Bleak House Readalong: March 2018 - Sept 2019

[ScribblyGum]

Some of us are doing this on the 50 books thread so I thought I would start a separate discussion thread.

Inspired by Books and Things on YouTube, aim is to read Bleak House in the time frame in which it was published, so reading 3-4 chapters per month starting in March this year and finishing in September of next.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=W-DYX4lyw1M

I’ve linked the original YouTube video (she is really really excited about Bleak House ), Katie also has chapter discussion threads on her good reads page, and a picture of the chapters and the months in which they are to be read.

Chapter 29 restored my faith all round. I do like the Deadlock chapters. They seem so somehow modern in their style.

Obviously the big reveal was rather telegraphed but it still made me make Eastenders doof doof noises.

Totally! And to have stoic Lady D crying at the end, ooh gave me the tingles.

So is creepy Guppy doing this so he can get back in favour with Esther so she will marry him?

I did wonder about his motivations!

Not watched it myself yet, but Katie posted November yesterday:

Thanks for posting November piggy. I haven’t watched it yet so will do that now.

Then can we discuss wtf just happened at the end of Chapter 32. I had no idea that Dickens spontaneously combusted one of his characters. How did I not know that and more to the point WHY did he just do that?
Man this book is a roller coaster ride.
A wedding, small pox and exploding shop keepers all in the space of three chapters.

Sorry, should have prefaced my last post with ‘Happy New Year!’

Saddo that I am, have just been reading up on incubation period and symptoms for smallpox. I do not think that Jo's fever is the pox that infects Charley. Although I'm sure he'll get the blame. Poor Jo.

Happy 2019!

We are half way through Bleak House now which feels like an achievement. I did know about the spontaneous combustion and think I remember it from the Beeb adaptation. It is a very grim build up, reminding me slightly of the blood dripping through the ceiling in 'Tess'.

I bet Katie will have lots to say about the combustion. As for me, I ahve sort of forgotten who krooks is/ was anyway and why this event is therefore of significance to the plot.

Yes, poor Jo indeed.

I am currently reading a book about 1858 which is very illuminating about Dickens and about Victorian London(especially how much it stank!). I hadn't realised he was engaged in a scandalous divorce. I've read a fair amount of Dickens (not loads, a smattering) but feel like I know very little about him , on the whole, apart from the father in debtor's prison bit.

Sounds interesting piggy. I didn’t know about the scandalous divorce either. Look forward to your review on the 50 books thread.

I’ve had a quick revision of Krook and it would seem his main role (apart from exploding) is compulsive squalid hoarding which will turn out to be IMPORTANT.

Ah, I shall therefore pay attention. I did like the descriptions of the squalour and the smell! All rather Gothic. The Victorians did do death well. That's probably why I don't like Austen : not enough squalour, disease and deathbeds!

Happy new year Piggy and Scribbly .

I have not been on this thread for a while but I am still going. I am really enjoying it at the moment and miss it when I am reading other books between each months installment.

The spontaneous combustion brought back some bad memories, it happened to a character on a children's program I watched when I was young. It gave me nightmares for a long time that it could happen to me or one of the members of my family at any moment. I had completely forgotten about it until I read about it at the end of the last chapter.

I find Katie's reviews really helpful and she is so enthusiastic it is contagious.

I think I may have seen that, too! can you remember what it was?

No I can't remember what program it was or even how old I was, I just remember being terrified by it. I am 36 now so it must have been 25-30 years ago.

I think it was a girl who combusted, all that was left was a small pile of ash in her bedroom.

Hmmm.... this does ring a bell!

Was it an episode of the xfiles?

Happy New Year to you too PrincessFabian

I don't think it was x-files as I don't think I have ever watched it. The program I saw was after school children's TV. I had completely forgotten about it until I read that bit in Bleak House so my memory is a bit sketchy.

They did like conflagrations, Victorians, which makes one realise how common fires must have been back then. There's Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and probably loads more. What with the floods in Mill On The Floss, they were covering all the Biblical apoclaypses!

About to read January: Katie has just done December (rather shamefacedly!)

What’s a weird way to read a book! I love Bleak House and recently read it again, it took about a fortnight.

I am actually finding it quite an interesting experiment reading a Dickens this way. I feel like I am invesing a chunk of my life in it. I normally read way too fast; slwoing myself down is making me a more thoughtful reader. And Katie's videos are great.

I wouldn't read all books like this, but without this challenge, I wouldn't have picked up Bleak House. I'd definitely do this kind of thing again.

I’m enjoying (mostly) the experience too. It’s been interesting reading it as the Victorians would have. Maddening at times because of the sheer number of characters and also trying to remember what a minor character said or did several chapters (and therefore months) ago. I wonder if the average Victorian reader of Dickens would have read each month’s worth of chapters several times over (to get their money’s worth?) and discussed it with their friends? Was the spontaneous combustion scene the ‘water cooler moment’ of December 1853?
It’s also been a work of restraint and duty though. Every month I want to carry on reading but don’t, and then as the month ends I find myself procrastinating about picking it up again. My moral reading weaknesses brought into focus.
I’ll definitely do it again through with Katie as my monthly guide. I love her videos a lot. There’s so much additional detail in each chapter that I would have completely missed.

For example I didn’t realise that Mr Krook combusted because he was an alcoholic. You’ve got to admire the logic.

Thanks for posting Katie’s December video Piggy. Having watched it I think we have to assume that Jo has infected Charley with small pox
Poor Jo.

Katie is rather hilarious when talking about the combustion!