# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**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 30, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/21 "2011-11-30T03:52:30Z")
Audio books. Pfft. Heathens! 🙂 ---
**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 30, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/22 "2011-11-30T03:56:58Z")
I just grabbed _The Magic Fishbone_, thanks for the mention **Rhiannon8404**! ---
**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, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/23 "2011-11-30T05:38:07Z")
> [@Bloodless\_Turnip](#): > > Audio books. Pfft. > > Heathens! 🙂 Oh, fine, when you go blind and a Mr. Dickens shows up at the door wanting to read to you, we’ll be sure to turn him away… out into the blowing snow. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/24 "2011-11-30T07:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=JessMagic] Fagin and Sikes are great “baddy” characters. [/QUOTE] Brains and Brawn. Throw in Monk and you have the upper class getting the lower to do their dirty work- basically just as nasty in spirit but able to keep their hands clean. I’ve always thought Fagin was one of his most interesting characters. I first learned of him the way many probably did- the musical _Oliver_, where he’s a criminal but also sorta kinda likable rogue- and was surprised when I read the book as a teenager to learn he’s not quite as Ron Moody-ish in the source material. He’ll charm you, feed you, protect you if it’s in his interest and then cut your throat the moment it’s in his interest. There’s a major argument in Dickensian scholarship as to how anti semitic Dickens was. Per wiki, he refers to Fagin as “The Jew” almost 300 times in the first half of the book; he hardly calls him that at all in the later chapters due in part to the criticism by Jewish readers. I understand why he made Fagin Jewish- he was based on some actual criminals ([Ikey Solomon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikey_Solomon) for one), but any thoughts on why he went to such overkill to impart Fagin was Jewish? (Especially odd since I’d find it hard to believe Fagin gives a rat’s ass about religion.) My embarrassing confession about Dickens is that while I enjoy his writings I prefer to read condensed versions and long summaries for most of his works, and then read the original source material for favorite parts, for he can get tedious. (No more so than most 19th century literary greats admittedly, but… changes in taste and all.) His life is very interesting to me- his life, his rise, his loves, his relationships with his kids, his mid-life crises, his performances, his snobbery v. his humble origins, etc.. I think it’s time for another miniseries on him; the nice thing is you can work it half the famous people of his time and the United States and other nations due to the people he met as a celebrity and on his tours. Netflix has _Dickens of London_ on streaming but in addition to being very dated it’s inconsistent in quality, plus the opening scene has an inaccuracy that drives me nuts; Dickens is on his 1867 American tour and his manager is putting the money from that night’s box office on the table and it includes several modern $1 bills on the table. That’s such an anachronism- it’s off by almost a century- that it yanks you out of the scene and makes you wonder about the accuracy of other touches. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/25 "2011-11-30T07:53:04Z")
Of what I have read of Dickens, _Great Expectations_ is my favorite novel. That’s partially because it’s short, but mostly because it’s an interesting psychological study of Pip. I really love _A Christmas Carol_, and I either read it from the annotated version or watch the Sim version. The book is simply a masterpiece not just because of its descriptions of place and character but also because it engages us dramatically and emotionally in perfect fashion. I know Isaac Asimov loved Pickwick and read it every year. I read it once and didn’t care for it. I tried reading it again recently and just gave up. Yet another way in which I’m unlike Asimov. ---
**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, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/26 "2011-11-30T15:31:23Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > _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. Yes, I’m American, but I think I can the heat. Please note that I said, “_I thought_.” It was _my opinion_. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/27 "2011-11-30T17:04:43Z")
Mr. Micawber is definitely my favorite character, but I have not read _Chuzzlewit_. My favorite Dickens book is a tough one. \*Oliver Twist \*and _David Copperfield_ are probably tied. ---
**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 30, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/28 "2011-11-30T17:20:45Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I know that the satire directed at Americans in the novel might be hard to take I haven’t yet read _Chuzzlewit_, but I can’t imagine taking personally any pokes directed at the Americans of the mid-19th century. Those people are hardly less foreign to me than Dickens’s own compatriots. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394/29 "2011-11-30T23:06:21Z")
_The Pickwick Papers_ is definitely a flawed book, but I love it because it has some of the most hilarious scenes written, IMO. The scene of Mr. Weller, his wife and the preacher visiting Sam in debtor’s prison cracks me up every time, as does the “hunting party” chapter. I think my favorite is _Nicholas Nickleby_, though, fueled in no small part by the excellent A&E broadcast of the London play back in the 80’s. I have it on DVD and ought to watch it again soon. Smike in particular was well done, but every character was brilliant actually. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-dickens-to-me/604394.md?page=1)