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Which of Charles Dickens' books is your favourite?
49 Answers
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 ...
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 ...
Answers
I had to read Hard Times for my degree, so that took the edge off it! I love David Copperfield and Great Expectations because of the characters.
14:08 Tue 07th Feb 2012
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.
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.
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......
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......
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Give me Dostoievsky every time.
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