Dickensians! discussion
Just About Dickens
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What is your earliest memory of Charles Dickens? Tell us about it here.
When I was a child (8? 9? 10?), my parents enrolled me in a mail-order book club for children, because, apparently, they couldn't keep enough books around for my voracious reading. One of the books I was sent, and loved, and reread who knows how many times, was of Dickens stories. I can't remember its exact title and I so wish I still had it. At the time I thought they were the real Dickens stories. I wasn't happy when I found out they weren't, but I got over it. ;)
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What a lovely memory Teresa :) I regret passing on my childhood books, but every so often I will come across one, perhaps online, or in an antiquarian bookshop. I recognise it instantly! And usually can't resist buying it "back" again.
So perhaps you will find your much-loved book, one day, who knows ...
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The first time I heard of Dickens was when I was little and watched Mickey's Christmas Carol. Then I watched the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, which has become my favourite. For some reason, we never read Dickens in school. My first read was not that long ago, back in 2011 when I started reading classics, and I picked Great Expectations as one of my first reads.
Robin wrote: "In some ways, I think the Muppet version is closest to Dickens' whole story, even with 2 Marleys and singing vegetables!"I agree! I think it's because Dickens (Gonzo) tells us the story throughout the movie. It's one of my favourites, and I lost track of how many times I watched it at Christmas!
What a fun thread! I’m excited to join this community. It’s perfect timing because I should be done with my current reads by the time you’re done with DC. I can jump right in to the next one! I listened to Richard Armitage’s DC a few years ago and fell in love! As for my first memories of Dickens, I think of when I was around 15 or 16. I read TOTC as a sophomore in high school 2001ish and loved it, but after rereading it a few months ago, I can confidently say my memory is correct and it’s for a different feel from his other novels. A year or so after that (when I was 15 or 16) we did our family tradition of buying a Christmas tree and getting a Christmas house to add to my moms collection. She chose Ms Havishams house (because she liked the look) and it came with a beautiful copy of GE. I was a big reader of classics and was excited to read it. I remember being so frustrated and wanting to cry because it was hard to read! I didn’t really understand much of what was going on. Then, when I was 19, I did a summer semester in London called Literary London. We visited places that inspired books or were significant to the authors. GE was the Dickens we were assigned and I fell in love! That was my first real introduction to Dickens, I feel like. I was finally able to really understand and appreciate him. Since then I’ve read Christmas Carol many times, as well as DC, TOTC again, Oliver Twist, and half of Bleak House before abandoning it because I was busy. I want to read everything he’s written now that I have more time in life!
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Your enthusiasm puts a smile on my face - you're in the right place! And if you'd like to join in a read right now, there is our side read of The Life of Charles Dickens: The Illustrated Edition by John Forster, which goes on at least until the end of July. Since you know David Copperfield, I think you'll find this book fascinating, as so much at the beginning is virtually the same!
Ah, Miss Havisham's House - so lovely to have models :) I'll put a post about the "real" Satis house in another thread LINK HERE
Oh, and do please post a little about yourself in the "Welcome thread", if you like :)
Bionic Jean wrote: "Let's have a few more "Dickensians!" telling us about their first memory of Charles Dickens :)"Strangely, my first memory is similar to yours, Jean. The serial on BBC was an important part of our very traditional Sundays when I was young. I don’t remember which I saw first, but think it was either David Copperfield or Oliver Twist. I have always loved reading & have wonderful memories of the anticipation waiting for the mobile library to arrive, visiting it with my mum regularly long before I started school. My parents had a bookcase with a strange mixture of classics, mostly with leather covers & thin pages with tiny print. The only Dickens there was The Old Curiosity Shop, which I never read despite reading most of the other books there. I hated literature lessons at school, so that stopped me reading Dickens - I only read the classics by authors not inflicted on me at school! Although I have watched various films & tv dramas over the years, it’s only since joining Goodreads that I have started reading Dickens’ books.
I particularly like your comment in message 58 about the authors we find for ourselves - for me, that was Thomas Hardy.
Oh how fun!
My first memory of Dickens is when I read Tale of Two Cities in freshman honors English, 1984. The cover had a picture of a really cute actor who'd played in an adaptation of the novel. No idea who he was, but at 14 I was more interested in that cute actor than the book :D
Despite that distraction, the opening line of the novel struck me as brilliant - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. To my dramatic 14 year old self, that was pure gold. Other than that, I recall the guillotine and a weird, creepy woman knitting while people had their heads cut off. I've not read the book since then, so my memories are stuck in 14 year old perceptions lol. Sometime in the past ten years, I saw a film adaptation of Two Cities with Ronald Colman (who I adore, he was so good and dashingly handsome). I don't recall much about the film either - distracted by another handsome actor I guess :D
An author I discovered on my own - Anthony Trollope. I read The Way We Live Now in maybe 2014 or 2015 and was blown away. I couldn't understand why I'd never heard of him or read him before. I've definitely caught the Dickens fever this year, but Trollope will always be one of my absolute favorite authors.
My first memory of Dickens is when I read Tale of Two Cities in freshman honors English, 1984. The cover had a picture of a really cute actor who'd played in an adaptation of the novel. No idea who he was, but at 14 I was more interested in that cute actor than the book :D
Despite that distraction, the opening line of the novel struck me as brilliant - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. To my dramatic 14 year old self, that was pure gold. Other than that, I recall the guillotine and a weird, creepy woman knitting while people had their heads cut off. I've not read the book since then, so my memories are stuck in 14 year old perceptions lol. Sometime in the past ten years, I saw a film adaptation of Two Cities with Ronald Colman (who I adore, he was so good and dashingly handsome). I don't recall much about the film either - distracted by another handsome actor I guess :D
An author I discovered on my own - Anthony Trollope. I read The Way We Live Now in maybe 2014 or 2015 and was blown away. I couldn't understand why I'd never heard of him or read him before. I've definitely caught the Dickens fever this year, but Trollope will always be one of my absolute favorite authors.
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I'm sure the theatrical Charles Dickens would love all the productions of his works. They are all so stage-y :)
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Bionic Jean wrote: "Cozy_Pug - I have a feeling your "cute young actor" might have been Dirk Bogarde? He posed quite a bit, and flashed his legs in A Tale of Two Cities :) Great film though!"
Lol, I was just googling to see if I could find him - Chris Sarandon, never heard of him but he was in a 1980 adaptation of the book, and apparently on the cover of a paperback edition.
Lol Dirk Bogarde flashing his legs :D
Lol, I was just googling to see if I could find him - Chris Sarandon, never heard of him but he was in a 1980 adaptation of the book, and apparently on the cover of a paperback edition.
Lol Dirk Bogarde flashing his legs :D
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My earliest memory, though I didn’t know it was of Dickens at the time, was of watching The Christmas Carol on television when I was a child, in the 1950s. I believe I first saw the black and white, 1938 film but I’m not sure since we only had a black and white tv until the late 50s. And I continue watching the film, and many of its permutations, each year.
Sue wrote: "My earliest memory, though I didn’t know it was of Dickens at the time, was of watching The Christmas Carol on television when I was a child, in the 1950s. I believe I first saw the black and white..."
The 1938 movie is my favorite of all the versions!
The 1938 movie is my favorite of all the versions!
My first encounter was probably the Oliver musical/film. I can still remember many of the songs so we must’ve sang them at school too. The other thing I remember about the film is the kid who played the Artful Dodger, Jack Wild was the kid in HR Puff n Stuff. I loved that show!I’d imagine that many of us would’ve first have been exposed to a dickens influence without knowing it for example Scrooge McDuck or Montgomery Burns!
I have been going down memory lane since this thread popped up yesterday. It's been quite fun but also I wish I had a better memory!! I know my first memory of Dickens must be from high school. My junior English teacher taught Shakespeare and we must have read Dickens because he was also my Theater teacher and we performed the musical Oliver! my senior year. That was so much fun! I played Bet, the best friend of Nancy. It wasn't a huge part but I did have many lines to memorize and I even remember a little solo song which just about freaked me out because I don't sing AT ALL! But I did it! I still remember the costume and horrid stage makeup that took days to get off my face! But it remains one of my most memorable memories from high school!
Y'all might be amused to know that the first encounter with Dickens that I remember was A Christmas Carol. I had read the book, and in the fifth grade (age 9) auditioned and won the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for the school Christmas play! I beat out all the boys auditioning, heh heh.
Angela wrote: "Y'all might be amused to know that the first encounter with Dickens that I remember was A Christmas Carol. I had read the book, and in the fifth grade (age 9) auditioned and won the role of Ebeneze..."
That's fantastic! What a great story! :D
That's fantastic! What a great story! :D
We read Great Expectations in 9th grade. Pip runs into the escaped criminal in the marsh near his sister's home. The man says "I need wittles boy, get me some wittles". Ever since, I pronounce the word vittles as wittles. Can't help myself.
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My first memory of Dickens is watching the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol with my grandmother on Christmas Eve (that's my favorite too CozyPug). I always loved the Ghost of Christmas Present. She also introduced me to Oliver via the record album she had for the musical. The first theater production I took my son to, when he was 11yo, was a production of Oliver.The first time I read anything by Dickens was Great Expectations in high school. Estella and Ms. Havisham are the characters I remember most. I also remember not being able to understand what Joe Gargery was saying most of the time :-) But I liked it so much that I sought out A Tale of Two Cities on my own and loved that too.
The author I sought out for myself (besides Dickens) is Thomas Hardy (just like Trisha). To this day Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of my favorite books.
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You're all making me think I should search out the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol! It doesn't ring a bell at all, nor Reginald Owen. The black and white classic one for me is the one starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge :)
Jean wrote: "The black and white classic one for me is the one starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge :) "That's my favorite adaptation too, Jean!
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Bionic Jean wrote: "He is so good at the extremes - that delightful exuberance at the end :D"My sentiments exactly! :-)
I think my favorite is the Alistair Sim which was colorized later.
Werner wrote: "Jean wrote: "The black and white classic one for me is the one starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge :) "That's my favorite adaptation too, Jean!"
Mine too. If you can find it Jean, I would also watch the 1938 version. It's very good. I watch both every Christmas.
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I have to admit that, although I was quite familiar with A Christmas Carol (as everyone is), my first remembrance of reading Dickens was not that favorable (not the actual reading experience of the book itself, but the time constraints surrounding it). Here I was a young freshman in college and my "wonderful" counselor outlined some courses for me to take and recommended I take three literature courses IN THE SAME QUARTER. Well, long story short, one of the courses was naturally Victorian Literature. And, one of the first novels assigned was naturally Bleak House, which I had to read in 2 weeks! Ugh. And then I had a Southern Literature course at the same time too. So I literally had to plan out X amount of pages to read each night to make it through and felt like I was reading 24/7. I was a stressful time getting through that one quarter and writing papers about themes, characters, etc.
Needless to say, I didn't get to appreciate the masterpiece that Bleak House is until I read it a second time at my own pace a year later. I loved it and everything was so rich about it. I read it again years later and loved it even more, and still do. From there, I went on to read many other longer works from Dickens (Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, etc). I enjoyed the natural storytelling ability and rich plots of Dickens and was hooked.
To sum up, I guess my experience was a love/hate kind of thing.. :)
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And by the way, after lots of goodies this year, we have Bleak House planned for our first long read next year. I can promise you we will take it slowly, relishing each episode, delighting in each character and sometimes savouring every single word!
First time I read a book for Charles when I was 11 years old. it was translated. but now I'm 33 years old and I'm keeping reading his books in English. I love his books. he can take you into the deep details of the British community in this period of time.
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I hope you enjoy reading more of his stories with us :)
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Come and tell us about it here :)
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I remember my twin sister began to read David Copperfield when we were in sixth grade and she used the first chapter to write a short story, replacing people with kittens. :-)
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I wrote sixth grade but in Italy is prima media and the age is eleven years old.
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David Copperfield is perhaps the easiest to read - but quite a challenge at that age - even in translation into your own language. It's a great story though, perhaps in a simplified version - and a lovely idea! I've never heard of anyone else coming to Charles Dickens through kittens. I do have A Guinea Pig Christmas Carol though :D
:-D I forgot sixth grade is in American school. Yes, also in Italy it is the beginning of secondary school.
My earliest memory of Dickens wasn't positive, we were compelled to read "A Tale of Two Cities" in school. This is possibly the least humorous of Dickens' oeuvre and being compelled to read anything particularly if the teacher is unenthusiastic herself, doesn't warm you to the text. It took me a couple of decades to get back into Dickens, reading Great Expectations with a Book Club, again there was the element of compulsion but the others were enthusiastic and Great Expectations is a good starting point for Dickens having great characters and being told in the first person.
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I would never recommend A Tale of Two Cities to anybody as a first read :( It's purely chosen because of its brevity, I think. Some passages are masterly - the tension and sheer violence are breathtaking - but it does not give you an accurate picture of his style, I don't think.
You must be saddened at the "uninspired" attitude of that teacher so long ago, especially since I know you have been a teacher yourself. It's great that you are here now, and can continue to explore his works just as you like, with friends who really do enjoy reading him :)
The first time I ever heard of Charles Dickens was when I must've been around six or seven years old, and watching the film Matilda. There's this one scene where she says she's been reading Charles Dickens, and that she could read him all day, and Ms. Honey says so could she, and that's stuck with me ever since.
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Yes, I felt like I was honouring Matilda when I read one of his books for the first time. I found I could read him all day as well :)
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My earliest experience with Dickens is a TV play of A Christmas Carol. So TV was my hook. After that, I am enthralled by his lush language. His language becomes heart.
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
David Copperfield: Abridged Edition (other topics)Great Expectations: Abridged Edition (other topics)
A Tale of Two Cities (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Roger Rees (other topics)
Roger Rees (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
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That was my first Dickens novel as well, Katy!