Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit"

Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit" - 1843-44 

I'm a huge fan of Charles Dickens and am glad I read this novel. But I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't read anything else by him. For me, this was one of his worst novels.

Too many characters, even though he was able to include many interesting names. This also meant that some things got lost, such as the main love story, which is what everything supposedly revolves around. But it's barely portrayed. We hardly see the couple together. Otherwise, too much confusion, chaos, one catastrophe after another.

I read somewhere that this is Dickens' most underrated book. I wouldn't say that; I think it landed exactly where it belongs, somewhere at the very bottom of all his fantastic books.

I recommend "David Copperfield" for starters.

From the back cover:

"Old Martin Chuzzlewit believes that greed is so endemic in his family that he disinherits his grandson and hinders his courtship of Mary Graham. As the intricacies of he plot develop the story passes from sunny comedy to the grimmest depths of criminal psychology. Domestic tyranny is tellingly depicted through the household of Mr Pecksniff and public villainy - leading to blackmail and  murder - revealed in the activities of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company...

A brilliant satire on selfishness and hypocrisy revolving around a stubborn young protagonist. Martin Chuzzlewit is also one of Dickens's comic masterpieces. Peopled with a cast of characters - including Mrs. Gamp, Poll Sweedlepipe, Montague Tigg and Chevy Slyme - unequalled elsewhere in his novels."

Alphabet Authors ~ D is for Dickens

I found this idea on Simon's blog @ Stuck in a Book. He picks an author for each letter of the alphabet, sharing which of their books he's read, which I ones he owns, how he came across them etc.

Dickens or Dostoevsky - that's the question. I had to choose Charles Dickens though it was a tough decision.

I know he wrote more books and I intend to read them all one day but these are the ones I read so far (I will add to the list whenever I read another one).

- "A Christmas Carol" - 1843
- "Barnaby Rudge" - 1841
- "Bleak House" - 1852/53
- "David Copperfield" - 1850
- "Great Expectations" - 1861
- "Hard Times" - 1854  
- "Little Dorrit" - 1857
- "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
- "The Old Curiosity Shop" - 1840
- "Oliver Twist" - 1838
- "A Tale of Two Cities" - 1859
- "The Pickwick Papers" - 1836

Facts about Charles Dickens:
Born    7 February 1815 Portsmouth, England
Died    9 June 1870 Kent, England (aged 58)
Buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London, England
There are museums and festivals in his honour and statues of him and his characters all over the world.
He was the father of ten children.

Dickens was such an important writer of his time that we even comment on this with the term "Dickensian".

* * *

This is part of an ongoing series where I will write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.

Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby"

Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39

For the Classics Spin #39, we received #3 and this was my novel.

I have read most of the books by Charles Dickens by now but there are still a few left. So, I was happy that this number got drawn. So, here was the chance to devour one more of his fabulous books.

And fabulous it was. It had everything a Dickens novel needs: villains and virtues, rogues and good people, a helicopter mother from the Georgian era, just a caleidoscope of people from his time with lots of intrigues. Not to forget the great names he gives his characters: The Cheerybles, The Crummles, Sir Mulberry Hawk, Newman Noggs, Peg Sliderskew, Wackford Squeers, one of them funnier than the last.

Of course, this is a novel against social injustice. And while we might think that is better today, some things never change.

Obviously, a lot happens in the story, much of it is already given in the synopsis, so I wouldn't want to add to that in order not to spoil it for the first-time readers. Therefore, I finish with a quote from Oscar Wilde (in "The Importance of Being Earnest"): "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means".

From the back cover:

"When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father's death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world. His adventures gave Dickens the opportunity to portray an extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics, such as Wackford Squeers, the tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys; the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas; and the gloriously theatrical Mr. and Mrs. Crummles and their daughter, the 'infant phenomenon'. Like many of Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, revealing his comic genius at its most unerring."

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead"

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022

I must have mentioned this a hundred times. I'm a huge Charles Dickens fan. I really love Barbara Kingsolver's books, so this was just the book for me, a modern version of my favourite Dickens book, "David Copperfield".

I am not necessarily a fan of rewritten classics. I always say, authors should have their own idea for a story and not pick up that of another one. However, this is just a story that deserves to be picked up and looked upon with fresh eyes. It's easy to say that was so long ago and isn't part of our lives anymore. But what if it is?

Barbara Kingsolver managed it perfectly to transform the story into the 21st century. We follow Demon aka David through his sad life where he slides from one problematic situation to the next - or is pushed.

So, even if you know "David Copperfield" inside out and know exactly what must be coming next, it still is a highly suspenseful novel, or maybe even because of that. You know what is coming but you wonder how she transformed the story. Brilliant.

I think this gives us a good view about today's problems, even in so-called first world countries, and a lot to think about. Something that Barbara Kingsolver does so well.

This might even become my favourite book of the year.

From the back cover:

"Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.

In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there.

Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between."

Dickens, Charles "Barnaby Rudge"

Dickens, Charles "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty" - 1841

I'm a huge Charles Dickens fan. I have never read a book by him that wasn't fascinating. This was so great, as well.

I didn't know that this was another historical novel (next to "A Tale of Two Cities").

What I loved about this book was just what I normally love about Dickens. His description of the little man, the life of people at the time he writes about. How did they live? What were their problem? Why did they revolt in this case?

We get a good view about the lives and the problems of the people in the 18th century even though it wasn't the time Dickens lived in.

I can see why this is the least read of his books though it doesn't really deserve it. The topic might not seem as interesting to readers or maybe they are missing a really feel-good romance. No matter the reason, this is a great book and if you are a fan of classic literature, you should consider reading at least one of Dickens' books. And if you don't want to carry on then, it is your loss.

I would love to read this with a book club since there is so much to talk about. But I don't want to give spoilers on my blog, so I will not go into details.

From the back cover:

"Dickens's first historical novel is set against the infamous 'No Popery' riots that were instigated by Lord George Gordon in 1780, and terrorised London for days. Prejudice, intolerance, misplaced religious and nationalistic fervour, together with the villains who would exploit these for political ends, are Dickens's targets. His vivid account of the riots at the heart of the novel is interwoven with the mysterious tale of a long unsolved murder, and a romance that combines forbidden love, passion, treachery and heroism.

A typically rich cast of comic characters, from the snivelling Miss Miggs and the posturing Simon Tappertit to the half-witted Barnaby Rudge of the title, ensures high entertainment."

#ThrowbackThursday. A Christmas Carol

 

Dickens, Charles "A Christmas Carol" - 1843

Usually, I go backwards through my blog to show one of my favourite reads but this time, I jump a little forward. I just re-read this classic and think it is a great story for this time of the year.

Because - it's Christmas and what story could be more Christmas-sy than Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" which teaches us to be good to each other, to think about others and not just ourselves, to become better people.

🎄🎄🎄

So, as Tiny Tim says: "God bless us, every one!"

Read more on my original post here. 

Dickens, Charles "The Old Curiosity Shop"

Dickens, Charles "The Old Curiosity Shop" - 1840

When I mentioned to another blogger that I was just reading this book, he said that it "… was not one of my favorite Dickens, but that's a high bar, I still enjoyed it." Now that I just finished it, I can say that he put my thoughts into words. It's definitely not my favourite, that's still David Copperfield, but I have yet to read a book by Charles Dickens I don't enjoy.

The enjoyment of reading wasn't improved by the copy I had, an A4 sized cheap reprint (letter size in the US). Well, it couldn't be helped. It taught me to look for the size of an edition when ordering books online.

Funnily enough, this is supposed to be the most popular of Dickens' books during his lifetime. As it says on the cover, readers in New York even stormed the ship bringing the final instalment. Reminds me of Harry Potter today. Wow! This that not all tales stand the test of time equally well.

However, as with all books by Dickens, he observed his surrounding so well and could describe it so you are transformed to his world that it is definitely worth reading. Especially if you like classics. And chunky books.

I still have a few to go and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on them.

From the back cover:

"The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel by Charles Dickens. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London. The Old Curiosity Shop was one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, which lasted from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in 1841."

The Classic Meme 2.0 - July 2020

Apparently, when the Classics Club came into being. A monthly meme was devised to bring clubbers together to chat about classics. New questions were posted from 2012 to 2016 and then again in 2018 to give clubbers an opportunity to talk about literature together. You could write a blog post and leave the link or simply put your thoughts in the comments.

Now, they have revived that idea and the first meme for this month is:

Which classic author have you read more than one, but not all, of their books and which of their other books would you want to read in the future?

This is an easy one for me. The author would be Charles Dickens. I really like him but haven’t read enough of his novels, yet.

Dickens, Charles 
- "A Christmas Carol"
- "Bleak House
- "David Copperfield"   
- "Great Expectations" 
- "Hard Times" 
- "Little Dorrit"
- "Oliver Twist" 
- "A Tale of Two Cities"
- "The Pickwick Papers" 

Ideally, I want to read all of his books but these would be on my list for "next":

- "Barnaby Rudge"
- "Dombey and Son"
- "Edwin Drood" 
- "Martin Chuzzlewit"
- "Nicholas Nickleby"
- "The Old Curiosity Shop"
- "Our Mutual Friend"

Here is a link to the questions that have been asked so far.

Wilding, Valerie "Top Ten Dickens Stories"

Wilding, Valerie "Top Ten Dickens Stories" - 2000

This book is part of the Scholastics "Top Ten" book series. It's meant for children and written in a funny, comical way. But it is also interesting for adults, whether you've read Dickens and love him like me, or not.

The author doesn't just describe Charles Dickens' novels, she also explains life in London during his time.

Lovely little collection.

From the back cover:

"What was top of the page in Victorian Times?
Want to know which Dickens stories had the number one slot since the 19th century? It could be …
Great Expectations - Take a peep in Pip's diary and expect tales of escaped convicts and romance gone horribly wrong!
A Tale of Two Cities - The French are revolting and anyone could end up on the gory guillotine. Can our heroes and heroines keep their heads?
Oliver Twist - Starved orphan kidnapped by bad Bill Sikes!
Joint he manhunt with the Crimes R Us TV crew.
WITH top ten fact sections, including crime, punishment, nasty nightmare schools, and kids up chimneys.
Dickens stories as you've never seen them before."

Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield"

Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield" - 1850

Full title: The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)

Every time I read another book by Charles Dickens, I have the impression, this is definitely my favourite. But, I do believe I have found the best ever now. Apparently, it mirrors Charles Dickens' life the most of all his books.

Somewhere I read "I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child, and his name is David Copperfield". I couldn't agree more.

I loved all the nice characters and hated all the bad ones, as it should be but this was really a very story where you could get immersed. The language is as beautiful as the flow of the story, the details as great as the English countryside. We can follow our hero from his childhood into maturity, get to meet everyone who is important in his life. Even though the book is more than 150 years old, we can still retrace the steps, feel for the protagonist and his sidekicks. That's what constitutes a real classic.

As always, his names are always hilarious. But nothing really tops Uriah Heep!

Of course, the disadvantage of reading such a big book of 1,000 pages always is, you feel like you lost a friend when you finish it.

I will definitely have to find my next Dickens book soon!

Even if you're not much into classics or chunky books, if you ever considered reading a Dickens novel, take this one.

From the back cover:

"Dickens's epic, exuberant novel is one of the greatest coming-of-age stories in literature. It chronicles David Copperfield's extraordinary journey through life, as he encounters villains, saviours, eccentrics and grotesques, including the wicked Mr Murdstone, stout-hearted Peggotty, formidable Betsey Trotwood, impecunious Micawber and odious Uriah Heep.

Dickens's great Bildungsroman (based, in part, on his own boyhood, and which he described as a 'favourite child') is a work filled with life, both comic and tragic."

Dickens, Charles "Oliver Twist"

Dickens, Charles "Oliver Twist" - 1838

One of the many classics by Charles Dickens I haven't read, yet.

Charles Dickens certainly is one of the best classic authors you can think of. His love of detail, his way of telling you every single event, describing every person, makes his era come alive.

I think most people have seen the movie "Oliver" which is a good musical. However, the book - as usual - is so much better, the characters are more lively, the scenes ring more true.

This is certainly one of his best novels - although, I haven't found one, yet, that I didn't love.

From the back cover:
"Dark, mysterious and mordantly funny, Oliver Twist features some of the most memorably drawn villains in all of fiction - the treacherous gangmaster Fagin, the menacing thug Bill Sikes, the Artful Dodger and their den of thieves in the grimy London backstreets. Dicken's novel is both an angry indictment of poverty, and an adventure filled with an air of threat and pervasive evil.

The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War."

Dickens, Charles "Bleak House"

Dickens, Charles "Bleak House" - 1852/53

My seventh Dickens after "A Christmas Carol", "Great Expectations", "A Tale of Two Cities", "The Pickwick Papers", "Little Dorrit" and "Hard Times" but certainly not my last one. I hope I will get through all of his works one day.

A thousand pages of a well-written novel, Apparently, this is supposedly an early work of detective fiction and is one of his later titles. But apart from that, it certainly is a Dickens novel. The characters' names might not be as weird as in some of his books. Maybe he had no more ideas or he grew tired of finding those kind of names, I don't know. I missed it, of course.

This book is a page turner. Having worked in the legal system myself (even though in a different country), I could relate a lot to all the difficulties in the law suit. It's the same everywhere. That bit might be a little tedious for some readers but I promise, it's worth it.

What I love about Dickens, even though he grew up under poor circumstances, he can describe any character, rich or poor, clever or not so clever, he manages to put them all into his novels and makes them appear alive. He was a master of the pen.

From the back cover:

"As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerston, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, a destitute crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens' most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing-rooms of the aristocracy to the London slums."

Dickens, Charles "Hard Times"

Dickens, Charles "Hard Times" - 1854

I think I mentioned before that I love Dickens even though I haven't read all that many of his novels. I decided it was time to devour his next novel and happened upon "Hard Times". My first thought was, that could be the title of any of his novels. And I still think I was right there.

Anyway, Charles Dickens is one of the best authors that ever lived. He manages to describe people, their traits and personalities, the interaction between them, their lot in life, he does all that just wonderfully and still it sounds like it was the most normal thing in the world. As most of my friends know,  I do prefer large books, this was not THAT large but it had all the components and told a great story. Another tale of how different lives were for the rich and the poor, how hard it was to get through life if you were not born on the lucky side. And still, there is so much humour in this story, The characters are all brilliant. Every single one of them is so special, some of them quite warm hearted, others not so much.

I really enjoyed reading this story and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic novels and maybe even for a starter novel for those who pretend not to enjoy them.

From the back cover:

"Hard Times is both a tragic story of human oppression and a dazzling work of political satire. It depicts Coketown, a typical red-brick industrial city of the north. In its schools and factories children and adults are caged and enslaved, with no personal freedom until their spirit is broken. Against this social backdrop where harsh regimes are enforced by the likes of Josiah Bounderby, the pompous self-made man, and Gradgrind, the censorious disciplinarian, the personal tragedies of Louisa Gradgrind and Stephen Blackpool are played out. Despite its vivid portrait of the horrors of the newly mechanized society, Hard Times is shot through with a wit, good humour and a conviction that entertainment is essential for human happiness, making it one of the most uplifting of Dickens's novels."

Read about the other Dickens' novels I read here.

Dickens, Charles "Little Dorrit"

Dickens, Charles "Little Dorrit" - 1857

One day I hope to have read all books by Charles Dickens. This was the next step. And I am happy I read it. What a beautiful book, what a beautiful story, told in the typical Dickens manner where he describes even the tiniest detail. I love it. Makes you feel like you were there.

Apparently, Dickens' father spent some years in the Marshalsea prison which he used as the main setting for this novel. I think this fact and that he was forced to work for the family at a very young age, has made a huge impact on the author and we can all enjoy the outcome of that, many great books. There are certainly a lot of his own experiences in them.

We meet Arthur Clennam and Amy Dorrit, a devoted daughter who supports her father in prison. But these two are by no means the only major characters in the book, there are many different sub-plots and the story reaches from China via France to England,then Italy and back to England. Quite a distance for those times.

I do like that there is so much in Dickens' novels. He describes a location just as well as an emotion, he understands a lot about psychology and you can find it in all of his books.

This will certainly belong to one of my favourite books by Charles Dickens - if I will ever be able to sort some out as my non-favourites. Read it, even though it contains about a thousand pages, you will not regret it. I promise.

From the back cover: "When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office. A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity."

Dickens, Charles "The Pickwick Papers"

Dickens, Charles "The Pickwick Papers" - 1836

The first novel of one of the greatest authors in history. As many novels at the time, it appeared in instalments in the newspaper. This makes the novel so easy to read, even though it has about 1,000 pages. Every chapter had to be finished in a day and you don't end up with some that go over several days.

Dickens has probably become so widely known and loved because he had a certain way to keep his readers in suspension but also because his language was easy to understand which does not necessarily mean it was simply written, not at all.

As in his other novels, he can make a big story out of any little occurrence, there is a lot of humour in his writing which is critical at the same time.

You can hardly believe that the author was only 24 when he wrote this work. Samuel Pickwick, Esquire, has three good friends, Messrs. Nathaniel Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass and Tracy Tupman with whom he starts "The Pickwick Club", a group that wants to explore the country by travelling through it and then report back to the other members. On their different voyages, they experience several bigger and smaller adventures but they always make us laugh. At the same time, Dickens draws a great picture of the different classes and life in the middle of the 19th century in the United Kingdom. He shows again why he is one of the greatest authors that have ever lived.

My favourite is still "Great Expectations" and I also read "A Tale of Two Cities" and "A Christmas Carol". You can find all my Dickens related posts here.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"The Pickwick Papers is Dickens' first novel and widely regarded as one of the major classics of comic writing in English. Originally serialised in monthly instalments, it quickly became a huge popular success with sales reaching 40,000 by the final part. In the century and a half since its first appearance, the characters of Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller and the whole of the Pickwickian crew have entered the consciousness of all who love English literature in general, and the works of Dickens in particular."

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew"

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist - the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England" - 1993

Even though this book is a non-fiction one, the first part reads like a novel. If, like me, you love your English classics, especially Jane Austen, the Brontës, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins and similar authors, this is the book for you. It's not just about food but, as the second part of the title already suggests, about every important or not so important fact about life in the 19th century in England. If you always wanted to know how they play whist, what a Rear Admiral of the White is, why the ladies need all sorts of clothing that we are not aware of today and why Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice has to inherit the Bennett estate rather than the daughters of the family, this book gives you all the explanations.

The authors of that era wrote, same as most authors of any era, for their contemporaries. After all, they were the ones who would pay for their work. They didn't want to hear explanations about the food they ate or the celebrations they had, they already knew the background. Now you can, too. I have read a lot of that literature and about the background, so I had learnt a lot before I picked up this book but I never found a piece that was as explicit as this one. It has so many details.

Daniel Pool has done a lot of research and came up with a great book about that time of life in England. Even though he wrote this for Americans in the first place (and it does come up quite frequently), it is also interesting for the rest of us. While the first part is divided into chapters where everything from politics and public life up to customs and rituals are explained in a narrative form, the second part is a dictionary, a reference book that you can always go back to and check out the exact job description of a scullery maid or what the difference was between a physician and an apothecary. And is a baron more than a marquis or less (he is lower) and what on earth is the difference between a curate and a perpetual curate? You will find all the answers to those questions you never asked yourself in this book.

Any work about everyday life in Regency or Victorian England couldn't be more fascinating. A great companion to your English classics.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover: 

 

"For every frustrated reader of the great nineteenth-century English novels of Austen, Trollope, Dickens, or the Brontës who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell "Tally Ho!" at a fox hunt, or how one landed in "debtor's prison," here is a "delightful reader's companion that lights up the literary dark" (The New York Times). 

This fascinating, lively guide clarifies the sometimes bizarre maze of rules, regulations, and customs that governed everyday life in Victorian England. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the "plums" in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life -- both "upstairs" and "downstairs." 

An illuminating glossary gives at a glance the meaning and significance of terms ranging from "ague" to "wainscoting," the specifics of the currency system, and a lively host of other details and curiosities of the day."

Fforde, Jasper "Lost in a Good Book"

Fforde, Jasper "Lost in a Good Book" (Thursday Next 2) - 2002 

I read "The Eyre Affair" about Charlotte Brontë's novel "Jane Eyre" last year because someone from the book club recommended it to me. I probably would have never picked it up because it looked a bit like fantasy and science fiction and that is not something I am usually interested in.

But Thursday Next works for SpecOps 27, the Literary Deceives (LiteraTecs) in Special Operations, a fictional division of the British government. With the help of special gadgets and skills, she can enter books and move from one to the next, this is called "bookjumping". This time, she spends a lot of time in "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens but also visits other places, e.g. Osaka via Gravitube. A device I would like to have in real life in order to visit friends on the other side of the world within a couple of hours.

Same as in her first book, there are a lot of funny names and funny occurrences but the funniest of all is when someone describes our life today as a "sideline" and they agree how weird that must be.

A funny, light book that can be read within a couple of hours but stays with you a lot longer. Whether you're into adventure or chick lit, science fiction or real life, this is a book for everyone. Very entertaining.

I wonder, where her next book "The Well of Lost Plots" will take her.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Thursday Next is back. This time, it's personal.

For Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, life should be good…

Riding high on a wave of celebrity following the safe return of kidnapped Jane Eyre, Thursday ties the knot with the man she loves.

But marital bliss isn’t quite as it should be. It turns out her husband of one month actually drowned thirty-eight years ago, and no one but Thursday has any memory of him at all.

Someone, somewhere is responsible.

Having barely caught her breath after The Eyre Affair Thursday heads back into fiction in search of the truth, discovering that paper politicians, the lost Shakespearian manuscripts, a flurry of near- fatal coincidences and impending Armageddon are all part of a greater plan.

But whose? And why?"

Dickens, Charles "A Tale of Two Cities"

Dickens, Charles "A Tale of Two Cities" - 1859

Two of the most famous quotes in one book, how often do you get that? But is the rest of the book as good as the beginning and the end? It is. Whatever you look for in a book, "A Tale of Two Cities" has it, history, politics, revolution, love, drama, intrigue, revenge, forgiveness, sacrifice, you name it, it's in it. How often can you say that about a novel?

Even though Dickens didn't live during the French Revolution, he captures the spirit of the time, he portrays his characters as lively as posible and he manages to bring in everything that was important so people born a hundred years later could imagine living during that time and even today, another 150 years after it was written and while the world has changed even more, we can imagine the same.

Oh, and if you wonder about the beginning and the end, it starts with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." and ends with "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." That is good writing and I'm not surprised Mr. Dickens has been so well-known and admired for centuries. His stories just don't get old.

In any case, if you didn't guess it, yet, I loved this book.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine."

Other Dickens novels I read: "A Christmas Carol", "Great Expectations". See more here.

Dickens, Charles "Great Expectations"

Dickens, Charles "Great Expectations" - 1861

I read one Dickens before, "A Christmas Carol". And that was ages ago. I always wanted to read more. Ever since I read Gaynor Arnold's "Girl in a Blue Dress" about his wife, I wanted to read his novels even more. But - so many books, so little time, so it took me a while until I picked up one of his novels.

What can I say. I absolutely loved it. His way of creating suspense is incredible. I have often heard this was his greatest novel, and, even though I haven't really read his others, I can very well understand that. The characters are described so vividly, their thoughts and actions, superb. What I love most about it, you have the imagination to have been there, along with the characters, you are in the story rather than a neutral observer. This novel has it all, love, jealousy, drama, crime, poverty, vanity, anything you can think of.

"Great Expectations" will definitely go on my list of Favourite books.
In the meantime, I also read, i.a., "A Tale of Two Cities" and "The Pickwick Papers". See more reviews of his books here.

My favourite quote, what a beautiful declaration of love: "Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, part of my- self. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, pad of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!"

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Dickens's magnificent novel of guilt, desire, and redemption

The orphan Pip’s terrifying encounter with an escaped convict on the Kent marshes, and his mysterious summons to the house of Miss Havisham and her cold, beautiful ward Estella, form the prelude to his 'great expectations.' How Pip comes into a fortune, what he does with it, and what he discovers through his secret benefactor are the ingredients of his struggle for moral redemption."

Dickens, Charles "A Christmas Carol"

Dickens, Charles "A Christmas Carol" - 1843

If you haven't read "A Christmas Carol", you probably have seen one of its many many television and movie adaptations ranging from real people to Disney and the Muppets, the plot has also been used in many many series or as a basis to new stories. I love this story. It teaches you how you can change to become a better person even if you have a bad start. It teaches you that it is okay to enjoy something from time to time even if you need to work hard for the rest of the year. And that you should always have compassion for the less fortunate. Certainly, this book totally deserves its place among the greatest ever written. So many positive messages in it.

My favourite book by Charles Dickens so far: "Great Expectations. I also read "A Tale of Two Cities" and a few more, see here.

From the back cover:

"The story of Ebenezer Scrooge opens on a Christmas Eve as cold as Scrooge's own heart. That night, he receives three ghostly visitors: the terrifying spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Each takes him on a heart-stopping journey, yielding glimpses of Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit, the horrifying spectres of Want and Ignorance, even Scrooge's painfully hopeful younger self. Will Scrooge's heart be opened? Can he reverse the miserable future he is forced to see?" 

 

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2021 and in 2024.