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Original poster

Dickens - where to start?

35 replies

sophy · 17/09/2008 19:49

Having managed to get through my life so far without reading any Dickens have decided to make this my winter project.

Need recommendation for the best one to start with please.

OP posts:
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Queenoftheharpies · 19/05/2009 14:01

Can I cast another vote for Hard Times? It is short but I also think it's one of his best.

Great Expectations and David Copperfield also cracking.

JeffVadar · 18/05/2009 11:02

David Copperfield is my favorite, but I would have thought Pickwick Papers is a good one to start with.

I think it was the first novel he wrote..

tattifer · 17/05/2009 09:49

I have a colleague who I think of Wemmick (spelling) he has what I imagine a letter box mouth to be and aged Ps

purepurple · 17/05/2009 09:38

I love Dickens. I have practically all of them. I love the fact that he goes off on tangents and just rambles on. I love David Copperfield and Great Expectations and Bleak House. When I read Stephen King I am reminded of Dickens in the way that he goes off on tangents too.

CJCregg · 16/05/2009 11:50

I have tried so many times to get into Bleak House, but still haven't managed past Chapter 5. And I LOVED the adaptation, it's so obviously a brilliant story but ...

However, would second Our Mutual Friend, which I adored.

notnowbernard · 16/05/2009 11:25

I was a Dickens virgin until about 3m ago when I started Great Expectations

Unfortunately I am STILL reading it

IMO it is a great story but by God does he go on and on

Great for before bed though... one chapter max and I'm off in the Land Of Nod

MoominMymbleandMy · 16/05/2009 11:18

Great Expectations or David Copperfield for a beginner.

heuchera · 15/05/2009 23:08

I second 'Our Mutual Friend'. One of his greatest, I think. But yes, maybe it's one you need to get round to gradually after reading a few others as a warm-up!

'Nicholas Nickleby' is very funny, if you want something slightly lighter (though with serious themes - the whole thing with poor Smike, etc).

I've become completely fascinated by Dickens's life and how his fiction was completely bound up in his own experiences and psyche, to a much greater extent than many other (most?) writers of his day. I'm not sure I would have liked him as a person, but wow, what a great writer....

GillyR · 15/05/2009 18:00

I read Barnaby Rudge years ago after seeing it on TV. I seem to remember a raven.
A question I'm trying to solve for a friend - who is the Eponymous "Our Mutual Friend". It's a book I don't appear to have.

BeckyBendyLegs · 18/09/2008 21:58

I would say...just pick any off the shelf, close your eyes and pick at random! Everyone has different suggestions. I started with Tale of Two Cities myself.

twoluvlykids · 18/09/2008 20:06

You must read "Oliver Twist" as well

hazeyjane · 18/09/2008 20:01

Martin Chuzzlewit and Tale of Two Cities are my favourites.

OrmIrian · 18/09/2008 19:59

I love OMF and Bleak House is my favourite. I just don't think either of them are the best introduction to Dickens for someone who is new to it.

I think that that sort of writing is so foreign to many modern readers they almost need to build up to it like training for a marathon.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 18/09/2008 17:49

No-one's yet voted for Our Mutual Friend which is one of my faves - it has much more rounded woman characters in it than some of them.

Martin Chuzzlewit has some good characters to love/hate. Little Dorrit has some great settings.

Has anyone here actually read Barnaby Rudge?

bundle · 18/09/2008 17:43

i think bleak house is about more than reading - it's endurance

midnightexpress · 18/09/2008 16:43

'a beginner' - but I imagine she can read - tis fab.

bundle · 18/09/2008 16:41

Bleak house too long for a beginner imo

Great Expectations v good

Hard times - I found erm hard going

midnightexpress · 18/09/2008 16:41

Bleak House and Nicholas Nickleby get my vote. Great Expectations just reminds me of school.

Would avoid Hard Times and Dombey and Son like the plague. Dombey and Son tooth-achingly sentimental (which is saying something for Dickens)

Original poster
sophy · 18/09/2008 16:37

Thanks for all the fab suggestions

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 18/09/2008 13:43

Hard Times. It's shorter and less densely written. I often think it seems like a Dickens-precis. But still very good.

Be prepared to read differently. Lots of detail and description. You almost need to go into a kind of trance to read it successfully. I love it though.

northernrefugee39 · 18/09/2008 13:40

Another vote for Great Expectations and Bleak House here.. both wonderful. desert

JudithGin · 18/09/2008 12:47

Great Expectations is fab and my favourite, but A Tale Of two Cities might be a better first try.

Dickens favourite of his own books was David Copperfield, because it was closest to his own life story, which si also a good one.

MiaWallace · 17/09/2008 21:10

Great Expectations is fantastic. Gets my vote

janeite · 17/09/2008 20:49

"A Christmas Carol" and "The Old Curiosity Shop" are both short and easy. "Great Expectations" goes on for ever. The short story, "The Signalman" is quite good fun - creepy ghost story.

Portofino · 17/09/2008 20:43

I've never read any Dickens - though intend to at some point...DH says David Copperfield.

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