Coffee With Dickens

Coffee with...

by Paul Schlicke, Peter Ackroyd (Foreword by)

The most illustrious figures of the past would have much to tell us if only we could borrow an hour or so of their time. The COFFEE WITH... series of dramatized biographies enables us to do just that. A quiet chat with Charles Dickens turns into a scintillating tour through the life, career, eccentricities, and trenchant opinions of one of the superstars of the Victorian world... and we can even ask questions!
The great novelist Charles Dickens attracted international adulation on an unprecendented scale. He cultivated a genial intimacy with his readers, and after he died many of his admirers felt that they had lost a personal friend. Sit back and listen to this master conversationalist talk above everything from work in a boot-polish factory to lecture tours in America.

Genres: Fiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Paul Schlicke, an internationally renowned Dickens scholar, celebrates 200 years since the birth of one of Britain's most popular authors. He draws together an unparalleled diversity of information on one of Britain's greatest writers, covering his life and work, He throws new and often unexpected light on the most familiar of Dickens's works, and explores the experiences, events, and literature which influenced him.

Reviews

[Suad Shamma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dickens. I love his books, his legacy and his history. I've read so many books about him and his life, watched so many films, but I found this particularly interesting because - although fictitious - it was an interview with Dickens himself. He was answering the questions, he was holding this conversation and he was the one speaking, confirming, denying and sharing his thoughts and feelings about different topics.

Understandably, there's a risk with these books that they could easily get the reader to take in everything as absolute fact because of the illusion that the real famous person is speaking. So it requires constant self-reminders and a certain grip to reality that the person has been dead for many many years, and is not alive to verify any of these stories or information being shared, and all we have going are stories and articles that have been written by other people used to create this fictitious interview.

That being said, it was still enjoyable for me to read and know more about this great author, only second best to Shakespeare.

[Farley Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea Dickens wrote so many books. My To Read list has grown.

[Nic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book years ago when I found it in a Dollar Tree (that probably should’ve tipped me off, but I can’t resist the siren call of Dickens). I mean, Charles Dickens for $1?! How wrong can I go? Well, the answer is: pretty wrong.

Look, it’s not terrible. But it’s definitely not great. I’m glad I only spent a dollar on it, let’s put it that way. I’m a huge Dickens fan but this was just weird. Despite sounding like a cool concept, it was too modern and sounded like a totally different voice than Dickens (which, of course it is...) I’ll give it style points, it’s a pretty little cloth bound book.

[Boaz Maor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely short biography of Dickens. Nothing special, but a good perspective on this prolific and sophisticated writer who was a ground breaker and social activist in many areas.

[Janessa Penate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. I’m not well versed in all things Dickens so it was fun getting to know him in this way. Casual, easy, and surprised that he was kinda sexist.

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pleasant imagining of a relaxed chat with Charles Dickens in today's vernacular. The Extraordinary brought to life in an ordinary scene for elucidation.

[Aries · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book of fictitious interview between an imaginary person and "rise-from-the-dead" Dickens, like in any of the book in this series?

Ah-uh.. I did not have really fine time reading it. In a sense, it somehow provide informations about Dicken's, because of its fiction style, it is but reasonable if the "facts" presented herein will be received uncordially by me. If I want to know about Dicken's life, then it is "safer" and more "worthwhile" if I read his biographies.

The book though has few advantages. It is small, promoting quick reading. And it is simple.

[Erika Worley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I was in Russia and needed to entertain myself without a computer. My friend there was given this book by our American high school librarian and she admitted that while she appreciated the gift, she had no intention of ever reading it because it looked boring. And yes, it was, but I learned some fun things. That was years ago, so I've mostly forgotten it all, but this is a good book for someone who really likes interviews and Charles Dickens. Personally, reading a very long conversation between the author and imagined ghost of Charles Dickens is not my cup of tea.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a series. Informative, well-written portrait of the author. Format about right for a one-period respite in the Carson Reading Room, Leggett Hall. Contributed by a former student, Neil Glasser, Controller of Sterling Publishing Co. Others in series: Einstein, Mark Twain, Mozart, Shakespeare, Marilyn Monroe, Buddha....

[Sheli Ellsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting glimpse into Charles Dickens. I would classify it as the "Cliff Notes" version. It packed a lot of literary facts with Dickens' personality into a small number of pages. I enjoyed it because it gave me information about Dickens as a fellow writer as well as Dickens the husband, the citizen and the businessman.

[Nikos Dunno · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pity that the small Bio in the beginning gave away a lot of the details mentioned in the interview afterwards, and also the embedded forewords separating the interview into chapters ruined the flow of the dialogue, but I liked the idea of getting facts about my favourite author's life through his fictional meeting with the author of the book.

[Grace Tierney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short biographical twirl through Dicken's life and opinions as imagined in a coffeehouse meeting with his ghost - interesting concept! Didn't learn much I didn't already know about the author but it was a fun, quick read.

[Elizabeth]

A twee little introduction to the life and character of the greatest crafter of personalities in the 19th C.