Is it worth sticking with The Old Curiosity Shop?

[vinteuil]

My favourite Dickens is Our Mutual Friend.....a flawed work, maybe, but full of vivid characters and incidents. The fact that Henry James hated it is a recommendation in my eyes....

I like the rambunctiousness of Dickens - but then I also like the subtler psychological insights and formal delights of Henry James...

... which is better? There's only one way to find out!!!

[with grateful thanks to Harry Hill ]

[aeolium]

I'm really not bothered about league tables of literary merit, rather more about those writers for whose style and 'voice' I have an affinity - and for me Dickens is far more interesting than the majority of English novelists (apart from Jane Austen).

As to being selective about the best works of writers, I like the comments of Dylan Thomas about the Collected Poems of Hardy: "There is not a single poem in this book that I wish had not been written....I love all Hardy, even bad Hardy - no, especially bad Hardy." Perhaps that qualification goes too far but the sentiment is one I have sympathy for - even the lesser works of the writers I find most compelling are more interesting to me than the great works of some other authors.

[french frank]

My favourite Dickens is Our Mutual Friend.....

Just started it last night. I even glanced at the Postscript, so know the twist in the plot. Doesn't matter. It's as much the pleasure of the words and, in Dickens, the characters that I enjoy, rather than the 'story'.

[vinteuil]

Our Mutual Friend - Silas Wegg! - Twemlow!! - the Veneerings!!! [their intro in chap 2, glorious] -- "Decline-and-Fall-Off-The-Rooshan-Empire" - Podsnap: "the question was, would it bring a blush into the cheek of a young person?" - oh, such goodies...

[Nick Armstrong]

those writers for whose style and 'voice' I have an affinity - and for me Dickens is far more interesting than the majority of English novelists

I am in 100% agreement with that, aeolium

Our Mutual Friend - Silas Wegg! - Twemlow!! - the Veneerings!!! [their intro in chap 2, glorious] -- "Decline-and-Fall-Off-The-Rooshan-Empire" - Podsnap: "the question was, would it bring a blush into the cheek of a young person?" - oh, such goodies...

PS: I find Henry James simply unreadable, a severe obstacle to appreciation...

PS2: You're in for a terrific ride, FF !!

[vinteuil]

PS: I find Henry James simply unreadable, a severe obstacle to appreciation...

well, calamares, do you know? I used to feel the same. What happened was - someone I respected said, "O, Henry James - clearly the greatest English novelist... " - and I thought, well, I'm up for that. After a bit of rootling around I found that the last three novels were deemed to be the deepest, most difficult - so again, I said to myself, well, I'm up for that - and went forth and found a copy of The Golden Bowl. What was to deter me, me with a brain the size of a planet, me the beneficiary of an eddication at Britain's premier university, tralala - and plunged in. I gave up at about page seven. Hadn't a clue as to what was going on - what was it all about? - couldna make head nor tail of it. Fortunately - after a cold shower or equivalent - I bethought myself how to tackle this - 'cos I knew that people whom I respected thought he were well good - and yet weren't necessarily brainier than me - so I went about and acquired le tout Henry James - and started chronologically - some of the short stories - Roderick Hudson - The American - The Europeans - and I thought - I like this; I can understand it - on to middle period - Portrait of a Lady, Spoils of Poynton etc - lovely, richer, deeper - and thus slowly slowly through all the works until, yes, The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl. Glorious. They aren't easy to read - and if you lose your way you have to backtrack page after page to work out what's going on - but I assure you - it's worth it!

[amateur51]

But vints, Alexander McCall Smith is churning out page-turners at the rate of one every six weeks or so, in a variety of themes, styles, etc.

What's a chap to do?

[vinteuil]

Our Mutual Friend - Silas Wegg! - Twemlow!! - the Veneerings!!! [their intro in chap 2, glorious] -- "Decline-and-Fall-Off-The-Rooshan-Empire" - Podsnap: "the question was, would it bring a blush into the cheek of a young person?" - oh, such goodies...

... and I had almost forgotten the young man who said "esker?" in chapter 11...

https://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/23/charles-dickens-favourite-mutual-friend

[Anna]

I am so enjoying Great Expectations that I wonder I didn't start re-reading Dickens before, I appreciate and savour every page (which I'm sure wasn't the case when reading as a teenager) but I was wondering how french frank was getting on with Our Mutual Friend and her thoughts on that?

[Nick Armstrong]

appreciate and savour every page

That's the thing! So many felicities of observation, of irony, of vivid emotion, of laugh out loud humour and absurdity. So glad you're having a ball with it, Annakins!!

[Anna]

Annakins, Annakins!! You know I've asked you never to call me that in public, we leave Mrs. Bunny at the field gate, my lovely Calibereno

Great excitement here, a new bookshop will be opening in two weeks, that means we will have 3 independent ones! Who said the internet would kill book sales?

[french frank]

I was wondering how french frank was getting on with Our Mutual Friend and her thoughts on that?

Enjoying it down to every individual word. But consequently only on p 150 at the moment. I think I'll bunk off this evening and have another session at it

[Nice bit when Mr Venus had been remarking on Silas Wegg's wooden leg and invites him to come closer to the fire and warm ... the other one ... )

[Nick Armstrong]

(Nice bit when Mr Venus had been remarking on Silas Wegg's wooden leg and invites him to come closer to the fire and warm ... the other one ... )

[Nick Armstrong]

Annakins, Annakins!! You know I've asked you never to call me that in public, we leave Mrs. Bunny at the field gate, my lovely Calibereno

Look forward to nibbling together on life's hispi asap, Mrs Bunny!

[amateur51]

Great excitement here, a new bookshop will be opening in two weeks, that means we will have 3 independent ones! Who said the internet would kill book sales?

This is excellent news, Annakins

I recently recommended a novel to a friend who responded 'Oh thanks, I'll see if I can get it on Kindle!!'

What can you with friends like that