Discussions About Our Next Main Group read

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen - there is a Goodreads group which does exactly that, if you look under our "Recommend another Group" section.

Would you like to add The Pickwick Papers, or are you happy with your three?

[Debra Diggs]

Bionic Jean wrote: "...Little Dorrit and Bleak House are similar in several ways. The most obvious is the satirical elements: the description of the Circumlocution Office is almost a rerun of his description of the farcical Courts of Chancery in Bleak House. They are both brilliant creations, but do we want to read them straight after one another?...."


Thanks, Jean. This is exactly what is on my mind. I have never read Bleak House, but am certain that if I have to read more Circumiocution Office description I will quit reading this book. So, please add a no to Bleak House.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Okey doke Debra.

[Petra]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Petra - So far 4 people have asked for Oliver Twist: Debra, Laura, Piyangie and Franky. I can't find a nay for it, but have just updated the ayes. Yes, one was listed separately - sorry!"

I only meant the comment as a possible correction, Jean. Nothing to be sorry about. Keeping track of such a lively thread can keep one on one's toes.

[Petra]

Jean, I'll go with your experience and remove my vote for Dombey & Son, replacing it with a vote for Oliver Twist.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Petra - I'm as likely as the next person to make mistakes - so do please tell me! Yes, I'm quite startled (but pleased) that so many members are already saying what they would like to read :)

Why don't you put both books forward? My only worry really was about Bleak House

[France-Andrée]

I personally wouldn’t like reading Bleak House next because I read it this year so very recently. If we go for earlier works I think Nicholas Nickleby would be good.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

France-Andrée - I'll add an aye for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, and shall I leave Bleak House as it is, as you may want to add it at some point, or shall I add a nay for that one?

[France-Andrée]

I don’t need to nay it, I would just comment and not read it again so soon.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Yes, right.

[Nisa]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Although we've only been talking about this for a day, there are already some clear indicators :)

The history, for those who are not sure, is that I chose our first group read of [book:David Coppe..."

Jean, Nicholas Nickleby good for me. When I chose Bleak House I didn't think much I wanted to read it just because I tried to read it but couldn't finish before.

I already have Nicholas Nickleby so I'll go with your suggestion and remove my vote for Bleak House, replacing it with Nicholas Nickleby.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

You can still keep Bleak House up there if you like Nisa, as I suggested to Petra and France-Andrée. Then we'll read it later :)

I'll add The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby and Oliver Twist - and keep Dombey and Son too if you like, as it seems as though that would be a popular choice. When it gets to the polls, it can be narrowed down then.

I still need to hear from Petra too, please.

[Nisa]

Bionic Jean wrote: "You can still keep Bleak House up there if you like Nisa, as I suggested to Petra and France-Andrée. Then we'll read it later :)

I'll add [book:The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nic..."

Thank you, Jean. If I can, I plan to finish Little Dorrit first so I would rather change my vote to Nicholas Nickleby. Thank you again for your suggestion :))

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Nisa - Done :)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Would anyone else like to say which novel by Charles Dickens they would like to read with us early next year?
Here's the list:

The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
Nicholas Nickleby
The Old Curiosity Shop
Barnaby Rudge
Martin Chuzzlewit
Dombey and Son
David Copperfield
(Bleak House)
Hard Times
Little Dorrit
A Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations
Our Mutual Friend
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished)

You can choose more than one, and also say which ones you definitely don't want to read. A poll will follow :)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I'll amend the tally in post 63, thanks, Martha!

[Petra]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Why don't you put both books forward? My only worry really was about Bleak House
..."

Thanks, Jean. I'll add my vote for Dombey & Son back into the mix then.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Added one for each, thanks Petra.

[Anne]

I am still interested in reading Dombey and Sons but will be happy to read whichever novel is finally chosen. I had been keen to read Our Mutual Friend but this novel was written towards the end of his career so will leave it out unless Jean believes there is a good reason to include it in the voting list.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I think this is the first time you've said anything on this thread Anne, so I'll add a stroke for Dombey and Son in post 63 :)

[Anne]

Bionic Jean wrote: "I think this is the first time you've said anything on this thread Anne, so I'll add a stroke for Dombey and Son in post 63 :)"

Thank you, Jean. I mentioned these books earlier on a different thread. Unfortunately, when new threads are open I do not get notifications for any of my groups so a lot ends up happening without my knowing about it. Not sure how to change that.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Oh that is is annoying for you, Anne!

I tend to use the group's list of discussion more than anything else, actually. Once I've dealt with the comments which come to my emails, that is the safest way, as all the new ones are marked in red. It also picks up any discussions where a new page has started, and the notifications to me have therefore dropped off.

I'll add a stroke for Our Mutual Friend too, as I can tell you are keen to read it. It's doubtful whether it will get through though, as there are still only two, and perhaps would not be an ideal choice for right now.

[Anne]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Oh that is is annoying for you, Anne!

I tend to use the group's list of discussion more than anything else, actually. Once I've dealt with the comments which come to my emails, that is the safest..."

Thank you for your quick response, Jean. I do finally end up looking at the group discussion list to see if a new thread has been opened, but sometimes I'm a bit late. :))

[Werner]

There are only four Charles Dickens novels that I've both read and either already reviewed or actually remember well enough that I think I could do it justice in a review: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. I wouldn't reread any of those four; but any of his others would either be a new read for me or one I'd be glad to reread. (Most of my Dickens reading was done as a kid/teen or in my 20s, though the ones I've reviewed here on Goodreads were reread in my middle years, back in the 90s.)

If any of the others are picked for the February-March read, I'm in (though I'll have to start late because of a buddy read commitment to a lady in another group, but I expect that to be a fairly quick read). Those months are the best for me in terms of flexibility; every year from July through November, I have common reads regularly scheduled in other groups. (So those months are a good window of opportunity for this group to read books from the list of four above --though that's just me, and has nothing to do with the 2021 Feb.-March selection! :-) )

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Werner - I've added you a "Nay" to those three, (since we are reading A Christmas Carol from today, that doesn't count).

Would you like me to add "Ayes" to these, or not, or a selection of them? (I'll leave it otherwise.)

The Pickwick Papers
Nicholas Nickleby
The Old Curiosity Shop
Barnaby Rudge
Martin Chuzzlewit
Dombey and Son
David Copperfield
Hard Times
Little Dorrit
Our Mutual Friend
The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I'm very pleased you'll be joining in :) So far we can't know how long the read will continue for, as it's a chapter a day, but yes, it will probably start some time in February.

Our other reads until then are on the home page, everyone :) There's still time to say what you would like to be in the poll, which I'll set up towards the end of the week.

(Edited)

[Werner]

Thanks, Jean! Yes, if you want to, you can add me as an "aye" for the first ten books on your list. I probably wouldn't read The Mystery of Edwin Drood either (even though I never have), because I think it would be frustrating to invest time in a novel that wasn't finished. (That's just me, though!)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Righto - will do :)

[Werner]

Thanks, Jean!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Only 8 for you in fact; I shouldn't have included the ones we've read :D

[Werner]

True! I hadn't thought of that, either. :-)

[Antoinette]

I would love to reread Great Expectations. I also have always wanted to read The Old Curiosity Shop. Thanks, Jean

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Adding you in Antoinette :)

[Chris]

New member here. In my personal library but as yet unread are The Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations & Oliver Twist. So those would be my choices. So sorry to have missed Little Dorritt.

[Adrian]

Hi Jean, can I add Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend to ones I would read.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

All tallies added to comment 63, thanks Chris and Adrian :)

Chris, you could always read the threads alongside Little Dorrit, if you like, or suggest a buddy read of it - but I guess it's not the same as the fun we have with our group reads. I hope you join our next one!

[Laurie]

Also a new member, but I will put in my two cents. I am reading Dombey and Son anyway this year, so that gets my vote.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Thanks Laurie, I'll add this.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I had a personal aye for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, and l'm adding a personal nay for Our Mutual Friend.

So our final chart now looks like this, with some nays cancelling out the ayes:

Hard Times 3-1 =2
(Bleak House6-1 =5) maybe later in 2021
The Old Curiosity Shop 3-1 =2
Dombey and Son 10
Great Expectations 7-3 =4
Oliver Twist 8-1 =7
The Pickwick Papers 3
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby 6
Our Mutual Friend 5-2 =3
Martin Chuzzlewit 2-1 =1
A Tale of Two Cities 1-2 = minus 1!
Barnaby Rudge I

I'll make a poll for the top 4 and archive this thread again for a while :)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

PLANS FOR AUTUMN 2021:

We will soon begin our short reads YAY! These "Summer Reads" are led by the members who volunteered, thank you, and I am really looking forward to them. For more details, LINK HERE. Everyone will be alerted to the new read a week before it starts. That's when the thread will be posted too, for the host to organise as s/he likes.

Do you remember, before we began Dombey and Son, the leader of the poll was Bleak House, so I promised we could do that next, (if most people still wish to). But to be honest, we can't really fit it as a chapter a day, the way we like to read before the end of this year.

We'd need a shorter novel for the Autumn. Then I thought we might get a bit sated - especially when I stated working out the days and realised we'd have to overlap a bit with these relaxed summer reads. "Dickensians!" has only existed for just over a year, and already we've read three novels in depth! So we're doing pretty well :)

And to be honest, I'd prefer to wait until next year, but still have my "Dickens fix" from having a back seat in the shorter reads - which will give everyone a break from me too :) So here's my plan ...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

A few people have said they'd like to read Charles Dickens's own favourite novels - or one of them - to see how he came to write the way he does. So what if we have one of these as an open read between September and December, and begin Bleak House in January? The open read would be more like a side read, i.e. no leader, but split into a few threads to help avoid spoilers.

We'll also keep the side read open, and maybe have a side read to the "Dickens' Own Favourite" too, if that sounds like a good idea. (I'm not sure what to call this non-Dickens novel read yet - any ideas? A novel which influenced his writing could become a regular feature :) We need to stick to the focus of the group though, I think, so would read influences on him first, before eg. his friends' novels.)

I'll put Charles Dickens's favourite books in the next post, to see if they are of interest. If so, we could have a tally of ayes and nays, and then a poll like we did before. If not, then just say! Everything is optional anyway :)

This doesn't stop anyone having a buddy read of a novel by Charles Dickens of course. If at any time you'd like to whizz through one with a friend, then just say in the Buddy Reads thread, and I'll happily set you up a dedicated thread.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Here are Charles Dickens's own favourite books:

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The Adventures of Roderick Random, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, all by Tobias Smollett,
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
The Adventures of Gil Blas by Alain-René Le Sage
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

plus Arabian Nights: Tales Of Thousand Nights & A Night Vol 1 and The Tales of the Genii.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Please do say what you think! And if you like the idea, mention the novels out of this list that you would like to read, and any you definitely don't.

[[deleted user]]

Jean I'm happy with your plan. I would probably read the books in the list above - not sure about Arabian Nights.

I've read Don Quixote and The Vicar of Wakefield. I loved the Vicar, Don Quixote was a push to finish.

Robinson Crusoe intrigues me, as do the books by Smollett.

I'll probably go along with anything the group decides :D

I also like the long break because it gives me time to read Little Dorrit and David Copperfield. I really want those points of reference for future group reads.

[Lori]

I think this sounds like a great plan, Jean. I'm all for what the majority is interested in. I've read nothing from the list but would be interested in reading any of them.

I'm also intrigued by Robinson Crusoe.

I like what you've already used "Dickens' Own Favorite".

[Sara]

I think this is a marvelous idea, Jean. I have also read Don Quixote and The Vicar of Wakefield. I would be interested in Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy, or Robinson Crusoe. I am not familiar with Smollett, so one of his might be interesting.

Knowing our next read is Bleak House, I am also happy to have the break, since I have promised myself The Old Curiosity Shop before the end of this year.

[Petra]

I like this idea, Jean. Count on you to come up with interesting and varied plans for us. Thanks for always thinking about us.

Of the listed books, I've read Don Quixote (fun at first; a bit of a slog by the end).

From the remaining, I'd be interested in reading:
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Robinson Crusoe
The Life and Times of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman:
The Tale of Genji

I'm not familiar with the rest and didn't look them up since my list is already long enough. I'd be happy to read any of the books with this group.

[Kathleen]

I think I’ll pass. I’ve read at least half of them eons ago and have hefty TBR lists which I’d rather concentrate on.

[Janelle]

I’m afraid I wouldn’t read any of those, I’ve read Tom Jones and remember loving it but I’d much rather read a shorter Dickens novel.

[Connie]

I would probably not be interested in reading the books on the list. I would like to read some books by his Victorian friends someday, or something shorter by Dickens. I've got a huge TBR so I won't be lacking for books :-) "Bleak House" sounds wonderful for next year.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Oh that's really helpful! Thank you :) I know it's hard to suit everyone. Sending a message to all the group isn't as reliable a way as asking those who are joining in so regularly!

I'm hoping we'll garner some interest in the shorter reads, and we have 7 planned! After that we may want a change, but for anyone who prefers to read another novel by Charles Dickens straightaway, here is a list of them by word count (starting with the longest):

1. David Copperfield: 357,489
2. Dombey and Son: 357,484
3. Bleak House: 355,936
4. Little Dorrit: 339,870
5. Martin Chuzzlewit: 338,077
6. Our Mutual Friend: 327,727
7. Nicholas Nickleby: 323,722
8. The Pickwick Papers: 302,190
9. Barnaby Rudge: 255,229
10. The Old Curiosity Shop: 218,538
11. Great Expectations: 186,339
12. Oliver Twist: 158,631
13. A Tale of Two Cities: 137,000
14. Hard Times: 104,821
15. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: 96,178 (first 6 of 12 parts only)

Janelle - You can see that Hard Times is the shortest. It has 37 chapters over 20 installments, so would take 57 days, the same way we read our group reads. It could fit before the end of the year, but hasn't made it yet to make it to either of our polls (6 others did - the longer ones). Anyway, buddy reads are always an option. And of course you are hosting our final short read, and Connie is hosting the first :) Kathleen - Hopefully you will be in for Bleak House in the new year - if that's still the most popular choice.

I'll start making a tally in the next post, and we'll see how we go.