All About Books discussion

I think the Goodreads edition in French linked to a few more.

John wrote: "It seems as if Smollett was a favourite of Dickens, who liked a lot of earlier generation works, partly because of their availability. And Smollett translated The Devil On Crutches."

Smollett has been on my TBR for a while -- perhaps I should bump one of his up a bit...

I've never read any

I suppose one 'ought' to have a concerted go at Fielding, Sterne, Richardson, and Smollett, THE 18th century novelists, but I've only ever read a little of the first two. Next year 's challenge, may be!

Going back a couple of days to the writing quality v plot, Leslie and Jean, and Dombey & Son.

First. what a good few chapters of the book after the key event. Flo, Diogenes, Walter, Dombey, the blue Major (what does that mean), Edith, the Carkers, Biley. A really great bit of writing.

And, as I know nothing about the plot of this, I am really driven forward to find out. But if I looked at the end to see the fates of these characters (or looked at Wikipedia) - who will or won't marry who, and how will the characters themselves and their fortunes change - would it spoil my enjoyment much? Probably not.

As for whodunnits, then the puzzle is more important. But the quality of writing is still important. Is that why even those of us with good memories will forget who the guilty party is, so the better books in the genre can be re-read?

Last point first John and yes, I agree, although I had never put those two points together! I also find I go through the same rogue stages with "whodunnits" too.

You are probably correct in thinking that if you find out the ending of Dombey and Son, it may not affect your enjoyment overmuch. Clearly in The Old Curiosity Shop the main characters are intended to be Little Nell and her grandfather. But in recent chapters they have not appeared at all, and the minor characters introduced are an absolute delight; the hypocritical monster of a teacher (with a crocodile of young ladies trailing in her wake) Miss Maltravers, who made Nell cry. Also the mannish Sally Brass is an absolute joy,

".... the lady carried upon her upper lip certain reddish demonstrations, which, if the imagination had been assisted by her attire, might have been mistaken for a beard. These were, however, in all probability, nothing more than eyelashes in a wrong place, as the eyes of Miss Brass were quite free from any such natural impertinencies. In complexion Miss Brass was sallow - rather a dirty sallow, so to speak - but this hue was agreeably relieved by the healthy glow which mantled in the extreme tip of her laughing nose."...

and would have made a good wife for Quilp, I think,

""There she is," said Quilp, stopping short at the door, and wrinkling up his eyebrows as he looked towards Miss Sally; "there is the woman I ought to have married - there is the beautiful Sarah - there is the female who has all the charms of her sex and none of their weaknesses. Oh Sally, Sally!""

Or Dick Swiveller, with all his blather,

""I believe, sir," said Richard Swiveller, taking his pen out of his mouth, "that you desire to look at these apartments. They are very charming apartments, sir. They command an uninterrupted view of - of over the way, and they are within one minute's walk of - of the corner of the street.""

and at another time,

"Mr Richard Swiveller wending his way homeward after this fashion, which is considered by evil-minded men to be symbolical of intoxication, and is not held by such persons to denote that state of deep wisdom and reflection in which the actor knows himself to be,"

Oh my, that made me laugh! There are many more. But the idea of "looking at the ending" per se makes me shudder. I remember Chris giving a book of Christmas stories (published by the OUP but with one of his in - and yes he did have to actually buy it!) to a friend of ours. What was the first thing she did when she clocked it? Looked at the ending of his story!!! Aaargh!

Yes, 18th century fiction is a missing area of mine too. There are several by Daniel Defoe I want to read - and Jonathan Swift too, although they're both at the early end.

Oh, dear. About the ending of D&S, I mean. You have me worried!

Lovely quotes.

I loved:

Mr Richard Swiveller's apartments ... had the advantage of being over a tobacconist 's shop, so that he was enabled to procure a refreshing sneeze at any time by merely stepping out upon the staircase, and was saved the trouble and expense of maintaining a snuff-box.

I have that collection, to read at Christmas. Which story should I not look at the end first?

NONE OF THEM!!!

That's a lovely quotation, John :)

LOL! OK.

This middle section is very downbeat, isn't it? (view spoiler)[Sally Brass mistreating the servant girl, Nell's becoming more and more weary and ill on the road (hide spoiler)], not to mention the descriptions of all the factories and the "slaves" who tend them.

Dickens's view of industrialisation seems to be that it dehumanises everybody. All the characters in the factory town are shadows of themselves as a consequence - even if they are kind they are ground down with filth and poverty. His portrayal of the country is the exact opposite.

You can almost trip up over all the portents and metaphors in these chapters, but it's all a bit grim. I think we can see in this novel, the roots of his later ones where he is even more condemnatory about the effects of the Industrial Revolution.

I do find myself missing Dickens's humour at the moment, and I'll latch onto each little cameos such as the one about the doctor (view spoiler)[ who tends Little Nell, (hide spoiler)] repeating what everyone else had already thought of, "the doctor departed, leaving the whole house in admiration of that wisdom which tallied so closely with their own. Everybody said he was a very shrewd doctor indeed, and knew perfectly what people's constitutions were; which there appears some reason to suppose he did." LOL!

Even Quilp is a delight, providing much needed comic relief. But how is it we can laugh at him when he is such a malevolent devil?!

I'm new to the book discussions, and somehow I stumbled upon this in amazement! A few months ago I started to read/reread all of Dickens! What fun to find this group! I am currently up to The Old Curiosity Shop. I didn't think I'd be able to find anyone to do this with me! Excited!

Jamie,

Just like you, I started reading/re-reading Dickens some months ago from Pickwick onwards, having come across this thread of Jean's.

I'm half way through Dombey & Son at the moment, but skimming through The Old Curiousity Shop again as Jean reads it. Very interesting to do so, as more aspects come out, missed first time.

It 's been a real pleasure, and an eye-opener.

Hi Jamie! Great to meet another fan of Dickens, and please do post comments if you like, as you read. How are you finding this one, compared with the others?

I'm personally really enjoying reading in them in order, as you can see how he develops, and also what is uppermost in his mind at the time. This one has less humour overall, I'm finding. Some much darker passages.

As this thread is very fluid - people drop in and out at various times - I do try to use "spoiler tabs" if I have to refer to something crucial in the plot, but please don't let this put you off :)

A couple more interesting snippets:

One of Dickens's fleeting cameos in chapter 28 is a Mr. Slum, who was trying to persuade Mrs. Jarley to employ his services as a poet in helping to advertise the waxworks. He shows her an example of his works, and says,

"It's an acrostic - the name at this moment is Warren"

There's a BIG clue there - Dickens usually alters the names a bit more! But apparently Mr. Slum was based on a person Dickens remembered from his horrific days at Warren's Blacking Factory!

By the time of this novel, however, the use of poetry in advertising was thought very old-fashioned, so Dickens was really poking fun at his characters by referring to a "convertible acrostic".

Another name puzzled me - Buffon. Clearly it was a pun, or a reference to a character whom I didn't know. In chapter 51, there's a conversation between the wonderful Sally Brass and her brother, and the chatterbox slimy Sampson butts in, talking about Quilp,

"He's extremely pleasant!" cried the obsequious Sampson. "His acquaintance with Natural History too is surprising. Quite a Buffoon, quite!" There is no doubt that Mr Brass intended some compliment or other; and it has been argued with show of reason that he would have said Buffon, but made use of a superfluous vowel."

OK, I knew what a "buffoon" was - but not "buffon". It turns out that he was referring to a,

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author...It has been said that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century".

Sometimes I wonder just how many of these "in-jokes" by Dickens just pass us by! :D

Brilliant: thank you.

Jean - just going back a day. Do you really laugh at Quilp? I find him irredeemably evil, so find the 'humorous' passages make me hate him the more. Even Wackford Squeers was a sweetly by comparison!

I'm afraid so, John - he's just so over the top! I suppose it's a bit like "booing" a baddie at the pantomime when you're a kid! You're scared of him but you love it too!

Looking back over the last few chapters for an example, there's this,

"Mr Quilp shut himself in his Bachelor's Hall, which, by reason of its newly-erected chimney depositing the smoke inside the room and carrying none of it off, was not quite so agreeable as more fastidious people might have desired."

Now that puts a smile on my face, and I suspect that Dickens is going to continue to be sarcastic and present us with highly exaggerated, laughable images. It carries on,

"Such inconveniences, however, instead of disgusting the dwarf with his new abode, rather suited his humour"

and we get a description of the room filling with smoke,

"until nothing was visible through the midst but a pair of red and highly inflamed eyes, with sometimes a dim vision of his head and face, and, as in a violent fit of coughing, he slightly stirred the smoke and scattered the heavy wreaths by which they were obscured."

So now we have a ridiculous picture in our heads of an odd-looking man who has chosen to do this, to closet himself up in a poky little room, making himself extremely uncomfortable in the process. And in case we start to feel sorry for him, Dickens piles it on,

"In the midst of this atmosphere, which must have infallibly smothered any other man, Mr Quilp passed the evening with great cheerfulness; solacing himself all the time with the pipe and case-bottle; and occasionally entertaining himself with a melodious howl, intended for a song, but bearing not the faintest resemblance to any scrap of any piece of music, vocal or instrumental, ever invented by man."

Yes, I find this hilariously funny, even though he's evil and almost sub-human! There's another part near here where he's dancing around like a little demon or devil, but I can't quite put my finger on it at the moment.

Yes. Jean 1 John 0.

Jean wrote: "Hi Jamie! Great to meet another fan of Dickens, and please do post comments if you like, as you read. How are you finding this one, compared with the others?

I'm personally really enjoying reading..."

Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I've only just started The Old Curiosity Shop, on ch. 2, so it's a bit early to tell, but I do think that I felt more of a connection to the previous three books right away. In fact, I've read two other non-Dickens books in the last two weeks while in the middle of ch. 1 lol! I do want to read it, but... Maybe being in this group will help spur me on. :)

Yes, I am enjoying reading them in order as well.

Ah Jamie those first couple of chapters puzzled a few of us too! There's a sudden confusing switch at the end of chapter 3 - comments 451-466 here explains why :)

Ah, thank you, Jean, I see. Well, at least I'm over the rough spot! I'm still struggling with trying to figure out where he is going with this.

Jean I have a copy of David Copperfield all set for our readalong. Take your time, no hurry whatsoever, just let me know when you're ready :)

Oh dear, Charbel, with current estimates it's a year away yet :( That's because I've inserted books about Dickens to alternate (I edited comment 1 in June.)

Please don't wait for me if you fancy reading it! I know Tracey is reading it at the moment and really enjoying it, and I'm tempted but mustn't succumb or I'll just read my favourites all over again!

(I do remember it quite well, so could join in a little in a discussion...)

John, will you be there soon?

I can wait Jean, I certainly don't have a lack of books to read till then.

That's lovely Charbel! I'll look forward to it. I think it was Dickens's personal favourite :)

I don't think I've ever read a book with so many unsavory characters! I was concerned with the stalker-like qualities of the narrator in the beginning, the neglectful grandfather, the self-serving brother, the ruffian boy, and then there's Quilp...I have no words for him! He is so over-the-top evil. I feel as if I'm reading a script for a silent movie and at any moment poor little Nell will be attached to a moving log in the sawmill, headed towards a certain death while Quilp laughs his hearty evil laugh, rubbing his giant hands together lol! Quite the melodrama!

That's a great description Jamie! I agree - rather on the lines of the pantomime baddie whom we all love to "Booo!"

Jean wrote: "That's a great description Jamie! I agree - rather on the lines of the pantomime baddie whom we all love to "Booo!""

Thank you, Jean. :) I certainly "boo" Quilp...and a few others, too.

As a social commentator for the poor, we expect much of what we read in this book in that respect, but (view spoiler)[based on the books to date, he appears to be detailing the horrific abuses of women specifically, and how very powerless they truly were, to a greater extent. From an innocent little girl, to marriageable young ladies, to wives and even mother-in-laws. No one is safe; all are susceptible to mistreatment without recourse. I've been wondering if that is why Quilp's character is so evil beyond belief. Dickens can spotlight the atrocities without being offensive to the majority of men who would certainly never identify with the hideous, villainous dwarf. (hide spoiler)]

I do like the point about association you've made there. By distancing us from the villain he can make the social "crimes" even more explicit. I find very little moral ambiguity in Dickens, but this would be a way of writing about them, making his views quite plainly. Detailing the total oppression, subservience and physical abuse of females in The Old Curiosity Shop, he didn't let himself open to criticism, yet continued to have an effect on public opinion and legislation. And of course the supremely good female, "the child", quickly takes on the adult role.

I doubt whether you'll have had time to read through all this thread yet, Jamie, or if you're perhaps just dipping in, but you might like to read through the part where we discussed women's roles a little, starting comment 369. My main post is 372.

Jean,

Re David Copperfield timing. Been away from this for a few days (65th birthday celebrations!)

Well on in Dombey & Son. Wow!

After that, I think I will just follow your passage through OCS, Barnaby, Chuzzlewit, and Dombey.

Having read the seven from Pickwick to Dombey, plus A Tale of Two Cities, in 2014, and having read A Christmas Carol, Bleak House, and Little Dorrit in the previous year or two, I think I will read some smaller things in the next months - those Miscellaneous Papers I and II we discussed earlier, American Notes, Pictures From Italy, The Cricket On The Hearth, The Chimes, etc.

I just do need time to read more serious stuff - Simenon, Innes, Penny, Vargas, McCall Smith, Leon, Camilleri, Wodehouse!

Then I will start David Copperfield when you, Charbel, and others do.

Jamie,

So sad to think the narrator gave you 'stalker' thoughts.

Apart from the mysterious nature of the start, for me the atmosphere was more of a benign guardian angel, establishing from the start the feeling of Little Nell as a symbol of inviolable purity?

John - First of all congratulations!! That's a biggie :)

I think yours is an excellent plan! Part of my reason for staggering my Dickens reads is so that I can fit in some other classics. I've neglected other 19th century writers a bit this year. and there's a world of other stuff too, as you point out! LOL! I'm not likely to immerse myself in those novels quite so much, but I am loving my deeper approach to the Inimitable's works :)

The Pickwick Club is reading The Chimes over Christmas, additionally, so I thought I'd join in with that.

Re The Chimes. Ta, I will too.

Yes, I do want to try to make time to read through the thread when I can. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the matter, Jean. This is the first thread that I've ever taken part of, partly because of the time involved, and maybe being a bit reticent to post my thoughts, feeling a bit shy. So please bear with me a bit.

John, Happy birthday wishes to you! :)

Yes, it is sad, isn't it? I think it may be a curse of being a Californian lol! But when he misdirected her home and then stayed outside of her house for hours, knowing she was alone, it just made my mommy radar go on full alert lol! At the time I thought Nell was about 8 years old, perhaps from the illustrations, I'm not sure, and it seemed to me that she was treated as a very young child as well. I did feel a teeny bit better when I learned that she was "nearly fourteen." It did take me awhile to get through the first chapter or two because it just didn't appeal to me at all...still not a favorite.

Jean wrote: "A couple more interesting snippets:

One of Dickens's fleeting cameos in chapter 28 is a Mr. Slum, who was trying to persuade Mrs. Jarley to employ his services as a poet in helping to advertise th..."

Jean -- I have fallen behind somewhat but couldn't resist this comment! So interesting about Count de Buffon - I wonder if this was the coining of the word "buffoon"?

Jamie wrote: "I don't think I've ever read a book with so many unsavory characters! I was concerned with the stalker-like qualities of the narrator in the beginning, the neglectful grandfather, the self-serving ..."

Yes, very melodramatic & even the name Nell seems to fit into that stereotype!

John wrote: "Jean,

Re David Copperfield timing. Been away from this for a few days (65th birthday celebrations!)

Well on in Dombey & Son. Wow!

After that, I think I will just follow your passage through OCS,..."

Happy birthday John! And I do agree about making time for those "serious" authors (all of which are on my TBR as well!!) :D

Leslie - unfortunately not. Buffoon is from 1540s French for a clown, unfortunately, according to my web searches! Shame.

Jamie - thank you. I find the more I read Dickens, the more I am at ease with his quirks and his weaknesses, allowing me to appreciate his great strengths, and the brilliant human insights that just tumble out of his time-pressured output.

On being shy of commenting, I still feel the same. It can be odd when one makes what seems to be a valid and interesting point which is either ignored or brusquely snubbed. And it's also difficult to resist rubbishing what seems a silly comment from someone else. But, I suppose it's a bit like being in a group of people, some known, some not, some liked, others not, and one just does one's best.

We couldn't have better people to talk to than Jean, Leslie, and others as here, anyway!

Nice idea though, about the origin of buffoon! I have just finished the book and need to ponder awhile now. I am so pleased that on his final tying up of ends Dickens told us what happened to the horse Whiskers. He was one of my favourite characters - so self-willed and also so canny!

I was particularly gripped near the final chapters by (view spoiler)[ the death of Quilp! Talk about fire and brimstone! (hide spoiler)]

And I now think Oscar Wilde's comment about the ending of The Old Curiosity Shop was just done for cleverness. Very witty, but not very fair!

Leslie - sorry to hear you've not been well and pleased you're back and feeling better now. Time and time again it seems we "keep going" when we have to, and then succumb to some lurge when all the stress is over. I suspect that may be what happened with you, considering the stressful time you've had over your mum's health. You take care now! :)

Jamie, I am incredibly pleased that this thread, among others, has prompted you into commenting! The first few times are the most nail-biting! But John, I don't really think there's much snubbing - and certainly not here in AAB :) Maybe I've just been lucky.

John - I think I recognise that feeling of being "ignored" when having spent a lot of time and thought over a post. But I tend to shrug it off, as this is all so transitory - people put up other comments, and the one you'd spent so long over just gets lost! I honestly don't think that is usually personal - or even deliberate!

As you say, John, it can happen in real life too. In a large group of people it's so easy to find you are taken away from what you want to do/the conversation you wanted to have, to do something else entirely...

I can promise that I'll try to respond to anything on this thread though, and not leave it "hanging", unless someone else has chipped in already ;)

I have started my next book, by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Oh my, it's so downbeat. I am missing my beloved Dickens already :( I'll probably have to keep posting a few bits about The Old Curiosity Shop here, to keep my spirits up...

Thanks Jean!

And Jamie & John, I too have experienced that feeling (I think of it as talking to the wind); some of my groups are always like that. I think that we mods try hard to avoid that here but that is one concern with the group growing -- very hard to keep up and correspondingly easier for one post to get lost.

Jean - I agree with all you say. Never in AAB, and only occasional and just unthinking elsewhere. And I know I've trodden on one or two toes unintentionally, then tried to ameliorate!

Liked your comment about Oscar Wilde and the death of Little Nell. I'd have slapped him.

Just been crying at an event in Solomon Gill/ Captain Cuttle's house towards the end of Dombey: he gets me every time!

That's what I always say about Dickens; he makes you laugh, he makes you cry...

Oh here's a pointed remark - a little dig at us all, voiced by Sampson Brass but really a long-standing irritation of Dickens, who always wanted to be ultra-respectable,

"I am styled "gentleman"... I am not one of your players of music, stage actors, writers of books, or painters of pictures, who assume a station that the laws of their country don't recognise. I am none of your strollers or vagabonds."

Of course Dickens was both a stage actor and a writer - doubly damned ;)

Real-life Locations:

1. This building on Portsmouth Street, Holborn, London



seems to have been the inspiration for the shop of the title. It was built in 1567, and Dickens used to frequent it. After The Old Curiosity Shop was published, the building was named in its honour.

2. St Bartholomew's Church in Tong, Shropshire



is supposed to be where the grave of Little Nell was situated. Hang on, you say, she was fictitious! Well exactly...

The serialisation of The Old Curiosity Shop was hugely successful in the USA, and with the last installment, people crowded on the pier in New York demanding to know the ending (view spoiler)[They shouted, "Is Little Nell dead?" (hide spoiler)] Afterwards, Americans started to come over to visit various sites in the novel. Dickens had visited Tong church when his grandmother worked at Tong castle, and it was possible to identify it from various references in the novel. Once the visitors came a money-spinning plot was hatched...

The local verger forged an entry in the church register of burials, the local people paid for a headstone, and the American tourists were thus duped into paying to see the supposed grave.

With apologies to all you USA readers :D

3. Other identifiable locations are:

Aylesbury, Bucks the churchyard where Nell and her Grandfather meet Codlin and Short
Banbury, Oxon the horse races where Nell and her Grandfather go with the show people
Warmington, Warwicks where the schoolmaster lives
Gaydon, Warwicks where they originally meet Mrs Jarley
Warwick the town where her waxworks are based
Birmingham, of course, the heavily industrialised town where the furnaces are
Wolverhampton, in the Black Country where Nell (view spoiler)[collapses and is rescued by the schoolmaster (hide spoiler)]

Great, Jean. Remind me, did Dickens go to these areas when researching schools for Nicholas Nickleby, or specifically for this book, or something else? Too lazy at 12.25am to find out myself!

Leslie,

Yes, you are so right! And there are so many posts. I don't know how you do it! Thank you!

John,

Until recently my exposure to Dickens' literature was very limited. Just A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations I'm afraid. I am thoroughly enjoying reading his works and getting to know the strengths, weaknesses, and quirks you mentioned. :)

As far as being a bit shy commenting, I would never have guessed! I have been somewhat in awe of the comments posted here. Thank you for sharing that with me. I'm sure it is as you say regarding people posting and such. I wouldn't place too much emphasis on it. For me there are always so many interruptions to help with math homework, play chauffer, etc., that I often forget where I'm at! If I ever forget something, please accept my apologies in advance lol!

Jean,

It was this thread that encouraged me to comment. When I discovered that this group was basically doing the same project that I set out to do a few months ago, and that we were in just about the same place, I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think about being nervous! Then I discovered another thread here in AAB that was beginning another book that I was reading and I decided to go for it lol! I've had to realize that its been years since I have written much more than a grocery list! It's fun and I am enjoying myself. :)

Ooh, and thank you so much for the goodies! I love the photos and the interesting side notes! This makes it even more enjoyable. I must admit that I'm not too surprised at the financial success of the enterprising local businesses lol. Apologies are unnecessary...caveat emptor! ;)

LOL Jamie, that's a relief!

Oh, just to clarify, it's not "All About Books" as a group who is doing this challenge - it's my personal one, which was initially for 2 years rather than just one, as most people's are. Now I think it's extended even further however...

Going back a bit, one of the (many) wonderful things in this group is the ability to record your own reads during a year, having your own thread within a folder called "2014 reads", which is great for a sort of personal record-keeping with added support! You might like to start one up yourself - or perhaps one which would fit better in the next paragraph's idea. I see there is one already called "Jamie's 2014 reads" (a different Jamie!) so you could start one off and call it something slightly different. Mine is called "Jean's 2014 books".

There's also the opportunity to decide on your own reading challenge, which can be anything at all! The folder is called "2014 personal challenges". Usually people use this to concentrate on areas they particularly want to cover, but as far as I know I am the only one to limit mine to one specific author, and it's because I'm a Dickens nut! If you go to the folder and have a look, you'll find lots of other, different, personal challenges. People tend to drop in and comment on these when they like :)

Having said that I am immensely pleased that others have chosen to occasionally join in on this challenge with me. Right from the start I got enormous support from people, as you can see at the beginning of the thread. Quite a few now drop in for the odd read - and sometimes "overtake" me. John, for instance caught on and has now been enthused enough to read far ahead of me :)

I'm just saying really that it's not "official". There are lots of official challenges in this group though. Have a dabble through the folders when you get the chance ;)

John - Well he lived very near The Old Curiosity Shop which is why he visited it so often, and his grandmother lived in Tong. Not absolutely sure when he saw the others... he walked for miles and miles of course, but they do seem a little far!

The Nicholas Nickleby research was all done secretly in Yorkshire, with Hablot Browne, both in cognito.

Here's the statue of Charles Dickens and "Little Nell" in Phildelphia, dating from 1890



Originally it was commissioned by the founder of the "Washington Post" to be placed in London, but did not get approval, because any statue of him was expressly against Dickens's wishes.

His will had forbidden "any monument, memorial or testimonial, whatever. I rest my claims to remembrance on my published works and to the remembrance of my friends upon their experiences of me."

There was only one other statue of Charles Dickens in the world until the one which was placed in Portsmouth, England in February of this year! Amid much controversy, as you might expect.

Jean - thank you. And some of Dombey takes place in Leamington, also a bit far to walk!

Probably a bit of silence from me. Now in hotel in Gatwick (nice to hear the old London voices at dinner). We're off to Nice (again) tomorrow, for 10 days, then 5 days in London when we get back.

At the last minute I packed David Copperfield in my bag, having previously decided to have a rest. So damned compulsive.

Happy reading.

J

LOL John - have a wonderful time! Doesn't seem two tics since you were in Nice before...

I doubt whether you'll be able to resist reading Dickens's favourite book now you've packed it ;)