Sunday, November 6, 2022

The Centennial Dickens by Heron Books

 The Novels 
1   The Pickwick Papers I
2   The Pickwick Papers II
3   Oliver Twist
4   Nicholas Nickleby I
5   Nicholas Nickleby II
6   The Old Curiosity Shop I

7   The Old Curiousity Shop II
8   Barnaby Rudge I
9   Barnaby Rudge II
10 Martin Chuzzlewit I
11 Martin Chuzzlewit II

12 Dombey and Son I
13 Dombey and Son II
14 David Copperfield I
15 David Copperfield II
16 Bleak House I
17 Bleak House II
18 Hard Times
19 Little Dorrit I XXVII + 534 = 561
20 Little Dorrit II  V + 500 = 505
21 A Tale of Two Cities XXIII + 437 = 460
22 Great Expectations XIV + 566 = 580
23 Our Mutual Friend I * XXV + 524 = 549
24 Our Mutual Friend II * V + 503 = 508
25 Master Humphrey's Clock / The Mystery of Edwin Drood XV + 299 = 314 

 The Other Stuff 
26 Sketches by Boz I 
27 Sketches by Boz II
28 Christmas Stories I
29 Christmas Stories II
30 Christmas Books
31 American Notes / Pictures From Italy
32 A Child's History of England
33 The Uncommercial Traveler
34 Reprinted Pieces
35 Miscellaneous Papers I
36 Miscellaneous Papers II

     = I possess it.
     = I read it.
     = I'm reading it.


I started my Dickens Project on May 25, 2022 with The Pickwick Papers. I was only planning on reading The Novels--in chronological order (hence I did not start with Sketches By Boz)--but when I noticed that that left only about 1/3rd of the set unread and when I began to enjoy Dickens immensely, I decided to try for the Whole Hog. As of today (November 6, 2022), I'm 1/3rd of the way through the complete works, and I'm thinking that I can go through the entire set. News as it happens.

UPDATE: June 2, 2023, and I've now read 28 1/2 of those 36 volumes...so well beyond the 2/3rds mark now, and no doubt that I'll be able to finish this Project...and probably before the end of the year. The short works (both fiction and non-fiction, and for sure the poetry) were hard, since most of that stuff was just downright bad, but now its pretty clear sailing with mostly novels ahead of me, two of which I've read and enjoyed previously. News as it happens.

UPDATE: July 22, 2023, and I'm almost halfway through Great Expectations. After that there's Our Mutual Friend and The Mystery of Edwin Drood...and then it's Party Time (in the Ryuichi Sakamoto-ian sense). Thinking I'll emulate Desmond and John and do Our Mutual Friend last, but not sure yet.




* As for this, THIS: "Our Mutual Friend (the book that [Lost's] Desmond brings on board the Elizabeth) is written by Charles Dickens. Desmond said that he had read everything that Dickens had written, and was saving the novel Our Mutual Friend to be the last thing that he ever read. Similarly, American novelist John Irving is an avid fan of Dickens and claims to have read every one of Dickens's works multiple times, except for Our Mutual Friend, of which he has a copy placed in every one of his homes so that he has something to look forward to should he become severely ill."
(https://lostpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Charles_Dickens#:~:text=Desmond%20said%20that%20he%20had,thing%20that%20he%20ever%20read.)


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