FEBRUARY - CHARLES DICKENS

As a recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Dickens, our choices this month are taken from the large number of books he has written.

VIRGINIA:
Virginia had borrowed "The Haunted House" but as she doesn't like ghost stories, decided not to finish it. Instead she read "An Open Book" by Monica Dickens (great grand daughter of Charles Dickens).
This is her autobiography. She had lead an interesting life, traveled widely and described the era in which she lived with maids and other luxuries.
Monica Dickens had written many other books, mainly fiction and including the "Follyfoot Series" for children.

KATHY:
 Kathy chose "David Copperfield" which she had read previously. She said it was nice to re-read it and reacquaint herself with the characters. It really could be his autobiography.

MARGARET:
Margaret started to read Nicholas Nickelby. But once she began to read about the maltreatment of the boys, she couldn't go on. She said she gets too emotional with this kind of writing.

JUDY:
Judy thought she would like to read "Little Dorrit" having enjoyed the recent television series. But 863 pages proved too much of a challenge, and so borrowed a DVD. This turned out to be the original BBC production which presented the story from Arthur Clennam and Amy Dorrit's points of view, leaving out many characters and  parts of the story. She commented on the number of themes that are common to this story and many others, even those written today..eg the importance of social status, money being the root of all evil, revenge, illegitimate children and blackmail. She also mentioned that the book was written from personal experience, as Dickens' father had spent time in a debtor's prison and this had left a lasting impression on him.

MAREE:
Maree had only found out in the last few days  what the topic was....so she related stories of visiting a Dickens Museum in Bath that she come across while on the Jane Austen trail.

CONNIE:
 Connie remembered being read "Little Nell" by a teacher when she was about 10 years old and had cried so much she wanted to reread it. In the introduction it calls the story 'a comedy' Why?
Apart from all the sad things that happen to Little Nell, there are also some silly characters who hit and punch and fall over each other, like in a pantomime.
Little Nell dies in the end at only 16 years of age. It's not a happy ending.....a silly comedy with a lot of sorrow.

AMELIA:
Amelia chose to read "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" which has as its main character a murderer. Through very cunning and implied writing, the murder isn't actually described, but it can be the only assumption as to what had taken place.
This was the last book written by Dickens who died before it was finished. But he left notes and a summary of the ending to his friend and biographer John Forster.

SHEILA:
Sheila 'failed' to read anything. Not what she likes to read!

MERILYN:
Merilyn thought she would read "Bedside Dickens" which had excerpts from a dozen of his books. Unfortunately she couldn't get past the first few pages and decided there were too many other books she wanted to read.

JOAN:
Joan had unexpected and great delight reading "Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings" one of Dickens' novellas. It is the story of a child abandoned on the doorstep of the guest house that Mrs Lirriper runs. She looks after and raises the child with the help of the other lodgers. The characters are all genuine and empathetic towards one another.
A light read and she loved it.

LESLEY:
Lesley chose to read "The Battle of Life", another of Dickens' novellas. The story is set in an English village that was the site of an historic battle. The battle comes to symbolize the struggle these characters face in their daily lives.
There is a lot of flowery 'stuff' (a love story of 2 sisters and 1 man) that leaves you wondering how it all happened. Still, it had a hook in the ending when all the pieces came together.
His images are amazing and the characters so well drawn you can really picture the English village and the people who lived there.

ANNE:
Anne also selected "Little Dorrit". As she had read it and loved it as a child, she decided this time to watch the DVD. It's a book full of 'goodies and baddies' with Amy Dorrit being almost impossibly so good to everyone. She also commented on the way the prison was shown on the DVD, clean and quite comfortable, life there didn't seem so bad. Everyone  also seemed to be well clothed and fed. This is probably not a realistic interpretation of the original story that Dickens had written.

JO:
Jo also chose Nicholas Nickleby and after watching the DVD  commented on the way the boys were treated. It made her very angry and sad, but grateful she didn't live in those times.

JULIA:
Julia was able to find a children's book which had adapted 5 well known stories written by Dickens and presented with beautiful illustrations. The book, "Illustrated Stories from Dickens" was easy to read and a lovely way to introduce the writing of Dickens to children. She felt it gave her a good understanding of each story and she didn't feel like a child reading it.