DATE CHANGE! Book group on Thurs 19th April, 7pm, Old Dairy: Charles Dickens - Pickwick Papers

sophie

After a lovely meeting tonight with two new people, we decided to bite the bullet and go for a Dickens. We have picked Pickwick Papers - don't tell us it's the wrong one, we have no particular reason for choosing it but we're not going through the hassle of changing it again and I promise I won't chicken out this time.<br>Yes it's long, but we decided to leave a six week gap before the next meeting. That's 100 pages a week. Luckily, an ongoing feature of this book group is that you don't actually have to have finished the book to come and join in and talk about it, we're very good at not spoiling the ending.<br><br>Location and time TBC, but probably either the Stapleton or the Dairy at around 7 or 8.<br>New members are always welcome! Tonight we discussed everything from Oscar Wilde to Tina Turner's autobiography to Katie Price's 'auto'biographies.<br>

sophie

A personal rundown of the Brokeback Mountain discussion tonight: don't bother with the film because the story is small and perfectly formed but the film drags it all out unnecessarily, the rest of the short stories are heart-wrenching and desolate but great, Annie Proulx is wonderful.<br>

chrisn4

<P>Charles Dickens,born 1812,died 1870.His dad was sent to prison and CD worked in a factory as a child.Then he got a job as a teenager as a clerk in a solicitors office and then got a job as a court reporter.Then his writing was serialised in a magazine.Dickens walked the streets  drinking in London pubs night after night,to get to know the London characters he was writing about.But he had a dark side,it is believed he was a wife beater.He had 10 children</P>

sophie

are you trying to troll dickens?!<br>

chrisn4

burglar bill sykes swaggering down the road with his faithfull dog an english bullterrier, bullseye...bit like sg rd 2012...

checkski

Pickwick Papers is an excellent choice.Utterly delightful, from start to finish.No grim stuff whatsoever,as far as I remember. Dickens in a lighter vein.

chrisn4

Charles Dickens was 25 years old when he wrote his first novel "The Pickwick Papers".He lived in Doughty Street in Holborn at that time,1837,which is now the Charles Dickens Museum;and the house is furnished in the same way as when he lived there.Dickens liked to satarise the exploitation of the working  classes in his novels;and his exposure of squalid living conditions in london perhaps lead to changes being made by the authorities.Dickens was criticised for encouring prejudice against Jewish people via his novel Oliver Twist.And Dickens was against the vote being given to black people in the USA.The novelist Kingsley Amis said that he thought Charles Dickens had a bad prose style.  

Lololala

I wouldn't say that Dickens satirises the exploitation of the working classes. He satirises the people who exploit the vulnerable - e.g. Wackford Squeers, the proprietor of a sham boarding school, in "Nicholas Nickleby" who starves and mistreats the orphans of Dothebys Hall while overfeeding and indulging his own son. Dickens was above all a social reformer and his portrayal of the desperately vulnerable such as Jo, the crossing sweeper who lives and dies of starvation in Tom-All-Alone's slum in "Bleak House" is entirely sympathetic, and was a way that the social problem of juvenile vagrancy could be addressed. Dickens satirises everyone - particularly the corrupt powers that be - except the working classes for whom he feels genuine pity for.<div><br></div><div><br></div>

chrisn4

The actor Timothy Spall was asked, "what was the book that holds an evalasting resonance? He replied: "Dicken's novel The Pickwick Papers.I read it when I was recovering from leukaemia in 1996.Its wit and beauty stopped me worrying about death.It became part of my treatment." 

Jenny

<P>Really enjoying the Pickwick Papers but have realised I won't be able to make the 12th April.  Arrrghhhh.  Don't want to start a complicated chain of re-scheduling the date so I will just bow out on this occasion and possibly post my thoughts on here when I've finished reading it. </P> <P> </P>

sophie

well... i would be happy to do it on the 19th instead. what do you think? i'm really enjoying it too! but i need to up my game, i'm still only on page 100.<br>

miss annie

Did you know that the 12th is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic?

sophie

i have downloaded a really nice audiobook read by charles tull - if anyone would like a copy i can hand it over on a memory stick. currently doing a mixture of book and audiobook and now should make it in time!<br><br>is anyone else planning to come on the 12th? because otherwise we can change the date to accommodate jenny?<br>

Charlo

I'm hoping to come although haven't even started reading it yet! Rescheduling to 19th would be good for me too.

Lololala

I would like to come as well. I can only make it on 19th though.

krappyrubsnif

Sadly I will be in Portsmouth on the 12th so can't attend.....but will fit in a pilgrimage to The Great Man's birthplace if I get a chance.  I could read most of PP by the 19th.<br>

Jenny

That's great, I can do 19th and will bring a friend along who will be staying with me then.

Angelab

I can do the 19th! I welcome more time!

sophie

If no one has any objections I will change the date in the thread title. I've been in the internet third world for five days (Central Germany) but still only managed four or five chapters of PP, so it was nice to get back and find we had consensus on this...<br>

Ullswater

I can do Apr 19th but the earlier the better that evening for me.  It's been a bit of a slog.  I'm about halfway through.  No hope of finishing it but hey ho.

sophie

Should we say 7pm? Any preference for the Dairy or the Stapleton?<br>

sophie

i have booked the cubby (raised area opposite the bar) in the <b>old dairy</b> for <b>7pm</b> on thursday 19th. i hope that's ok (they are having a supper club in the restaurant bit).<br><br>fun fact: the <a href="http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/picture_library/englishpictures/reverses/b366_c_1992__367_368_crown_.jpg">old £10 note</a> featured an illustration of the cricket match between all muggleton and dingley dell.

krappyrubsnif

Can I still come if I read it six years ago and just revisit the cricket match and the ice skating, and a few other bits?<br>

sophie

spoiler! i haven't even got to an ice skating bit yet! i will be amazed if anyone has actually finished/manages to remember it all. so yes, do come and tell us the ending.<br>

krappyrubsnif

Aaaagh!  I can't come, I've been booked into Union Chapel instead.<br><br>Well there was a bit about ice skating, very funny but it's hardly central to the plot.  Er....plot?<br>

Ullswater

Hi Folks.  Am definitely coming but will be slightly later than 7pm.  Sorry for being flakey - I know I asked for it to be early. Sorry sorry sorry.  <div><br></div><div>G</div>

Jenny

<P>Hi Guys</P> <P>I am definitely coming and bringing a friend (Alison) who is staying with me.  She has even read nearly half the book even though I only told her about it on Sunday!</P> <P>We'll do our best to be there at 7 but may be more like 7.15. </P> <P>Sophie - great fact about the 10 pound note! </P>

sophie

Alison will put me to shame, it feels like I've been reading it for years and I'm still only 2/3 through! Got the audiobook on all day today for a last push...<br><br>I should be there at 7 and will put the book out on the table or will read it conspicuously in case anyone new is thinking of coming.<br><br>See you later!<br>