# Talk Dickens To Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394 "2011-11-29T00:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/1 "2011-11-29T00:41:56Z")
Any Charles Dickens fans around? I was looking through Amazon instant vids the other day and saw [_Bleak House_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00406TUWE/ref=atv_dp_season_select?ie=UTF8&redirect=true). I didn’t even know it had been made into a tv show and when I saw it was HD, well…I had to watch it. I think they did a fantastic job for the most part. So, then I had to read it again! _Bleak House_ is one of my favorites from Dickens, if I can pick a favorite since I love most of his work. My other favorite is [_A Child’s History of England_](http://www.amazon.com/Childs-History-England-ebook/dp/B004UJ96FC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322526995&sr=1-1). Hard to believe you can laugh out loud reading a book of history! So, who is your favored or most remembered Dickens character? Having just read BH again, I have to say I’m intrigued by Mr. Guppy. What amazing chutzpah that man had. lol 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/2 "2011-11-29T00:59:51Z")
When I was 18, my then girlfriend’s brother bought me Bleak House, saying “I love buying books for people who love to read”. 30 years later, I have still never read it. I have since read and loved pretty much everything else Dickens wrote but I have a mental block that prevents me from opening Bleak House. I am sure I am missing out but every time I pick it up, I put it down 20 minutes later. I can’t get started. Favourite character: Nancy in Oliver Twist. Favourite book: tale of Two Cities. Fun fact: My dad took me to the beach at Broadstairs every summer when I was a kid and he always parked right outside the actual Bleak House. I love Broadstairs but Bleak House always struck me as…bleak. Maybe that’s why I can’t read the book. ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/3 "2011-11-29T01:03:36Z")
ETA google says that the Bleak House in Broadstairs is not the actual Bleak House but it was the house where he wrote Bleak House. ---
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/4 "2011-11-29T01:10:38Z")
@ **kevlaw** - maybe you can watch it instead? It’s truly a good story. ---
**Author:** ![JessMagic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@JessMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/5 "2011-11-29T01:17:51Z")
I’m currently re-reading _Oliver Twist_, coincidentally. Fagin and Sikes are great “baddy” characters. My favourite Dickens books are _Hard Times_ and _Great Expectations_. I struggle with some of them - just couldn’t get in to _A Tale of Two Cities_ at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/6 "2011-11-29T01:47:21Z")
I re-read _Cities_ not long ago, it was easier this time for some reason. Dickens portrayal of grinding poverty and how it shapes people is really intriguing to me. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/7 "2011-11-29T02:24:46Z")
that final sydney carton scene: can you actually visualize yourself with your hands tied behind your back, standing in line in the guillotine, and hearing the knitting ladies counting down? that’d be a real bummer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/8 "2011-11-29T04:09:32Z")
I love _A Christmas Carol_. I’ve read _a Tale of Two Cities_ more than once. On the other hand, I had to drag myself through Dickens;’ other Christmas books. I kept hoping they’d get better, but they didn’t. I loathed _Hard Times_ (which I had to read in school), and couldn’t get into _The Pickwick Papers_ at all, despite its reputation as a great comic piece. I haven’t tried the others, although I know the plots. One of these days I’ll tackle _Oliver Twist_ or _David Copperfield_. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/9 "2011-11-29T14:53:45Z")
I adore _Little Dorritt_ and _The Old Curiosity Shop_–so depressing and bleak and make me feel so much better about my life! But with that touch of dark humor Dickens excelled at. And I always read the editions with the original ink illustrations. The only book I could not get through was _The Pickwick Papers_–too self-consciously Dickensian and adorable for me. Not my cup of twee. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/10 "2011-11-29T15:13:16Z")
I thought Bleak House and David Copperfield were very good and I thought The Old Curiosity Shop was tolerable. Probably my favourite character from those books was Mr. Micawber. He’s a good mix of funny, sad, admirable and frustrating! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/11 "2011-11-29T15:24:06Z")
Nevermind. I thought you meant Charles Dickkens with two Ks, the well known Dutch author.\ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/12 "2011-11-29T15:51:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > and couldn’t get into _The Pickwick Papers_ at all, despite its reputation as a great comic piece. _Pickwick_ was his first novel. It’s looser and lighter and more episodic than later Dickens, and even people who really like it would probably agree it doesn’t get good until about a hundred pages in, when Sam Weller appears on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/13 "2011-11-29T22:07:25Z")
Funny, I just started reading “Great Expectations” again the other night. my six year old asked me what I was reading and asked me to read her some. She finally fell asleep two chapters later. I don’t reckon she knew exactly what was happening but she loved the rythmn of the language and the funny names and turns of phrase. And for me, reading it out aloud is such a pleasure as every sentence begs you to ham it up. So I’m a fan. Also, My wife was born and raised about 100 yards from Dotheboys Hall, (yes…it was a real school! though long gone when she was born) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/14 "2011-11-29T23:31:11Z")
> [@Bloodless\_Turnip](#): > > [_Bleak House_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00406TUWE/ref=atv_dp_season_select?ie=UTF8&redirect=true). Mighty might just lettin’ it all hang out . . . ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/15 "2011-11-29T23:45:24Z")
I’m currently reading _David Copperfield_, but it’s taking me forever to get through it. Not that I’m not enjoying it, or it’s heavy going; I just seem to read a chapter or three and then not pick it up again, sometimes for weeks. But then maybe that’s a more authentic way to experience the novel, like Dickens’s original audience did when it was serialized! (And only after starting on the book did I notice that we have a doper named **Barkis is Willin’**!) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/16 "2011-11-29T23:47:36Z")
[Classic essay](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300011h.html#part10) by George Orwell (1940) – a must-read for any Dickens fan. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/17 "2011-11-30T00:03:45Z")
When he’s good, he’s very good. I love **David Copperfield** and **Great Expectations**. On the other hand, there’s **Martin Chuzzlewit** , which I thought was a snarky, simplistic pile of crap. One of these days I have to get around to reading **Bleak House**. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/18 "2011-11-30T00:34:41Z")
The only thing I’ve read by Charles Dickens is the short story,[_The Magic Fishbone_](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23344/23344-h/23344-h.htm). My absolute favorite short story/fairy tale from childhood. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/19 "2011-11-30T00:52:03Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > When he’s good, he’s very good. I love **David Copperfield** and **Great Expectations**. On the other hand, there’s **Martin Chuzzlewit** , which I thought was a snarky, simplistic pile of crap. One of these days I have to get around to reading **Bleak House**. _Chuzzlewit_ is generally acknowledged to be Dickens’ comic masterpiece, and with two of the funniest characters in all English Literature, Mr Pecksniff and Sarah Gamp, it’s hard to disagree. Are you American by any chance? I know that the satire directed at Americans in the novel might be hard to take for some but Dickens was just as merciless with hypocrisy at home as he was abroad. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/20 "2011-11-30T03:49:32Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Nevermind. > > I thought you meant Charles Dickkens with two Ks, the well known Dutch author. The author of _“Knickerless Knickleby”_? [exasperated pythonesque bookmonger] No, we don’t have _“Rarnaby Budge”_ by Charles Dikkens with two _k_s the well-known Dutch author, and perhaps to save time I should add that we don’t have “_Karnaby Fudge_” by Darles Chickens, or “Farmer of Sludge” by Marles Pickens, or even “_Stickwick Stapers_” by Farles Wickens with four M’s and a silent Q! [/epb] But, seriously, does anyone have a favorite Dickensian AUDIOBOOK? I just listened to _Tale of Two Ti–err, Cities_; read by Frank Muller. One of my favourite readers… but he’s a colonist. And _ToTC_ is so focussed on London and Paris that I’d’ve rather been listening to a Brit. Are there good renditions of _Oliver Twist_ or _M. Chuzzlewit_ or some of his less _“Bleak”_ work? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394.md?page=2)