Dickensblog

Looking for a good home

Dickens's personal copy of David Copperfield is going up for auction next month. It's expected to bring between £30,000 and £50,000.

Also going on sale: a silver claret jug given by Dickens to his friend William Henry Wills.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• Naxos is releasing all 16 of Dickens's major novels as audiobooks, in both abridged and unabridged versions, for the bicentennial. Visit their page for more information and to download their Dickens podcasts. And The Dabbler blog is exclusively serializing their abridged version of The Pickwick Papers.
• Actor Stephen Fry gave away free copies of A Tale of Two Cities on the set of his new film for World Book Night, earlier this week.
• Speaking of free books, the library system in Sheffield, England, is giving away 1500 free copies of Oliver Twist in honor of the bicentennial. Very nice, but since it's Sheffield, shouldn't it be David Copperfield instead? (You know, "Confusion to Brooks of Sheffield!")
• And speaking of Oliver Twist, Robin Stone of the Globe and Mail tells a terrific story about how she got both herself and her nine-year-old son hooked on the children's edition of that book. Kudos to both of them!
• Here's an interesting tale about why Dickens gave away his personal copy of David Copperfield.
• Rabbit Run Theater in Madison, Ohio, is going to be doing three different Dickens plays this summer and fall, and the nearby Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake is offering special packages that include overnight stays and tickets to see the performances. Read all about it here.
• Filming has started on The Invisible Woman. Can't say I'm too thrilled about seeing Dickens get the National Enquirer treatment, which is what I'm afraid this is going to be. In other movie news, the new independent film Nancy, Please tells the story of a graduate student who gets into a violent conflict with his old roommate over, of all things, a copy of Little Dorrit. Here's an interview with the director.

'Great Expectations,' part 1

(Cast list here for your reference.)

Ah, Laura Linney. Last time I saw you, you were mixing up Maria Beadnell and Catherine Dickens. Now you appear to be confusing Great Expectations with David Copperfield ("perhaps his most personal book!"). I guess good help is hard to find . . .

From the book pile, part 2

A Child's Journey with Dickens by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin (Nabu Press, 2010. Originally published in 1912.)

Kate Douglas Wiggin would become well-known as the author of the children's novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. But in 1868 she was a child of eleven, longing to see her idol, Charles Dickens. (She and her family had named "almost every living thing" on the farm "after one of Dickens's characters.")

When he came to America, her mother went to hear a reading, but Kate wasn't allowed to go. She did go to town with her mother, but the tickets were so expensive ("there was a general feeling in the community that any one who paid it would have to live down a reputation for riotous extravagance forever afterward") that no one even thought of taking her along to the reading."If any martyr in Fox's 'Book' ever suffered more poignant anguish than I, I am heartily sorry for him," Wiggin writes, "yet my common sense assured me that a child could hardly hope to be taken on a week's junketing to Charlestown, and expect any other entertainment to be added to it for years to come."

Can you imagine? I think our cultural philosophy about children and pleasures has changed considerably since then -- fortunately for the children!

Anyway, little Kate had the last word in that situation, because on the train to Charlestown . . . guess who she ran into? And ended up sitting next to, and had a wonderful conversation with?

'David Copperfield' readalong begins today

The Atlantic starts its Twitter-based readalong today. Go here for the details.

What a horserace!

Remember that Atlantic poll from the other day? The one where Bleak House was way ahead? Well, David Copperfield suddenly came charging up to take the lead, and when the poll closed, it had won. (Nina, how'd you do it? ;-) ) Great Expectations was second and Bleak House dropped back to third -- and they were all within half a point of each other!

If you were dying to do a Bleak House readalong, however, no worries -- the Unputdownables blog is doing one.

Dickens poll

The Atlantic has an online book club called 1book140, and they're planning to read a Dickens book in March. You can go here to vote for which one they should read! The choices: Bleak House, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, and Our Mutual Friend. As I write this, Bleak House has a sizable lead, with David Copperfield in second.

A few thoughts on 'Martin Chuzzlewit'

I actually finished the novel some time ago, but haven't had a chance to write about it until now.

So . . . this was not one of my favorite Dickens novels. But I didn't expect it would be. I generally favor mid- to late Dickens. And beyond that, a lot of the criticism that this book gets is pretty accurate. Doctor Who, for instance, was spot-on about the "American bit." I know I can't help being a little biased, but the parts about America went far beyond the kind of satire he usually does, and were just plain heavy-handed. Once again, I'm grateful that he at long last made up his quarrel with us, and inserted that conciliatory postscript into the book! But he really should have held off writing this until he was in a bit of a better mood, I think.

Also (spoiler alert) . . .

7 Quick Takes Friday

• The Royal Mail will release 10 Dickensian stamps in June.
• A first edition of David Copperfield will be on display at the California International Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend. It's estimated to be worth about $12,500.
• Rochester Cathedral is hosting screenings of the 1946 Great Expectations film this weekend, along with the premiere of a short film called Magwitch, to raise money for the cathedral's upkeep.
• The Examiner has a listing of Dickens-related historical blue plaques around Britain.
• The (Portsmouth) News is hosting a writing contest for schoolchildren, in honor of Portsmouth's favorite son.
• Austenprose is hosting two Dickensian giveaways: They're offering a copy of The Charles Dickens Devotional, and a copy of Jean Shepherd's new novel The Solitary House, a murder mystery inspired by Bleak House. (We may be having another giveaway here before long, so stay tuned!)
• And finally, a few bicentennial-related articles of note -- from Language magazine, Radio Prague, and NPR. I like this from the latter: "I can think of only one living author capable of inspiring a collective global audience to stay up, put on costumes and talk excitedly about fictional characters: J.K. Rowling, a writer who is definitely not having a problem with readership. If, two centuries after his birth, Dickens can still inspire that kind of frenzy, the pro-reading lobby has no reason to do anything but celebrate."

Dickensian top ten

Readers of the Mirror have voted on the top ten Dickens characters. And the winners are:

1. Ebenezer Scrooge - A Christmas Carol
2. Miss Havisham - Great Expectations
3. Sydney Carton - A Tale Of Two Cities
4. The Artful Dodger - Oliver Twist
5. Fagin - Oliver Twist
6. Joe Gargery - Great Expectations
7. Pip - Great Expectations
8. Nancy - Oliver Twist
9. Abel Magwitch - Great Expectations
10. Betsey Trotwood - David Copperfield

Not how I'd have had it, but there are some good picks there, and with Sydney in the top three, I'm reasonably content. How about you?