Dickensblog

For love of Estella

For "The Great American Read," Malcolm Jones writes movingly about how, just like Pip, he fell for Estella before realizing emulating Pip was not exactly what he was supposed to do:

I fell in love with Great Expectations for all the wrong reasons, but I was lucky,because I fell in love with a masterpiece written by a genius. When I returned to it later in life, I understood that because I had grown up a little in the meantime, I was now reading a different novel, a better novel, sadder than I’d realized the first time around, but richer and more rewarding.

Go here to read Jones's whole article, and go here to vote for Great Expectations in the "Great American Read" poll!

A blogger's journey through Dickens

Elliott at Cultivations & Curiosities wanted to pick a writer and read his or her complete novels, from first to last, and to blog his way through them. For this project, he said, "I wanted a novelist whose company I enjoyed and whose works filled me with pleasure and amazement. When it came down to it, Charles Dickens was the obvious choice." Elliott has already started his journey; here's his introductory post, and his first two posts about The Pickwick Papers are here and here. I look forward to following his journey and thought some of you might like to as well! (And thanks to him for giving this blog a shoutout!)

New 'Tale of Two Cities' necklace

Etsy shop Poppet's Widgets recently held a contest to submit literary quotations to appear on new necklaces. I sent in a quote from A Tale of Two Cities, which was one of the three winners! To see the quote and to get the necklace, go here. (Special thanks for great customer service; when I had trouble using the fastener on the ball chain, they quickly sent a different chain for free!)

Lego my Dickens!

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard has commissioned five custom-designed Dickensian Lego figures -- of Dickens himself and four of his characters -- and you could win one! Go here to find out how!

If you'd like to buy the Dickens figure, he's available for sale at the designer's Etsy shop. Why he appears to be carrying a copy of the Gettysburg Address, I could not tell you, unless that was the only Lego piece available that looked like a manuscript. But he's pretty cute regardless.

R.I.P. Fenella Fielding

The British actress has passed away at the age of 90. She appeared in A Parish Boy's Progress, a 2008 Oliver Twist adaptation shot in Keighley with a cast of people with learning disabilities. She also appeared in the 1985 BBC version of The Pickwick Papers.

Dickens vs. Tolstoy

On October 2, the two legendary novelists will battle for supremacy -- or rather, scholars John Mullan and Simon Schama will battle on their behalf, with Tom Hiddleston on hand to read excerpts from their work! The event, held by Intelligence Squared, will take place at the Emmanuel Centre in London. Click here to read more. 

TCM alert

David Copperfield (1935) will air at 7:30 this morning (Sunday). 

A Dickens of a berry

Charles Dickens has just had a strawberry named after him! Click here to find out why.

Dickens and the fake books

The Independent has a fun article about the fake book titles that Dickens came up with for the ornamental books in his library!