The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Welcome to the DC Buddy Read!
All members are welcome to join and discuss David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
Please feel free to read and discuss each book individually or make comparisons. It's up to you!
Happy reading!

I’m in! Will attempt to read them both and compare.
Happy Reading indeed. Thanks Rosemarie

Penelope wrote: "I’m in! Will attempt to read them both and compare.
Happy Reading indeed. Thanks Rosemarie"

You're welcome!
And thanks to Eileen and Roseanne for suggesting it!

what a great idea, count me in! what would be the estimated timeline?

Yey! I’m so excited about this one.

The podcast was the Book Case and the episode was from December if anyone is interested in listened to it. I’m not sure how to add a link here to it.

I’m reading both. I want to compare the books. I’m open to suggestion of when to start.

Woo hoo! I've read the first chapter of Copperhead and will read the first chapter Copperfield next and then decide what to do that after that.

Yes, if you can figure out the link to the podcast, I'd find it interesting to listen to!

I will have to get to a computer and see if I can post the link.

I'm starting the 3rd chapter on Copperhead and just finished the 3rd chapter in Copperfield and finding it interesting the spin she took in her own story. I believe Maggot, who appears to be his best friend is Matt Peggot and son of the Peggot family. Peggoty in Copperfield is the family maid and is probably the only friend Damon has as a young boy. The third chapter is where we meet some of her family, whereas we learn about the Peggot family in chapter 2. Murrell Stone is a motorcycle-riding bad boy while Murdstone is a horse-riding man with unsavory friends. I'm definitely finding it fun to see if I can spot similarities between the two books. Although they each have exactly the same number of chapters, the ones in the original are mostly 1.5-3 times longer.

Oh, and FWIW, I'm reading along to the narrations. The Copperfield narration I'm listening to is by Richard Armitage and he is wonderful! Charlie Thurston narrates Kingsolver's book and so far he seems to fit the story pretty well, but I haven't listened to him before.

I’ve read the first chapter of Copperfield and Copperhead. I have never been a fan of Barbara Kingsolver. I even DNF one of her books. But already I’m loving this.

I have a book for Copperfield and I’m listening to the audio of Copperhead.

Oh, and FWIW, I'm reading along to the narrations. The Copperfield narration I'm listening to is by Richard Armitage and he is wonderful! Charlie Thurston narrates Kingsolver's book and so far he seems to fit the story pretty well, but I haven't listened to him before.

I just finished chapter 10 in Copperhead and chapter 7 in Copperfield and I believe they have covered about the same time period. The chapters do not directly correlate to each other, but the general story in Copperhead does follow the original. I ended up reading chapters 4-7 in the original all at once and it covers his initial time at the boy's school. As I was reading and listening (and by the way Armitage rocks as a narrator), I thought there is no way Kingsolver's book is going to be as compelling. But I just finished reading chapters 5-10 in one sitting and I am hooked! She's done an amazing job setting up the story and you can't help but hope that Damon will somehow come out okay by the end, but man, the things he has to go through! In any case, for those of you who are getting ready to start, this is a wonderful way of reading the books!

https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/the-boo...

hopefully this works. This is the podcast I was talking about. It is an episode from December so you may have to scroll back to find it.

Roseanne! Thank you! I was able to find it on Spotify and I'm listening to it now. It's fascinating and it makes me want to read other works by Kingsolver!

I was going to skip Copperhead and someone told me about this podcast. After I listened to the podcast I knew I wanted to read it. I tried to read Flight Behavior and I just could not finish it. Maybe I judged the author too quickly.

I will say that I went in thinking that Kingsolver couldn't write a book as compelling as Copperfield, but after reading them both back and forth, I am in love with her book!

I finished chapter 3 in both books today. I am loving comparing the two books. I’m reading Copperfield first and then listening to Copperhead. I’m impressed by how she took the story and made it totally different yet it’s the same.

I'm on chapter 42 in Demon Copperhead and chapter 32 in David Copperfield. While there is a correlation between the two books, the chapters are not a one-to-one correspondence. She has done a brilliant job of following the skeleton of the original and making the story her own. It's really well done!

Starting chapter 5 of both books. I agree she did an amazing job. I like that both books have the same feel about them.

I also like that David/Damon are both relatively innocent even when they do things that are ill-advised, even when they are "grown-up". I do feel like Damon makes "more mistakes" than David but I also think that is part of the world that Damon grows up in, which is in some ways more harsh than the one David grew up in. As I said, she has really made it her own story! She does a great job of raising awareness for those who grew up in such mining communities in Appalachia and how many folks in that area are just trying to survive. She reminds us that while people are quick to criticize the choices people have made (especially with regards to drugs or not staying in school), they don't realize just how much they were victims of wealthy businesses who went in and stripped the land and its people of resources and then left them high and dry. You'll be meeting Mr. Armstrong sometime (he is a teacher) and I can just feel his frustration as he tries to help them and his desire to persist despite their resistance because he KNOWS they just don't know.

Okay, I honestly couldn't stop--I did try to disrupt my reading with other books I needed to read, but eventually tore through the rest of Copperhead and here, a day and a half later have finished Copperfield. My review:

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

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

That was quick. I have been moving slowly through both.

Eileen wrote: "Okay, I honestly couldn't stop--I did try to disrupt my reading with other books I needed to read, but eventually tore through the rest of Copperhead and here, a day and a half later have finished ..."

I enjoyed your reviews of each book and admire that you could read them simultaneously. I got confused!! so am just reading Demon Copperhead. will read David Copperfield soon.

I think the only reason I am keeping it all straight is because I’m reading Copperfield and listening to Copperhead.

I will admit that a few times I misremembered something that happened in Copperhead while reading Copperfield. But then I thought back and realized it was in the other book. If I had not been reading along with the narration, I would never have been able to keep everything straight. But it does help that the two narrators for the books had very different deliveries and were also both very good at their job!

Chapter 7 in Copperfield and chapter 14 in copperhead. I’m reading slow. I’m finding it all very fascinating and heavy.

Yes, they both share that in common!

You have inspired me to do this now! Waiting on Demon Copperhead from library - guess I should get David Copperfield as well!

I am making very slow progress but I am enjoying both books.

I'm so glad!

I finished Demon Copperhead. It was tough to read but so good. I am still working on David Copperfield.

Yay!!! It makes me want to read the Poisonwood Bible

Poisonwood Bible looks interesting. After I finish David Copperfield I need to read something happy before revisiting the doom and gloom set.

LOL indeed!! I've been reading middle school books and ARCS and such. One of the ARCS was very depressing so I'm planning on reading some more fun ones from authors I like.

Okay, actually, I'm in the middle of reading Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and so far I'm really enjoying it! I don't know that it will be happy, but I'm really enjoying the read so far!