Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Charles Dickens Month -- A Slapdash post

I've been ill all weekend, some sort of upper-respiratory funk, and I'm ashamed to say that this will be a post not very rich in content.  I did want to put up SOMETHING so that all you folks who are on the ball will have a place to post links.  By the way, I hope to visit more of your posts this week.

I have had much adventuring with Charles this week:
  • I'm deeper into Our Mutual Friend and it is getting so good!  
  • I finished watching David Copperfield with Hope.  She liked it and has asked if we can watch Our Mutual Friend.  Funnily enough, she calls it Our Material Friend which could be applied to several of the characters in the book.
  • I've been working on a Charles Dickens display at the library.  One display case is all about the novels.  The other display case is filled with items from our Rare Books Gallery.  As soon as it is done I promise to share pictures!
  • Sam gave me the best anniversary gift, Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin.  I cannot wait to dig in once I've finished Our Mutual Friend.  
  • While researching and pulling books for the library display, I came across Dickens' Fur Coat and Charlotte's Unanswered Letters: The Rows and Romances of England's Great Victorian Novelists by Daniel Pool.  I've added it to my ever-growing TBR pile!
Alright folks, that's it for me this week.  I promise to write more thoroughly next week!   Hit me up with your links on Charles Dickens in the comments section.

Happy Reading!

16 comments:

TBM said...

Hi Amanda. I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well. I'm impressed that you still posted and I hope you get better soon!

Here's my post:

http://50yearproject.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/is-dickens-too-dramatic/

Lindsey Sparks said...

I hope you enjoy the Tomalin biography more than I did - I didn't finish it. The Dickens' Fur Coat...book sounds interesting though! I hope you start feeling better! http://lindseysparks.blogspot.com/2012/01/dickens-life.html

Ruthiella said...

I finished the Tomalin biography last week and I liked it well enough; very serviceable. But as I said before, she does give away the plot to some of his novels...

I am now just over 100 pages into Our Mutual Friend and I am enjoying it alot.

Anonymous said...

Oh, lucky you, good man! That Tomalin sounds great. I finished Tale of Two Cities and blogged about it here:
yearofreadingmybooks.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/blood-and-love-and-dickens/

I'm so grateful you've hosted this read - I've wanted to read Dickens, but never gotten around to it. I enjoyed Tale very much.

Happy Reading! Ruby

Karen K. said...

I really need to start Martin Chuzzlewit but I keep putting it off. I'm just not excited about it somehow. OMF sounds much more interesting! And I got the Tomalin bio after Christmas (since no one would buy it for me) but I want to wait until I've read more of the novels, I have fear of spoilers.

Jerika said...

** Blogger isn't letting me post using OpenID

I checked the synopsis to Our Mutual Friend while browsing at a bookstore and found it to be very intriguing. Might pick it up once my schedule is not so hectic anymore.

I would love to read the Tomalin biography as well. :)

Anyway, I hope you feel better! :)

Here's my post:
http://averydisorientedreader.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/charles-dickens-month-post-3/

Christine Harding said...

Hope you feel better. I'm late again, but I'm enjoying looking at what other people are reading. I've just read Dickens' American Notes - here's the link to my past http://chriscross-thebooktrunk.blogspot.com/2012/01/shipsstorms-and-sea-sickness.html
I really enjoyed this, and it was an example of his 'non-novel' writing, although there are similarities in style.

Becky said...

I've got two to share. The first, a review of A Boy Called Dickens and second, an "awards" type post highlighting my favorite characters.

Anonymous said...

Hi: I messed up my URL for my Dickens post so I'm reposting it here, thanks, Ruby

http://yearofreadingmybooks.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/blood-and-love-and-dickens/

Amanda Roper said...

Great going so far, guys. I love the enthusiasm of everyone's posts.

Mel u said...

I just completed a reread of A Tale of Two Cities-

my post is here

http://rereadinglives.blogspot.com/2012/01/tale-of-two-cities-by-charles-dickens.html

I hope to read one more work so I can post on Dickens 200 day-I will have to get started soon as it will be either Great Expectations or Bleak House

Rebecca Reid said...

My final post on Bleak House!

http://reviews.rebeccareid.com/bleak-house-by-charles-dickens-thoughts-at-the-end/

Very good. Not my favorite Dickens but I very much enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll read the brief biography I have for next week!

Kay said...

My second post of the month is here:
http://www.kaysbookshelf.com/2012/01/the-man-who-invented-christmas-by-les-standiford/

Thank you for doing this, reading the blogs involved is so much fun!

Mandy@ Adventures in Borkdom said...

As with other commenters here, I also struggled with Tomalin's Charles Dickens biography--not because it was poorly written, but because I didn't want to know much about how rotten he was in his personal life!

I wrote my reflection on Tomalin's biography this week: NOT A REVIEW: Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

neer said...

On Edwin Drood:
http://inkquilletc.blogspot.com/2012/01/edwin-drood-did-he-or-didnt-he.html

neer said...

Review of Edwin Drood:

http://inkquilletc.blogspot.com/2012/01/dark-desires-dickens-edwin-drood.html