Bleak House discussion

Welcome to the Kindred Spirits group read of Charles Dickens' Bleak House! This is a thread to introduce yourself and chat with other group members about anything you choose.

Thanks, Kris! I'm here just to look at the discussion since I can't squeeze in this read.

No worries Aloha -- it's good to have you here in any capacity.

Thanks for setting this up! I haven't started yet, but I loaded it on my e-reader tonight, so probably I'll start tomorrow.

Thanks for joining, David! This should be a lot of fun.

Thank you, Kris. I am grateful for the invite.

I am, however, a notorious curmudgeon concerning Charles Dickens. Bah! Humbug! Also a curmudgeon concerning Group reads. Humbug!

But if I were to read more Dickens it would very likely be Bleak House and/or Great Expectations. And surprisingly, I've been tempted towards BH of late. Who knows?

Also, I've forgotten my age. So if this group forbids entry to the immature, I am doomed.

My reading habits recently have been handicapped by a brutal medication shift that remains unpredictable to me right now.

So this ship is currently tossed by the waves.

I will likely lurk in the shadows here; and see if I learn something.

But Kris Rabberman is always a lure. :)

Thanks, P.! I had a feeling you wouldn't be able to re-read BH, but it's lovely to have you here regardless.

Mosca, no age barrier for this group! And thank you so much for the kind words. We'll see if the group discussion helps to mitigate any bah-humbuggery attached to Dickens or group reads (or -- oh no -- group reads of Dickens!). (And I am hoping any side effects of the med shift dissipate soon -- how frustrating...

Thanks for the invite, Kris. I am happy to be, at the least, a wallflower in this read and discussion.

Kris wrote: "Thanks, P.! I had a feeling you wouldn't be able to re-read BH, but it's lovely to have you here regardless.

Mosca, no age barrier for this group! And thank you so much for the kind words. We'll ..."

I'm 99 years old. We get together at GR for a nightly bridge game.

Aloha, you are very well preserved. Perhaps it's the bridge keeping you so young.

Sean wrote: "Thanks for the invite, Kris. I am happy to be, at the least, a wallflower in this read and discussion."

So happy to see you here, Sean. And anytime you want to take a spin around the floor, please do.

We'll just have to make the discussion juicy enough to draw all you flies on the wall in.

Understandable, BB -- so glad to have you here with us. BTW, in which group is the Parallel Lives discussion taking place?

Thanks, BB -- I'm going to try to make it!

*Groan* How could I refuse? On the other hand, how will I ever survive?

Lovely to see everyone and I'll try to be present, in spirit if not in screen.

Scribble wrote: "*Groan* How could I refuse? On the other hand, how will I ever survive?

Lovely to see everyone and I'll try to be present, in spirit if not in screen."

It's a classic, Scribble! :)

Thanks for the invite, Kris. I have my copy of Bleak House on hand.

Yes - the book as well as the situation! Thanks for the invite :D

Thanks Kris for inviting me to the group

Thanks for joining, Brian! :)

And Scribble, it wouldn't be the same without you.

Thanks for the invitation, Kris. I've wanted to reread BH for some time. It's been so long that I remember only scant bits. I don't know if I 'll be able to finish it by March, but I'll give it my best shot.

Thanks for joining, Cathleen. And I have a feeling discussions will extend into April at least, so no worries. I want people to read at a pace that is comfortable for them.

David wrote: "We'll just have to make the discussion juicy enough to draw all you flies on the wall in."

Excellent plan, David!

David wrote: "Thanks for the invite, Kris. I have my copy of Bleak House on hand."

So sorry for the late reply, David -- GR notifications are very slow tonight, and I just got the one for your comment. I'm so glad you're joining us!

Thanks for the invite Kris. I am only 30 pages in but will go back to bed with a cup of tea and my fat book to catch up some :-D

My favorite Dickens that I read before is actually the Pickwick papers. We read it in school, well parts of it, and I was the only one who willingly read the whole book and sat giggling to it in the hall-way in recess.

Thank you for the invitation Kris, I have one question - how does this work?

Looking out the window it seems to be February already, so do we just read and then post in the appropriate chapter topic if we have something to say? Or is there a programme to stick to so that we all more or less keep to the same pace?

Thank you for the invitation, Kris. I'll try to keep up :-). I like the way Dickens wrote so it will not be, hopefully, too hard :-).

Thanks for the invite Kris - I've downloaded the book but can't start it for a few days because of my backlog of reads. Looking forward to reading...

Thank you Kris for the invitation! I've never read BH although I've always wanted to, and all the more since I've heard that the BBC series with Carey Mulligan got splendid reviews.

Hi guys! Thanks for the invite, Kris! I highly doubt i'd have time to read it now, but it's always nice to read what good peoples like yourselves have to say. :)

i join w/ great trepidations. my first reading was quite a slog, it is my jarndyce and jarndyce. this is a worthy challenge and now, back to the beginning.

Thank you for inviting me Kris! BH has been the only Dickens book I didn't enjoy and I suspect the reason was my cheap, not annotated edition. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have another go. I'll get started as soon as I get hold of a better edition.

Jan-Maat wrote: "Thank you for the invitation Kris, I have one question - how does this work?

Looking out the window it seems to be February already, so do we just read and then post in the appropriate chapter top..."

Hi Jan-Maat, and welcome to the read! I'm really happy to have you along with us.

I adjusted the window for the read so that it clearly covers at a minimum a full two months. Kalliope developed a reading schedule with roughly 100-page sections to be read every week. I know this read came as a surprise to people who hadn't been following the planning thread on Kindred Spirits, so instead of going with a set schedule, I reproduced the 100-page sections in the discussion threads with no dates attached.

I think some of us are starting to read sometime this week, although others will be joining later. People can add comments to discussion threads whenever they like. I'm going to try to post observations and questions on the first thread starting (probably) late this week or over this coming weekend, depending on how crazy this week is for me.

So, it's a rather loose structure, but I think it will work. If not, we can make adjustments as we go along. We (the mods) want people to have fun, and not feel stressed if they fall behind a schedule.

That being said, recommendations for alternate approaches are always welcome!

Hi - everyone! Happy to join you for Bleak House, and hoping for a rousing conversation for one of my fave books - definitely by Dickens, but of all, really.

Jeanette, thanks for joining! It will be such fun to read Dickens with you. I love the image of your laughing over Pickwick Papers during recess. :)

Welcome and so glad to see you, Dragana and Sandra!

Leajk, so glad you're here. Kall started a thread on BH in film -- something tells me some side discussions of the BBC series as well as other film adaptations will be in the cards here.

Hi Trav -- always great to have you along, even in the wings. :)

Jac and Marina: I'm hoping your second reading of BH goes well with the group. It's a novel with lots of layers, and I do think good annotations as well as a discussion group with resources (and BH vets) will help.

Jennifer (aka EM) wrote: "Hi - everyone! Happy to join you for Bleak House, and hoping for a rousing conversation for one of my fave books - definitely by Dickens, but of all, really."

So glad to have you along as a moderator, Jennifer! :)

Kris wrote: "some of us are starting to read sometime this week, although others will be joining later. People can add comments to discussion threads whenever they like."

OK, sounds like a plan :)

A worthy endeavour. BH is not top of my preferred Dickenses, but maybe I can be convinced all the perceived flaws are in my head by following the discussions. It is one hecklet of a novel.

For analogue readers, I read the Oxford World's Classics edition, which although boasting the nicest cover art, has a frustratingly small font. In this case, the Penguin Classics (or Modern Library ed in the US?) is the better bet. I dislike the recent re-issued Penguin Dickens covers for their bland designs.

So glad you're joining the group, MJ! One hecklet of a novel, indeed. :)

Slight change -- we're putting target dates up, with the understanding that you are free to post on discussion threads before or after these dates. The schedule is posted here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Thanks for the invite, Kris! I am glad to join the group (though I am very bad at keeping up with the reading progress with groups) Hope to read the book and gain from discussion here .....:)

Rakhi wrote: "Thanks for the invite, Kris! I am glad to join the group (though I am very bad at keeping up with the reading progress with groups) Hope to read the book and gain from discussion here .....:)"

Welcome Rakhi..!

Thanks from my side too Kris. However, I first need to fulfill my Proust group obligation before moving on to read BH. But whenever that will happen I'm sure I would have a lot to benefit from discussions here. I know I'm in the safe company here.

This book has 1000+ pages, great!

So good to see you, Garima and Rakhi! And Garima, I think Proust needs to be the top priority here. As you said, BH will be here when you are ready for it! :)

I'm here and I am excited!

I'm so glad you're joining us, Alex!

Thanks for the invite, Kris. Bleak House is on my top 10 favorites list, so how could I refuse? I won't be reading along since I've read the thing multiple times. I have no idea what happened in which chapter, though. At my age it's all one long happy mishmash.

Welcome to all!

Re MJ's message above, I can confirm that the Penguin Classics edition -- the ones with the cloth covers -- is a treat to read, with a beautiful page-feel and reasonable font. Also, good annotations (meaning helpful but not obtrusive, and with just the right amount of detail). A couple of interesting appendices, including Dickens' chapter plan and one on spontaneous combustion. Some of the original illustrations, too.

It's 989 pages, less notes and appendices.

Strangely enough, though, I noticed at least three typos. :-?

I am delighted that I found I had, purchased I do not know when, a nice Audible edition which I plan to listen in parallel to the reading. This is what I have done for Proust too..

I have the edition narrated by Hugh Dickson.