Dickensblog

Mystery solved!

. . . Well, sort of. Followers of The Drood Inquiry voted on their preferred ending to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and in honor of the successful conclusion of the inquiry, the Dickens Museum is hosting an exhibition all about the book. Go here to read about the chosen ending -- and one or two wacky alternative theories!

Charles Dickens, video game star

Gamers who pre-order the upcoming game Assassin's Creed Syndicate will receive a special bonus: "The Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy Mission," in which players have to protect the two men and their work. More information is here and here. 

'Great Expectations' one-word meme (a little late)

It's come to my attention that it's been quite some time (years, actually) since we did a one-word meme. The rules for these are simple: I give you a list of major characters from a Dickens novel; you commenters describe each character using only one word. Here's the first one we did, to give you an example.

So this time we're doing Great Expectations. Your list of characters is below. Go for it!

Pip:
Estella:
Miss Havisham:
Joe:
Magwitch:
Herbert:
Mr. Jaggers:
Wemmick:
Biddy:
Mrs. Joe:
Pumblechook:
Orlick:
Compeyson:
Drummle:

Choose your own 'Drood' ending!

As highlighted in today's Daily Mail, The Drood Inquiry is now taking votes on whether Edwin is dead or alive, who marries who, and other important questions left hanging in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Go here to vote -- and then come back and tell us how you voted!

Beautiful Dickensian sentences

With help from their readers, Buzzfeed put together a list of "51 of the Most Beautiful Sentences in Literature." A sentence from A Tale of Two Cities came in at number 12. Click here and scroll down to see which one!

Which sentence from Dickens would you have nominated for the list?

That's how you make an entrance

Dickens is back on ShortList.com. This time, he's on a list of "The 30 Best Debut Novels." The Pickwick Papers is #2, behind The Hobbit but ahead of Jane Eyre.

A new Dickens quiz

BookRiot has a quiz asking you to guess the Dickens title from the illustration. (They also give you quotes to help out.) I got 9 out of 10. See how well you do! There are no buttons to click, so you'll have to keep track on paper or in your head.

Thanks to Sherry Early of Semicolon Blog for the tip.

Go Team Dickens!

If I were watching the World Cup, I'd root for Team USA -- but in the Penguin Cup, Dickens is on Team England, so I'll have to throw my support to them! Click here to read all about it.

Choose your favorite Dickensian closing sentence!

Brett Janes, who did such a nice job compiling Dickens's opening lines, has now compiled his closing lines! Go here to see them all and to vote for your favorite. (Obviously, spoilers abound, so proceed at your own risk!)

Choose your favorite Dickensian opening sentence!

Blogger Brett Janes has posted a list of opening sentences from all of Dickens's novels and novellas, for the excellent reason that no one else had done it yet. And then he set up a poll! Go here to vote for your favorite.

(H/T The Buzfuz)