The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

I'm in the same boat. Friend has been packing my books. One shelving unit took 30 boxes. Yes, you read that correctly. There are boxes all over my house and they are mostly books. She packed Pickwick so I got a copy today. Funny, I bought one on Ebay and it came yesterday but it's fragile and I don't want to carry it during the move. Chapter 1 down and will catch up soon.

K. wrote: "Are your grandkids old enough for summer hire? Just a thought! "

They're smart kids, but at 3, 3, 1, and 1, they're a year or two away from being able to read and enter book titles! (Hope that came across as a joke and not a nasty comeback, which wasn't intended at all.)

Everyman wrote: "K. wrote: "Are your grandkids old enough for summer hire? Just a thought! "

They're smart kids, but at 3, 3, 1, and 1, they're a year or two away from being able to read and enter book titles! (H..."

Dang! You'll have to give them a year or two ;) But right now they're adorable, right? Those ages are magic.

I wish I could skip over the kids and just have grand-kids! ;-) I love kids, but I love giving them back to their parents even more.

S. Rosemary wrote: "I wish I could skip over the kids and just have grand-kids! ;-) I love kids, but I love giving them back to their parents even more."

ROFL! ;-) My kids have been a great joy to us, S. Rosemary; but I can't say that I don't agree with your observation to some extent. I do love having the grandkids though, they are a blast!

Grandchildren are the reward for parenthood.

Everyman wrote: "Grandchildren are the reward for parenthood."

Amen to that!

I love Dickens; he is my favorite author. I have read most of his most popular works and I will be sad when I've read them all! I have re-read a few of them though and I imagine I would be glad to re-read many more.

This is perfect! I'm currently in the middle of Pickwick Papers myself.

This is such a GREAT project, count me in. I have often wanted to expand my Dickens reads beyond Great Expectations, which I love and have read at least three times and The Tale of Two CitiesN which was challenging at first, but definitely worth the effort. Also Little Dorrit with Victorians, which was very enjoyable. Off to download Pickwick Papers! Happy to help moderate GE when we get there if you need/like.

I've been away for a long time, but you can't imagine my delight upon returning to find you all in the middle of "Pickwick", one of my all time favorites. The whole Dickens project is a brilliant idea, particularly the leisurely pace of reading. That makes it so easy to fit it in with other reading and that pesky thing, Real Life. My thanks to all who had the idea and who are doing the organizing. Well done.

I've had this goal for awhile but just could not force my way through "The Old Curiousity Shop" and stalled right there. I think I can stomach even that if we are going at it 50 pages a week.

I loved "The Pickwick Papers" and will try to figure out where to join you in a reread.

This DVD about Charles Dickens would make an excellent Birthday/Xmas present:-

http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Dickens...

http://www.charlesdickensengland.com/

Just thought I'd let you know that you're not alone in your endeavour.

So, I've been following this and wasn't sure. I didn't realize it was a huge book. I picked it up at B & N yesterday, just because I have to buy a book when I walk in there. Saw it, remembered you guys had been reading it, so here I am, Chapter 1 down. I have got to catch up with you guys.

On another note, my Grandmother has a very old set of the DICKENS books, all of them, I'll post a picture soon.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/...

direct link to a photo of my grandmothers Dickens set. I WANT THEMMM =)

Wow! See if she will put them in her will as yours. I have a set of Wilkie Collins that looks just like that. It took me years to find after I had passed one up at a book sale.

I really want this set. Hopefully I like Dickens, maybe if I read them all and show her how much I value them, maybe just maybe she will. I want them :p

Her house is amazing though .The walls are bookshelves in her living room, so the walls are literally covered in books :) I love it <3

I am not sure whether this is the right place to ask this, but is there an official sequence in which all of Dickens's books will be read? Please excuse me if this Is not the right place to ask this. I was just wondering which of his great pieces of literature will be read after the Pickwick Papers. I might not have access to all of my books (and I am still the old-fashioned one who loves her wonderful paper copy) for some months and must make up my mind which ones to take with me. As I have just started my first group read and I am really enjoying it, I would really like to read the next Dickens together with the group as well.

you should probably not hide Oliver Twist at the bottom of a moving box ;-) -> p.1 of this discussion - they'll be read in the chronological order that they were written :) I've been following the thread for a while as I am thinking about joining a Dickens read. However, I can't wait to read David Copperfield and my french Mme Bovary edition, so I might prefer one of these to Oliver Twist for now.. (P.S.: I am very curious and hope I can give you a call soon...)

Hedi wrote: "I am not sure whether this is the right place to ask this, but is there an official sequence in which all of Dickens's books will be read? Please excuse me if this Is not the right place to ask thi..."
Hi Hedi, thanks for reminding us to plan ahead, At the very beginning of this thread there's a list from Chris that I'm copying here.

Here is the list of the novels written by Charles Dickens and the year of publication (i.e., most of his novels were serialized in literary magazines).

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837)
The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1839)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
The Old Curiosity Shop (1841)
Barnaby Rudge (1841)
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
Dombey and Son (1848)
David Copperfield (1850)
Bleak House (1853)
Hard Times: For These Times (1854)
Little Dorrit (1857)
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
Great Expectations (1861)
Our Mutual Friend (1865)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished upon his death in 1870)

Thanks Robin and Melanie, I had not seen the sequence , but already guessed that it was based on publishing date. I am missing 2 of his books. Maybe I can get them before I move. Melanie, I will be in Germany for a couple of months. That's the latest news since yesterday.

Do we have a timeline yet for starting Oliver Twist?

Denae wrote: "Do we have a timeline yet for starting Oliver Twist?"

Hi Denae. We should be done with Pickwick Papers by the end of September. So my guess is that we'll start Oliver Twist in October. On the list of moderators for Dickens, I believe Loretta is listed as the moderator for the Oliver Twist discussion.

I'll start pulling a schedule together over the next couple of days.

Loretta wrote: "I'll start pulling a schedule together over the next couple of days."

oh good! haha i just messaged you. disregard. ;)

I posted an in-process Oliver Twist schedule for comment in its own thread, if everyone would like to go and take a look.

A fellow book/literature lover alerted me to the following this morning. It may be of interest to some of you Dickens readers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/art...

(I'll post this over in C&T as well -- it may be of interest as well to some of us who aren't following the Dickens readings.)

Hello everyone.

The Guardian newspaper is preparing for the 200 anniversary of Dickens's birth with many articles.

Looks as if we started before the rush.

Please follow the following link.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/serie...

I see that the Victorians have now started a 'Dickens' Endeavour'!!

I'm joining in a bit late here, but I'm going to try to catch up on Oliver Twist and then continue with the rest of the Dickens with the group. What a great idea for a group reading project! Thanks so much for organizing it. :)

Welcome, Suzanne! I've had the feeling lately there aren't many of us actually doing this week by week, but but I am enjoying it very much.

I have to say that I didn't care much for Dickens until this challenge. I'm looking forward to Nicholas Nickelby.

Are we going to have a reading schedule for Nicholas Nickelby starting in January?

Krislyn volunteered to moderate Nicholas Nickelby.

I'm playing catch up here. I bounce in and out of Victorians too but didn't pick up their choices because we were already doing our Dickens project. I can't wait to spend some time to catch up with Oliver.

Christopher wrote: "It is with great pleasure that the "Readers Review" introduces a new feature for the group-- The Dickens Project: 'The Pickwick Papers' through 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. We are going to start ..."

I am new to this group and a great lover of Dickens. I have two nearly complete sets of the 1876 Household Edition of his works (they are the ones shown in Julie's post above in the picture of her grandma's set) and have read through them all 2-3 times (some more). I read that at Christmas this group may read A Christmas Carol; as I am reading it now, I wonder if this group will be too?

I think it would be a great idea to read A Christmas Carol right after Oliver, even though it's not chronological, it will be just about Christmas then. We could start Nicholas Nickleby in January.

Christmas Carol is a wonderful story, but I also would like to re-read the Chimes. Do you think we can squeeze in both of them?

Zulfiya wrote: "Christmas Carol is a wonderful story, but I also would like to re-read the Chimes. Do you think we can squeeze in both of them?"

I started Chimes last night; both it and Christmas Carol are short and easy reads. I don't see why we couldn't read both of them!

I read Christmas Carol last year at this time. I've never read Chimes though. I would love to participate but am playing catch up with Oliver. I have a new strategy for '12 to keep up with my reading ;-)

Deborah wrote: "I read Christmas Carol last year at this time. I've never read Chimes though. I would love to participate but am playing catch up with Oliver. I have a new strategy for '12 to keep up with my re..."

What is your strategy? I could use some help in that department!

@Seeuuder - I had to smile at your note. I'm finding that if I just read the book at my own speed, I'm usually up to date, if not a little ahead. If I only read the chapters for that week, I feel like I don't enjoy the book as much and end up picking up other things along the way that seem to take over the priority of my reading. So I'm going to just read at my pace, and make notes. Hope this helps ;-) and I hope it works for me too.

I kept getting off because of the chapter numbers not matching, since I didn't have mine divided by volumes. I figured out and wrote down the equivalent chapters at least 3 times but kept losing my notes. So if that comes up again, it would be great if the moderator could include equivalent chapter numbers. I also read ahead sometimes because I just wanted to know what happened next!

Deborah, that sounds like a good plan. Robin, I too had chapter confusion.

That makes three of us. I had chapter confusion too because like you had no separation of books.

I am going to reread Christmas Carol and The Chimes in the next week or so if anyone wants to discuss them. (If we decide to do them at a future time, that's fine too.) I don't think we have a date yet to start Nicholas Nickleby. I know some have felt reading a few chapters a week is too slow, but for me it is working out great and has allowed me to also keep reading lots of other books.

I plan on reading those too. I haven't read A Christmas Carol since I was 8, and I have been meaning to read it again. Even for non-Christians like me, it is a nice story. I've never read The Chimes before, so hopefully I enjoy that one too.

I have already started and am reading from an 1876 edition that has these stories:

1) A Christmas Carol
2) The Chimes
3) The Cricket on the Hearth
4) The Battle of Life
5) The Haunted Man
6) Somebody's Luggage
7) Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings
8) Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy
9) Doctor Marigold
10)Two Ghost Stories
11)The Boy at Mugby
12)The Seven Poor Travelers
13)The Holly Tree
14)Going into Society

In A Christmas Carol, I came across this passage that I thought was an extra little chill that Dickens threw in. It takes place just as Scrooge is being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past:

"The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to which his face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them; as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the Spirit at your elbow."

That gave me a little shiver when I read it, and I thought what a marvelous little line to throw in there, in which the author inserts himself into the story in such a way that mirrors what's happening in the story. Delightful Dickens.

Robin wrote: "I am going to reread Christmas Carol and The Chimes in the next week or so if anyone wants to discuss them. (If we decide to do them at a future time, that's fine too.) I don't think we have a date..."

Robin, I would like to join you and others to re-read the aforementioned Christmas stories. Dear moderators, please, can anyone start a thread?
And, Robin, I am totally with you. This slow speed is ideal for me because I read several books at the same time. But I will try to keep up if the reading is more intensive for Nicholas Nickleby.