Our Mutual Friend Readalong

Des It's hard to suggest something that would make a good readalong as I am woefully ignorant of a lot of classic literature. I tend to read what I find cheap in charity shops rather than having a grand master plan.

I've committed to reading Anna Karenina as part of an IRL bookclub, but we are reading at our own pace rather than to a deadline other than the end of the year. I've got a lot of Hardy knocking around, but comments over on 50 books have put me off of late. The Canterbury Tales have been frowning at me from a shelf for some time. I've also got some Lawrence and some Gaskell (Mary Barton) waiting too. I also want to read some Trollope this year. Definitely not enough time.

Interesting to see you mentioning Midnight's Children and Jonathan Strange as both are on my vague list for this year. I tried MC a few weeks ago, buy my head wasn't with it. My new job is not fun of late and I feel like I have turnip for brains at the moment.

I really wouldn't be offended if everyone skips merrily off into another Dickens without me. 'Doing Dickens' was the point of these threads after all and I never have much to contribute anyway.

There's Mayhew's 'London Labour and the London Poor':

"Mayhew interviewed everyone — beggars, street-entertainers (such as Punch and Judy men), market traders, prostitutes, labourers, sweatshop workers, even down to the "mudlarks" who searched the stinking mud on the banks of the River Thames for wood, metal, rope and coal from passing ships, and the "pure-finders" who gathered dog faeces to sell to tanners. He described their clothes, how and where they lived, their entertainments and customs, and made detailed estimates of the numbers and incomes of those practicing each trade. The books make fascinating reading, showing how marginal and precarious many people's lives were, in what, at that time, must have been the richest city in the world.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Labour_and_the_London_Poor

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists:

by the Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death from tuberculosis in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1911, the novel follows a house painter's efforts to find work in the fictional English town of Mugsborough (based on the coastal town of Hastings) to stave off the workhouse for himself, his wife and his son. The original title page, drawn by Tressell, carried the subtitle: "Being the story of twelve months in Hell, told by one of the damned, and written down by Robert Tressell." Orwell described it as "A book that everyone should read".
Mind you, Tressell didn't get to complete it...
Or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ragged-Trousered_Philanthropists

That's interesting about the covers of Edwin Drood being drawn Default, must contain good clues as to where the plot was going.

What would your ideal read along be Fortuna?
I've never read Middlemarch (I know that's not a go-er though) or Vanity Fair.
Given how much I'm enjoying War and Peace I wonder whether any other classic works in translation would work, I've read Les Miserables, but Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love In The Time of Cholera - remain stubbornly unread. I have physical copies of the doorsteps Midnight's Children and Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell and not yet cracked the spines.
Wow so many books so little time!
Although I have promised myself to read all of Dickens so I'm definitely up for another Dickens read along

I think I'll be running for the hills at the thought of more Dickens. It's been a wonderful opportunity to read along with you all and I've gained so much from it, but I'm defaulting to my previous position that Dickens is not for me. There are too many other authors I haven't tried, or have only read one from that I'd rather explore.

There's a cover for the partworks of Edwin Drood where the artist was told to depict events that were to be in the later numbers. Much-debated.

Of the other Dickens, Hard Times is both shorter and more modern feeling, being set Oop North and dealing in part with trade-unions.

I'm glad War & Peace has been rejected as I'm currently 42% through the Anthony Briggs translation. My original aim was to read one chapter a day over a year so I could 'tick it off' but I'm finding I can't put it down. (Apart from the Freemason philosophical mumbo jumbo that is!) I have a feeling Tolstoy is going to start increasing the historical and philosophical asides, which I'll no doubt be speed reading through though.

I'd be up for The Old Curiosity Shop, Hard Times (haven't read either) or Nicholas Nickleby (have read a long time ago and thoroughly enjoyed.)
Not sure I could stand the suspense of Edwin Drood if there's no ending (can't believe he didn't sketch out the plot from beginning to end, can you imagine if that piece of paper ever came to light!) and I've started but didn't finish North and South (mainly because I'd just watched the excellent series, with Richard Armitage as the male lead, and it wasn't holding any surprises) so I'm not sure how I'd get on with Wives and Daughters.

Oops. Should be "The best Penguin edition", i.e. not their cheap one with text only, no notes on the text.

War and peace could be a problem, given that you'd all need the same translation-unless there are standard ones?

Speaking as an outsider, someone who doesn't fancy re-reading Dickens again yet, I'd love to know what everyone would make of The Mystery of Edwin Drood:

Upon the death of Dickens on 9 June 1870, the novel was left unfinished, only six of a planned twelve installments having been published. He left no detailed plan for the remaining installments or solution to the novel's mystery, and many later adaptations and continuations by other writers have attempted to complete the story.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood

Might be fun to try to work out who the murderer is, and it's (obviously) quite short. Again for obvious reasons it's unusual to find it second-hand, but there should be copies online. (The best Dickens edition has Dicken's notes about later numbers).

I’m not that fussed about W&P personally, just remember others suggesting it.

Thanks Piggy. I was expecting 10 chapters in Feb then 8 in March which is the pattern the other books have followed but happy with 7 in Feb as it’s a shorter month!

We’ll finish this in March so we’ll have to start thinking what our next readalong should be. Another Dickens or something else? I recall War and Peace being discussed at one point so that could be an option. I’d be happy with another Dickens though as I’ve got (most of) the complete works to get through!

I was going to say what Des said, but she beat me to it.

Very useful notes, thanks Des

I'm starting to feel less confused, more things pulling together and making sense.

I can't say I'm enjoying it in terms of plot and characters, but some of the language is to be revelled in.

I'm not entirely convinced by Mr Boffin's transformation into a mean old miser

I agree, that seemed to come out of nowhere really for me.

Headstone is a good character and I'm enjoying reading about him, Eugene im just finding is Akhtar enactive in a way. I hope he does something.

I was also wondering what happened to Sloppy. I had forgotten about the note Betty gave Lizzie.

Oooooo, I'd forgotten the note Middle.

Thanks Piggy, I must have had a lot of time on my hands this month 🤷‍♀️

Just a quick hello as I've still got one chapter to go. Looking forward to catching up later.

Re Eugene, I was hoping he was going to rise to the occasion but he isn't is he, he's just a fop. I missed him not comforting Jenny Wren Miles but yes that does sum him up rather.

Chapter 16: The Feast Of The Three Hobgoblins
In which Bella goes to her fathers place of work and continues her bizarre relationship with her father (which makes me feel a little bit sick in my mouth 🤮) and Rokesmith follows her there and caught up in the moment sweeps her into his arms and says:

“'My dear, dear girl; my gallant, generous, disinterested, courageous, noble girl!'”

Yup, that seems like a likely bit of dialogue!

Rokesmith and Bella confess undying love for each other and ‘The cherub’ aka Mr Wilfer and Bella go home to a frosty reception from Mrs Wilfer and Bella’s sister the Irrepressible Lavinia.

Chapter 17: A Social Chorus

Mrs Lammel pays a visit to Twemlow, ostensibly to ensure he doesn’t interfere with any other get rich quick schemes she may cook up with her husband, but while there she confides her suspicion that it is Fledgeby who is the grasping money lender that has ruined them and others, and Riah is just his unfortunate puppet. When Twemlow is incredulous she accuses him of being just like her husband neither will believe her woman’s intuition on this matter insisting they need proof of Fledgeby’s duplicitous nature.

In the aftermath of the auction of the Lammels goods and chattels all their supposed friends are shocked to find they are not the independently wealthy socialites they had believed them to be. Veneering decides it is imperative that he throws a dinner to gossip about the matter.
He rounds up Twemlow, the Podsnaps, Lady Tippens, Wrayburn, Lightwood, Buffer, Boots, Brewer, Uncle Tom Cobbley and All and they ponder how they could have been so taken in by the Lammels.
Meanwhile at the dinner Eugene receives a message from Jenny Wren’s feckless father, so drunk he’s shaking like a ‘Glue Monge’ (A pun on "blancmange", Glue Monge was apparently a white sweet dessert of jelly-like consistency, eaten in Victorian times, sounds delicious 🤮) ‘Mr Doll’ as Eugene calls him hands over a dingy scrap of paper that Eugene reads and tucks safely into his waistcoat. Handing over 15 shillings to the drunkard and sending him on his way. It seems Eugene has obtained Lizzie’s whereabouts and that doesn’t feel like a smart move on his part with a prototype Jekyll and Hyde stalking him.
Dun dun dah ...

Miscellaneous:
What has happened to Sloppy??? Betty Higden goes off to her certain death to ensure he isn’t tempted to leave the Boffin’s and then he doesn’t even merit a line in this section.
I’m assuming he’ll have a key part to play in the final book, he better had otherwise what’s the point of him other than a plot device to hasten the demise of Betty.

Chapter 15: The Golden Dustman At His Worst
Mrs Lammels plan has hit its mark. Boffin dismisses upstart Rokesmith for daring to try his luck with Bella, stating that Bella was ‘lying in wait for money’ and Rokesmith had none to offer. “This young lady was looking about the market for a good bid; she wasn't in it to be snapped up by fellows that had no money to lay out; nothing to buy with.”
He manages to describe Bella simultaneously as like both a prize heifer at the county fair, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder, and a calculated gold digger intent on snaring the richest man she can.
Recognising her own character faults in Boffin’s description Bella begs Rokesmith to forgive her for her past behaviour and entreats him to believe that Boffin does not speak on her behalf.
Having been determined to be in the presence of his beloved Bella at any price Rokesmith has become a bit of a doormat in Boffin’s employ of late. So it’s good to see him finally standing up to the Golden Dustman, I was inwardly cheering when he did his ‘you can’t fire me I quit’ speech! Although I was equally pleased when he stooped to pick up the pay packet Boffin threw on the floor. So often in literature characters make grand gestures when it comes to money, even when they’re broke.
And so it is left to Bella to make the grand financial gesture as she leaves Boffin in no doubt as to how odious she now finds him and storms out of the house taking nothing but the clothes she arrived with.