Charles Dickens Books

This is a critique of Lamia's review. Lamia I couldn't agree more with how long the story is. It takes a while to get started, but when it does it is enthralling. In every review that I read, the writer says that he hate Darnay. Why do you hate him? Sure he isn't my favorite person, and somethings he does are bad, but over all he is a kind person. Carton is by far my favorite character. I love how in the end he selflessly gives his life without even telling Darnay. He knows that Darnay will try to stop him and also he doesn't want the recognition of his good deed. Even when he is dying he gives solace to another that is sentenced to die. Everyone should read this book.

It is a dark story, however it is Dickens and he is such a great writer. I would like to say that I love this "Cover to Cover Classics" reading on CD, it is very hard to find and classic lit. on CD that is unabridged and in a good price range. It is unabridged and the 14 disks are marked as you go through them. By this I mean the reader states disk one or two ect. Each disk is about one and half hours long. The cost was not high when using Amazon discounts. Listen to this beautiful love story and enjoy it. "A TALE OF TWO CITIES" is a very great read.

I found this book to be a terribly interesting, spellbinding page turner. I could not put it down. Every page had a new turn and the book was well worth the time spent and money spent on it. This is a reccommended book that everyone should have the oppertunity to enjoy. The book is so great that I don't want to give even one word of it away. so, in conclusion, read the book!

If you want to know where the modern realist tradition began, then look no further, it all began with Dickens. He was by far one of the most excellent observers of the life around him. He was of his time, and yet he transcended his times. These three books represent some of his finest creations. A must read for any reader who wants to call themselves well read.

All of the books from this series were fun to read! They are full of great lessons that will impact your kids in a positive way for years to come. I wish they were still in print and available in softcover editions for families to enjoy today. The educational substance in these books is what is missing from alot of kid's programming nowadays. I buy them all off the shelves whenever I find them in used bookstores and give them away to whichever kid is nearby-that is how much I believe in these books.

London holds a fascination in peoples' minds matched by few other cities. Michael Paterson's book is a wonderful introduction to 19th Century London, a subject few books have dealt with. And who better to describe 'the great old city' than London's most famous chronicler, novelist Charles Dickens? Interweaving sections from various Dickens' novels with accounts from Londoners who lived in that period or visitors to the city, Paterson has opened a window into a time, a city and a people that fascinates, informs and sometimes appalls.

The London of the mid-19th Century was the largest city on earth as well as the dirtiest and most disease- and crime-ridden place in the world. In a series of chapters covering 'The Place,' 'The People,' 'Shops and Shopping,' 'Transport and Travel,' 'Crime and Punishment,' etc., Paterson weaves the various accounts into a combination history and travelogue that is as educational as it is appalling. The growth of the great city came at a terrible cost to many of its residents as borne out in accounts by Henry Mayhew, George Salas and others. To say it was a brutal existence for most Londoners is an understatement.

While the book is illustrated with various photographs and woodcuts, it is the spoken word that has the greatest impact. To be frank, the book needs to be savored a chapter at a time lest the detailed descriptions overwhelm the reader. Make no mistake about it - this book is a great read. It captures the sights, sounds and smells of a long-ago city as few books have.

I ordered 30 copies of this Dover Thrift Edition of A Christmas Carol and used them as stocking stuffers at work.

This is a great item for the price, lower than some greeting cards, and I suspect appreciated a tad more than the usual overflow of candy around at holiday time!

Everyone has their favorite version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Make this dramatic retelling yours. At about 2 hours, its perfect for listening in the car while running around during the holidays or on your MP3 player while putting up Christmas lights. I plan on listening to it every year from now on. Patrick Stewart gives voice to every character, including the narration, and gives the kind of performance which I have come to expect from an actor of his immense talents.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PERFORMER i HAVE EVER HEARD. MR. STEWART BRINGS TO LIFE THE COMPLETE STORY. MAKING THE STORY MR. DICKENS INTENDED GO RIGHT TO YOUR SOUL.
I HAVE PUT IT ON THE LIST OF THINGS WE ARE DOING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY, THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AND TO SIT DOWN AND LISTEN TO THIS GREAT STORY.
YOU WILL NOT BE UNHAPPY WHEN YOU BUY THIS CD.
THE HALLEY FAMILY

The best of Charles Dickens' work. Ebenezer Scrooge is a bloke that pretty much anybody who came across him would classify as a miserable old coot.

When he is particularly miserable towards an employee at xmas, a few spooky spectral spirits take him to task.

The classical unabridged version of this beloved Christmas tale is finally here!
Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' is the perfect holiday gift for a loved one! This book is recommeneded for kids of all ages!
:D Enjoy!

What could be more prosaic? A physically abused child surmounts all obstacles through diligence, devotion, goodness, and terrific good luck at key moments. But within this simple frame Dickens paints a tapestry of pity and terror and epiphany. To encounter such a broad spectrum of good and evil - the pure femininity of a lover, the earthy sweetness of a nurse, the generosity of a mentor, the frivolity of a sweetheart, parental naivete and cruelty, the destructive arrogance of a best friend, the viciousness of a Uriah Heep - would be an object lesson in Humanity. But we encounter all this each day. This dawns on you with each passing chapter - and that you are confronting yourself as you confront them: Your own evil and your own goodness rising above the shadows. Copperfield is a quick course in religion and philosophy and psychology. By the end, you're transformed vicariously and like David Copperfield dismiss the shadows: "Thus I leave them; thus I always find them; thus they wear their time away, from year to year".

Please note: Dickens is not my favorite author. His style at times is too melodramatic. But David Copperfield is wonderful. If we had only this, it would be clear Dickens was a master who walked the talk. Highly commended even for those who are not Dickens fans.

I have read and listened to many of Dickens' novels, and this is, without a doubt, my favorite. In fact, this is my favorite audiobook bar none.

This BBC Radio adaptation is the perfect introduction to Dickens and to David Copperfield in particular for those who may be dissuaded from reading Copperfield because of its length. It is impossible to imagine that the BBC could have found better performers for the roles--I can easily hear their voices in my mind as I recall the story. Although the story is abridged, you don't get the sense that you are missing any of the important points of the story. In fact, it's a much more satisfying "read" than most books in their unabridged version.

"But one face, shining on me like a heavenly light by which I see all
other objects, is above them and beyond them all. And that remains. I turn my
head, and see it, in its beautiful serenity beside me. My lamp burns low,
and I have written far into the night, but the dear presence, without which
I were nothing, bears me company."
[David Copperfield]
Timeless, full of plastic characters, entertaining, colourful, warm. Imagine Dostoevsky, but with more optimism and respect and deep love for humans. Kind regards, Mario.

For the price of the Everyman edition, one would expect the pages to be cleanly printed. Instead, the letters are faded and weak on many pages. On many pages, parts of some letters are missing altogether.

Charles Dickens said that his favorite work of his own was David Copperfield. I'm still partial to Tale of Two Cities, but this is a truly spectacular piece of literature that deserves every bit of its status as a classic.

Dickens draws you into his stories in a way that nearly no other author can. In David Copperfield, you truly feel as if you are the protagonist/narrator Copperfield. You feel his pain and enhaltation, you sense his difficulties, mistakes and triumphs before they come through Dickens' subtle foreshadowing.

The other thing that Dickens does so masterfully is create his characters. Dickens' characters are the stuff of legend for a reason. In anyone else's hands, characters as vivid and over-the-top as Dickens' are would be ridiculous, but somehow Dickens writes the colorful characters to be completely believeable. This trick has something to do with the way Dickens develops the characters over time, something to do with the detail with which he describes them and something to do with consistent core of the characters. The villians alone make this story well worth reading and they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Read this classic, you'll be glad you did.

I, too, leave it to better reviewers to describe it in detail... but I feel that something must be said about these characters. They are ideal, yet complex enough to be real, all of them, in their kindness and intensity, their darkness and meanness, alike. They are absolutely more interesting than any people today... it makes you wonder if people were ever so thoughtful and contemplative - if we have lost something, or rather if Dickens was imaginative and wonderful beyond his experiences could have ever shown! A wonderful book told with care and modesty by two of the best narrators I've ever read.

This dose of English culture was recommended to me as one of the finest in classic literature. Mysteriously the story moves along quite well, even with the aggravating English dialect, the multitude of characters, and the uninteresting, almost banal style.

We return to the simple life when the word gay meant joyous, not the corrupted word it is now. Written in first and third person, this drawn out, hard to follow telling of a lawsuit over an estate inheritance was a struggle to get through (contradicts "moves along quite well"?..................no). Any climactic moments are few and slowed, with subtle impact. Of course it would not be what it is if it was shortened----all 900 pages.

What brings such praise for this book over the years?: the eloquent and sometimes quotable passages are spotty; the only power I see is the improvement it may give to our writing, and that may be its only praise. There are a plethora of outstanding authors with more interesting stories without going through the pain of the "intellectual classics". I am not to say we are to rid them; it is more likely that Bleak House just left much to be desired. Who knows, maybe it has effected me in ways I will only discover later, for that is probably its mystique.

I expected the afterward to summarize my ineptness of understanding this difficult read. Instead it concentrated on the authors greatness and the resources used.

Wish you well
Scott

Heavy reading book good book. Typical Dickens style. Book arrived in excellent condition.

I purchased Bleak House after watching the PBS series recently. Having familiarity with only A Christmas Carol, I was eager to read such an engrossing, complex, but very entertaining story. Dickens' characters are gems, and the atmosphere of mid-19th century London are captured so beautifully. I recommend this title to anyone with the patience to savor the language, characters, and social criticism found in Bleak House.

There are several subplots rummaging throughout Dickens' lengthy Victorian novel Bleak House: 1) the mystery behind Esther Summerson's disgraceful birth and her subsequent arrival at Bleak House, 2) John Jarndyce's fatherly influence over Esther, Ada and Richard, and its eventual effects on the three, 3) Lady Dedlock's mysterious persona, and the secrets she keeps within herself and 4) the general seemingly never-ending process of the Jarndyce suit in the High Court of Chancery, its ill-effects on those who have an interminable will to prosper off of it, and the general dreary feeling it casts over the whole of society.





One of the interesting and yet sometimes tedious aspect of this work, and something to get used to while reading, is the various narrative voices used by Dickens. This can make the work a challenge to read, but helps to give the story a "series" or "drama" feel to it. Esther Summerson, the protagonist, narrates throughout the book at various times, and comes across fairly enough as a reliable narrator. The other two points of view are a bit more anonymous. One type has an element of stream of consciousness, where the narrator takes you quickly through random thoughts, observances and lists of various characters. In this point of view where Dickens attains the greatest amount of satire to this work, and usually makes the entire Jarndyce and Jarndyce case the butt of his joke, as well as the general scenes of the eccentric characters (and there are plenty). The final narrative type is clearly 3rd person, who simply tells the story looking down upon it without any bias or angle, almost a "fly on the wall" kind of perspective, and this voice seems to be used most throughout the novel.





Dickens employs many memorable and eccentric characters as usual. There is Tulkinghorn, a malicious, unmoved, and unsentimental lawyer, the antagonist who holds key secrets and has no pity for individuals. There is Guppy, who is awkward, a bit "slimy", and has a fascination with Esther that lasts throughout the novel. Allan Woodcourt and Captain George are both noble characters who help others in times of need, Woodcourt having ties to saving people's lives during a shipwreck and also is Richard's friend in his time of financial difficulties, and George aiding in the help of the sick child, Jo. Mr. Bucket is the quick-witted detective, who solves many of the mysteries late in the novel.





The neat aspect of Dickens' book is his ability to introduce many characters, many plot lines, symbols and then weave them together into a tight fit, and intertwine and solve them at the end. Esther learns more and more about her past, and the history of her mother, as the novel progresses, and this seemingly brings into the forefront other scenes which at first may have seemed unimportant. Over all this is a novel which essentially depicts one journey, but uses many characters to arrive there; Esther's journey is one in which she learns who she is, and becomes a stronger character by novel's end.





You can definitely say that in Dickens work, the sum is much greater than its parts. This is a book that adds up to much in its finality, and it is clear that Dickens was writing this in a series format, ending chapters right where we are getting to important information or something that is pertinent to the over all story, leaving the mystery to be carried over to the next chapter.





Although this book is a beast (over 800 pages), if you enjoy Victorian novels, and enjoy Dickens use of satire and eccentric characters, this is one well-worth checking out. While this novel sometimes gets cumbersome with details, it really is a tribute to Dickens ability to illustrate this story and weave everything finely together. Like a painting, Bleak House must be viewed at several different angles before one can truly appreciate it.





4 1/2 stars





(This review refers to the Bantum Classic version of the novel)

Two and a half stars. The basic concept of this book is a useful and interesting one: describe for the general reading public the vanished world of the 19th century. But the 19th century saw an enormous amount of change, and it should be remembered that the lives of Austen and Dickens overlapped for only five years--he was born in 1812, and she died in 1817. It was a measure of the social change which took place during the century that Austen's beloved niece Fanny in her own old age viewed her aunt as having been somewhat vulgar by Victorian standards. Although there are many interesting details (sometimes repeated too often!), author Pool does not do enough to distinguish manners, morals, and conditions at one end of the century from those at the other. There do seem to be as well some literary inaccuracies. (What, for example, does he mean in a discussion of marriage between cousins, that Emma and Mr. Woodhouse are trying to promote a marriage between her and her first cousin???)

Although there is some good information here, be sure to take it with a grain of salt.

This book is a marvel, understandable to any person intelligent enough to enjoy Charles Dickens. Every aspect of life is within its scope. Easy to use, it is easily the best resource on my shelves. Indispensable to readers (and writers).

If you read Regency or Victorian literature this is a reference you will want close at hand. Both Interesting and fun to read, the author says he wanted to "answer some of the questions that nag any half-curious reader of the great nineteenth-century English novels." He does just that. This book is meant as an overview, or introduction, to the period not an in-depth reference. You will not find lengthy discussions of what Jane Austen might have eaten, but there are several sections on foods and dinner parties.

The book includes a large glossary of terms peculiar to the period. I have found it handy when I've come across an unfamiliar word in a novel and didn't want to stop reading and go research it.

While I feel the book does cover both the Regency and Victorian era fairly well, I believe it can be criticized for spanning too great of a period. Imagine a book attempting to give insight into the entire twentieth century, a period that would include the Wright Brothers and the moon landings and corsets and miniskirts, and many more contrasts. The nineteenth century had many similar contrasts making it difficult to write a single volume cover the entire period.

I recommend two other books for anyone reading Victorian literature, Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England and To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace

Recommendation: I recommend this handy reference for anyone who enjoys Regency or Victorian literature.

Kyle Pratt

That's a perfect book. If you want to know anything interesting about the 19th century in England, you should read it.I teach English as the second language and it's sometimes too difficult to draw students' attention through the whole lesson. There are many interesting and unknown things, that help students to imagine this time in England. On the other hand, the book is written by clear and easy English so I could not stop reading till I finished.

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England, by Daniel Pool, is a nice book that is full of fun facts and answers to questions that come about from the reading of some of the great English writers. The book needs to be taken for what it is... entertainment, rather than relied upon as a historical textbook of any kind. I find the book an interesting diversion occasionally, and fun for picking up a bit of the Victorian period. Enjoy. Three stars.