Which of Charles Dickens' books is your favourite?

[Ellipsis]

Today is the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Happy birthday Charles!

Which of Dickens' books is your favourite?

I must admit I've only read four - A Tale Of Two Cities, Bleak House, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol (inc. The Chimes). Of those, A Tale Of Two Cities is my favourite - not just for the quality of the writing and the story, but also because of when in my life I read it and the impact it had on me ...

[Baldric]

Fitting that he should have been written about by Hardy,

[jackthehat]

I've tried.........really I have.........but.......well.......I just can't get into Dickens, at all.

When I have tried, I've found that his books are very 'dense'. I do, however, think that that is why they transfer to the screen so well. (Does that mark me out as a philistine? LoL)

I absolutely love the recent TV adaptation of Bleak House.

Thomas Hardy leaves me cold and if I never see another copy of Return of the Native, it'll be too soon.

[jackthehat]

As for Jane Austen:
I had to read 'Persuasion' for A-level and was so incensed at the wishy-washy behaviour of Anne Elliot that it put me off JA for years afterwards. When I re-read it in my mid-twenties, it made so much more sense to me.
I read 'Pride and Prejudice' about once a year. Brilliant Book.

Wuthering Heights is one of the most depressing books ever written.:o(
It's no wonder they only ever bother to film the first half of the thing......

[woofgang]

I like Jane Austen but find the Brontes ANNOYING.

[MarkRae]

A word to the wise, then - steer well clear of Anthony Trollope...

[rowanwitch]

Seconded!

[DTCwordfan]

Hardy leaves me cold - Mayor of Casterbridge for O level as well; I also have no affiliation with Dorset, sorry Prudie. Jane Austen, good descriptors of life at that time and a little too sentimental and predictable for my taste....

As to Dickens and poverty, as reflected in something like OT, he did experience that side of life in his childhood and solme of the appalling abuse that young children experienced, therefore accusations that he didn't know about this and that it was "feathered" (to borrow a word) are a little unfair.

[dickythecook]

What the dickens is all the fuss about. I am clad I won't be around for his 250th. I have to confess to liking the films made on the Christmas Carol theme tho.

[sandyRoe]

He seemed to write inordinately long sentences and I, for one, can't see that that style of penmanship would be acceptable to modern day readers, though, having said that, I might have a look at Oliver Twist sometime

[jackthehat]

Henry James is a bu$$er for that, as well, Sandy...

[woofgang]

lol SandyRoe

[ubasses]

Pickwick Papers, I actually laughed out loud reading that. Also read Barnaby Rudge and have Martin Chuzzlewit on the go at the moment

[suechu]

Great Expectations and also love the wonderful David Lean film of the book.

[carolegif]

Isn't it interesting that the books we all had to read for School/Uni put is off them?

[Ellipsis]

Thanks for some great answers everyone.

[Prudie]

I hate Dickens (Happy Birthday BTW), really dark depressing books but opinion based on being made to read him at school and have never picked one up since. Now Thomas Hardy I've read them all (and yes DT the Dorset connection exaggerated the appeal to me because I know a lot of the places he wrote about). He could really describe the emotions of being in love. Tess of the D'Urbervilles is the only book that actually made me cry, Bathsheba Everdene was my teenage heroine and Mayor of Casterbridge is my favourite. So there!

[nungate]

My favourite Dickens is A Christmas Carol - have read several others but in all honesty I prefer to read some of his journalistic pieces that I'd to study as part of my OU course. I love Jane Austen, Persuasion is my favourite but I re-read them all every year

[tiggerblue10]

I haven't read any Dickens but I've seen lots of adaptations and the film version of Tale of two cities with Dirk Bogarde. And yes, the recent Bleak House was brillitant.

I've read Tess of the D'urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd alough I can't remember much about the latter. The first time I ever heard of Tess was an early 80's film or tv version with Nastasha Kinski.

[atalanta]

None of them. He was a pen-pusher, not a great novelist. He got paid by the word, so he obviously wrote far too much and embroidered every scene. He was almost as dreadful an old windbag as G B Shaw, and that's saying something. The mawkish sentimentality of "A Christmas carol" has attracted television schedulers, who associate all things Dickensian with Christmas, and have thus made a misery of Christmas for millions of children who have had to sit through doom and gloom like "Oliver Twist" waiting in vain for some festive fun.
Give me Dostoievsky every time.

[Barmaid]

I love a Tale of Two Cities. I refused to do the "school set books" at O level (I can't remember what they were) and insisted I do that plus Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess. I am sure my english teacher thought I was nuts, but as they were on the "exam board" list I got my wish!