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Original poster

Help me with Dickens, please!

57 replies

CurlewKate · 27/02/2025 10:39

I feel as if I ought to like Dickens. And I have tried for 40 years. I love long books, I love a classic. And when I've finished one, I enjoy it in retrospect! But it takes me YEARS to build up to another one.

I want to give him one more chance- so which shall it be? I've read Oliver Twist, Great Expectations (my favorite so far) David Copperfield, and Bleak House. And A Christmas Carol, of course.

Choose for me!

OP posts:

GlacialLook · 27/02/2025 16:45

AnnaMagnani · 27/02/2025 16:42

You've already read the good ones.

I abandoned Tale of Two Cities as the love affair was so nauseating.

You've read more Dickens than probably 99% of the UK, it's OK to leave it now and read someone you like.

I agree you've already read his best ones, @CurlewKate, and that you've given him a more than fair whack -- though I have a soft spot for Little Dorrit.

Babymamamama · 27/02/2025 16:52

I haven’t read any but I love all the film/tv adaptations. Plenty of good ones on bbc iplayer, prime etc etc.

MedusaAndHerFavourites · 27/02/2025 17:01

ColourlessGreenIdeasSleepFuriously · 27/02/2025 11:34

Tey reading him serially a chapter a week, like his original readers. I am rather fond of the Pickwick Papers but YMMV.

Is recommend this method too. Treat it is as a serial rather than a novel.

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Books

rumred · 27/02/2025 19:28

CurlewKate · 27/02/2025 12:53

@rumred Oh, I love Trollope! Is it your first time? Jealous if it is...🤣

Do people find Austen hilarious? I don't. Except for a few bits of Northanger Abbey- they are proper funny. And I'm not referring to Catherine growing up and beginning to "long for balls".....

@CurlewKate it is my first and I'm reading it at every opportunity. I love it.
Maybe try Barnaby Rudge.? It has illustrations that are very jolly.

garlictwist · 27/02/2025 21:27

I also love long books and classics but can't abide Dickens (with the exception of Great Expectations). For me there are too many characters, too much dialogue in weird dialects that runs on for pages and needless detail.

NameChanges123 · 27/02/2025 21:30

Why don't you try George Gissing, a contemporary of Dickens. I find his writing style much easier and accessible to read (but the themes are similar).

MyFlightWasAwfulThanksForAsking · 27/02/2025 21:40

You know it's not required to read Dickens, right? I got through a whole English literature degree without reading any Dickens and I don't intend to start now.

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