Charles Dickens Books

This book was invaluable for my comarison of germinal and LesMiserables. it gives the reader enough background on the subject thathe or she can understand even without a english degree. i would highlyreccomend it END

Joe Cusumano. Transforming Scrooge: Dickens' Blueprint for a Spiritual Awakening. Minneapolis: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.

A distinction should be made between the actual story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the interpretation of the story, the Carol "canon" (from the word measurement). The story is there for us, unchanged, to be read year after year, but the fit, the measurement of the Carol's meaning is constantly changing. Joe Cusumano provides a creative and inspiring measurement for Dickens' famous tale, as well as placing the original story in the appendix.

While acknowledging the traditional meanings of the story and providing an excellent historical background, Cusumano filters A Christmas Carol through the novel lens of spiritual experiences and Clinical Psychology. Disconcerting as his suggestions are to the standard literary approach, Cusumano in Transforming Scrooge opens the story up to fresh and vital interpretation. It is difficult to envision the 19th Century Father of Christmas, Charles Dickens, as having nightly visitations by the greys and blacks of sci-fi fame, but the parallels between his ghosts and modern accounts of close encounters are startlingly similar. The bright light and chaotic effect of the Ghost of Christmas Past mirrors the kind of psychological experience as recorded in movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Fire in the Sky.

Ebenezer undoubtedly needed a psycho-spiritual jolt to rock him from his heartless materialism. The use of fantasy literary technique allowed Charles Dickens to condense a complex, long process into a single evening. Alien abduction and Near Death experiences have the same intensive effect. Leaving aside the literal proof or validation of such experiences, Cusumano focuses on their transformative effects, showing how human hearts can be softened when open to the healing imagery of life review, in depth perception of reality and prophetic warning.

Scrooge is revolutionized both from within and without in A Christmas Carol. Transforming Scrooge compares Scrooge's experience to that of one undergoing counselling. Releasing repression, built up pockets of energetic resistance located in the chakra points, according to Kundalini yoga, allowed Scrooge to change from being "as solitary as an oyster" into being "the Father of Tiny Tim." Cusumano, using a variety of therapeutic metaphors, shows how the release might take place in us modern Scrooges.

Released from the bondage of blockage, Scrooge discovered the roots of his own miserliness in the abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his perfectionistic father. Uncovering his own pain, he was prepared for the prophetic statement of the Ghost of the Future who predicted the social effects of child hatred on society. "Beware of Want and Ignorance!" is a mantra for the new millennium, as much as for the Industrial Revolution. The way we treat the child is the litmus test of our society; the havoc we inherit through street gangs, thugs and dictators is the price we pay for our treatment of the innocent.

The Goodnews of A Christmas Carol is that doom is not inevitable but that an openness to the spiritual and psychological experiences of healing can sponge away the death knell of our insensitivity. As Cusumano says, "Dickens was letting us know that this is not really just a Christmas Story. More importantly, it is an Easter Story, one of resurrection." The measure of A Christmas Carol for our lives is the extent to which we participate in this heart opening resurrection. Transforming Scrooge by Joe Cusumano speaks to the heart from the heart of that message.

I am an intermediate student of Spanish, and my biggest problem is understanding native speakers who are talking at their normal (rapid) rate.

This audiotape has been a tremendous help in improving my ability to understand speech "on the fly". The reader has excellent enunciation, reads in a dramatic and entertaining fashion, and the Spanish seems grammatically correct, without a lot of confusing idioms or colloquialisms.

And since the story is so familiar, if I lose the thread at any point, I soon am back on track.

My only criticism is that the story is abridged at certain points, which can throw off the listener who is familiar with the story.

I have sent this tape to others trying to learn to be fluent in Spanish, and I would recommend it to anyone.

This book stands as a valuable resource for studies on Shakespeare as well as Eliot, Swinburne, Browning and Dickens. Sawyer's examples of how these authors borrowed from and used Shakespeare provides a new versatility of Shakespeare's works that has largely gone unnoticed. Many strong assertions are made and each one is supported by a firm foundation of research and knowledge. It is necessary, however, to have an understanding of each of these authors. Without this familiarity, the book tends to be a difficult read.

This book is attractively presented with short introductory passages before each chapter.In the course of this Dickens' life- story is concisely told. But what surprised me was that the Dickens' texts themselves were not brief aphoristic or humorous 'lines' but rather true excerpts of paragraph length or more. And that many of these were at least in my reading of them not that humorous or witty at all. However the long passages produced do truly give a sense of what Dickens writing was all about. And thus this volume serves as a kind of small introductory guide to the work of Dickens.

Here is a brief sample, one of the most famous of Dickens' passages.

'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure ninetten six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the God of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and- and in short you are for ever floored. As Iam !' ( Mr. Micawber. 'David Copperfield.'

The book has lots of interesting anecdotes on Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dickens, Wordsworth, "Miss Mitford" and others, many from the author's personal interactions. He seems to enjoy dropping names and letting you know where he has been! He is a bit wordy, and admits as much, himself, in the preface. Few others would have been as well-equipped to offer personal observations on well-known authors of this period.
. . . . some have suggested that his wife, an outstanding literary person in her own right, may have been the source of more of his insights into the authors' thought than he acknowledges . . .

(I have included below some excepts on the author, from Wikipedia, for the edification of browsers):
Fields was the publisher of the foremost contemporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close personal friendship, and he was the American publisher of some of the best-known British writers of his time, some of whom he also knew intimately. The first collected edition of De Quincey's works (20 vols., 1850-1855) was published by his firm. As a publisher he was characterized by a somewhat rare combination of keen business acumen and sound, discriminating literary taste, and as a man he was known for his geniality and charm of manner.

In 1862-1870, as the successor of James Russell Lowell, he edited the Atlantic Monthly. In 1871 Fields retired from business and from his editorial duties, and devoted himself to lecturing and writing. He also edited, with Edwin P. Whipple, A Family Library of British Poetry (1878). His chief works were the collection of sketches and essays entitled Underbrush (1877) and the chapters of reminiscence composing Yesterdays with Authors (1871) in which he recorded his personal friendship with Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne and others. He died in Boston on the 24th of April 1881

This is not Dickens at his best. No offence to the narrator, who does a good job but I think the story itself is rather boring. Especially when compared with his classics "Great Expectations", "A Christms Carol" and "A Tale of Two Cities".

I picked up this book at B&N because I had just read two Jane Austin novels and I thought this would be a light read. I was wrong. The beggining and the end had a purpose in the story but the middle could have been much, much shorter and the ending made a little longer.

I liked the character of Mr. Bounderby. He was very well developed. I would even say over-developed, but he was the only one. How did Sissy influence the youngest Gradgrind? Why didn't we know of Mrs. Bounderbys inner turmoil till she ran to her father? Every character had something missing. What happened to Mr. Bounderby once he was found out? Why is Sissy so special and what did she really do for the family?

It was a long book where nothing much happened until the last quarter and when it finally ended I felt cheated because it lacked a complete story line and full characters. The story line could have been forgiven if I was more satisfied with the characters.

I liked the service and it got here very quickly, but the book itself really needs to be laminated almost if you actually want to use it, otherwise it looks very used, very soon.

Hard Times was written in 1854 by England's greatest novelist Charles
Dickens (1812-1870. It is the shortest of his novels. The novel was originally published as a weekly series in "Household Words" periodical edited by Dickens. The novel reads quickly telling a story that is still relevant in our own post-industrial 21st century Western Society.
The novel is set in fictional Coketown set in the English Midlands. The first scene is set in a classroom where children are being taught by rote
learning. Only FACTS yells Mr. Gradgrind who has raised his two children the feckless Tom and the more impressionable Louisa to eschew the emotions of art and the heart to stick strictly to practical learning.
Enter into the town Mr. Sleary's circus. Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe is a young girl whose father is employed by Sleary to ride horses. He deserts Sissy who is adopted by the Gradgrind family. Sissy befriends the lonely lass Louisa. Louisa is forced into a loveless marriage with the bloviating humbug industrialist Josiah Bounderby. Bounderby has crafted a false story of a difficult childhood while disdaining the love of his mother who lives in the country.
We also met the tragic Stephen Blackpool a miner who is wed to an alocholic wife. Stephen is in love with the beautiful and kind Rachael. He will be framed for the robbery of Bounderby's bank which was really robbed by Tom Gradgrind.
The novel is divided into three parts covering several years. Many of the characters come to a bad end. The novel attacks industrialism, the state of British education and the necessity for entertainment in the lives of everyone.
All of Dickens fictions are worth reading. Hard Times is a good introduction to the second half of his career in which he moves to more serious themes. A Victorian classic which will be enjoyed by the discriminating reader.

Although not one of his more popular novels, Charles Dickens' Hard Times still stands as a classic among classics. Carrying on with his highly prolific writing style, this novel is a bit more bleak than his other renown works, but enjoyable from the start, especially with Dickens' excellent choice of character naming.
Suitable for most ages, this classic should not be passed up. And with the Norton annotations and notes, this edition will help readers understand better the context in which the author writes in.

Susanne Alleyn pulls off a feat that not many writers can do. She takes a classic of literature "A Tale of two Cities", and she reimagines the story from the point of view of Sydney Carton, and she manages to add a completely different story on top of the events of "Two Cities" from Carton's perspective. Alleyn seemlessly weaves the unforgetable fictional characters of Dickens(Charles Darney, Madame Lafarge, Carton, Lucie Manette) and grounds the story using real historical characters(Camille Desmoulions, Robespierre, Charlotte Corday), and Alleyn adds a few of her own(Eleanore "Leo" D'Ambert). The full tragedy of the French Revolution is portrayed here, using historical details Dickens didn't bother with. Alleyn's work is great fiction, and a reason why some great works should be reimagined by those who know what they're doing.

Anyone who knows and respects Dickens as a wonderful author should avoid this work. I cannot speak for Alleyn's other works, but "A Far Better Rest" is nothing but a cheap parody of "A Tale of Two Cities." This book was painful for me to read as Sydney Carton is, in my opinion, one of the best characters ever created, and this book butchers him. Every other page I found myself wondering if Alleyn had ever even read Dickens for anything more than a vague timeline of the book's events. If you love "A Tale of Two Cities" don't bother with this one, it's not worth it.

The plot is moderately interesting but the writing is too contrived. It reads like a Regency romance novel with literary asperations.

This story is worthy of sitting next to "A Tale Of Two Cities" in your library. This author places you on the threshhold of the French Revolution with such savvy, you'll feel like you have been transported there. The characters are richly portrayed, and lead you through the events of this bloody era as if you were a compatriot. If you like historical works, I highly recommend this book!

I bought this book because occasionally I do the same thing Alleyn did - I continue stories begun by others. But I never submit them for publication, and I'd never trifle with one of the masters, as she did. For what it claims to be, this book is entertaining, but for someone who was really gripped by "A Tale of Two Cities," this is annoying fluff. I can't believe any of the romantic revelations about Carton that she spins, from the existence of an illegitimate child to Lucie's preferring him over Darnay. (There is more than that, but I don't want to give it all away.) She also makes Carton a central figure at the heart of the Revolution's beginnings, placing him just below Robespierre in influence and notoriety in Paris. I disbelieved this book so much that I almost stopped reading it - but had to see what other nonsense was part of the story. There are some interesting holes filled in - why does Carton resemble Charles so much? why was he in Paris anyway? and so on - but even these seem contrived.

It's a well-written book, grammatically (except her unconventional use of Msr. for Monsieur is a bit jarring, as is the constant use of the contraction "tho'" throughout - the only contraction I noticed in the book, it's liberally sprinkled throughout the pages). It is entertaining *IF* you do not consider "A Tale of Two Cities" to be a masterwork. I do consider it such, and therefore this book is merely a trifling ripoff of Dickens' vision. Not worth the price, especially since it wasn't available in paperback.

Charles Dickens is without a doubt one of my favorite authors. I have read all of his major novels (some numerous times) and many of his other works. The most important things to know about Dickens are right there in his own words. However, the man himself is a fascinating subject from his rise through a poor youth to his triumph as the most famous authors of his age or, indeed, any age. Certainly, Dickens is worthy of a well-written biography. Fortunately, there are well-done ones out there.

I had read Kaplan's book a number of years ago and recently read it again. It remains one of the best. Kaplan gives us a complete and balanced portrait of Dickens' entire life. He is sufficiently laudatory of Dickens' successes without being fawning. Additionally, he is not afraid to point out Dickens' weaknesses--as a son, husband, father, friend and author, though his weaknesses as a author are few enough. We get a real sense of Dickens as a human being.

One of the reasons I think Kaplan is so successful in his portrait is that he weaves numerous quotes from letters by Dickens and his many correspondents almost seamlessly into the text. It gives more of a feeling for Dickens as a man of his time as opposed to looking back and trying to compose a modern view of him. I also like the way Kaplan shows Dickens as an acute observer who integrated people and places he knew into his fiction. There are risks in reading a novel too biographically but it is interesting to try to pin down an author's inspirations and themes. Kaplan handles this quite well but he doesn't go into any of the novels in depth so someone unfamiliar with Dickens' books might have trouble in some places.

Overall, Kaplan finds an nice balance between depth and readability. He is able to pack a lot into 556 pages. Anyone with an interest in Dickens would be foolish not to read one of the best biographies of the man in print.

All you need to know about Charles Dickens is here. Fred Kaplan has given us a well-rounded look at the literary lion in his natural habitat. What more could we ask for, except to savor - anew or again - another of Boz's novels?

We appreciate Dickens because he loves all of his characters so completely - even the most irredeemable ones. With Kaplan's book, we find that Dickens himself is one of his best creations.

two stars due to the tons of information, but way too much that is strangely disconnected from Dickens' vibrant writing and his nearly frantic appreciation of life. Reading this (many passages you have to skip through they are so deadly), it's as though Kaplan waded through all of Dickens' writings even though not one of the novels struck a chord and really got to him. And there's that deadly present tense, i.e. Dickens goes here instead of went, writes to Forster instead of wrote; only makes it all more artificial, distant, bloodless, boring.

This book seems to have been written by a business man and not a man of literature. I felt as though I were reading Charles Dicken's family budget diary rather than a life-history. This biography is lengthy with details that are indescribably boring. I found myself longing for more of the emotional aspects of this marvelous man's life. Kaplan writes in a dry, uninspiring style. I had 'great expectations' for this book but found those expectations dashed to pieces on the rock of boredom.

The key word is "scholarly." If you want the run-of-the-mill pulp bio, you won't find it here. What you will find is a treasure of information on Dickens and his life. I have read every major biography of Dickens, and Kaplan's work is by far the best. I don't know how others could call it "boring," for I couldn't put it down. If you need your biographies "punched up," perhaps you should try Ackroyd's bio, which is more colorful but also more rambling. This is solid work, from a solid researcher.

i loved this book so much! i recamend it for everyone!

The book I read is Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist is about an orphan boy whose mother died when he was born. When Oliver was growing up he had a very though life. Oliver was very bad he was so bad that he had to live in many different orphan homes because he was so bad. When he was living at his most recent home they were eating dinner when he finished for more and all of the boys looked at Oliver crazy. The consequences for asking for seconds were that Oliver had to go to court. After Oliver's trail he had to move into another orphan house. He had only been in the new house for only about two days he got tired of staying there and ran away from London. On his way there he ran into a couple of boys who were pick pocketing men in the town. When Oliver ran into one of the boys he asked him if he need a place to stay and have food. The boys thought Oliver how to pick pocket some one, when Oliver went on his first mission he got caught and they called the cops. Oliver ran away and met into a family named the Bronlows. Oliver started staying with the Bronlows so the cops wouldn't catch him. A sweet little lady named Nancy saved Oliver's life, he saved Oliver's life she died for Oliver's life.
The character is Oliver. Oliver is a poor little boy who lives with ten other boys in an orphan house. Oliver is a very kind hearted boy. He's really soft spoken. He's shy when he wants something or is asking for something.
The conflict in the story is Oliver's trying not to get killed by Sikes. Sikes will kill Oliver if Oliver tells the Bronlows about how he's in a gang. If Oliver tells the Bronlows he'll get hung and choked to death, and get stabbed.
They solved the conflict by Nancy standing up for Oliver and using her life to save Oliver's life. What Nancy told Sikes was that she told the Bronlows that Oliver was in a gang just for that her life was sacrificed for the sake of Oliver's life to show how much she cared for him.
I would recommend this book to anybody who likes to read. I wouldn't recommend this book if you don't like to read but it's for a fifth grade reading level and up, but anybody can read it. My opinion of this book is pretty book it's really a great book it doesn't take that long to read. I would rate this book a 9 on a scale 1-10. I gave it a nine because the ending wasn't what I had expected it to be.

"Oliver Twist" is the first full lenght novel Charles Dickens wrote. It was first puplished in a magazine as a continuing serial novel, but soon found it's way to a publisher as a complete work in 1837. Dickens is one of those authors, who've lost their respect, the more time has passed. I can, in a way, understand why, as I've read this novel.

It tells us a story about a ten year old orphan boy, who, after many coincidences, gets involved with the underworld of London.

The story is almost nonexistant, as ridiculous coincidences carry Oliver through the uncomplicated plot, and totally useles and two-dimencional characters occupy as useles individual storylines that lead to nowhere, as the only truly interesting character ins Nancy, a prostitute trying to get away from the captivating claws of organized crime. A character recognicable from countless of works, but still fascinating.

The novel works perhaps best if it's being thought of as a description of the early 19th century England, and especially the lower class, whose part in that era social structure is quite disturbing, especially as that same kind of social exploitation is still being commited around the world, and even all so-called siviliced countries don't have a decent social health-care system, paid maternity leave or affortable educational system etc.

"Oliver Twist" is a classical example of the romantic genre of literature, where all difficulties are conquered, as amazing coincidences unite people together.

"Oliver Twist" can't be judged by the criterias of today, as it is packed with storytelling underlines and events and coincidences beyond beliavability, backed with too many shallow characters. It's nearly two hundered years old, and should be respected as the classic it is, even if it's a painfully ridiculous read, that perhaps underestimates the readers of the 21st ceuntury.

Never reading the original, I could not really say how much of the whole story this book actually contained. It was printed on cheap paper, has bad illustrations but is a good reader for younger kids. The story is greatly shortened, I think and unless you buy it cheap somewhere, (like Amazon.com!) you won't get worth your while.
Enjoy anyway!

I really like this book because it is really cool.Charles Dickenson was trying to using the fellings;laughter,sadness,and madness.When I started reading it I became like I was the book and the book was me.If I had a choose would read it again,but not this one.