A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite novels. That freaking ending. Legitimately one of the greatest endings I've ever read. A Christmas Carol will also always be one of my faves. I love Christmas so much so of course I'll be biased haha
Enjoyed this video. I would personally flip your 1 and 2 around, but I agree with your general thoughts. I’m currently reading David Copperfield (on about page 635 or so) and feel very very similarly to you on it so far. Some parts of DC I really enjoy, but most of it I struggle with, but yet it’s constantly a comforting thing to read, if that makes any sense lol.
Great Expectations isn't my favourite Dickens, but it's up there! Oliver Twist is godawful, and I think Bleak House is my top Dickens, though Our Mutual Friend comes close.
So interesting--you did an excellent job of explaining of why you like Dickens and why you love certain books more than others. I have read all of Dickens' novels except Drood. My "emotional" favorites have to be Little Dorrit and Bleak House (please, keep at it!), the two novels which always make me cry. But I think Our Mutual Friend is probably Dickens' best use of weaving multiple plots into one story and challenges us to think about society and its conventions. Based on what you have enjoyed in the past, I would expect that you will love Nicholas Nickleby and Little Dorrit, and that you will find Dombey & Son similar to Great Expectations--a focused story. I struggled with Dombey, but I think I will need to re-read it one day. Will be waiting for the video when you rank all 14!
I had an interesting experience with Great Expectations. When I was in hr high or high school a tv adaptation came out and everyone talked about how good it was, but I just couldn't get into it (all I remember is the Miss Havisham scenes, and I thought they were really creepy). Then as an adult I picked it up from the library just to see what it really was and was totally.blown.away. It was funny, and tender, and sweet, and quirky. So wonderful. So yeah, I totally support putting that one at the top.
A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, The Pickwick Papers, and Bleak House are my favorites. My least favorite is David Copperfield. I recently read Our Mutual Friend and loved it.
"Oliver Twist" was his first novel, so---obviously---it's his weakest work. (Pickwick Papers is *not* a novel, it's a newspaper serial) Also, it took me nearly ten minutes to figure out that DNF stands for "Did Not Finish" ... :)
"I am really excited for my relationship with him to grow." This is why I love you 😂 you GET how personal literature is- a magical, spiritual, personal relationship between between author and their readers. A Tale of Two Cities has been my favorite Dickens so far, but I really think Pickwick might be a winner for me 🤞
I find that many readers have high expectations to many of Dickens's works. It is most likely to due the many adaptations that we have been exposed to. That could be why people do not complete the books as they were expecting Bill Murray in "Scrooged," instead of devouring "A Christmas Carol." I still prefer the first "anti hero," Oliver Twist. It was probably the first book that I read cover to cover during a Summer break. But hey, if someone puts forth the effort to read all of Dickens's work the better you know the author.
I bought three Dickens books from the local used bookstore recently (Little Dorrit, Great Expectations, and David Copperfield), but haven't gotten around to them yet. I tend to struggle with 19th century English-language literature because of the overly flowerly language and overwrought prose, so I hope Dickens lives up to the hype and is easier to read than many of the other books of that era I've read or attempted to read.
Hard Times is my least favorite, I found that one to be a struggle. The Old Curiosity Shop was my second least favorite, though I enjoyed reading it a lot more than Hard Times. On the other end of the scale my second favorite is Nicholas Nickleby which I found very enjoyable and engaging, whilst my absolute favorite is Barnaby Rudge. I loved the atmosphere, the fact that the characters were more nuanced than I usually find with Dickens, the themes of the book and learning about the Gordon riots. And there is some gorgeously dark writing in this one. In addition to those I have read A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, and I'm currently reading The Pickwick Papers, which I love in parts but do find to be too long.
You are the second person to mention enjoying Nicholas Nickleby! I've been debating switching it in for the Old Curiosity Shop this month and maybe I will. The Pickwick Papers definitely has some really high parts and some dragging parts.
A Tale of Two Cities was my first Dickens and I loved it! It’s one of the few books I’ve collected multiple editions of bc I love it so much. Great Expectations is the only other one I’ve read so far and I thought it was okay. I think you’ve said before that you loved the character of Joe and couldn’t stand Pip, I agree. I’d like to move on to Our Mutual Friend or Little Dorrit. Happy Victober!
Okay, now I'm convinced that struggling through the last 150ish pages of A Tale of Two Cities is going to be worth it! I started it last Victober and it's been silently judging me from my shelves ever since lol. Great Expectations is a delight, I'm glad I started with it as well and now I really want to reread it. Little Dorrit is on my list of potential next Dickens reads once I finish David Copperfield!
This was the perfect way for me to start my Victober celebration! I just finished David Copperfield and can't wait to read more Dickens. Same about being emotionally invested. That's what I loved most. I couldn't stop thinking about these characters.
The fact that you love Pickwick as much as you do *AND* that you feel Great Expectations is basically a perfect book.. girl. Welcome to the Dickens fanhood! You are gonna have so much fun reading the rest of his works.
Totally adore Dickens. He is my favorite of all writers. I finished Bleak House and it was for me a hard read. I am surprised that you did not like Oliver Twist. The novel a twisting and turning plot that takes you places that you would not expect to go. If you did not finish it you missed the amazing ending and the part where are the criminal elements all received their just rewards. Do not write it off.
Such a great and informative video for those of us who are just getting started with Dickens! 📚 I have only read: A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. 😬 I'm torn between reading either David Copperfield or A Tale of Two Cities for Victober, but I'm excited to dive in! 😆
I feel the same as you about his sentimentality!! I noticed that for some people it’s a let-down but it’s never been a problem for me, in fact I like to invest emotionally in his stories.
This was such a fun video! You're even making me reevaluate whether or not I should reread A Tale of Two Cities 😳 I was nodding along with everything you said about Great Expectations and I do think it falls into the perfect category. Sitcom definitely applies to The Pickwick Papers. I'll be rereading that one at some point. I still have a good feeling about you and Dombey and Son!
The best three are, in order, Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, Little Dorrit. Dombey in the running. You might be too young for some of them; I found my evaluation changed over time.
There are numerous completions of Drood. It is fun to compare them. Someone even put on a play where the audience voted at the intermission to decide who did it, who marries whom, etc. Then the cast did the second act that way.
Like you, Dickens is one of my favorite authors. The more I read of him, the more I am in awe of his skill and brilliance. I am currently reading through all of his novels in publication order, although I have already read some of his later works so those will be rereads when I get to them. I am reading his 6th novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, now. My favorites at this point are A Tale of Two Cities (I've read this four times and love it more with every reading), Barnaby Rudge (highly recommend this for those who love Two Cities and/or love historical fiction - it is soooo good), and Nicholas Nickleby (some of my favorite of all Dickens' characters are in this wonderful story). I am so happy to have so many of his most popular novels still ahead of me!
I love Dickens all his books his Characters their names and the way we know so much about life in London and the countryside. His private life was a bit of a mess though
So far, I have only read A Tale of Two Cities, but I own Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Hard Times, and A Christmas Carol.
I started with Great Expectations and I loved it! I've just finished Dombey & Son, and I so loved this story too! Rich with characters and humour, but a very real story of the effect of human behaviour, that is still relevant today. Insightful and moving. Just started Hard Times and just getting into the story and enjoying. I'm listening on audiable and I'm loving this so much as it brings the story to life. Matt Lucas (Great Expectations) and David Timson (Dombey & Son ) The narrators are incredibly good and highly recommend! Thank you for your review! 😃
Dickens will always be an important writer regardless of popularity among readers. His stories helped change laws that were cruel to certain segments of society. How many populsr authors can say that? Dickens happens to be one of my favorite writers. I live the life of his characters while reading his books. I care about them. Also, I feel no other writer can maintain so many plot lines and have them arrive at a predetermined point as can Dickens. He is the master. I simply cannot imagine my reading life without Dickens in it.
I fought with David Copperfield for, I kid you not, five years. I read the first two thirds of the book really fast (three days) but I struggled with the last third of the book (namely Dora) for the rest of the given time. Last month I finally finished reading it and I must say the last chapters really rescued the story for me. Just wanted to share that one with the class. I hope you can win the battle against Oliver Twist! >:)
I absolutely love Oliver Twist and I find it incredibly entertaining yet sad as it goes on. I personally love all the characters and the plot. I would recommend continuing with it, even if you don't like it, it is interesting to discover the true story, and then it would be over and done with.
This is a brilliant opening for Victober! I am almost ashamed to say that I did not enjoy Great Expectations much, and given that so many people love it I probably missed something. Somehow it did not work for me. I hope you will pick up Bleak House again, it is my favorite Dickens so far and I am currently rereading it on audiobook. It is a brilliant novel with abundant plots and characters. Little Dorrit is also a good one. I cannot remember much about Hard Times and will be interested to hear your thoughts. I used to read Dickens quite a lot, but when I discovered Anthony Trollope and fell in love with his novels Dickens fell a little behind. But I would like to get to A Tale of Two Cities and Dombey and Son at some point.
Hello, I prefer Trollope because I enjoy his domestic plots more than Dickens’, as well as his characters which feel so real. And I have to mention his wonderful humour which I feel is more subtle than Dickens’.
I really disliked The Old Curiosity Shop; just saccharine on the page; no suspense because the plot points are telegraphed. I liked Nicholas Nickelby much better. I found Hard Times just meh. My current number one is Bleak House, with Great Expectatiins in second place. I have three or four sentimental favorites from childhood too.
Love this video. :) I've only read Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. I think Oliver Twist was my first Victorian book ever, I first read it when I was a kid. I didn't like it much then, and didn't enjoy it when I reread it a few years ago. A Christmas Carol is good, but I also never loved it as much as other people do. Great Expectations is by far the best of these three. I might pick up David Copperfield next, we shall see. I'm also intrigued by The Tale of Two Cities.
I found you through Christy Luis and I absolutely love this video! Totally agree about Dickens sentimentality. The biggest complaint I hear about Dickens is how verbose he is, but I love his writing! I would have such a hard time ranking Dickens! Great Expectations is definitely up there though. I just reread it last month. I’m currently reading Bleak House and I’m struggling a bit with it (though I’m not far in). I only have six Dickens left, so I am hopeful that I can get through all his works .. but I keep wanting to reread the old ones 😂
Love Charles Dickens but there is something about "Little Dorritt" that I do not like and I cannot fathom what it is ! Pickwick Papers is another one that I dislike. Obviously, the unfortunate Edwin Drood has to be at the bottom of my list for obvious reasons. the rest I love: my favourite is Great Expectations followed by Nicolas Nickleby; David Copperfield; Bleak House ; A Tale of Two Citiesand and all the rest......needless to say, A Christmas Carol is read every Christmas !
Currently attempting hard times, but already struggling in the first few chapters. I prefer a book where are you like somebody somewhere in the opening chapters… LOL! Fussy me! 😆
I loved Oliver Twist but it’s one you’ve got to finish it I think to really appreciate it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of great expectations. I recognise its greatness and I actually enjoyed the first and third part but the second for me was a hard slog. My two favourites are David Copperfield and Bleak House. I’m going to start a Dickens marathon next year so I’m looking forward to that, especially reading books like Old Curiosity Shop, Martin Chuzzlewut, Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend for the first time Just got into your videos after watching your Wilkie Collins one (now reading The Woman In White - love it). I love how intelligent and personalised your vids are and I always love to watch videos on Victorian literature! 😊
Hard Times and The Old Curiosity Shop are probably my 2 least favorite Dickens, followed by Oliver Twist. Little Dorrit is one of my favorites. And I totally agree w your thoughts on A Tale of Two Cities as a book and its ending 😭
I'm going to give Pickwick another try. In March I'm reading David Copperfield. I think I've read a total of five of his work, but ToTC and GE were ages ago. I did read Our Mutual Friend this year and enjoyed it. Happy to hear you're wanting to grow with Copperfield. Kate Howe had to break up with one author, I think it was Hardy. LOL Great video, as always.
@Ayat78 what do you consider slow? It didn't feel like I was trying to rush through it. I have dnf'd Pickwick twice now and I just figured it wasn't a book I would enjoy. I'll give it one more time. But I know sometimes there are spots in Dickens' books that just need to be pushed through, but generally not at the very beginning. Any suggestions are helpful. I do love Dickens, but so far there are three of his books I don't like. LOL
@Ayat78 Thank you. I'm no wear near London and don't see a visit to England in my future. My mother in law was from England. She told me bits about it. She loved books too, but I don't know that the museum existed when she came to America. But who knows what the future might hold. I'll not say never. I'll view some of it online in the meantime. =)
Loved hearing your thoughts on Dickens! He is also one of those authors that I want to read everything by. Great Expectations also takes the #1 spot for me, but I’ve still got a lot to read! I’m reading Nicholas Nickleby right now for the D vs T read along and I’m really enjoying it. It won’t take the top spot but it’s been a really great reading experience. Hope you get back to Oliver Twist. It won’t ever make the top of the list for me, but I find the character of Nancy fascinating. She needed her own story! Oliver Twist also has one of the most shocking scenes written by dickens I’ve ever read. You’ve convinced me to pick up A Tale of Two Cities soon! And the blue of that cover is beautiful!! Might need to add that edition to my collection ☺️ Happy Victober!!
I've been contemplating swapping out the Dickens on my TBR for Nicholas Nickleby to go along with the DvT readalong! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it.
I didn’t realise that Dickens had done the tie-in novelisation of the Muppets’ Christmas Carol. I’d always assumed he had been dead a long time by then. You learn something new every day!
How did you end up liking Hard Times? It was my least favorite, very depressing, I didn't find much lightness in it. I loved A Tale of Two Cities, but I haven't read it since high school.
Studying Dickens at university definitely influenced how much I enjoyed his work at the time, though I’d enjoyed several of his books growing up and now years later I am giving some of his other books another chance. I’ve always enjoyed both Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol having read them quite young, I am currently 2/3rds of the way through A Tale of Two Cities and absolutely gripped by it. Listening to the audiobook read by Simon Callow while reading the physical copy of the book helped me get through that horrendous opening sentence 😂. Next up I plan to reread Great Expectations (didn’t previously manage to finish it) and then maybe try David Copperfield. I do not plan on revisiting Bleak House, which was one of the books that broke me at university along with Hard Times. I might go back to The Pickwick Papers at some point…
I so enjoyed your discussion on the works of Charles Dickens! Always, so refreshing to hear intelligent comments about our most favorite Victorian novelist. He was THE best! As for my favorite novel it's like trying to choose which was my favorite cat whose company I have treasured over the decades. Soooooo, the favorite cat was Bosco and my favorite Dickens novel is "Pickwick Papers." Yes, it is fairly lightweight compared to, say, "Little Dorrit," and it is sometimes rambling and not as focused as, say, "Great Expectations," but there are so many delightful passages that I could read it over and over and over. The rascal Jingle steals the show whenever he appears on the page and his obvious logorrhea makes him one of the most unique characters that Dickens created.
Who is publisher of your copy of A Tale of Two Cities? Looks beautiful. How are font, spacing, margins? I know this is an old video, but I just discovered your channel and have been going back to prior episodes. Hope you see this. Thanks!
My all-time favorite is David Copperfield. I think David Copperfield is his personal favorite book and character in all of his novels because David is the man that he aspired to be. Peggoty, Steerforth, Mr. Micaber, Mr. Dick, Barkis, etc are all so damn fun to get to know.
I also rarely get in stories recently or feel any emotion. I don't know what's in classical literatures that make them sooo human and deep. I've been reading Jane Austin and also reread Wuthering heights and GOD! I feel like being alive and feel! the experience these books give is like remedy for me.
Read Christmas Carol every year ! Pickwick is Don Quixote . His strenth is his first paragraphs in his books - tale of 2 cities , Copperfield , Bleak house
Just discovered your channel. I read A Tale of Two Cities in High School and had to write a paper on it. Didn't lend itself to my loving it at the time but picked up a copy at a little free library and plan to reread. At the same time, I picked up Great Expectations and loving it so far. I appreciate your comments on all the books.
I had a Dickens marathon this spring. What I liked: his humor, memorable characters and whimsical writing style. What I didn’t like: his misogyny and tendency to divide everything and everyone into “good” and “bad” categories, while his opinions are questionable at best. My ranking: 1. Dombie and Son (I have to pretend the last 100 pages don’t exist though) 2. Great Expectations (what Copperfield wishes he could’ve been) 3. Pickwick Papers 4. Little Dorrit (best writing/language of his) 5. Bleak House 6. David Copperfield (put it as low as I could) 7. Oliver Twist 8. Tale of Two Cities (the absolute worst in every category imaginable) Couldn’t get past the first few chapters in Our Mutual Friend.
