Charles Dickens Books

"But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair of his good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that, seeing that I cannot have more of him."

-- "Hue and Cry after Christmas," from the opening page of Old Christmas.

This book is what Washington Irving called a "sketchbook" -- a collection of impressions about something, gathered into a fictionalized story. It's a melancholy, fond evocation of fading English Christmas traditions of the author's time.

The story's simple: Irving sets himself in the English countryside, where he's travelling one Christmas Eve. At a country inn he runs into an old schoolmate, who invites him home to spend Christmas at the family estate. The friend's father, it turns out, dotes on all things Christmas, and has tuned his household to some of the more quaint and obscure English traditions celebrating the day. That lets Irving include lots of odd little bits and pieces of Christmas tradition, told through the old man, as part of his plot. The book covers a night and a day. The chapters are pieces of that time: the stagecoach ride is one chapter, then "Christmas Eve," and so on through "Christmas Dinner."

I read this every year lately, and it's a nice, low-key, sad and happy little way to mark the Christmases passing. Washington Irving wrote it in the early 1800s -- the dates of most of his "Sketch Book" are right around 1819 or 1820 -- and the story is mostly a reminiscence about even earlier Christmas traditions. Then it took until 1894 for this edition to be printed, with the illustrations by Caldecott. Later the facsimile edition I have was printed, in maybe the early 1980s... For a little book about Christmas past to have made it through all those years, and come down to me in this personal "sketch," is a glad thing. Coming back to the same copy year after year makes a nice little private tradition.

The text to this is available in a few places on the Web. That's an okay way to get to know the language, but a facsimile of the original book, with the illustrations, is still worth the few dollars it'll cost. The Caldecott who illustrated this is the one for whom the children's book award was named, among other things. You need to read this one next to the Christmas tree, not by the glow of a computer monitor.

Very enjoyable reading for those who like to pull up a chair, have a cup of tea, and escape to a simpler, more elegant time. Those who enjoy Christmas stories, or Anglophiles who can never get enough of English history will enjoy this insight into an Old English Christmas from one who was there.

Oliver Twist is always a good book to read. This was my first
time.

When a baby is born, and the mother dies in child birth ,the baby is sent from place to place. At the age of 12 he finally
finds a place to call home.

The edition of this book I read was too long and drawn-out, and that's why I give it 4 instead of 5 stars:)

"Oliver Twist" is an excellent, fascinating and compelling novel which I had the pleasure of reading. This book is exceptionally well narrated which distinguishes Dickens as one of the greatest English story writers. The issues he raised are timeless particularly societal issues pertaining to dealing with poverty, class differences, child labour, orphans and the disadvantaged in society. He highlights the need to care for others and not to be selfish. Dickens did a good job of enlightening the middle class in Britain of the hardships that the poor had to endure during his time.

Oliver Twist is a very young, innocent orphan who lost his mother at birth. He is thrust into the cruel and unforgiving world. I was moved by the numerous hardships and challenges that he had to endure at such a tender age, including being shot at. He was moved away from the workhouse when he innocently asks for some more food, taken to as an apprentice undertaker and after some trouble runs away only to get into a group of thieves and robbers.

Dickens paints a grim, dark and horrifying picture of life of the poor in Victorian England. The author produced some memorable characters like Fagin the miser and the gang of thieves that included The Artful Dodger, Mr Bumble at the workhouse, Nancy the kind hearted whore with motherly instincts, Mr Grimwig who is always threatening to eat his head and those of others, Sikes the murderer and others.

Thankfully the book has a happy ending for Oliver. However, Nancy touched my heart and I felt that she should not have met such a grisly demise. Some unfortunate anti-Semitic references taint an otherwise exceptional novel.

This is excellent reading for those who like a well written story with exciting twists and turns.

This is a story telling about a poor child who called Oliver Twist¡¦s life. He is an orphan. He has never seen his mother or father. He was sent to a special ¡§baby farm¡¨ when he was still baby, living with other orphan s with inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. This was the way Oliver was brought up.
The first time that I read Charles Dickens¡¦ fiction is ¡§Christmas Carol¡¨ .it is a really special story. And started to read another story, Oliver Twist. It is a really interesting story, maybe I should not say only interest, its so emotionality and touching. Oliver was a strongest child that I have ever seen as he¡¦s an orphan but living with his heart. He didn¡¦t give up at any moment.
Most of us know that the story of the young orphan who risen above his life to become a rather good person. I remember that, there is a sentence, which always pops out from my mind. "Please, sir, I want some more." Oliver was too poor since he is always been badly treated, no enough food and clothes at anytime. When he asked for some more, he will surely receive corporal punishment, reflects that others were so cruel.
The author went into great detail over the trials Oliver faces, like he is pale and thin. And also, the description of the thieves and poor reflects a belief that once one slide toward the path of destruction, it is nearly impossible to return. What I was surprised to find, was just how humorous the novel is. The chapters clearly tell us, to realize how much more there was to this classic than simply a story about an orphan that falls in with a gang of unruly pickpockets. I really feel that just like I have already read it as a child.
I highly recommend this book to you since it¡¦s interesting, touching and easy to understand.

This is a story telling about a poor child who called Oliver Twist¡¦s life. He is an orphan. He has never seen his mother or father. He was sent to a special ¡§baby farm¡¨ when he was still baby, living with other orphan s with inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. This was the way Oliver was brought up.
The first time that I read Charles Dickens¡¦ fiction is ¡§Christmas Carol¡¨ .it is a really special story. And started to read another story, Oliver Twist. It is a really interesting story, maybe I should not say only interest, its so emotionality and touching. Oliver was a strongest child that I have ever seen as he¡¦s an orphan but living with his heart. He didn¡¦t give up at any moment.
Most of us know that the story of the young orphan who risen above his life to become a rather good person. I remember that, there is a sentence, which always pops out from my mind. "Please, sir, I want some more." Oliver was too poor since he is always been badly treated, no enough food and clothes at anytime. When he asked for some more, he will surely receive corporal punishment, reflects that others were so cruel.
The author went into great detail over the trials Oliver faces, like he is pale and thin. And also, the description of the thieves and poor reflects a belief that once one slide toward the path of destruction, it is nearly impossible to return. What I was surprised to find, was just how humorous the novel is. The chapters clearly tell us, to realize how much more there was to this classic than simply a story about an orphan that falls in with a gang of unruly pickpockets. I really feel that just like I have already read it as a child.
I highly recommend this book to you since it¡¦s interesting, touching and easy to understand.

i DID NOT THINK OF THIS A A GREAT PIECE GOING FROM THE VIRTORIAN NOVERLIST EARA.

This book is very good. I especially liked the boy's name, "Britain". I reccommend this to any fan of Charles Dickens. And if you aren't a fan of Charles Dickens, chances are you'll still like it.

For librarians and teachers who want to put together a really creepy, scary program for Halloween, this is one of the books to use. But read it thoroughly first. It's not your typical Dickens fare. And it's not for the very young. Older kids will enjoy it and want to discuss it later. I would guess it would be best not to use it for kids under 5th or 6th grade.

Much has been written about Charles Dickens' life, his works and literary influences in his time as well as today. All of these areas and more are addressed by Andrew Sanders in this exhaustive but highly readable examination of one of the legends of English literature.

It pulls together a wealth of material to reveal the complete Dickens, from his challenging upbringing and early literary successes to his popularity in the Victorian era and beyond.

This book is part of the `Authors in Context' series, a sub-series of the Oxford World's Classics series, which captures the essence of popular writers, including Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy (see my reviews on these books).

The series details a writer's life and times and also explores the social, cultural and political values that influenced their works. In addition to examining the writer's impact on their own times, each volume considers their interpretation today, in terms of being recontexualized on the stage and screen.

Andrew Sanders is ably qualified to discuss Charles Dickens. He is Professor of English at the University of Durham, and the author of six books on literature. These include several titles on Dickens, such as The Victorian Historical Novel, Charles Dickens: Resurrectionist, The Companion to A tale of Two Cities and Dickens and the Spirit of the Age.

Sanders presents fresh insights into the inner workings of the writer:

"He took old narrative forms and traditional ways of presenting character and he steadily transformed them. Dickens the novelist worked as an assured, independent, and professional writer in a way that few writers of the previous century had been able to do. He keenly responded to the demands of his audience as much as he drew his material directly from the social conditions, the whims and the peculiarities of that audience. He dwelt habitually as he famously put it in the preface to Bleak House on the `romantic side of familiar things', making fiction out of the raw material of the everyday, and vividly fixing what he had created in the imaginations of his readers."

`Charles Dickens' features detailed chapters on:

* Dickens' Life
* 'These Times of Ours': Dickens, Politics, and Society
* The Literary Context
* Urban Society: London and Class
* Utilitarianism, Religion, and History
* Science and Technology
* Recontextualizing Dickens

The volume features an extensive chronology that covers in detail the major works and events of Dickens' life in correlation to other well-known writers of the time, including Austen, Bronte, Byron and Keats. It also includes an extensive further reading section plus a range of web sites on the author.

While the book offers a wide range of information, it is presented in a colorful and highly readable manner, including a variety of anecdotes and reflections on the writer, his work and his relevance today.

Widely researched, this is perhaps the definitive reference on Charles Dickens - ideal for both Dickens academics and fans alike.

-- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com

Published in 1996, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" surveys the filmed works of Dickens from the silent era, including TV adaptaions. The book is rather silm in volume, and not so much a thorough discussion on the cinematic skills employed on the screen as an introduction to the vast field of Dickensian films (more than 100), but still Michael Pointer keeps his book always readable and immensely interesting.

After the brief introduction, the book begins with a discussion about "Dickensian" elements in original books, and their relations to visual media. The agrument at first is a bit too general and obvious, but you should just read on. After the third chapter the writer speeds up his discussion, giving well-researched comments on the films, backed up quotations from various materials. Though the materials might not look rare in the eyes of those who are already versed in film history -- autobiographical writings, comtemporary reviews, the synopsis, etc. -- they help those who do not have knowledge on movie history to gain the historical viewpoint to glance back the current of many films.

Chapters 2-4 are devoted to discussion on the silent films. It is now a nearly impossible thing to make a perfect survey about this era, because many of the films are lost forever (the reason is explained by the words of director Frank Llyod in the book), and considering that fact, Mr. Pointer did a very good job, even though the argument often seems to lack in power, relying on second-hand knowledge. But that cannot be helped.

After Chapter 5, the discussion is about "talkies," and the book gets better and better as you read. His discussion covers the films until the 1993 "Edwin Drood," and, instead of displaying tedious scene-to-scene analysis which might have done harm to the book by its slow tempo, he gives each film concise summery of its characteristics and his opinions about it, which may disagree with yours, but mostly fair and to the point. Mr. Pointer does not neglect the more recent TV products, and gives fair judgement on them. There is even a section where the author deals with parodies! (such as British cult TV series "Avengers" -- remember Mrs. Emma Peel?")

The book also contains a list of films (until BBC's "Martin Chuzzlewit"), which is now superceded by our internet source like imdb. Of more interest is the cluster of clear stills (21 in all) which includes a rare one that shows Charles Laughton as Mr. Micawber in the 1935 "David Copperfield." After one-week shooting, he left the film, and as you know, W.C. Fields took the part. Though not a perfect book, since so many have been released after its publication, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" is a good book to know more about the area of filmed classics, which should be given more attention from both academic and non-asademic people.

I was encouraged to buy another set of audio cassetes after listening to "Death in Holy Orders", which made our long trips in the car more enjoyable. Charles Dickens audio collection even more interesting. The only problem that we had is when characters' speech went too fast and it was hard to understand it. But for native English speakers it should be OK.

I got this while on a committee for costuming a production of "A Christmas Carol". While not showing enough variety and detail to be a huge amount of help, it was useful as one piece of our research in the "feel" we wanted to create for our production. Since we were on a very tight budget and were trying to use borrowed, found, and second-hand resources, this was an important part of our research.