The 305 Greatest Books - #189: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The next up on my reading of the 305 greatest books is Bleak House by Charles Dickens. The book can be found on the BBC Book List.

Bleak House is my final Dickens' novel on my list and probably the hardest one for me to get through. At one point, I was around 1/3rd of my way through the book, I googled "Why is Bleak House so terrible". The return results were actually rather encouraging. I found that many people consider the first portion of the book (about where I was at) to be difficult to follow because the story bounces around a LOT. However, people had said it gets better from there and that a lot of people consider it his best work. That helped and so I kept going forward, and while the book did indeed get more streamlined and better, I never fell in love with the book as many people did. I was even told I was outright wrong for disliking the book (not maliciously). The problem is that so many of the characters were just overly simplified stereotypes in one way or another and they were just grating on my nerves. Add on top of that a story plot that bounced from one chapter to the next without a clear storyline. It just got to be a lot. There were also few characters that I actually enjoyed. Even the main character, Esther Summerson, whom much of the story was told from a first person perspective, would repeatedly relay other characters telling her how wonderful she was. Gag me with a spoon. This was obviously also written as a serialized story with each and every chapter from 8 to 14 pages in length, and while that made the story easy to digest, it allowed Dickens to just write and write and write, creating a very bloviated novel. Overall, I believe having finished it that if I went back would actually probably like it better now, however I have no desire whatsoever to do that. 

The 306 Greatest Books #116 - David Copperfield

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Observer, BBC, and My Book Lists.

This was one of the longer books I have read in a while and I did greatly enjoy it. I found myself wondering what was coming around every turn of the story. Although, after reading the "review" that was found at the end of my version I did notice some rather odd things about the story. Mainly, the first part of the book felt very, very different from the rest of the book. The first part was rather dark and things kept getting worse and worse for David. Once that portion was past though, the book seemed to level out and although there were some bad times, there was nothing quite like that first part. Another thing that has me confused is on the title itself. The story is named after the primary character, David, who for one doesn't go by "David" for the majority of the story. Also, the story focuses more on the supporting characters than on David himself. I felt I was watching the lives of the secondary characters pass through, rather than seeing the story change by any actions of David himself. The story itself was very well written and I was surprised that characters that seemed to be one-note characters would constantly reappear later in the story. Many of these characters did get tiresome, they eventually did redeem themselves by the end. The story itself is easy to follow and well written and I must say this was the best Dickens' story I have read. By the end of the story, I did feel that some of the character arc conclusions left a little to be desired. But overall, the story was well done and I would have to recommend people pick it up.

The 306 Greatest Books #33 - A Christmas Carol

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This book can be found on the BBC Book List. 

A Christmas Carol tells the story of a miserly scrooge who eventually learns to feel the Christmas spirit after being threatened by three Christmas spirits. The story in the book is just like the story many people already know through its countless adaptations. However, anyone who is familiar with adaptations knows that the books can be very different from their adapted counterparts. After reading the story I discovered that, for one, this story is rather short and therefore many of the adapted versions actually follow the story fairly well, with each one leaving out one thing or another for the sake of flow and brevity. Overall, this is an enjoyable story which is a quick and easy read. A perfect read for the holiday season.

The 306 Greatest Books #30 - Great Expectations

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Norwegian, BBC, and My Book Lists. 

Great Expectations was one of Dickens' last novels, and by far one of his best. The novel follows Pip, a street orphan, as he is saved by a convict and eventually grows up to find love. While reading through the story it can be a bit slow at times but overall the story is well written and easy to follow. This book, along with most of Dickens' other works, also suffers from the eternal optimism that is a hallmark of Dickens writing, however it flows much more easily in this story than in others where it often feels forced. The story tackles many themes including wealth versus the poverty we see Pip start out with, love and rejection, and good versus evil. It is definitely a story with a warm heart at its center, as can be found usually with Dickens. 

The 306 Greatest Books #29 - A Tale of Two Cities

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This book can be found on the Sybervision and BBC Book Lists. 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This is perhaps the most memorable opening to a novel in the history of literature (except perhaps Moby Dick), but it is also a novel that seems to have faded from my memory over time. I have found Dickens himself becomes a bit drab to read. He likes to pull his punches in his stories, so in the end they don't have as much of an impact as they could otherwise have. The book itself was a rather enjoyable book though about London and Paris (the aforementioned two cities) during the time of the French and American Revolutions. It is a romance showing how far people are willing to go for the ones they love during times of crisis. The story ended up being rather confusing at times and it is definitely not Dickens' best work, but an enjoyable story nonetheless.