Dickensians! discussion

Would you like to share a review you have written? Links to your reviews are welcome in this thread, especially those which have a connection with the focus of this group. Thanks!

Although I've read seven of Dicken's novels as a kid and a teen (and reread a few), so far I've only ever reviewed three. Those reviews are here:

A Christmas Carol: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

A Tale of Two Cities: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Great Expectations: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Here are my reviews of works by Charles Dickens or about Charles Dickens since joining Goodreads:
A Tale of Two Cities - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Great Expectations - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nicholas Nickleby - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Pickwick Papers - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Pictures from Italy - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
David Copperfield - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dombey and Son - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Bleak House - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Short Stories:
To Be Read at Dusk - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hunted Down: - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Black Veil - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Wreck of the Golden Mary - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Bloomsbury Christening - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Message from the Sea - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Trial For Murder (alternative title: To Be Taken With A Grain Of Salt) - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Our English and French Watering-Place - currently reading

The Christmas Stories:
A Christmas Carol - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Chimes - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Biography:
Charles Dickens - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Life of Charles Dickens : Volume I - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Life of Charles Dickens : Volume II - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Werner, and Petra :)

I'll just start with one fiction and one nonfiction. His first proper "novel", The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

and a good eye-opening book The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London by Judith Flanders ⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

Here's my review of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

Would anyone else like to share a review or two?

I've updated Post 3 above to include my review of our current side read, The Life of Charles Dickens : Volume I by John Forster.

Quick link to Post 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Would anyone like to share a review? It doesn't have to be of a work by Charles Dickens - it could be any Victorian author - or something factual that's related - or anything you think we'd be interested in really :)

William Makepeace Thackeray was a friend of Dickens --they quarreled in 1858, and weren't on speaking terms for five years, but reconciled in December 1863, shortly before Thackeray's death (see https://sites.lib.byu.edu/special-col... ). Here's my review of Thackeray's best-known novel, Vanity Fair, :https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Although Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre under a male pen name, Currer Bell, Dickens famously deduced that the author of the book had to be a woman; he said something to the effect that only a woman writer could portray female characters with that much lifelike understanding. Here's my review of that famous Bronte novel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Werner, that's interesting information on Thackeray's friendship with Dickens and Dickens' observation of Jane Eyre.

To add to your reviews, here are my reviews of
Vanity Fair: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and

Jane Eyre: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Petra, thanks for sharing, I've just officially liked your review of Jane Eyre. (I couldn't like your review of Vanity Fair just now, but only because I already had! :-) )

Thanks, Werner! I just got finished reading (and liking) both of your reviews. I love reading a good review, thank you for these.

Thank you, Petra. (The gratitude is mutual!)

Wilkie Collins was a good friend of Charles Dickens. They met in 1851. Collins became friends with the family and remained friends with Catharine Dickens, even after the couple separated.

To bring Forster into the picture here:
"Forster, in his 1873 biography of Dickens, wrote, in one of his few references to Collins in the book, that 'Wilkie Collins became for all the rest of the life of Dickens one of his dearest and most valued friends.' "
Forster's biography of Dickens does skirt some important things but I do wonder why he skirted the friendship of these two men. Perhaps it doesn't mean anything (I haven't read the biography past the first volume).

My reviews of the works of Wilkie Collins that I've read:
The Moonstone (my first book by Collins; it established him as a favorite author of mine) - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Dead Secret - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Two Destinies - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Woman in White - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Surprisingly, these are all very short reviews. LOL....I usually go on more than this.

My reviews of three of my favourite Charles Dickens books:

David Copperfield - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A Tale of Two Cities - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Our Mutual Friend - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm really enjoying reading all these reviews :) The memories make up a bit for being "in between" Dickens novels!

In the "Friends of Dickens" thread, I saw that Tolstoy was somehow influenced or interested in Dickens' works.
I thought it might be okay to add my review of War and Peace here, in recognition of this connection.

Review of War & Peace: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And, not to be forgotten, the diary of Sofia Tolstoy:
The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jean, I enjoy reading reviews, too. I've added many books to my TBR list, thanks to an interesting review.

Indeed Petra; those diaries sound fascinating!

Here's another of mine:

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

I'm reading Nicholas Nickleby at present.

I'll look forward to your review Piyangie, and please share it here too :)

Petra wrote: "I do wonder why he skirted the friendship of these two men...."

I've also noticed that, Petra, and another member commented on how little John Forster mentioned Catherine, as well as Wilkie Collins.

His book might have better been titled "My Life with Charles Dickens", I think! It concentrates almost exclusively on the correspondence between the two, John Forster's mentorship, the novels themselves and the dealings both of them had with publishers. Any other friends merely get a mention now and again. It reads almost as if John Forster is jealous of his exclusive friendship with Charles Dickens.

Bionic Jean wrote: "I'll look forward to your review Piyangie, and please share it here too :)"

Sure will. :)

I read and finished Nicholas Nickleby. Here is my review. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here is another Dickens review of mine - Hard Times - his shortest novel I believe.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks piyangie!

Here's my review of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐

LINK HERE

Do you have a Dickensian or Victorian-themed review you'd like to share with the group?

Here's a link to my Charles Dickens page where I have posts on some of the novels as well as biographical works.
https://janegs.blogspot.com/p/charles...

That's an interesting blog, Jane; thanks for sharing it. I was just reading your thoughts on our current group read of Little Dorrit. Hope you can join in a read soon :)

Here is my video review of Dombey and Son

Bionic Jean wrote: "That's an interesting blog, Jane; thanks for sharing it. I was just reading your thoughts on our current group read of Little Dorrit. Hope you can join in a read soon :)"
Thanks for the reminder. I will try to join in.

Thanks Jim!

Here is my review of The History of England by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens which is also/more commonly known as Two Histories of England, a two-book set.

Here's my review of Great Expectations: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've written a review of a lovely book I received for Christmas, Dinner for Dickens. the Culinary History of Mrs Charles Dickens's Menu Books Including a Transcript of What Shall We Have for Dinner?' by Lady Maria Clutterbuck by Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox :
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Oh - we were just talking abbout this one, weren't we? Thanks Judy! And Jim - I'm off to read both :)

I would like to share my review of How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This has a connection with our current read of Dombey and Son, as it was published in the same year of 1848. Sadly though, Anne Brontë was not to write any more novels after this one, yet Charles Dickens was only half way through his oeuvre.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

It is astounding and groundbreaking book, especially when you consider when it was written.

I have been posting reviews of period dramas on the Victorians Group:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

There are three that directly relate to Dickens:

2012 Great Expectations:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The Man Who Invented Christmas:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Little Dorrit 2008:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oliver Twist was the very first novel by Charles Dickens that I ever read (back in 1960, or possibly 1961 --I was eight years old, anyway!), and which started my lifelong interest in his work; but until yesterday, I'd never reviewed it. Here's that review, finally: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I gave it five stars, which is as much a measure of the enjoyment and fascination I got out of it as a read, and of the influence it had on my reading tastes, as of its objective quality.

I've just finished The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist by John Mullan - here is a link to my review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've been taking part in our group's read of Dombey and Son, but have finished it ahead of the schedule. My review (which is spoiler-free) is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

My spoiler-free review of Dombey and Son -

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have written an additional review to the one from 2019 and posted it but I can’t figure out how to link it on my iPad. I did raise my rating from 4 to 5.

Here's my review for the biography Dickens by Peter Ackroyd -

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This book is amazing - I cannot recommend it enough!

Here's my review for David Copperfield which I read as a Buddy Read with a smaller section of the Dickensian! members, and it was so rewarding to read it that way, I wanted to share and encourage others to do the same. Some of us also read through the original group read thread, and that added depth to our discussion as well. Thank you all for leaving your group read discussions up so we can benefit from them!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here's my review for the latest summer read we finished:

A message from the sea (1860) by Charles Dickens - a collaboration "conducted" by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jean's review

An amazing read!

Dickens and Mesmerism: The Hidden Springs of Fiction by Fred Kaplan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A fascinating book, giving lots of insights into his writing.

Jean's review

Just one for now! Here's a link to my most recent Dickens review, DOMBEY AND SON . I should add that the reading and my enjoyment of it were significantly enhanced by tapping into the comments on the group read that took place before I joined. Thanks for that!