My Favorite Classic: A Classics Club Meme

One favorite classic. One. A single book that defines what I think is a classic and which classic defines me as a reader.  Hummmm....

My first inclination is to not play by the rules. Why not list a dozen, 7, heck, my top three?  I'll behave myself and list my favorite classic.  I've really had to mull this over for several days, because I realized my favorite classic isn't really my favorite.  Normally I tell folks that The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite. But that is only a half-truth.  I've read the book twice and I will say I love the fast-paced drama of the book and the dark, brooding Byronic nature of Edmund Dantes...but, well the last 200 pages kinda falls apart.  Everything begins to be neatly resolved, Edmund is repentant, and then there is the odd relationship between himself and his slave girl / princess that I don't quite understand. 

Hummmm... obviously I need to define my criteria for a favorite classic. 

1. The prose is beautifully written and constructed
2. The characters have depth, life, and are believable
3. The book reflects real life; meaning that there is humor, pathos, family, conflict, joy, death, hope, etc....
4. I find myself longing to read it and thinking about out it randomly long after it has been read.

Okay, I know my favorite classic:

Intricately plotted with mystery, murder, poverty, secrets, love, humor... everything.  And wrapped up in some of the most beautiful writing I've ever encountered:

"One disagreeable result of whispering is that it seems to evoke an atmosphere of silence, haunted by the ghosts of sound-strange cracks and tickings, the rustling of garments that have no substance in them, and the tread of dreadful feet that would leave no mark on the sea-sand or the winter snow."

 “Fog everywhere. Fog up the river where it flows among green airs and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.... Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.”

“... Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets, as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snow-flakes — gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas, in a general infection of ill-temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.”

 Love it.  Every stinking word.  Bleak House it is, my most favorite, treasured classic. 

Truth in Fiction: Charles Dickens and Our Mutual Friend

This is my first post for my reading challenge that I am hosting (I'm a horrible challenge host) that seeks to pair non-fiction books with novels.  I read Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens in January and I read Claire Tomalin's Dickens biography in February.  Here it is mid-March and I'm finally writing.  Naughty blogger.

I've hesitated on writing because I was trying to figure out what "angle" I wanted to take.  I don't want to recite the life of Charles Dickens and I've already written a review of Our Mutual Friend.  I've decided to not rehash things and instead to talk about where these two books intersect.  First, let me warn you that there will be Our Mutual Friend spoilers galore and so don't read on if you have yet to read the novel.

Our Mutual Friend is Charles Dickens last completed novel before his death in 1870.  Published in a serialized format from 1864-1865, the novel concerns a mysterious death, a will, and -- a favorite topic to Dickens -- money.  This is the novel Dickens had with him when he was involved in the Staplehurst rail crash.  Dickens grabbed his manuscript and managed to help get other passengers to safety.  At the time he was traveling with his mistress Ellen Ternan.  Dickens had been involved in come capacity with Ellen Ternan for some time and he left his wife and mother of his brood of children to be with the young actress Ellen, called Nelly.

It is beyond a doubt that Dickens is a very fine writer and has great compassion for the poor and downtrodden; however, he is human and flawed and his abominable behavior towards his wife was the one glaring lapse of character (of course he had other flaws, but this is the most "public" of his faults).  In reading Tomalin's biography it is interesting to note that Dickens tries very hard to cover-up his faults and to almost talk himself into being faultless.  He assumes a victim like stance rushing towards separation, asking his children to abandon their mother, even taking the younger children from their mother, forcing Catherine Dickens to pretend that all was well and even make social calls to the Ternans.  All the while he raising money for orphans and working to establish and keep up his home for fallen women.  In addition he is doing public readings and writing... still the beloved Boz.

What links Our Mutual Friend to this duplicitous time in his life is the one glaring issues I had with Our Mutual Friend -- the manipulation and lies fed to Bella Wilfer and how it is TOTALLY okay and even joyous in the end.  In my review of Our Mutual Friend I discuss how Bella is duped into thinking that she is marrying John Rokesmith who in fact is John Harmon.  A condition of Harmon's inheritance is that he marry Bella Wilfour. Well, Harmon is thought dead, Bella is released from her engagement to a man she doesn't know, and the Boffins (common and good people) inherit the money.  The Boffins take on Bella as a ward and shower her with affections and gifts.  Enter John Rokesmith (aka Harmon) who is secretary to Mr. Boffin.  Bella and John fall in love; John is kicked out of the home, Bella follows him, they wed, time passes, she has a baby and then one day.  BAM!  John tells Bella who he really is after a ridiculous scene where we learn that the Boffins were "in on it" and knew that Bella was being tested.  John wanted to know that Bella just wasn't after the money and so there was a long period of time where Bella was actively deceived to test her worth.  Most surprising is Bella's reaction.  She isn't angry.  She doesn't question.  She accepts that she needs to put full faith in her husband and trust that all of his lies and deceptions were for her own good.

At the end everyone is happy and smiling and all is right.  And it smacks of falsity.  I think this is pushing it even by Victorian standards of wifely obedience.

So while Dickens is in the midst of trying to be the lovable, fatherly Boz and writing about societal ills and supporting through philanthropy those wronged by selfishness he is engaged in breaking up his home and his wife's heart and carrying on with a much younger actress.  I can't help but think, and this may be a stretch, that Dickens knew he was wrong and sought at every chance to validate his own willingness to deceive with his sense of morality.  This sort of cognitive dissonance is apparent in Bella's thankful attitude towards John and the Boffins deceiving and testing her character through their falseness. 

Once again, I don't have any evidence that this was really on Dickens's mind or that he truly struggled with his poor choices.  I like to think that he knew he was wrong and was seeking a way to make his errors seem not so bad, but I don't know that for sure.  It could just all be a coincidence, but it is interesting to ponder.

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Our Mutual Friend was read for January Charles Dickens month, the Truth in Fiction challenge, Classics Challenge 2012, Victorian Challenge 2012, Tea and Books challenge,  and The TBR Pile Challenge.

Charles Dickens: A Life was read for January Charles Dickens month and the Truth in Fiction challenge

Teaser Tuesday (Feb. 21)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 

from The Dead Alive and A House to Let by Charles Dickens et al:

"In the cold winter sunlight, in the thick winter fog, in the black winter rain, in the white winter snow, the House was equally on my mind.  I have heard, as everybody else has, of a spirit’s haunting a house; but I have had my own personal experience of a house’s haunting a spirit; for that House haunted mine."  (pages 81-82)

from Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin:

"His feelings about America remained angry, and two years later he warned Macready, who had been invited to lecture in New York, against the country.  It was 'a low, coarse, and mean Nation' and 'driven by a heard or rascals'."  (page 142)

 I'm desperately trying to ramp up my reading this week by finished both books.  Wish me luck!

Happy Reading!

Charles Dickens Giveaway Winners!

Okay, I totally picked these winners on Wednesday because I couldn't wait any longer.  Hope was at school so I used a random number generator.

Winners of the Charles Dickens bookmarks:

• #25 -- Linda P!
• #40 -- Jillian!
• #21 -- Dusky Literati!
• #101 -- Lindsey Sparks!

Email me your mailing addresses (Amanda.L.AddisonATgmailDOTcom)*

The winner of  this lovely book:

#65 -- TED!!!

Remember that you need to email me by 11:59pm on Friday, 02/17 to claim your prize.  I will pick another winner if I don't hear from you.

*btw -- my email address is all lower case.  I was just trying to make it readable, sometimes folks think the "l" is a "1".

Charles Dickens Month -- Post the Fourth

I've been reading Charles Dickens's last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend, all month.  While I was sniffling on the couch this past weekend I flew through the last 400 pages.  I literally could not put the book down.  I've tried to figure out how best to review a novel of over 800 pages with well over a dozen memorable and significant to the plot characters.  And then there is the spoiler factor.  There is no way for me to discuss this book in any capacity (i.e. over a sentence) without discussing some crucial plot element that would ruin the joy of your reading experience.  In other words, I don't want to pop your Our Mutual Friend cherry; it would be both awkward and regrettable.  We'll leave that to Charles.  Seriously.  Go read the book. 

I will tell you that this is my THIRD favorite Dickens novel.  I haven't read all of them yet, but thus far here are my favorites:  1)Bleak House, 2)Little Dorrit, 3)Our Mutual Friend, 4)Great Expectations 5)A Tale of Two Cities.  I've read all of these novels in the past seven years.  I have read David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, but that was in high school and I can't remember being overly fond of them.   I've also read The Mystery of Edwin Drood but I don't know how to rate it.  I love the book's writing and plot, but I'm so damned angry it wasn't finished and I don't know WHAT HAPPENED.  I love it and reread it and then hate myself for going back to it and getting frustrated all over again.  I get pissy thinking about it.  We'll just call that book my Heathcliff. 

Anyways, back to the point at hand.  Our Mutual Friend was fabulous, the plot engaging, the characters excellent..... and it is my THIRD favorite Dickens novel.  I'll tell you one last thing and then we'll throw a big ole' spoiler warning up.  This book is about money.

Okay.....

BIG ASS SPOILER WARNING:  I'm serious.  I'm not even going to give a plot synopsis because if you haven't read this novel then you shouldn't be reading this here blog post!

**********************************************************************************

I've made it clear that I adore this book.  HOWEVER there are two things that bothered me that I can really only discuss with those who have read the book:

1.  Dickens wrote a stunning novel about greed, money, and corruption and then dropped the ball at the end.
2. I want to slap Bella Wilfer (aka Bella Rokesmith, aka Bella Harmon)

  As I read this book about money:  people going into debt, living beyond one's means, creditors being called in and lives ruined, new found money corrupting good people, covetousness (whether that be for money or a attractive young woman), I couldn't help but draw parallels to our current economic crisis.  Foreclosures, credit card debt, jobless rates... It seemed that Dickens was expressing that when one is obsessed with money (or the lack thereof) and when one tries to appear to be more than what one is then one cannot fully live a happy and complete life.  Translation:  wanting $ + having 0$ + trying to seem like you have $ = RUINATION!  We even have a 1%-er, Mr. Podsnap expounds on the embarrassment of the poor and basically says that they most likely want to be poor since they are poor.  Let's look at a few examples, from about 3/4 into the novel of people experiencing the realities of money:

• Noddy Boffin:  This poor hard-working man is now wealthy! Oh, wait... now he has become evil and miserly.  OMG he so freaking mean.  What a monster!
• Lizzie Hexam and Eugene Wrayburn:  Lizzie was raised on the waterfront as her dad pocketed gold from the dead bodies in the river and Eugene is a gentleman (a poor gentleman, but a gentleman).  Eugene knows he can never marry Lizzie and he doesn't even really consider it, he just admires her tenacity and pities her pathetic life.
• Bella Wilfer: the protege of the Boffins, Bella is obsessed with money and is determined to marry her way to a better station in life.

By the end of the book, however, we learn that:

• SURPRISE!  Noddy wasn't mean at all.  It was all an act!  He is really a selfless, kind, wonderful creature.  Good old Noddy!
• OMG!  How sweet, y'all.  Eugene married Lizzie because he is about to DIE.  He will be dead dead dead so now he finally realizes that he loves her and marries her while everyone in the room weeps.  The difference in station doesn't matter because he will be dead.  Gasp... but wait, he doesn't die!  Hooray!  And his stuffy, wealthy Papa doesn't care either.  Hooray (throw confetti).
• Bella is in love with the poor secretary and gives up everything to be with him because she is in LOVE and no longer wants money even though that is all she has ever thought about it.  All it took was one belittling of the secretary by Noddy Boffin to confirm that she was in love and didn't care about the cash.  

*sigh*

 In Bleak House there is true suffering.  Oh, folks suffer for a bit in Our Mutual Friend and several people meet sad, yet expected, ends, but at the end of OMF the good are all rewarded and the bad are all punished.  Everything is made right.  In Bleak House many characters suffer and things may be settled, but there is still hurt and sadness.  For example, Esther marries her true love, but her face is scarred and she grieves for the mother she only knew briefly.  Amy Dorrit's story in Little Dorrit ends happily, but that is really only the story of one couple experiencing that joyous happiness where everything turns out okay in the end, nearly everyone else is dead or supremely screwed-over.  In OMF, so many people had tidy little happy endings and it seemed to ring a bit false.

On to Bella Wilfer/Rokesmith/Harmon.  SLAP HER PLEASE.  In the beginning of the novel, Bella is a headstrong, lazy, quick-tempered, spoiled, money-loving twit, but she is pretty and has dimples (of course).  She is whisked off to live spoiled and pampered by the Boffins.  Bella falls in love with John Rokesmith/Harmon and gives up everything to live with him.  She has been deceived by the Boffins and John.  The entire time she thought Noddy Boffin was a jerk and John was poor when in fact, John was refusing to claim the money and having the Boffins' assistance in testing Bella's love.  Bella marries John and she's cool.  She has a baby and everything is cool.  She realizes that John always avoids Lawyer Lightwood and she's cool.  She finds out that John is a suspected murderer and she's still cool.  Suddenly, one day, John tells Bella that he isn't at his current job and they are wealthy and moving immediately.  They show up at the Boffins.  And then....everyone keeps laughing.

Noddy, Mrs. Boffin, and John: "hohohoho... harty har har... you thought you were poor... you thought that you married John Rokesmith and that John Harmon is dead... hahahahahhaha... we all lied to you... hahahahaha... because we wanted to test your love and emotions.... hahahahahaha..."

And the proud, headstrong, quick-tempered, sharp-tongued Bella just smiles and laughs and thinks life is grand.  I would have been PISSED.  To be played for at least two years because my husband wanted to see if I really was devoted.  I just wished she has shown a wee little bit of anger or incredulity or something.  But no, she was a perfect Angel.  All motherly sighs, and shiny eyes, and radiating happiness. 

Reading back through all of this it sounds like I didn't like the book.  I did.  I was happy for Lizzie and Eugene.  I loved the character of Jenny Wren.  The writing was beautiful and descriptive.  I felt tension and suspense when I should.  I laughed at the funny and mocking parts.  It was a marvelous reading experience and this is a novel I will most certainly re-read.  I think it was really the last 30 - 40 pages (of an over 800 page book) where I was slightly incredulous as to the tidy ending.  

END OF SUPER-SPOILER PART!!!!!!!!!

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Now for a bit of housekeeping.  I'm saving my Charles Dickens library display pictures for next week as I've babbled too much already.  Also, I've decided what the winner of the drawing will win, but I'm not announcing that until next week.  Remember, next Tuesday is the big 200 for Charles Dickens and the final wrap-up for this Dickens-infused month; make sure all comments are left by 11:59pm on 02/07/2012 to be eligible for the drawing!

Happy Reading!

Charles Dickens Month -- The Rare Book Edition

A thousand -- as Uriah Heep would say -- humble apologies; I know I'm woefully late with this week's Charles Dickens post and I could have titled it "The Better Late Than Never Post." 

I'd like to share a bit of the Charles Dickens display I put together at my library with the help of our special collections curator/librarian and some ever-trusty work-study students. This week I'll highlight two treasures from our Rare Book Gallery and next week I'll work in a few pictures of the general display. 

Gasp!  What's that!  The conclusion to The Mystery of Edwin Drood!  Can it be???  Did Dickens leave another manuscript?????

Alas, this is not Charles Dickens's work.  Once attributed to Wilkie Collins, this hoax novel was written by Henry Morford.

According to the special collection curator, this book, and the companion Edwin Drood, had a Sotheby slip in stating that the set was "exceedingly rare." 

OMG.  Look at the fancy edging!

Another fascinating find!  The library I work at has the entire serialized set of Our Mutual Friend. 

The serialized novel is resplendent with Victorian advertising. 

I was squealing -- quietly -- when I was able to help select and arrange these precious items.  I can't wait to explore our Rare Book Collection much more thoroughly in the future. 

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!

Charles Dickens Month -- Post the Second

Here is is, Charles Dickens Tuesday once again.  Let's get started!

I haven't read as much of Our Mutual Friend as I would like I'm on page 134 (and let me remind you it is over 800 pages long) and I am enjoying the story so far.  My problem is that a Charles Dickens is not an "on the go" type of book.  Dipping into it while on break at work, or in line, or while dinner is cooking isn't advisable.  One must plunge head first into a Dickens tome and expect to put down roots.  Atticus was ill this weekend with an ear infection (a temperature of over 102!) and I didn't have much time to get lost in Dickensian settings.  But this week will be different.  I'm determined to get a solid chunk read by next Tuesday.

I don't even know how to explain the plot to you thus far.  I've been introduced to a bevy of characters:  Noddy and his wife who adores Fashion have recently seen their place in society lifted due to an unexpected inheritance, the Wilfer family who have been disappointed in some finances they hoped to gain by their daughter's marriage, the Mr. and Mrs. Lammle who I believe are up to no good and a bevy of others in society -- low and high -- and they will all figure in the plot in some fashion.  I'm expecting money will truly be the root of all evil in this book.

Monday evening I began watching the Daniel Radcliffe version of David Copperfield with Hope.  We just finished the first episode and it is quite good.  I haven't read the book since high school, but it is all coming back to me.  I love Maggie Smith's spunk as David Copperfield's aunt and Hope was tickled that "so many Harry Potter" folks were in the film.  We actually had a "teachable moment" while watching.  Hope was asking about the mistreatment of David Copperfield.  The idea of being flogged for not knowing lessons horrified her and she was also concerned when we discussed child labor and the Industrial Revolution. She really liked the film and wants to read the book one day (her ADHD can make large books quite a challenge to read).  Oh, yeah, I also forgot how slimy and creepy Uriah Heep is... shudder....


I keep telling myself quality not quantity... I hope you all have a terrific week.

January -- Charles Dickens Month

A few folks have expressed interest in joining me in my Charles Dickens month in January.  Charles Dickens's Bicentennial celebration is happening in 2012 (his 200th birthday would have been on February 7th).  May I present to you, most humbly,

There is no amount of reading or required posting or mini-challenges and such.  I'm too busy and flighty to create a strict guidelines!  The premise is basic:  every Tuesday in January (there are 5 Tuesdays) post something about Charles Dickens.  It can be a book, short story, or film review.  It could be about his life.  It could even merely relate to his time period.  Basically just have something relevant about Charles Dickens in your blog post (heck, it could even be a rant about how much you hate Charles Dickens).  On his birthday, Tuesday 02/07 there will be a big wrap-up! 

Every Tuesday I'll have my weekly Charles Dickens post, so be sure to leave me a comment on that week's post with your URL.  Here is the cool part:  Every time you post a comment leaving a URL back to your Charles Dickensy-goodness you'll be entered in my Charles Dickens giveaway!!!  After February 7th,  I'll randomly draw a winner and you will get a Dickensian-themed prize.  Depending on my finances we may have a couple of winners.  The only stipulation is that your blog posts MUST actually be related to Charles Dickens.  More on the giveaway at a later date.  I have several ideas in mind.  To break it down simply, if you post each of the 5 Tuesdays in January and the Tuesday in February you will be entered into the drawing 6 times.  If you blog about Ol' Charlie more and add it to the Mr. Linky then you will be entered into my giveaway for each additional post.  February 7th is the cut-off day for eligibility in the drawing. 

Interested?  Let me know if you'd like to participate so I can add your blog to my feed-reader!

EDIT: Dang Mr. Linky is giving me fits! Just add leave a comment here and I'll add you to the list. I'll post a list of all the participants at the beginning of the year.

I have big plans for Charles Dickens month! Happy Reading!

Bookish OCD Strikes Again and some Charles Dickens Love!

It is November.  This means that my readerly OCD is in full-bloom.  Around this time of year I begin to think about next year's reading.  I'm changing the way I approach challenges and my reading.  Normally I try to read a few library books (1-2) and then read something from my shelves.  I tend to just grab what catches my eye and I don't really have a method to my madness.  Except then I throw in challenges.  I always, always, always sign up for WAY too many challenges and spread myself too thin.  Then I don't complete anything.  So far, I've made a solid dent in many of my reading challenges but I've only finished ONE CHALLENGE. I do the same thing with Readathons; I have my hands (eyeballs?) in too many books and find at the end that I've finished too few titles.  After the last Readathon I got to thinking about creating a theme for my readathon TBR pile.  Perhaps centered around a theme?  Hummmm.... I can readathon and reading challenge at the same time.  Brilliant!

Now my bookish OCD has reared its head and I've decided to use a theme or challenge to help structure my monthly reading.  I'm not saying I won't read something different, but if my goal is to finish a challenge in month or so then focusing that reading may help my book anxiety.  What is book anxiety?  Well, I find myself overwhelmed by my bookshelves, the library stacks, interlibrary loan treasures, book challenges, and readalongs.  TOO MANY BOOKS FREAK OUT GASP GASP GASP!!!!!

Ahem.

May I present to you my theme for January:

I love Charles Dickens and his 200th birthday is in February so naturally I'd love to spend some time reading Dickens.  I will not only spend time reading Charles Dickens's fiction, but I'll also be reading non-fiction about Dickens and Victorian England and fiction based on Dickens's characters or even Dickens himself.  Of course I've already assembled a book pool (duh, book OCD):

My definitely reading list:

• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• A House to Let by Charles Dickens (with Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell)
• Charles Dickens by Michael Slater
• Victorian London by Liza Picard
• The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits edited by Mike Ashley

Other books I may work in:

• We Two:  Victoria and Albert by Gillian Gill
• Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
• The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

In addition I'll be reviewing a few film versions of Dickensian works and -- the best part -- I've obtained permission to get into my library's rare book collection to lovingly caress (with a gloved hand, of course) some Dickens rarities.  I hope you'll stop by to wallow in Victorian novel goodness. 

Now it is time to spend the remainder of my Sunday "mom time" reading Wolf Hall. 

Photo Friday: Atticus as a Beloved Dickens Character

Can you name that Charles Dickens' character?  He's one of my favorites...

Readerly Rambles

I've finally accepted the fact that I was not meant to be a book blogger.  I keep trying to move towards more bookish blogging, but, frankly, it seems like such a chore.  I'm lucky if I get to read 5 book a month (I collect hobbies like I collect tattoos).  I've hated nearly every ARC sent to me.  I don't give a damn about hosting book giveaways -- especially book giveaways that are thinly masked marketing ploys --  and I am incapable of writing a well-thought out interesting review.  Books are my first passion. Okay, my family is my first passion, but books are a close second.

I'm a nerd with a blog.  Not a book blogger.  Just a sorta blogger who loves books.  Given that I lack the ability/inclination/time to write stunning book reviews, I'm just going to pop-on and occasionally ramble about what I've read.  I might even have sentence fragments or lack transitions or *gasp* say nothing of value.  Whatever.  There are books to be read and no time to dither about structuring elegant prose.

What have I read?  Not much.  I've read about half the number of books I read by this time last year.  Hummmmm.... I wonder why... oh, yes.... Atticus.  Atticus is only my rolypoly baby boy for a tiny window of time and my books will always be there on the shelf.  I can read when he is older.  I will say that what I have read has been CRAZY good.  I don't think I've read a single sucky book.  Yay!

Some of these books I've already discussed here, but for OCD's sake, lets just run down the list starting with...

Silent Woman:  Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes by Janet Malcolm:  I thought about writing a long post on Malcolm's book about attempting to write Plath's biography and dealing with issues of literary estate, memory, and point-of-view, but...... I didn't.   This book is interesting if you are a Plath-fiend, but this book is less about Plath and more about writing biography.  I would teach it in a creative non-fiction class and not in an American lit class.  A very interesting book that will have your brain mulling over interpretations of the past for weeks (months!) afterwards.

Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers:  meh.  This is the first Lord Peter Wimsey and I do plan on reading the others despite my lukewarm reaction to the book.  A murder mystery involving a body in a bathtub and a bevy of British characters (caricatures) this book was okay in the mystery department, but I was annoyed by the foppish behavior and speech.  I think I had high expectations for this book and was disappointed.

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens:  I've already blogged this book, but let me express, once more, that I freaking loved it!  Easily my second favorite Dickens' novel.

Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation by Noel Riley Fitch This book took awhile to finish as it was so dense.  I really loved this book.  More than a biography of Sylvia Beach, this book has so much about Paris and the Lost Generation.  Fans of Joyce, Hemingway and other ex-pat writers will enjoy how Fitch immerses the reader into the streets, bookshops, and cafes of Paris.

The Queen's Man by Sharon Kay Penman:  A historical mystery series in the time of Eleanor Aquitaine written by Penman.  Need I say more?  A definite win.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain:  This novel concerns Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Hemingway.  It took me a bit to get into the novel, but after about 50 pages I was hooked.  This story is heartbreaking and no, I still don't feel sorry for Mr. Macho Hemingway.  Being a damned good writer is no reason to be a selfish prick (cough Ted Hughes cough).  I highly recommend this novel, but only if you are in the middle of a healthy marriage.  I imagine this book may be disheartening to single-folk and dismal for miserable married-folk.  Luckily, I read and thanked my lucky stars that Sam is hugely talented as an artist and devoted to me.

Not much reading, but it has all been pretty solid.  Right now I'm reading a book for work about Interlibrary Loan Best Practices (for work, duh) and I'm consumed by an Edna St. Vincent Millay biography.  Hopefully, I'll ramble in a readerly-fashion at least a few times a month.

The Classics Circuit: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Hi, folks!  Welcome to my tardy Classic Circuit post on Charles Dicken's rags-to-riches-to-rags novel Little Dorrit.  I think this may be my last post for the Classics Circuit.  I love reading along and I love expanding my literary horizons, but for the life of me I can't seem to finish a book and post on time.  Letting folks down isn't cool, so in the future I'll read-a-long and post at my own pace (i.e. I won't "technically" be a participant).

I adore Charles Dickens with Bleak House being my most favorite novel.  Little Dorrit now stands as my second favorite novel.  The usual Dickensian elements are at work: a large volume containing a multitude of characters (some earnest and good, some nefarious, and some comical) and a main plot with several side plots that all seem to connect at the end.

This is the story of Amy Dorrit, a small, quiet, young woman born and raised in the Marshalsea debtor's prison by her father -- William Dorrit.  She works as a seamstress for a very Miss Havisham-type woman, Mrs. Clennam.  When Arthur Clennam returns from sea bearing the news that his father has died and left him with the cryptic task to remind his mother Do Not Forget.  This sets off a chain of events that will propel Amy and Arthur to riches and poverty, illness and loneliness, and -- ultimately -- happiness.

Charles Dicken's masterful writing is at his best in this novel.  The conversations are full of life and true to his characters, there are beautiful descriptive passages setting mood and place, and his wit is razor-sharp.  I found myself vacillating between hope, sadness, laughter, suspense, and certainly enjoying every page.

I hate to say it, but -- although I adore Jane Austen -- I find that Charles Dickens has thoroughly whopped her butt in the literary arena.