Oh my goodness Dickens!! Do you think you could integrate a little more drama into this one?!? For realsies though--I cannot be the only one picking up a "Days of Our Lives" or "All My Children" vibe here. 

I also ran into multiple times where I was deciphering who what who in this web of relationships. . . Joseph did warn us.  I think it would be wise of us to review the different characters--and I only read the first 10 chapters.  

It appears as though I am going to love this book--I already do.  Though it is a soap opera, Dickens makes every single character make sense and have a purpose.  

Even at 100 or so pages into the book, I quickly drew lines in my brain connecting the lives of the various characters.  I will warn you that there are spoilers in the Wikipedia descriptions, so be careful--they will tell you of the twists to come.  

I am a little more than half way through the first book and I am already having to make myself put it away so I can accomplish something throughout the day.  Stop by the discussion board and share your thoughts so far.  Which character do you find the most intriguing? Why? Who do you think killed John Harmon? How likely is it that these people would all be connected in this manner in real life?

I will post by Sunday my thoughts and some discussion questions for the first book.  

I love your comments!!

Great news guys!! We can totally finish this book in a month's time!! I ran the numbers and if we read 190 pages per week or 27 pages per day we can finish this in 28 days!! Get excited ( I know Joseph is so we can finally start discussing again).

Here is our reading schedule for the rest of May and the beginning of June:
May 13-May 19--Book the First--The Cup and The Lip
May 20-May26--Book the Second--Birds of a Feather
May 27-June 2--Book the Third--A Long Lane
June 3-June 9--Book the Fourth--A Turning

Granted most of us are not exactly reading in a traditional book, so my page numbers (or their equivalents) will vary somewhat.  In the end, though it will all even out and we can get this one under our belts.  I'm looking forward to the challenge.  

I am going to post some preliminary questions to the discussion board just to get us used to conversing with each other.  Please stop in and offer your thoughts/comments/remarks. 

I love your comments!!

Dickens!

Get excited folks.  

I have always been partial to the "greatest novelist of the Victorian period" (according to Wikipedia--don't judge me, you use it too).  I originally wanted to read The Pickwick Papers, but for some reason when I awoke this morning, I was not feeling it.  So, my search continued for a novel by Dickens that would meet the qualifications requested by Joseph and would keep everyone entertained for the couple of months that it would take for us to complete it.  I also wanted the book to have some significance to the author--I like it when actions have many different meanings.  

I eventually landed on Our Mutual Friend.  

This 782 page, 4 book novel surely meets the request for a meaty, stew-y, cake-y, chewy novel.  This is the last complete novel that Dickens wrote.  Similar to his other novels, Our Mutual Friend was published in a monthly serial from May 1864 through November 1865.

I encourage you to go ahead and acquire your copy and to read up a little on Dickens and Our Mutual Friend. The next post will include a little more background on both as well as our proposed reading schedule.  This one will be a little more involved than was Poe, so I will take greater care in its execution.  

Here are links to the text on various websites as well as e-books. 
Google Play Books--This works on Barnes and Noble's Nook too. 
Amazon Kindle
Project Gutenberg -- Several options here
The Text Online--no download required

I am looking forward to this one.  I think it will be fun.  Go ahead and begin reading if you wish.  I imagine we will cover at least the first 3-4 chapters in our first week.  

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed everything that is Poe and was April--Month of Poe, I dropped the ball completely and it is time for a clean slate.  We are scratching what was left--the third and fourth weeks of April and moving head first into May, which means that we have a decision to make.  What would you like to read?

I have received requests for either Dickens or Wilde, so which would you prefer?

Either way, I will choose one of these men to study this month.  Let's get this train rolling again!!  

Leave a comment with your requests!!