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notapplicable
Mar 9, 2009, 9:19 PM
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I feel compelled to read at least one major work by Charles Dickens but I'm deterred by an early experience with Bleak House. It was probably 7-8 years ago now that I bought a paperback edition and sat down to experience the great Dickens. Problem is, for a number or reasons, I didn't make it past the first 50 pages or so.
The only real impression I'm left with now is that the writing style was a bit drab and lacked flow or an appealing cadence/style. I had a lot of other authors to tend to so I put Dickens back on the shelf and moved on. Now I'm wondering if I rushed to judgment, if I picked the wrong book as my first taste of an obviously very accomplished author or if his works really haven't aged well and no longer carry the same weight as they once did.
So my questions for you fine folks are these. What are your impressions of Dickens? Is he as important to the history of nineteenth century English literature as I think he is? What book should I read first, A Tale Of Two Cities, Bleak House, Great Expectations...?
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epoch
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Mar 9, 2009, 9:35 PM
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I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities.
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edge
Mar 9, 2009, 9:40 PM
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I don't think Dickens translates well at all, and I wouldn't bother reading any of his works today. There are so many other works from that era that are much better reads.
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squierbypetzl
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Mar 9, 2009, 9:55 PM
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epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities.
I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to.
Might I recommend Oliver Twist?
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Valarc
Mar 9, 2009, 10:28 PM
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I, too, found Dickens' style to be incredibly dry and basically boring. Great Expectations seemed to drag on forever and ever. And I was utterly addicted to reading all through grade school - I would read anything I could get my hands on, and still found Dickens tough to work my way through. For perspective, I found the unabridged moby dick to be less cumbersome.
I haven't read any "great works" in probably ten years, though - I spend so damn much time reading physics papers and books that the last thing I want to do for fun is read anything with any meaning.
That's why I spend so much time on RC.com.
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notapplicable
Mar 10, 2009, 5:04 AM
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squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist?
Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go.
If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think...
(This post was edited by notapplicable on Mar 10, 2009, 5:05 AM)
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wanderlustmd
Mar 10, 2009, 5:18 AM
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If it makes you feel better, I didn't get to page 40 of Bleak House. He should have just called it Bleak
I'd personally do either David Copperfield or A Christmas Carol.
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fenix83
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Mar 10, 2009, 5:47 AM
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notapplicable wrote: squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist? Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go. If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think...
I had no problem reading The Republic by Plato, Crime and Punishment or Don Quijote and like you I fely compelled to read Dickens because he is one of those authors you just have to read. I still couldn't make it through more than half of GE, it just never got to me and bored me to tears!
-F
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krillen
Mar 10, 2009, 12:52 PM
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fenix83 wrote: notapplicable wrote: squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist? Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go. If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think... I had no problem reading The Republic by Plato, Crime and Punishment or Don Quijote and like you I fely compelled to read Dickens because he is one of those authors you just have to read. I still couldn't make it through more than half of GE, it just never got to me and bored me to tears! -F
I got about 1/4 way through Crime and Punishment before giving up. Now THAT book was bleak...of course I was reading it right before bed (and shortly after a break up) so that may have had some bearing on my outlook.
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imnotclever
Mar 10, 2009, 1:02 PM
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epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities.
One of these two is fine. I couldn't finish David Copperfield.
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imnotclever
Mar 10, 2009, 1:05 PM
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krillen wrote: fenix83 wrote: notapplicable wrote: squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist? Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go. If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think... I had no problem reading The Republic by Plato, Crime and Punishment or Don Quijote and like you I fely compelled to read Dickens because he is one of those authors you just have to read. I still couldn't make it through more than half of GE, it just never got to me and bored me to tears! -F I got about 1/4 way through Crime and Punishment before giving up. Now THAT book was bleak...of course I was reading it right before bed (and shortly after a break up) so that may have had some bearing on my outlook.
Yeah, after he kills the old lady you might as well quit. But I managed to finish it.
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krillen
Mar 10, 2009, 1:55 PM
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imnotclever wrote: krillen wrote: fenix83 wrote: notapplicable wrote: squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist? Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go. If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think... I had no problem reading The Republic by Plato, Crime and Punishment or Don Quijote and like you I fely compelled to read Dickens because he is one of those authors you just have to read. I still couldn't make it through more than half of GE, it just never got to me and bored me to tears! -F I got about 1/4 way through Crime and Punishment before giving up. Now THAT book was bleak...of course I was reading it right before bed (and shortly after a break up) so that may have had some bearing on my outlook. Yeah, after he kills the old lady you might as well quit. But I managed to finish it.
heh heh, that was the spot.
How is Moby Dick? I've eyed it up a couple of times but is it really worth the effort?
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Gmburns2000
Mar 10, 2009, 2:10 PM
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I loved tale of two cities, but couldn't stand oliver twist. I couldn't imagine ever picking up great expectations. I've never read it, but from what I understand it is one long arrogant, whiner / victim story.
Dickens had his moment, and tale of two cities is an important piece of work that transcends literature, but nothing else he did is really worth it in my opinion. The mere fact that he adds chapters with no relation to the story because he got paid by the word makes many of his books feel like running into a brick wall head first.
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reno
Mar 10, 2009, 2:26 PM
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krillen wrote: How is Moby Dick? I've eyed it up a couple of times but is it really worth the effort?
Absolutely. And when you're done, get a copy of Into the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It's the true story of a whaling boat that was sunk by a whale attack, and supposedly the inspiration for Moby Dick.
(This post was edited by reno on Mar 10, 2009, 2:27 PM)
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jmvc
Mar 10, 2009, 3:40 PM
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First drafts of Moby Dick.
Captain Ahab: That whale took my leg. But let bygones be bygones say I..
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atg200
Mar 10, 2009, 7:06 PM
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I like Dickens, though I haven't read Bleak House. My favorite is probably the Pickwick Papers, which is wonderful and light, and nothing like some of his later drudgery. I really liked great Expectations too, and the South Park adaptation is a good reward when you finish the book.
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scienceguy288
Mar 11, 2009, 2:45 AM
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notapplicable wrote: I feel compelled to read at least one major work by Charles Dickens but I'm deterred by an early experience with Bleak House. The only real impression I'm left with now is that the writing style was a bit drab and lacked flow or an appealing cadence/style. I had a lot of other authors to tend to so I put Dickens back on the shelf and moved on. Now I'm wondering if I rushed to judgment, if I picked the wrong book as my first taste of an obviously very accomplished author or if his works really haven't aged well and no longer carry the same weight as they once did. So my questions for you fine folks are these. What are your impressions of Dickens? Is he as important to the history of nineteenth century English literature as I think he is? What book should I read first, A Tale Of Two Cities, Bleak House, Great Expectations...?
Ugh. Dickens is definitely not my cup of tea. I find his style boring. Very industrialist (efficiency, structurally sound, but dull and not artistic).
My personal taste in 19th century English literature are the Romantics: William Blake, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, etc. However, I suppose Dickens is an important Victorian writer (the other main type of lit during the 19 century) so if you insist, I'd go with a tale of 2 cities. Brutal and absolutely horrible, but a very deep book...but dull.
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bill_in_tokyo
Mar 11, 2009, 8:03 AM
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Second Reno's vote for of Into the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. Awesome.
It's actually pretty fun to pair it up with the novel Ahab's Wife, a pretty cool fictionalized take on the same episode.
(http://www.amazon.com/...236758290&sr=8-1)
I got through Moby Dick without too much trouble, but never could stomach Dickens. Read Tale of Two Cities for school way back in the day and understand why it was assigned (historical context, etc.), but never went back for more on my own.
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notapplicable
Mar 11, 2009, 12:12 PM
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krillen wrote: fenix83 wrote: notapplicable wrote: squierbypetzl wrote: epoch wrote: I enjoyed Great Expectations better than A Tale of Two Cities. I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it took some effort on my part to finish it. Dickens style takes some getting used to. Might I recommend Oliver Twist? Based on synopsis alone, OT doesn't appeal to me very much. From the research I've been doing it sounds like GE "reads" better than most of this other novels so I think I'm gonna give it a go. If I can wade through Kants Critiques, I should be able to make it through Dickens most readable work. I'm a lot more patient than I used to be. I think... I had no problem reading The Republic by Plato, Crime and Punishment or Don Quijote and like you I fely compelled to read Dickens because he is one of those authors you just have to read. I still couldn't make it through more than half of GE, it just never got to me and bored me to tears! -F I got about 1/4 way through Crime and Punishment before giving up. Now THAT book was bleak...of course I was reading it right before bed (and shortly after a break up) so that may have had some bearing on my outlook.
Oh I'm just the opposite, Dostoyevsky is one of my favorites. In terms of style and themes that I enjoy the most, I rank him up there with Kafka, Hemmingway and McCarthy. I love the somber and bleak mood/tone of their story telling, it very much speaks to my general out look on the world.
To each there own though, I can definitely see how people would find C&P unappealing.
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notapplicable
Mar 11, 2009, 12:18 PM
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Gmburns2000 wrote: I loved tale of two cities, but couldn't stand oliver twist. I couldn't imagine ever picking up great expectations. I've never read it, but from what I understand it is one long arrogant, whiner / victim story. Dickens had his moment, and tale of two cities is an important piece of work that transcends literature, but nothing else he did is really worth it in my opinion. The mere fact that he adds chapters with no relation to the story because he got paid by the word makes many of his books feel like running into a brick wall head first.
Hmmm, that's a good point. If I'm going to read one, I should probably go all out and Tale of Two Cities is generally considered his masterpiece.
Kind of like if you were only going to watch one Stanley Kubrick movie, it would have to be 2001: A Space Odyssey even though Spartacus, A Clockwork Orange or FMJ are arguably more entertaining or easier to watch.
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scienceguy288
Mar 11, 2009, 2:01 PM
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bill_in_tokyo wrote: Second Reno's vote for of Into the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. Awesome. It's actually pretty fun to pair it up with the novel Ahab's Wife, a pretty cool fictionalized take on the same episode. ( http://www.amazon.com/...236758290&sr=8-1) I got through Moby Dick without too much trouble, but never could stomach Dickens. Read Tale of Two Cities for school way back in the day and understand why it was assigned (historical context, etc.), but never went back for more on my own.
Moby Dick is probably one of my favorite books. Everyone complains about its length and the "annoying chapters about barnacles," but I liked that. It really helped me create a detailed mental image of the goings on in the story. Same reason why I love Tolkien. Everything is described down to every geological feature and even full languages. Amazing scope.
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edge
Mar 11, 2009, 2:15 PM
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So if I am looking at reading Danielle Steele, which book do you all recommend?
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scienceguy288
Mar 11, 2009, 2:20 PM
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edge wrote: So if I am looking at reading Danielle Steele, which book do you all recommend?
Never read anything, and if you are confusing THE Romantics with romantic writers, well bit of a difference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_novel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantics
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reno
Mar 11, 2009, 2:26 PM
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edge wrote: So if I am looking at reading Danielle Steele, which book do you all recommend?
Here.
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