dog that we may adopt ..."
My fingers are crossed that Marley finds himself at your home in the near future.
Interesting you mention Marley, Peter. I'm reading Moby Dick and there is a chapter in which the 3rd Mate, Stubbs, has a dream, and in this dream he is confronted by a "merman" who warns Stubbs. Stubbs wants to kick the Merman, so the Merman bends over revealing marlinspikes impaled in his butt. Go ahead and kick, if you dare.With A Christmas Carol being published in the early 1840s and Moby Dick in 1851, I immediately made a connection between the Merman and Marley, both being punished, the Merman with his marlinspikes and Marley with his chains, and both warning the living.
My mind makes weird associations.
Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "Interesting you mention Marley, Peter. I'm reading Moby Dick and there is a chapter in which the 3rd Mate, Stubbs, has a dream, and in this dream he is confronted by a "merman" who warns Stubbs. St..."Marlinspikes in the butt to look forward to: yet another reason I will never finish Moby Dick.
Good luck with the boxer, Mary Lou. I was thinking maybe he'd be confused if you changed from Casper to Marley, but then I remembered he won't hear either name, so I guess he won't mind!
Julie wrote: Good luck with the boxer, Mary Lou.The boxer didn't work out for us for more reasons than I could possibly detail here, but God bless him. The search continues to find a buddy for (E)Stella.
PS Marlin spikes in a merman's butt?? I have no idea what to do with that.
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This is like my 5th attempt, and it's working this time because I'm reading it with the Classics and the Western Canon GR group. So far so good. Of course I have a long way to go.
I've only made 3 attempts, so I guess there's still hope for me. Or not-hope, depending on your point-of-view.
I am an old English major and never read Moby Dick. I do recall my class in 19th century American Literature. We read Hawthorne, Emerson, Dickinson, Whitman, Thoreau, and James. This is what I recall.
I was reading an essay by Jonathan Lethem about Dickens (in particular, Dombey and Son) and came across a book that he appeared to endorse and recommend. At least by way of mentioning and referring to it. It might not be easily found, but seems interesting enough to try through alibris.comhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
John wrote: "I was reading an essay by Jonathan Lethem about Dickens (in particular, Dombey and Son) and came across a book that he appeared to endorse and recommend. At least by way of mentioning and referring..."Looks interesting, but then I checked Amazon -- $162 for the cheapest copy! If you come across one, let us know how you like it!
Mary Lou wrote: "John wrote: "I was reading an essay by Jonathan Lethem about Dickens (in particular, Dombey and Son) and came across a book that he appeared to endorse and recommend. At least by way of mentioning ..."Yeah, I think it is out of my price range. I saw a copy for $189.
Or if you can use Amazon.co.uk., you can get it for £13.55 with free delivery. Oddly, although it's a shop in the USA, so can I!https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...
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"I've got a new car, by the way, which you'll like."
Mr. Parker took one look at the slim black monster, with its long rakish body and polished-copper twin exhausts, and decided there and then that the only hope of getting down to Epping without interference was to look as official as possible and wave his police authority under the eyes of every man in blue along the route. He shoe-horned himself into his seal without protest, and was more unnerved than relieved to find himself shoot suddenly ahead of the traffic - not with the bellowing roar of the ordinary racing engine, but in a smooth, uncanny silence.
"The new Daimler Twin-Six," said Lord Peter, skimming dexterously round a lorry without appearing to look at it. "With a racing body. Specially built . . . useful . . . gadgets . . . no row - hate row . . . like Edmund Sparkler . . . very anxious there should be no row . . . Little Dorrit . . . remember . . . call her Mrs. Merdle . . . for that reason . . . presently we'll see what she can do."
And later,
Take care of that bottle, old man, it may have finger-prints on it."
"You can have the bottle," said Wimsey. "May we ne'er lack a friend or a bottle to give him, as Dick Swiveller says."
Kim, I have been told repeatedly I should read Sayers. This might do it.
Very interesting about Sayers. I must admit, I had only vaguely heard of her and was not familiar with her work. She sounds like a modernist writer that came out of the World War 1 years with fairly dynamic fiction. World War 1 and the rise of Modernism have been interests of mine lately and for a number of years.
Having not read TOCS yet, I don't get the Dick Swiveller line. I'm trying to remember details about Edmund Sparkler. Was he known for disliking confrontation? I guess he had to keep Fannie and his mother at arm's length.
Anyone?
I love Edmund Sparkler, with "no nonsense about him" don't you know, and not a hint of aggression either. Poor sap, a gentle soul, but much put upon by the females around him. Mrs Merdle's son, beau of Fanny, "little" Amy Dorrit's older rather designing and upwardly mobile sister.
Dorothy L. Sayers is a cut above most detective fiction of that period - dare I say it's more literary?
Something I'd never heard, posted by the Dickens Museum on Twitter this morning:As a boy, #Dickens was a voracious reader and was particularly fond of this adventure story by Daniel Defoe. No other character not created by Dickens is so frequently mentioned in his works as #RobinsonCrusoe.
(Dickens quote) We have never grown the thousandth part of an inch out of "Robinson Crusoe". He fits us just as well, and in exactly the same way as when we were among the smallest of the small.
I guess now I have to read Robinson Crusoe.
Mary Lou wrote: "Something I'd never heard, posted by the Dickens Museum on Twitter this morning:As a boy, #Dickens was a voracious reader and was particularly fond of this adventure story by Daniel Defoe. No oth..."
Very interesting website. My first visit and I bookmarked it. I'll have to do further perusing.
I enjoy Robinson Crusoe. It's very sloppily structured--if you're used to novels. The plot's loose, and my students are always pointing out the contradictions in the diary and so forth. But it's compelling in the questions it raises about the relationship between individuals and their societies. It sticks in the mind and makes for good discussion.
Peter -- Good for you for moving to be closer to your grandson! Even at only an hour and 15 minutes away, I sometimes wish we were closer to our granddaughter. Every visit is like that moment in "The Miracle Worker" where Helen Keller finally realizes that the hand signals have specific meanings. We can literally see her face light up when she makes connections, and she's making those connections ALL THE TIME. It's an amazing thing. (I'm sure we had those moments as parents, but perhaps I've forgotten, or was just too exhausted and close to the situation to pick up on so many of them.) She's walking now, and some of her first steps were to us, which is such a delight. I'm so glad that you and your wife will be close enough to be able to have these experiences! On a sad note, there's a possibility that my daughter's family will be transferring to Germany for a year, and I'll start missing out on these moments. Selfishly, I hope it won't happen, but it will be good for my SIL's career, and a nice experience for them. Video chats are nice, but still not the same as snuggles! And our trip to England was an anomaly - we aren't travelers, and I don't see us going to visit. :-(
I don't know if anyone has experienced this issue, but I have the Goodreads app on my smartphone. I've not been able to access the site lately through it, though. I get the page that says Goodreads is down.
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Mary Lou, do you already know whereabout in Germany? I know the thought of living a great distance from family members - yes, even from my sister - is not really nice, but on the other hand, if it is only for a while, it may be an enrichment for everyone involved.
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John, I don't know a lot about these things but maybe your app needs an update? Since July or June, my GR app has a new surface, so I guess that it was replaced with a new, updated, version.
Tristram wrote: "John wrote: "I don't know if anyone has experienced this issue, but I have the Goodreads app on my smartphone. I've not been able to access the site lately through it, though. I get the page that s..."Thanks Tristram. I'm going to try what I've done with other apps that have gone finicky: a complete uninstall and then a new install.
I have had the app on my (android) smartphone for the past month and don't get that message. But it does do weird things sometimes.I get individual email notifications from Goodreads, and sometimes when I click on the link in the email and the Goodreads app is invoked, it takes me nowhere. It goes off into space. Other times it takes me to my Goodreads homepage instead of the discussion page where it should take me. When I used my browser and not the app, this never happened.
I may switch back to browser because I'm not seeing the advantage of using the app.
Tristram wrote: "do you already know whereabout in Germany?..."I can't remember what they told me, but the company headquarters is in Heidenheim, so that would be my guess. If it happens, I'll let you know for sure where they are.
Hope you enjoyed your vacation!
Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "I have had the app on my (android) smartphone for the past month and don't get that message. But it does do weird things sometimes.I get individual email notifications from Goodreads, and sometim..."
I mostly use and view Goodreads on my desktop PC at home. My browser is Opera. As similar to you, I have never had a problem with the desktop and browser. I like the app for occasionally viewing from my phone, but it is not optimum for reading through discussions (at least for me).
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The Old Curiosity Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Our Mutual Friend (other topics)Unnatural Death (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dorothy L. Sayers (other topics)Dorothy L. Sayers (other topics)
Adolfo Bioy Casares (other topics)
I just borrowed my wife‘s iPad in order to let you know that I am enjoying my stay in Argentina. At the moment, we are staying in Villa Gesell, a seaside resort someone 400 km south..."
If your 10 degrees isn't really 10 degrees, but 50 degrees (fahrenheit), what's so wonderful about that? It won't snow, I can't make a fire in the fireplace or wear sweaters and cover up with quilts. Now 10 degrees fahrenheit would be wonderful, that's -12 to you. I think.