Dickensalong 2023 : The Old Curiosity Shop

[Piggywaspushed]

Come along and join me in this year's Dickens readalong.

We have chosen The Old Curiosity Shop which was originally published by Dickens across 88 weeks in his won periodical.

Obviously 88 weeks is a bit much for our modern concentration spans and multitasking minds , so I propose an 8 month read. There are 73 chapters in total, not split into volumes or books (thanks for this Dickens!!) but I found little stars every few chapters so think these indicate breaks:

January - Chapters 1- 8
February - Chapters 9- 16
March - Chapters 17 - 26
April - Chapters 27 - 36
May - Chapters 37 - 45
June - Chapters 46-53
July - Chapters 54 - 63
August - 64 - end

I hope that's all OK. It's not as long as some of the others we have done so 8 instalments seems to work.

All welcome - old curiosities, and new!

I wouldn’t mind any of them, but my preference is probably 1.NN, 2.Trollope, 3.MC

Nicholas Nickleby would be my first choice of those. The other two I would also be happy with.

I'd also like to read Martin Chuzzlewit as I feel less familiar with it than NN.

1. Martin Chuzzlewit
2. Nicholas Nickleby
3. A.T's Eustace Diamonds or The Warden (First of the Barsetshire Chronicles)

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh @StColumbofNavron @InTheCludgie @Terpsichore need to vote!! And anyone else of course...

I don’t mind at all, happy with any, but if we stick with Dickens, on balance I’d prefer Nicholas Nickleby. I’ve read MC (years ago) and although it has its moments it also has longueurs iirc (a lengthy diversion on an American trip for eg).

Preference in order:

1. NN
2. MC
3. Trollope

Looks like NickNick then!

Unless a latecomer steams in raging and demands a hearing on Moby Dick , or something...

NN is fine with me :)

OK, settled!

We need to finish this first, obviously! I am concerned for Dick now. Fnarr.

Great! I know nothing about NN, but looking forward to it.

Please don't make us read Moby Dick 😂

(I have read it. Once was enough. Do not intend to read it again.)

God, no, pretending to read it once at uni was enough for me.

I'm on Chaper 65 which, to my delight, features the pony! And it has a name!! Whisker the pony.

I finished today as I am back to work on Friday and so am sulking (feel like Mr B headed for the treadmill...)

The pony gets the best send off! He kicks the doctor. Well done, that pony. I nearly cried.

I will post more maybe Thursdays if I have time and people are finished? I'll hunt down Books n Things videos too.

In the meantime, if anyone has the Penguin, it has an excellent introduction , including informing us that some critics, somewhat pejoratively, referred to the novel as the Nelly-ad, which tickled me pink!

Hi Piggy, I finished it a few days ago.
There weren't many surprises in the conclusion. It was great to see The Marchioness coming into her own and Dick Swiveller did good. And yes, hurrah for Whisker The Pony.

This book is definitely not my favourite Dickens. Quilp was a brilliant character and Sally Brass was good but otherwise it isn't going to be very memorable, I don't think. I don't think I'll ever read it again.

Good luck going back to work.

I think I've finished, only a few pages to go if not quite done.

Ah, books and things! I think she brings up some interesting discussion points that were probably best saved for the end.

Looking forward to Nicholas Nickleby.

I’ve finished too.

What an odd book!

I’ve finished too! I loved the London-based characters, especially Kit and Dick, but Nell’s pious cross-country plod left me cold. I think it will stick with me more than Hard Times though.

Odd but some lovable characters, I think. Katie says it's one of Dickens' few books to do a convincing teenager in Kit, and convincing romantic love.

Much as I find Quilp a problem ( and she says problematic 95 023268 times in her review!), I thought his death scene was brilliant.

I actually quite liked Nelly's death scene, but only insofar as it highlights how wonderful those who loved her are.

The parallels to Lear are interesting, I think.

I am away from home today and need a sleep but Katie's vids will follow.

For me, there was a pacing issue. I think it started well but it went on too long not knowing why Nell and Grandad were on their pious cross-country plod as LadyBirdDaphne puts it so well.

Nell's death scene was beautifully written and I felt a resurgence of sympathy for Grandad although he put the child through the works on that long march.

Yes, an odd book and it was a book of two parts, both very different. Quilp though was a brilliant villain. Genuinely very creepy.

I think that I too, after everything, had some sympathy for the grandfather at the last. Also agreeing that it is an odd book. Not my least favourite Dickens, but I don't think I will ever revisit again.

'The Child' though I think she and the Marchioness were supposed to be a similar age (Katie from the YouTube video I think mentions that in relation to Dick), just for the contrast there. Pious, without fault, angel too good for this world, Nell, felt like a lengthy homage to his sister in law who died young (though not as young as Nell). Dickens famously uses words from Mary's gravestone for Nell. 'So young, so beautiful, so good' or something very like that.

I think the only time I felt a sense of Nell other than that, as in she felt more real, was on her discovery of the deceit and theft of the money by her grandfather, and when she would follow the young sisters around the town in her loneliness.

Quilp (how odious, as always, and fought to the end!) and Sally were favourite characters. I think a lot of those 'problematics' from the video, as Piggy has mentioned, likely involved the many descriptions of Quilp, which were sometimes uncomfortable reading. I also like Kit's cheery optimism and outlook.

Yes, I think you’re on the money, Arabel. Mary Dickens was his ideal (how did his poor wife feel about that, we can only wonder), and every impossibly good, pure, saintly young woman in his books forever after was a recreation of her - or the perfect image of her that lived in his head. He even said he wanted to be buried with her.

Ah, that makes sense about Nell and Mary Dickens. Thanks for that.
Kit was a cheery presence in the book.
He had an indefatigable sense of optimism about him. Nothing was going to bring him down. Not even Quilp!

I think the only good thing about Nell and Grandad's travels were the characters they met along the way, some of them were entertaining. Agree that I will likely never re-read this one but it was worth it just for the scenes with the Brass baddies!