The Old Curiosity Club discussion

Dear Curiosities,

It has taken some time but at last we have come up with a reading schedule for our next major read, Dickens's sixth novel Martin Chuzzlewit. As this is quite a long book, reading it will take us well into the next year, which means that December will also be dedicated to Martin, Pecksniff, Tom Pinch, Mrs. Gamp and poor old Chuffey (among others). Normally, we spend the last month of the year reading a Christmas story - one of the canon - but this faced us with a problem:

If we read The Chimes, which would have been next in order, this would have meant a four-week break from Chuzzlewit - and we thought that it would be very difficult to get back into the Chuzzlewit mode after Christmas. On the other hand, the time until December is too long to fill it with shorter works during the reading of which activity is usually not as high as during the reading of the big fish among the Inimitable's works.

So we came up with the idea of reading a Christmas short story (one week) to pay our homage to the merriest season of all and thus avoid too long an interruption in Chuzzlewit affairs. The story in question will be A Christmas Tree, which can also be found on the Internet.

We will then have the following reading schedule (in the European version):

19/09/19 – 25/09/19 MC, Chp. 01-03
26/09/19 – 02/10/19 MC, Chp. 04-05
03/10/19 – 09/10/19 MC, Chp. 06-08
10/10/19 – 16/10/19 MC, Chp. 09-10
17/10/19 – 23/10/19 MC, Chp. 11-12
24/10/19 – 30/10/19 MC, Chp. 13-15
31/10/19 – 06/11/19 MC, Chp. 16-17
07/11/19 – 13/11/19 MC, Chp. 18-20
14/11/19 – 20/11/19 MC, Chp. 21-23
21/11/19 – 27/11/19 MC, Chp. 24-26
28/11/19 – 04/12/19 MC, Chp. 27-29
05/12/19 – 11/12/19 MC, Chp. 30-32
12/12/19 – 18/12/19 MC, Chp. 33-35

19/12/19 – 25/12/19 The Christmas Tree

02/01/20 – 08/01/20 MC, Chp. 36-38
09/01/20 – 15/01/20 MC, Chp. 39-41
16/01/20 – 22/01/20 MC, Chp. 42-44
23/01/20 – 29/01/20 MC, Chp. 45-47
30/01/20 – 05/02/20 MC, Chp. 48-50
06/02/20 – 12/02/20 MC, Chp. 51-54

As usual, we include one week of a general pause of activities after Christmas. After reading Martin Chuzzlewit we can pick one or two of Dickens's shorter works and explore them together. I simply forgot putting a shorter work between Barnaby Rudge and Martin Chuzzlewit and when I had worked out different schedules and discussed them with the other moderators and we had come up with our compromise, I didn't really feel up to once more re-organizing a schedule with a shorter work before Martin Chuzzelwit.

I hope you will find our final idea of how to carry things through into the New Year not too much of a novelty. We were doing our best to find a good way of organizing the Chuzzlewit read and honouring our Christmas tradition.

And here's Kim's reading schedule. :)


9/19/19 – 9/25/19 MC, Chp. 01-03
9/26/19 – 10/2/19 MC, Chp. 04-05
10/3/19 – 10/9/19 MC, Chp. 06-08
10/10/19 – 10/16/19 MC, Chp. 09-10
10/17/19 – 10/23/19 MC, Chp. 11-12
10/24/19 – 10/30/19 MC, Chp. 13-15
10/31/19 – 11/6/19 MC, Chp. 16-17
11/7/19 – 11/13/19 MC, Chp. 18-20
11/14/19 – 11/20/19 MC, Chp. 21-23
11/21/19 – 11/27/19 MC, Chp. 24-26
11/28/19 – 12/4/19 MC, Chp. 27-29
12/5/19 – 12/11/19 MC, Chp. 30-32
12/12/19 – 12/18/19 MC, Chp. 33-35

12/19/19 – 12/25/19 The Christmas Tree

1/2/20 – 1/8/20 MC, Chp. 36-38
1/9/20 – 1/15/20 MC, Chp. 39-41
1/16/20 – 1/22/20 MC, Chp. 42-44
1/23/20 – 1/29/20 MC, Chp. 45-47
1/30/20 – 2/5/20 MC, Chp. 48-50
2/6/20 – 2/12/20 MC, Chp. 51-54

Linda

Thanks. Dare I suggest there is a Canadian version as well? :-)

Peter - the Canadians get to choose the version that suits them best. :)

I will be starting today because We’re due for a family engagement in October it will take 2 weeks.

Although my impression of Chuzzlewit is somewhat stilted because I remember purchasing a paperback copy of it and saying to myself, my, this thing is quite the cinderblock.

But if anyone has the time to take a look at American Notes, which is one of my favorite books of any author, you will find a funny and serious and astonishing look at the United States in 1842. I can literally see the small fields and green grass and smell the salt breeze when I read this work. I believe Chuzzlewit was formed from this visit.

This works for me. Assuming the chapters are about the same length as they were in Rudge, the slower pace may actually allow me to get some other reading done as well. Man does not live by Dickens alone!

I was wondering about this and I'm glad we're not trying to cram it all in before December. Good call!

After taking a hiatus to read both Don Quixote and Les Miserables, and failing to finish either, I'm back for a leisurely walk through Dickensland.

Unwanted and unsolicited advice: Don't ever try to read Don Quixote and Les Miserables at the same time. Nothing good will come of it. 😟

I did manage to finish Byatt's Possession and a couple of other books (like Like Water for Chocolate). The last few chapters saved Possession for me. Byatt gets a little too carried away with her descriptions, in my opinion, and never again do I care to have an author tell me the protagonist is sipping walnut-colored Nescafe.

What other color could it be? Yes there are different coffee bean colors, but as far as I know there is only one color roasted coffee can be. Oh, Oh, Oh, and the love affair she has with the dash. That's pure cruelty.

Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "After taking a hiatus to read both Don Quixote and Les Miserables, and failing to finish either, I'm back for a leisurely walk through Dickensland.

Unwanted and unsolicited advice: Don't ever try..."

Xan

Good to hear from you again. After Don Quixote and Les Miserables you should be able to lift Martin Chuzzlewit without too much problem.

Upcoming, a leisurely walk through Dickensland.

Thank you, Peter. Yes, I'm looking forward to it.

A little observation about Chuzzlewit. I don't believe it contains anything that would get ahead of ourselves, and it even includes a recipe for sherry cobbler. Which sounds pretty good.

https://charlesdickenspage.com/charle...

Linda wrote: "And here's Kim's reading schedule. :)


9/19/19 – 9/25/19 MC, Chp. 01-03
9/26/19 – 10/2/19 MC, Chp. 04-05
10/3/19 – 10/9/19 MC, Chp. 06-08
10/10/19 – 10/16/19 MC, Chp. 09-10
10/17/19 – 10/23/19 MC,..."

Thank you once again Linda, I don't know what I would do without you, well except get a migraine trying to figure out that stuff Tristram posted.

Kim wrote: "Linda wrote: "And here's Kim's reading schedule. :)


9/19/19 – 9/25/19 MC, Chp. 01-03
9/26/19 – 10/2/19 MC, Chp. 04-05
10/3/19 – 10/9/19 MC, Chp. 06-08
10/10/19 – 10/16/19 MC, Chp. 09-10
10/17/19 ..."

Hey, it was done with love and logic! ;-)