Happy Birthday Charles Dickens!

Don't you just love Google?

Today is Charles Dickens' 200th birthday! He is definitely one of my favorite authors of all time. I credit part of my love for England to his novels.

Take the time to enjoy one of his novels or any of the numerous film versions. It is well worth it ;)

Until next time ^____^

Masterpiece Classic

Are you ready? Masterpiece Theatre's Classic season starts tonight with Downton Abbey.

(pictured below: Downton Abbey, Dicken's Great Expectations, Dicken's incomplete novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Faulk's Birdsong.

A rant about what?!?

Over the holidays, I was able to finish reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens. It has been a slow read as I’ve been mostly reading it during my lunch break at work. I finally finished it last week with several days off! Bleak House is first and foremost a satire on the Chancery court system of Dickens’ time, but what a tangled web Mr. Dickens weaves in this novel. There are a vast number of plots running throughout this novel, all involved in some way, whether directly or indirectly, to the Chancery case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

While reading Bleak House, I’ve come to notice that there will always be that one character that you hate in a Dickens novel. In this novel, there are several characters you will come to loath, Mr. Tulkinghorn, Mr. Vholes, or Mr. Smallweed to name a few. I hope I am not the only person who could not stand Mr. Harold Skimpole, the long-time friend of Mr. John Jarndyce.

A child-like, amiable character who claims to know nothing of worldly matters such as money, employment, or responsibility. A man who provides entertainment for his friends Mr. Jarndyce and his wards with lively conversation, singing, and music, but underneath it all is someone who we would call a leech in our modern terms.

We meet Mr. Skimpole early on in the novel when he comes to visit Mr. Jarndyce and meet the wards of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Later that same night, Richard and Esther are called downstairs after hearing the news that Mr. Skimpole has ‘been took.’ They find Mr. Skimpole with a warrant for his arrest unless he pays about £25 for his debts. Knowing nothing of money and not wishing to bother Mr. Jarndyce about the situation, Mr. Skimpole asks Richard and Esther to bail him out. Agreeing not mention the matter to Mr. Jarndyce, they pay the bail with what money they have between them. Of course, their guardian finds out about the matter and insists upon repaying Esther and Richard.

Mr. Skimpole’s actions through the entirety of the novel can be summed up by Mr. Jarndyce’s remark while talking to Esther and Richard about the bail money: “…You can’t make him responsible. The idea of Harold Skimpole with designs or plans, or knowledge of consequences! Ha, ha, ha!” Sadly, I think Mr. Skimpole’s character knows actually what his plans are and where to get the means to achieve them.

Oh, and did I mention that Skimpole has a family?! Oh, yes, he does! His wife is an unfortunate woman who probably didn’t realize what kind of man she had married with all of Mr. Skimpole’s talk to love, poetry, and childishness. His three daughters are silly girls who know nothing of domestic arts, but have been taught by their father to play music and sing. How Mr. Skimpole leeches off others to provide for their welfare, I know not.

I do know that Mr. Skimpole ranks up there with Dickens’ other cringe-worthy characters such as Uriah Heep and Edward Murdstone in David Copperfield and Rigaud in Little Dorrit. It was said during Dickens’ period, that Skimpole was modeled after one of his literary friends, Leigh Hunt, to such an extent that it was greatly spoke of and the relationship between Hunt and Dickens could not be resolved. Ouch!

Until next time ^___^

In a Dickens frame of mind!

I must be in a Charles Dickens mood lately! I picked up the newest adaptations of Little Dorrit and The Old Curiosity Shop recently when they hit the shelves. I’m a fan of Andrew Davies’ version of Little Dorrit. My favorite characters are Flora with her awkward ‘girlishness’ even though she is pass her youth and Mr. Pancks, the debt-collector with his constant puffs and snorts. I love how Andrew Davies brought these two characters to life.

I’m currently reading Little Dorrit; it will take me a while since I’m only reading it in the morning and on my lunch breaks at work.

My favorite passages so far:

“In our course through life we shall meet the people who are coming to meet us, from many strange places and by many strange roads, and what it is set to us to do to them, and what it is set to them to do to us, will all be done.” II – Fellow Travelers

“Flora, always tall, had grown to be very broad too, and short of breath; but that was not much. Flora, whom he had left a lily, had become a peony; but that was not much. Flora, who had seemed enchanted in all she said and thought, was diffuse and silly. That was much. Flora, who had been spoiled and artless long ago, was determined to be spoiled and artless now. That was a fatal blow.” XIII – Patriarchal

And I can’t tell you how much I love the illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne, known as Phiz. I remember reading David Copperfield during grad school and I loved looking at the illustrations.

I was recently at one of the local antique shops in town and they had a set of Charles Dickens novels, which you know I was going to grab, right?! :)


The works of Charles Dickens
Collier’s unabridged ed.
New York : P.F. Collier, 1870?

While I was at the antique shop, a very nice Russian man was helping the cashier to bring the books up to the front counter. He said, "You like Dickens? Most people don't know Dickens." Well, I'm sure he is known, if only for The Christmas Carol ;)

If you haven't seen any of the new adaptations of Charles Dickens' works on BBC you should stop by your local library, video store, etc. :)

The rules of being a bum are...

Well, I lied...there aren't any rules. But I have been a bum the past week. I meant to get some stitching done on my WIP Four Elements, but that idea was put aside as I read several books and watched two 'classic' movies.

My progress last week:

Read:
1. The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
2. Kira-Kira - Cynthia Kadohata
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Watched:
1. Oliver Twist - Masterpiece Theatre 1999
2. The House of Mirth - 2000

See, I had some productivity last week, but not with stitching. I had been reading The House of Mirth for awhile. Usually, it doesn't take me so long to finish a book, but since I was only reading it on my break and after work while waiting for my carpool ride I wasn't getting much accomplished. I finally got it finished last Monday....and....was depressed.

The book, if you haven't read it, revolves around Lily Bart, a poor, young lady who relies on her wealthy aunt to stay afloat in the rich society of New York in the early 1900s. The novel follows her rise and fall within the excessive world of the wealthy. As a ward, she has nothing to recommend herself, but her beauty and youth. The only two characters who love her are her cousin Gerty and her friend Mr. Selden. In the end, she accidentally overdoses on sleeping drops. Sadly, it was before she had a chance to go to Selden and tell him how she felt. Grrr....

Kira-Kira is a Newbery award winning kids novel about a Japanese-American family in the 1950s. The novel tells the story of Katie and her older sister Lynn. It follows their daily lives in Georgia and how they are interrupted by Lynn's illness, lymphoma. Kira-kira was the first word that Lynn taught her sister when they were little girls. In the end, Katie realizes that Lynn tried to always see the kira kira or glittery side to life through everything. It was a good book despite yet another sad ending.

The next book I read was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I quite liked the story of Dr. Jekyll's pursuit of separating the body into two personalities. I think in the beginning he was trying to see if he could separate the good and bad aspects of the human personality for the benefit of mankind. Throughout many experiments he succeeds in separating his personality; he names his 'darker' side, Mr. Hyde. He controls the transformation between the two personalities by taking a tonic of sorts. In the end, he loses control of Mr. Hyde and the transformations happen without the aid of a tonic. Of course, in the end...both personalities die. I don't think either were suppose to live without the other despite Dr. Jekyll's theories.

As my first encounter with Robert Louis Stevenson, I enjoyed it. It was well written and played out for such a small novel.

After reading these books, I rented Oliver Twist and The House of Mirth from my local library. I love $1 dvds....you can't beat that price ;)

Ah, Oliver Twist. Has anyone read this book besides myself?? Surely someone in my audience has ;) As I've admitted before, I love Charles Dickens. I fell in love with his novels when I was a freshman in high school and read Great Expectations for an English class book report. I was the only student to pick that book out of a list of other great classics.

I never understood why Oliver Twist is considered a 'kids' book. Yes, the protagonist of the novel is young Oliver, but the subject matter of the novel is far from children-friendly. Prostitution, theft, anti-Semitism, murder, and child abuse play a part in this novel!

The movie produced by Masterpiece Theatre was very well-played. The only thing I didn't like was the beginning. According to the host, part I of the movie is an expanded story of Oliver's parents and their history. In the book, his parents' history isn't known to him until the very last chapters. His step-brother, Monks, tells the story of what he knows and Mr. Brownlow supplies the rest. In order for the movie to make 'sense' the director decided that the parents' story should be played out and expanded with lots of dialogue and intrigue. They even have Mr. Leeford (Oliver's father) being murdered by his wife?!?!? Hmm....

The same sort of odd twists happen in The House of Mirth. I didn't really like this version. To me, Lily was a young lady who was accustomed to wealth, but hated the world she lived in and would have rather lived simply without all the 'fake-ness' that came along with the wealthy world. I hated the fact that at the end of the movie, Lily overdoses on the sleeping drops on purpose!!!!!!! The book ending is far better and more tragic to my sensibilities. She writes out a check to George Dorset for $10,000 to pay off her debts. That money is all she has inherited from her aunt who passed away. She plans on seeing Selden the next day to declare her feelings. She takes the sleeping drops to calm herself and get some sleep. It was accidental. Selden comes the next day to see her to declare himself as well and finds his cousin, Gerty, mourning Lily's passing. Not at all like the movie ending, which made one think that she overdosed because she could not keep her inheritance.

Well, enough on books! I will post later on hopefully (fingers crossed) some stitching or at least something related to it.

Have a great week! Happy stitching ^___^