DDR: Reprinted Pieces by Charles Dickens

These page numbers do not correspond to my copy of the book, btw.

I'm still reading A Child's History of England--and enjoying it--but I thought I'd have a little look at one of the three remaining Not Novels, and I picked up Reprinted Pieces to see what I could see.

3/24/23: Read Introduction by Michael Foss. Spine of book split. I think was the first introduction I've read in this series which was at least in part insulting and derogatory towards Mr. Dickens. So that was refreshing.

3/25/23: Read first piece: "The Long Voyage." It started with an excellent paragraph:

"When the wind is blowing and the sleet or rain is driving against the dark windows, I love to sit by the fire, thinking of what I have read in books of voyage and travel.  Such books have had a strong fascination for my mind from my earliest childhood; and I wonder it should have come to pass that I never have been round the world, never have been shipwrecked, ice-environed, tomahawked, or eaten."

It then became a recounting of a shipwreck, then switched to a different shipwreck story, then ended with a brief meditation on death. Not a great piece of writing. Nor did it fill me with desire to continue reading in this book right now.

However...it occurred to me that in trying to take on these last three Not Novels, maybe I shouldn't try to bull my way straight through--assuming that all three will be as Not Good as the other Not Novels have been. I could cut my main Daily Devotional Reading session down to 20 pages and then do 10 pages a day in a Not Novel. That would insure that I didn't end up with The Least of Dickens after I finish the novels.

Seems like a viable plan.

Addendum: Finished reading the second piece, "The Begging-letter Writer"--essentially a screed against giving money to charlatans posing as the poor, and encouragement to give to the truly poor. Of course, discerning which is which might be more difficult than Dickens implies gere. In my book, this piece ended on page 23. There were XIII Introduction plus etcetera pages, so that puts me 36 pages into this XIII + 355 = 368 page book, so about 10% in. Not bad for a pretty minimal bit of effort.

3/26/23: Read " A Child's Dream of a Star," which was short, thank God, and "Our English Watering-place" which was not, alas. That took me through to page38...and the undeniable realization that this is going to be A Very Long Slog. These pieces remind me a lot of the material in Sketches by Boz--tedious, trite, and boring. Not pointless, but not nearly pointed enough. Maybe Mr. Foss should have been a little meaner to Dickens vis-a-vis this one, eh?

3/27/23: Read "Our French Watering-place," which was not good. Tried to read a bit of the next piece, "Bill-sticking," but had to stop just a page in because it was even less good. That put me at page 55. Which is about 15% of the journey...but the fact that I'm already thinking of per cent finished for the second consecutive day doesn't bode well, does it? Sigh. On the other hand, this is after reading 30 pages of A Child's History of England, so it's not as little as it sounds. Still, I AM wondering how I'm ever going to make it through this thing.

3/28/23: Finished "Bill-sticking." 15 pages about a guy who pastes posters to walls. It wasn't funny. It wasn't interesting. It wasn't informative. It wasn't entertaining. It was just 15 pages. Which took me to page 69. I wish I could put down some more pages tonight, but I haven't the strength.

Oh, yeah. 19%.

Which means I could bear down full strength--30 pages a car--needs be done with this awful book in 10 days. 

3/29/23: "Births. Mrs. Meek, of A Son" is six pages whose focus is a father who is so stupid that he thinks the women caring for his wife and new born son are torturing said son. Ha fucking ha. And then "Lying Awake," 9 pages detailing the thoughts, many of them lurid and even disgusting, which run through "Dickens'" mind as he (unsuccessfully) tries to fall asleep. That might be all I can take for today.

To page 84. 23%. All sweat equity.

3/30/23: Well...I finished A Child's History of England today, so today is my last "Free Day" of reading Reprinted Pieces. Tomorrow will officially be Shit or Get Off the Pot day. Start Bleak House and continue reading Reprinted Pieces as a side hustle or buckle down and knock it out in a week and a half.

Decisions, decisions.

Oh. I also read to page 105 in Reprinted Pieces. 

Which is 29%.

Day 1 (DDRD 1,977) March 31, 2023 23

And our survey says...I'm going to put the pedal to the metal and take this thing to the wall. Not because it's gotten better...because it hasn't...but because I want to get it over with as soon as possible, and focusing on it us the best way to get there.

So first, A reboot:

Day 8 (DDRD 1,977) March 31, 2023 23

And awaaaaay we go.

In "Out of the Season" Dickens refers to going for a walk--ten miles out and ten miles back. That's one hell of a walk...but he doesn't make any fuss about it at all, as if it was not such a big or even noteworthy deal. He also refers to a book by one Madame Roland which fascinated him. I took a look around and found a copy published during Dickens' time:

It was published in French, thus clearly Monsieur Dickens was (at the least) bilingual. I wouldn't have guessed that, to be honest. Just sayin', sir.

"The Noble Savage" is an 8 page screed in which Dickens expresses his hatred of "savages." This is not the Dickens I was looking for, and I had to stop and catch my breath after reading it. Strange, too--in that in his novels I got the impression that Dickens had a much gentler view of "the uncivilized." There was a slight turn at the end, wherein Dickens implies that "modern" English society is of like ilk in many ways, but it's too little and too late.

Ended up reading to page 151 today...a pretty good chunk made possible because I had to wait for Joe to get off work. Which puts me at a solid 41% completed.

Day 9 (DDRD 1,978) April 1, 2023 22

I was checking the Table of Contents I posted here (above) and was starting to feel like The End was in sight. There were 13 pieces left (I was on "The Detective Police"), but all if them were pretty short, and I was thinking I could knick them out lickety split. Then I happened to look at the TOC in my copy of the book, and saw, much to my surprise / regret / dismay...

           ...not only a whole other section,but a section with much longer pieces in it.

Sigh.

While I was "there," I had a look around for information about this Lamplighter Saga, and found this:

“The Lamplighter” is a wild farce. It feels a little as if someone deleted all the plot, characterization, and heavy themes from one of Dickens’ shorter novels and just left us with a dozen pages of the funny bits.

It kicks off at a kind of Lamplighters Local meeting. One member decides to relate the legendary tale of Tom Grig, a lamplighter who was fated by the stars to make a great marriage to a beautiful, wealthy heiress. Err… well, sort of. The story is a little muddier than that, and it’s full of all the wild exaggerations and self-mythologizing of a twice told tale among friends. In the end we’re not even sure if Tom Grig’s story was anything more than a dream. But no matter, it’s still a fascinating and funny tale featuring some quippy dialogue.

A lighter side of Dickens for those only used to his heavier works.

Review by Matthew

I have to say that this does not inspire me with confidence vis-a-vis the quality of this section. In fact, it sounds like the thing an enthusiastic neophyte would say about Sketches by Boz, which I found to be as painful as a sustained kicking of the nuts.

But time will tell.

BTW... read to page 180. And the last 40 (and the next 10) pages have been Police Stories of one sort or another, and while they're nowhere near the level of Dickens' best writing, they're several cuts abive his worst, and I've actually not minded reading them. I wouldn't go so tar as to say I'd recommend them, mind you, but the brief cessation of pain has been much appreciated, for sure.

49%

ADDENDUM: Read a bit more, to page 189. Which was the end of the police stories (😞) and puts me at 51% (🌝).

Day 10 (DDRD 1,979) April 2, 2023 21

Read to page 220. Rough reading today. I think the Fairy Tale--"Prince Bull"--is the worst piece of Dickens writing I've yet encountered...and it definitely had some competiton.

60% down. Aka 148 pages to go. = 5 days. 5 looooooong days.

Read to 240. (Church, Early.) Also realized I'm been figuring % finished incorrectly. As of now, it should be XIII + 240 = 253 of 368 = 69% down. Much better.

Day 11 (DDRD 1,980) April 3, 2023 20

Read to page 271. 

77% down.

Day 12 (DDRD 1,981) April 4, 2023 19...which is about 570 pages's worth. 97 of them belong to Reprinted Pieces, which leaves 473. So I'll be needing a 473 page book for the next one, then, won't I? (The first Volume of Bleak House is 565 pages... not too far off.)

Read to page 304. 

86%

There was a rather curious bit in "The Lamplighter" (which wasn't bad...one of the best in this Volume, actually, but was hardly worthy of the high praise I've read about it):

'Tom Grig, gentlemen,’ said the chairman, ‘was one of us; and it happened to him, as it don’t often happen to a public character in our line, that he had his what-you-may-call-it cast.’

‘His head?’ said the vice.

‘No,’ replied the chairman, ‘not his head.’

‘His face, perhaps?’ said the vice.  ‘No, not his face.’  ‘His legs?’  ‘No, not his legs.’  Nor yet his arms, nor his hands, nor his feet, nor his chest, all of which were severally suggested.

‘His nativity, perhaps?’

‘That’s it,’ said the chairman, awakening from his thoughtful attitude at the suggestion.  ‘His nativity.  That’s what Tom had cast, gentlemen.’

‘In plaster?’ asked the vice.

‘I don’t rightly know how it’s done,’ returned the chairman.  ‘But I suppose it was.’

It turns out that this "casting" refers to an astrological procedure... seeing the future of the character in the stars. But...well, is it me, or does Dickens make this sound like a casting is being made of Tom Grig's penis? I Googled around to see if "nativity" ever was a euphemism for a man's penis, but the closest I got was this:

nativity-water  n. Obsolete rare (apparently) a person's urine used in astrological divination.

1631   B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre i. ii. 3 in Wks. II   My mother has had her natiuity-water cast lately by the Cunning men in Cow-lane.

https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/125310

So I guess it could be a reference to that...or....

Well.

Day 13 (DDRD 1,982) April 5, 2023 18

Read to page 334. 

94% done. 21 pages to go.

Day 14 (DDRD 1,983) April 6, 2023 17

Read to page 355...The End...At Last! It's been a looooooong two weeks, for sure. But there is this, at least: 

In the "II AS SABBATH BILLS WOULD MAKE IT" section / chapter of "SUNDAY UNDER THREE HEADS," Dickens has this

"The idea of making a man truly moral through the ministry of constables, and sincerely religious under the influence of penalties, is worthy of the mind which could form such a mass of monstrous absurdity as this bill is composed of."

and this

"The next time this bill is brought forward (which will no doubt be at an early period of the next session of Parliament) perhaps it will be better to amend this clause by declaring, that from and after the passing of the act, it shall be deemed unlawful for the wind to blow at all upon the Sabbath.  It would remove a great deal of temptation from the owners and captains of vessels."

to say about Said Sabbath Bills. Which is a nice combination of anger and humor. And a good note to end this Not So Good and DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED book on.

Onward...and hopefully upward.

DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read, 13.45 Average Pages Per Day

A History of Philosophy Volumes I - XI

History of Civilization in England by Volumes I - III

Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volumes I - III

Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volumes I - III

The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IIl Volumes I - III

This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611

The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

Peat and Peat Cutting

+

DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages

(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages

(15) Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence 13 days, 304 pages
(16) Toward Jazz 18 days, 224 pages
(17) The Worlds of Jazz 13 days, 279 pages
(18) To Be or Not...to Bop 14 days, 571 pages
(19) Kind of Blue 4 days, 224 pages
(20) Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and his Masterpiece: 5 days, 256 pages
(21) Miles: The Autobiography 16 days, 445 pages
(21) A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album: 8 days, 287 pages
(22) Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest 8 days, 304 pages
(23) Living With Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings 11 days 325 pages

(24) The Pickwick Papers 28 days, 983 pages
(25) Oliver Twist 16 days, 542 pages
(26) Nicholas Nickleby 27 days, 1,045 pages
(27) The Old Curiosity Shop 22 days, 753 pages
(28) Barnaby Rudge 24 days, 866 pages

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 pages
(30) Martin Chuzzlewit 32 days, 1,045 pages
(31) American Notes 10 days, 324 pages
(32) Pictures From Italy 7 days, 211 pages
(33) Christmas Stories Volume I 10 days, 456 pages
(34) Christmas Stories Volume II 15 days, 472 pages

(35) Christmas Books 17 days, 525 pages

(36) The Annotated Christmas Carol  7 days, 380 pages

(37) Dombey and Son 30 days, 1,089 pages

(38) Sketches by Boz 22 days, 834 pages

2nd 1K Total: 26,834 pages (to SBBII) = 28.76 Average Pages Per Day

Grand Total: 40,273 pages, 20.83 Average Pages Per Day

(39) David Copperfield 21 days, 1,092 pages(
(40) The Uncommercial Traveller 12 days, 440 pages
(41) A Child's History of England 10 days, 491 pages
(42) Reprinted Pieces 14 days, 368 pages

"Virginie Despentes"

I just got a notification from the blogger folks that one of my posts has been deemed "Sensitive" in nature. There's now a warning that comes up which says

Sensitive Content Warning

This post may contain sensitive content. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger Community Guildelines.

You have to click on either of these boxes

I UNDERSTAND AND I WISH TO CONTINUE I do not wish to continue

before you can get to the post.

Well, no big deal...although if you're hoping for a big thrill because of that warning, I can guarantee you that you'll be disappointed. Here's the thing, though. The post in question is "Virginie Despentes," which was published on January 22, 2021. In the two years and two months and one week since it appeared, it has had 9 visits. 

So I'm guessing that it took exactly one complaint for the wheels of justice to grind down on my little post. A post which is primarily a summary of and quotation from a novel by this female writer about the way that some women use sex as a weapon. Not a misogynistic screed by yours truly...though I do write about my personal experiences which go hand in hand with Virginie's comments. I also add that I'm sure that these same criticisms apply to men. 

So what's the buzz? Tell me what's happening? 

My guess is that "a" woman...and I'm pretty sure that I know which one...read my post and decided that I was saying that ALL women are like this. Which is not what I said at all. It's not censorship, of course, since all you have to do to get to the post is click a box, but it certainly is an attempt to marginalize a critical comment which is based on what a woman said about women.

Which seems like bullshit to me.

But what do I know.

It will be interesting to see if the post gets more visits now that it's been "warning labelled," though. Do your part, faithful readers, and visit it as often as possible.

Virginie Despentes

ADDENDUM:

Bulletin, bulletin, bulletin...this is a bulletin, bulletin,  bulletin. Just in case this wasn't absurd enough already... there's this. I was checking back to see if my plea (above) had attracted any help. It had, so thanks. And while I was there, I read through my original post, still trying to figure out why this one had been flagged. When I got to the end of it, still wondering, I noticed a minor typo, and fixed it. When I went to update the post, it triggered an automatic reevaluation of its contents. Keeping in mind that I had only changed one letter, you can see how absurd that was. But check this out. Shortly thereafter I received this message:

What the fuck, man. What the actual fucking fuckity fuck.

Dickens on James I; why does this sound so familiar?

"I know of nothing more abominable in history than the adulation that was lavished on this King, and the vice and corruption that such a barefaced habit of lying produced in his court. It is much to be doubted whether one man of honour, and not utterly self-disgraced, kept his place near James the First. Lord Bacon, that able and wise philosopher, as the First Judge in the Kingdom in this reign, became a public spectacle of dishonesty and corruption; and in his base flattery of his Sowship, and in his crawling servility to his dog and slave, disgraced himself even more. But, a creature like his Sowship set upon a throne is like the Plague, and everybody receives infection from him."

Alessandro Scarlatti

I have a new obsession. Yes, they do happen on a pretty regular basis. I apologize for my obsessive compulsive disorder up front without any hint of sarcasm.

Public Domain

It's Alessandro Scarlatti, an Italian Baroque composer. As with so many things, I bumped into him completely by accident. I had heard a snippet of a song in the 8th episode of Poker Face on Peacock, and I really wanted to know what the song was. So I Googled about, and found a couple of websites that purported to list the complete soundtracks for each episode of the series. For the 8th episode, one of the pieces listed which looked like a possible match with my Unknown Music was La Giuditta (version for 3 voices): Part II: Lullaby: Dormi, o fulmine di guerra (Nutrice) by...you guessed it, Alessandro Scarlatti. As it turns out, I knew within a second (literally...and I mean that literally) that this wasn't the droid I was looking for, but it was so fuckin' lovely that I kept listening. And then I started wondering...who is this Scarlatti guy? I'm not very knowledgeable about classical music, but I thought I knew a little something something. So I went looking for more information. 

I really wanted to see if I could find a book about him, but the first chance I had to read anything about him was just a chapter in a book, Jack Allan Westrup's "Il Mitridate Eupatore (1707)," which is the fourth chapter of New Looks at Italian Opera: Essays in Honor of Donald J. Grout, edited by William W. Austin. The essay is primarily focused on the bad things that Giuseppe Piccioli did to Scarlatti's work when he did his own version of it. Westrup uses words such as "disfigured" to describe Piccioli's "work" on Il Mitridate Eupatore, so even though much of the information contained in the 18 pages of this chapter were beyond me in terms of technical descriptions of the music, I definitely got the gist of it. 

Best of all, though, was that this book gave me leads to several other books about A. Scarlatti: Alessandro Scarlatti: His Life and Works by Edward Joseph Dent and Alessandro Scarlatti: An Introduction to His Operas by Donald Jay Grout. Not to mention Mr. Grout's A Short History of Opera, which includes at least three pages on a Scarlatti aria. My library doesn't have any of those books...though it did have New Looks at Italian Opera (albeit in Remote Shelving, which is never a good sign for a book). They can be purchased at any of the Usual Suspect Places, but even better, at least for me, is that all four books are available via Internet Archive...as well as quite a few of Scarlatti's albums.

Near the end of his essay, Westrup has this to say:

"Of Alessandro it would be certainly true to say that he was capable of a nobility of utterance which was surpassed by none of his contemporaries and by few of his successors. It is this sublimity that is so finely represented in the aria in Act II of Il Mitridate Eupatore...." (150)

Well, I don't know about you, but I am going to need to go looking for that aria. The whole opera is online (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3OiDU8pUDE), but that could make locating the aria tricky, so I'm going to see what else I can find vis-à-vis that.

 Later  I think this is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeVHYtM2BCU I hope it is, because it's quite lovely. 

Also, here's what Wikipedia has to say about Il Mitridate Eupatore:

"Il Mitridate Eupatore (Mithridates Eupator) is an opera seria in five acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti with a libretto by Girolamo Frigimelica Roberti. It was first performed, with the composer conducting, at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice, on 5 January 1707. A failure at its premiere, Mitridate Eupatore is now considered one of the finest of Scarlatti's operas."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitridate_Eupatore

So that's how that goes.

And BTW, I've been eyeing a boxed set of Alessandro Scarlatti's music which I found at Amazon (🐍hssss🐍) for $60. It includes 30 cds. Here's what that looks like:

https://www.brilliantclassics.com/articles/a/alessandro-scarlatti-collection/

I've been trying not to buy it...staving it off by getting cds from the library and downloading things I can't get there from YouTube. But so far it's not working to assuage my hunger. In fact, I think it's only served to whet it.

Details as they happen.

DDR: A Child's History of England by Charles Dickens

Friday, March 17th, 2023

Shhh, don't tell, but even though (AOTW) I still have 105 pages to go in The Uncommercial Traveller, I started in on A Child's History of England. Read the 5 page Introduction by Derek Hudson, respected author of such notable works as Talks with Fuddy and Other Papers. He had lots of desultory things to say about this Dickens book, including his perception that parts if it are "deplorable" and suggesting that Dickens shouldn't have published it. Yowza. These Introductionists have got some fuckin' nerve. Just wait until somebody asks me to write an introduction to a new edition of Talks with Fuddy and Other Papers. I'm gonna gut that fish.

So I started in on the text proper. And...I found it delightful. It's definitely written with a softer touch than Dickens' other works: shorter sentences, simpler vocabulary and less complex syntax. As one would want in a book aimed at "A child." 

So I'm starting to think that I might could make this my next book.

One of the topics that came up in the first pages of the book was Hadrian's Wall. I don't know a whole lot about this, and as I read I realized that I didn't even know how tall / wide this wall was. So I did what you would do: I looked it up on Wikipedia. And?

So there you have it. Definitely high enough to make somebody stop and think about it, and most definitely high enough to keep horses from leaping over it.

I also started wondering if an original copy of the book version (since it was first published in installments in a magazine) of A Child's History of England could be had. And the answer it: of course, it's the 21st century, FF'sS. The first version I found was pretty weak looking:

Not to mention pricey. But the second one I found looked a lot better, and was just a little bit more expensive:

Not that I would spend $1,600 on a book...but it's nice to know that it's out there. Only problem being that AbeBooks is now owned by Amazon, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, y'know?

Saturday, March 18th, 2023

Still reading on the down low...and I think I'm going to keep doing that as I finish up The Uncommercial Traveller. It helps to counteract the nausea I am feeling during and after reading TUT. I know that things are always subject to change, but at the moment (page 37, Thank You), I am enjoying this book SO much that I find it hard to believe that anyone wouldn't enjoy it. 

In Other News...

I was just wondering how long I'd been on this Dickens Project, thinking that it hadn't been that long, and went to check. It's been almost ten months, and my first anniversary will be on May 25, 2023. I'm thinking I can finish off several more books before then, maybe putting me at 25 down or more by then.(21 1/2 down at the moment.) That would put me just shy of 70% of The Complete Dickens. Not bad for one year.

Sunday, March 19th, 2023

And yes, still d-l reading...but looks like I'll be finishing The Uncommercial Traveller tomorrow, so Tuesday will be my official Day One for A Child's History of England. Speaking of...I read to page 57 today, and I'm still Sunday Afternoon Groovin' on this book. In addition to the other charms I've mentioned previously / above, it's also a nice little refresher course for me...as I taught British Literature (and thus invoked British History for context) for A couple if decades way back when. 

An interesting little side note on today's reading: Dickens made reference to someone signing something   " with the sign of the cross." And I stopped and thought, "Is THAT what an X meant?" So I had a little look around, and sure enough: 

"Signing letters with an ‘X’ dates back to the Middle Ages. At this time, many couldn’t read or write, so this was an easy way for someone to sign something and, particularly in legal documents, assert that whatever was said in the document was true. Specifically, the X represented a Christian cross/Christ at this time, so by signing X, you’re essentially saying 'In Christ’s name, it’s true / I assert.'”

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/548349/what-is-the-origin-of-x-mark-used-as-a-signature-of-illiterate

Is that cool or what? And one more added level of coolness: after making this mark, the " signer" would kiss the X reverently, and that's how the X became associated with "kisses."

Annotated books are really the only way to go, y'know?

P.S. I seem to have neglected to mention this: XVIII + 473 = 491 pages. Minus 75, of course. (And counting.) 

Monday, March 20th, 2023

I (finally--it was a very long 12 days) finished off The Uncommercial Traveller, this morning, so it's one more down-low day for A Child's History of England and then on to Day 1 (DDRD 1,967) March 21, 2023 33. Which, of course, is very exciting for me. 

Meanwhile...read to page 88 today, which (with the intro pages) means 106 pages down, 385 to go. Not a bad start...especially considering I haven't "started" yet. So 13 days ought to do it for the rest of this, and then I think it's time to go full metal Bleak House...which I'm really looking forward to.

In today's reading there was a reference to Castle Oxford, and I got excited, thinking we were going to have a brush with Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (and obviously the man behind the nom de plume William Shake-speare). Turns out that it was a different thang, though. 

Oxford Castle

Castle of the Earls of Oxford

Disappointing. I've been hoping for an invocation of de Vere ever since Dickens started talking about the Norman Invasion...since Aubrey de Vere gained great honors from his participation in that action...but no dice.

But I still love Dickens. And I am really enjoying this book. Might even read a few more pages later tonight after I get through some Dad Duties.

Oh, and here are some words for the wise"

"As one false man usually makes many...a false King, in particular, is pretty certain to make a false Court...."

Are you listening, G.O.P.?

Day 1 (DDRD 1,967) March 21, 2023 33

Read to page 128. English history--and all history, I suppose --certainly is replete with cruelty, deception, and depravity. Strangely (given that this is "a child's history"), Dickens doesn't hold back on many of the gory details, so there are beheadings, mutilation of corpses, torture, etcetera. There was even a new detail (no spoilers) which was so disgusting that I had to stop reading for a minute and catch my breath. But hey...that's history, right?

Day 2 (DDRD 1,968) March 22, 2023 32

Read to page 160.

Day 3 (DDRD 1,969) March 23, 2023 31

Read to page 220. And guess what? There was a reference to an Earl of Oxford! Not the 17th, but to whoever held that title in 1346. And one Google search later we find...that that would have been John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford. I'll leave it to you to figure out how many "greats" go before "grandfather" with respect to our Edward. Unfortunately, all JdV gets here is a passing mention, but it was still a nice little bit of excitement for me.

Also had the William Wallace story, and a side order of Robert (The) Bruce. Woot!

Day 4 (DDRD 1,970) March 24, 2023 30

Read to page 250. The best part of today's reading was the story of Joan of Arc. Dickens didn't have any respect for her visions,  referring to them as her "disorder" and her "disease," but he did a good job of telling her story with respect. 

In other news, I've now passed the halfway point of this book, have a mere 223 pages to go, and will probably read some more later today as I'll have more than a little bit of wait time in my car.

News as it happens.

Day 5 (DDRD 1,971) March 25, 2023 29

Read to page 290. On to Henry VIII now, so not far (A mere generation) from Shakespeare's time. And already into Shake-speare's time, if you dance to that tune.

Last night I had a little peek into the volume entitled Reprinted Pieces, and even read the short introduction--it was unique among introductions in this series in that it did not once mock or insult Dickens. And it made it sound like the pieces in this volume would be pretty good...and possibly very good. So now I'm wondering if maybe I should try to squeeze it in before going on to the known glories of Bleak House. Maybe. Ill do a little more sampling before I get serious about that possibility.

Day 6 (DDRD 1,972) March 26, 2023 28

Read to page 320. We're getting close to putting Elizabeth on the throne now, so we're into the Age of Edward de Vere. Keeping my eyes peeled for connections.

ADDENDUM: Church day = lots of wait time; read to page 345, and Elizabeth I is in the throne. It's De Vere Time! (he said, hopefully). Also, this puts me about four days out from finishing this volume, woot woot!

Day 7 (DDRD 1,973) March 27, 2023 27

Read to page 380. Elizabeth has come and gone, and though we got close to de Vere with several references to Lord Burleigh and the Earl of Essex...not to mention Shakespeare...there was no Earl of Oxford to be seen. So on to King James, for whom Dickens clearly has no respect. (He refers to him throughout this section as His Sowship--which is what one of the King's favorites called him, BION.) Also he ends the chapter on King James (XXXII) with these comments:

"I know of nothing more abominable in history than the adulation that was lavished on this King, and the vice and corruption that such a barefaced habit of lying produced in his court. It is much to be doubted whether one man of honour, and not utterly self-disgraced, kept his place near James the First. Lord Bacon, that able and wise philosopher, as the First Judge in the Kingdom in this reign, became a public spectacle of dishonesty and corruption; and in his base flattery of his Sowship, and in his crawling servility to his dog and slave, disgraced himself even more. But, a creature like his Sowship set upon a throne is like the Plague, and everybody receives infection from him."

That's not love.

Day 8 (DDRD 1,974) March 28, 2023 26

Read to page 410. Two thoughts occurred to me whilst reading today: (1) even though (per the Introduction) Dickens did no personal field research in the writing of this book, it's clear that he must have spent many an hour reading other histories and working to distill their contents into a form that he could then express in his own words. (2) Even though it's tempting to see the state of things in today's America as horrible and violent and lawless, it's clear that other nations gave gone through similar, and in some cases even more extreme, times of strife. And yet they survived. So maybe we will, too.

Day 9 (DDRD 1,975) March 29, 2023 25

Read to page 440. Which means tomorrow is it for this Volume!

Day 10 (DDRD 1,976) March 30, 2023 24

Here's an interesting thing: 

"Argyle...sent a fiery cross, by trusty messengers, from clan to clan and from glen to glen, as the custom then was when those wild people were to be excited by their chiefs."

I don't know who thus Argyle fellow was beyond "Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll," but does this indicate that the Ku Klux Khan's burning cross was imported from Scotland? Sounds like.

And Wikipedia says...yep. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_burning.) The things you learn whilst reading Dickens. 

BTW, I saw this bit of loveliness

                                           at Goodwill today and was seriously tempted to pick it up. I would very much like to know more about the man behind the plume, and Goodwill's prices are unbeatable--a buck or two for this tome. But at 1,195 pages...not to mention 4 pounds and 2.5 x 6.6 x 9.7 inches...I decided that it was going to be too much for me after finishing (🤞) 36 volumes of Dickens, so I reluctantly put it back on the shelf for someone else to discover.

And yes, today I read to page 473...The End. It was a good read. Makes me wish that Dickens had done more non-fiction...and skipped the short stories.

Just sayin', sir.

DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read, 13.45 Average Pages Per Day

A History of Philosophy Volumes I - XI

History of Civilization in England by Volumes I - III

Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volumes I - III

Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volumes I - III

The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IIl Volumes I - III

This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611

The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

Peat and Peat Cutting

+

DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages

(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages

(15) Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence 13 days, 304 pages
(16) Toward Jazz 18 days, 224 pages
(17) The Worlds of Jazz 13 days, 279 pages
(18) To Be or Not...to Bop 14 days, 571 pages
(19) Kind of Blue 4 days, 224 pages
(20) Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and his Masterpiece: 5 days, 256 pages
(21) Miles: The Autobiography 16 days, 445 pages
(21) A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album: 8 days, 287 pages
(22) Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest 8 days, 304 pages
(23) Living With Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings 11 days 325 pages

(24) The Pickwick Papers 28 days, 983 pages
(25) Oliver Twist 16 days, 542 pages
(26) Nicholas Nickleby 27 days, 1,045 pages
(27) The Old Curiosity Shop 22 days, 753 pages
(28) Barnaby Rudge 24 days, 866 pages

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 pages
(30) Martin Chuzzlewit 32 days, 1,045 pages
(31) American Notes 10 days, 324 pages
(32) Pictures From Italy 7 days, 211 pages
(33) Christmas Stories Volume I 10 days, 456 pages
(34) Christmas Stories Volume II 15 days, 472 pages

(35) Christmas Books 17 days, 525 pages

(36) The Annotated Christmas Carol  7 days, 380 pages

(37) Dombey and Son 30 days, 1,089 pages

(38) Sketches by Boz 22 days, 834 pages

2nd 1K Total: 26,834 pages (to SBBII) = 28.76 Average Pages Per Day

Grand Total: 40,273 pages, 20.83 Average Pages Per Day

(39) David Copperfield 21 days, 1,092 pages

(40) The Uncommercial Traveller 12 days, 440 pages
(41) A Child's History of England __ days, 491 pages

HELP!

I really want to know what this music is and who wrote it:

 

Can you help a Brother out?

Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Final Four

Joe and I started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs books in 2009... beginning with A Princess of Mars (which was a good place to start, since it was ERB's first published book), continuing through all of the Barsoom novels (11 total), and then on through the Tarzans (25, 2 children's books, and a Guide to the Tarzan Clans of America). That alone put us at the 46% through the oeuvre mark. We continued through Pellucidar (6), Amtor (5), Caspak (3), The Moon (3), The Mucker (3), The Cave Girl (2), Barney Custer (2), and The Apache (2), which put us over the three quarters mark (65 books), and finished off all of the ERB series. Then we started in on the 19 standalone works *.  As of this writing (3/13/23), we only have 4 of these left to read:

1. Marcia of the Doorstep **

2. You Lucky Girl! 

3. The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County

4. Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder (This one lists for between $175 and $500 online, btw.)

I have all but one of them (**) in-hand. The one in-bush book is available via the Louisville Free Public Library, though, so The End, like Bill, is nigh.

An interesting thing: Joe has been choosing which book to read next since we finished A Princess of Mars 14 years ago, and even though he doesn't know anything about ERB's publishing history, 3 of our remaining books (1, 2, and 4 above) were the last ERB books published (1999, 1999, and 2001)...and all three were published in very limited editions. Sorry to say that none of them are very good, either, but that's probably why they weren't published until 50 years after Burroughs died. (Just sayin', sir.)

It takes us a couple of months to read a book, since we only do about five pages a night, four nights a week--but I'm thinking that we might be able to finish off The Final Four before the end of 2023.

And then? Well, I DO have those two omnibus editions of Lucky Starr, Space Ranger....

* The 19 stand alone works are:

1. Minidoka: 937th Earl of One Mile Series M

2.  The Outlaw of Torn

3.  The Monster Men

4. The Bandit of Hell’s Bend

5. Beyond the Farthest Star

6. The Girl From Hollywood

7. The Rider

8. The Lad and the Lion

9. I Am a Barbarian

10. Beyond Thirty / The Lost Continent

11. The Girl from Farris's

12. The Jungle Girl / The Land of Hidden Men

13. Beware! / The Scientists Revolt

14. The Efficiency Expert

15. The Man-Eater

16. The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County

17. Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder

18. You Lucky Girl!

19. Marcia of the Doorstep

UPDATE: 4/17/23--Finished reading The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County. 

UPDATE: 6/9/23--Finished reading Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder.  A truly terrible book. The only story worth your time was "Elmer," which is the original version of "The Resurrection of Jimber Jaw."

UPDATE: 6/24/23--Finished reading You Lucky Girl! Which, I'm sorry to say, was not a good book...but it wasn't terrible. And it was probably our fastest ERB read ever. 

Final Update: 10/7/23--Finished reading Marcia of the Doorstep. It was a long one...ERB's longest work...and I'm sorry to say that it's not very good at all. If you want to do a Complete Burroughs Trek as Joe and I have just finished doing, I'd suggest you read our last three books much earlier, so you can finish on something that leaves a good taste in your mouth. Just sayin', sir. 

***** Books I Think I'm Going to Read Soon

Forty Million Dollar Slaves by William C. Rhode

The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought edited by Chris L. Firestone and Nathan A. Jacobs

Nature's Hidden Dimension: Envisioining the Inner Life of the Universe by W. H. S. Gebel

Seven Types of Ambiguity by Wlliam Empson

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver  Read It

The Color of Christ by Edward J. Blumm Email: eblum@sdsu.edu 

Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture by Eric Greene

Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King

The Fire and the Cloud: An Anthology of Catholic Spirituality

The Science Fiction of Mark Clifton edited by Barry Malzberg

That Uncertain Feeling by Kinsley Amis (which features that great line about liking breasts)

The Confessions of St. Augustine (see https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/01/25/what-translation-of-augustines-confessions-should-i-read/)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Dominion, The Making of the Western Mind Tom Holland

Opera: The Autobiography of the Western World (Illustrated Edition): From Theocratic Absolutism to Liberal Democracy, in Four Centuries of Music Drama by Simon Banks--already reading this: on page 273.

The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach--translated by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), FF'sS!

Alessandro Scarlatti: An Introduction to His Operas

by Donald Jay Grout  Read It

Alessandro Scarlatti: His Life and Works by Edward Joseph Dent

Philosophers on Shakespeare by Paul A. Kottman (not available at the library)

Sights and insights: Patience Strong's Story of Over the Way

by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney...a copy of which I found at Half-Price Books which was published in 1876!

Monsieur Proust by Céleste Albaret

Also,

I'm on page 199 of 353 in The Diary of A Bookseller by Shaun Bythell (but unfortunately I do not like Shaun very much, so I don't know if I'll ever get back to this one).

And I'm on page something or other in The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife by Brad Balukjian.

Speaking of books...this: 

https://www.dramandaforeman.com/stay-silent-and-soon-amazon-will-be-telling-the-world-what-it-can-read-the-sunday-times/?cn-reloaded=1

DDR: The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens

The Uncommercial Traveller

You can tell by the way the bound-in bookmark is still folded back into the book that this

one has never been read before. Also, the spine is in pristine condition. (But we all know

that THAT won't last.)

Again decided to try to do a little "clean up" on the non-novels so that I won't be left holding the bag on The Least of Dickens when I finish the last novel. So this: a series of essays published 1860 to 1861. 

It's XV + 425 = 440 pages, so we're probably looking at a couple of weeks or so.

Day 1 (DDRD 1,955) March 9, 2023

Read to page 30.

In the second essay, "The Shipwreck," people come from Australia to visit the graves of their family members who have drowned when their ship went down. In some cases, these people had travelled great distances. And it made me think about my new-found niece, L. She lives near Baltimore, home of my birth. Her mother, my oldest sister, is buried here in Louisville. L. has talked about how she wants to come down to visit the grave, and part of me is just baffled by that. I mean...it's not like my sister is really here, after all. Another part of me understands that the same force which compels L. to make a 61,220 mile journey (round trip) to look at a patch of ground is the same force which compels me to wear a cross around my neck that my grandfather wore. 

In the same essay, Dickens suggests that seamen were tattooed in order to make identification of their bodies easier. 🙆  Makes sense, doesn't it.

In "Wapping Workhouse": "It was something to be reminded that the weary world was not all aweary, and was ever renewing itself...." (26) Which I think is quintessential Dickens...and the opposite of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead--a book which I read and loathed.

Day 2 (DDRD 1,956) March 10, 2023

Read to page 60. As with so many--in fact, most--books, it's still kind of like work at this point, but at least it has some rewards (unlike much of Sketches By Boz or the Christmas volumes). 

And here's Today's Word:

perquisition

noun

per·qui·si·tion ˌpərkwə̇ˈzishən

plural-s

: a thorough search

specifically : a search by warrant

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perquisition?fbclid=IwAR1-RMPkAh3EeOtRcfCkyLrshNMjCJC95KqXgbempTQR1D82SEO387GI9mo

So there's that.

Joe had basketball practice, so I read a bit more...to 77. Hard to make a lot of progress when you're reading at basketball practice....

Day 3 (DDRD 1,957) March 11, 2023

Read to page 109. Several excellent words today, my favorite of which was

shako: Borrowed from French shako, from Hungarian csákó (“cylindrical military dress hat worn by the Hungarian hussars from the 18th century to World War I”).

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/shako?fbclid=IwAR0DAxVB5Gr9V-nsY_D9vQidp-h8h3a8T_3NnnDOhrwMq6wQvdI0jQyW5SQ

I was still kind of trudging along during the first pages of today's reading, but began to perk up quite a bit as I got farther along in VIII, "The Great Tasmania's Cargo," which featured a bit of a spoof of Candide. It also included this memorable line:

"I never heard of any impeached public authority in my life, who is not the best public authority in existence." (89)

I then moved on to IX "City of London Churches," and was delighted to read that Dickens had done a one year "tour" of the churches of London...which is what I did in THIS and THIS.  Further proof that Great Minds think alike, I'd say. 

And oh, here's another word which must be preserved: 

saponaceous
adjective
sap·​o·​na·​ceous ˌsa-pə-ˈnā-shəs
: resembling or having the qualities of soap
saponaceousness noun

Saponaceous is a New Latin borrowing by scientists that is based on sapo, the Latin word for "soap." It describes natural substances, like aloe gel or some plant roots, used in making soap or having the properties of soap. It also describes things that feel or appear soapy-for example, some shales and clays, mica, and certain chemical preparations. In the 19th century, saponaceous began to be used for people having a slippery, evasive, or elusive character. One famous example is the elocutionist Bishop Wilberforce whom British politician Benjamin Disraeli described as "unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous." In The Devil's Dictionary, author Ambrose Bierce uses Disraeli's quote to illustrate the word oleaginous, noting that "the good prelate was ever afterward known as Soapy Sam."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saponaceous

And here is how Mr. Dickens uses this wonderful word:

"On summer evenings, when every flower, and tree, and bird, might have better addressed my soft young heart, I have in my day been caught in the palm of a female hand by the crown, have been violently scrubbed from the neck to the roots of the hair as a purification for the Temple, and have then been carried off highly charged with saponaceous electricity, to be steamed like a potato in the unventilated breath of the powerful Boanerges Boiler and his congregation, until what small mind I had, was quite steamed out of me."

Oh, Charlie...you so FUNny.

Day 4 (DDRD 1,958) March 12, 2023 42 

You know, seems to me that I'm pretty near the point where I should start counting down to Daily Devotional Reading Day 2000...as I would very much like to round out that landmark day by finishing a book off. So I shall begin to note the Days to 2,000 in red next to the date of each reading henceforth. To wit: see above.

Read to page 140. Not very good stuff today, sorry to say.

Day 5 (DDRD 1,959) March 13, 2023 41 

Read to page 180. 

Here's a funny Macbeth allusion:

"By that time, he felt he was ‘in furniture stepped in so far,’ as that it could be no worse to borrow it all. Consequently, he borrowed it all, and locked up the cellar for good. He had always locked it, after every visit. He had carried up every separate article in the dead of the night, and, at the best, had felt as wicked as a Resurrection Man. Every article was blue and furry when brought into his rooms, and he had had, in a murderous and guilty sort of way, to polish it up while London slept."

Day 6 (DDRD 1,960) March 14, 2023 40 

Read to page 210.

Day 7 (DDRD 1,961) March 15, 2023 39 

Read to page 240.

Here's another fine word Mr. Dickens has gotten me into:

Funny to have known what something is without knowing what it was called.

In another news...this book has gotten pretty tedious again. Most of the "stories" of late have been of the trivial kind, primarily aimed at humorous effect which I, alas, do not find humorous. Sigh. 185 pages to go.

Day 8 (DDRD 1,962) March 16, 2023 38 

Read to page 271 (end of XXII).

Dickens really does have a preoccupation with breasts. The word "buxom" appears regularly, there are several mentions of breast feeding, and check this out. When introducing a ship named The Amazon, Dickens notes:

"Her figure-head is not disfigured as those beauteous founders of the race of strong-minded women are fabled to have been, for the convenience of drawing the bow; but I sympathise with the carver:

A flattering carver who made it his care

To carve busts as they ought to be—not as they were."

"Busts as they ought to be"; an apt description of Playboy magazine, too, I think.

Day 9 (DDRD 1,963) March 17, 2023 37

Read to page 300. I don't want to invoke bad luck by mentioning it, but (knock wood) with a mere 125 pages (4 days) left with thus volume, it looks like there's a very good chance that the spine will remain intact. I'm not sure that that has happened before. Well...🤞and Time Will Tell.

In today's reading, Dickens made many references to the Black Country, and I had to stop reading and let my Brain Tape of Bowie's " Black Country Rock" play through. I probably haven't listened to that song in 20 years or more, but every note of it was there. Who needs a CD player?

I miss Bowie.

LATER....

Read a bit more...to page 320. Also picked up A Child's History of England and wondered if I should just go ahead and read that now... knowing that (1) Bleak House is up next, and that is definitely something to look forward to, (2) once I finish that, there are only 3 more non-novel Volumes to read, and (3) it's relatively short, XVIII + 473 = 491 pages, so it would only take 16.3 days to finish it off. I don't know. I'm really ready to get back to where I once belonged on the novel thing...but I am also very cognizant of the fact that every time I do a Complete Oeuvre job on a writer, I end up reading some shitty stuff at the end...either stuff published posthumously or stuff that was scraped together once his/her/their primary work was finished. I want to leave my Dickens Project on as high a note as possible. 

P.S. Speaking of...maybe that means I should read The Mystery of Edwin Drood out of order and make Our Mutual Friend my final Dickens. I mean, if it's good enough for Lost's Desmond and for John Irving, it should be good enough for me, right? Also, although I don't know know, I suspect that a complete Dickens novel is going to be far superior to an incomplete one. Just sayin', sir.

Day 10 (DDRD 1,964) March 18, 2023 36

Read to page 350.

You know...Dickens had an excuse for his tedious frivolity in Sketches by Boz. He was young. He'd not yet experienced a great deal of the wold. His sense of humor...and outrage... had not yet jelled. He has no such excuse in The Uncommercial Traveller, who chose was written in the 1860s, when he was 50 years old, and after he had written great works such as Bleak House and David Copperfield. 

At any rate...only 75 pages to go now, so I'm just going to put my head down and churn my legs until I break on through to the other side. I'd definitely suggest that you skip reading this one, though. There's really not much to be gained here.

Day 11 (DDRD 1,965) March 19, 2023 35

Read to page 400. This time out, added to the usual nonsense there was a dollop of racism as well:

"My object was to hear and see the Mississippi Momuses in what the bills described as their ‘National ballads, plantation break-downs, nigger part-songs, choice conundrums, sparkling repartees, &c.’ I found the nine dressed alike, in the black coat and trousers, white waistcoat, very large shirt-front, very large shirt-collar, and very large white tie and wristbands, which constitute the dress of the mass of the African race, and which has been observed by travellers to prevail over a vast number of degrees of latitude. All the nine rolled their eyes exceedingly, and had very red lips. At the extremities of the curve they formed, seated in their chairs, were the performers on the tambourine and bones. The centre Momus, a black of melancholy aspect (who inspired me with a vague uneasiness for which I could not then account)...."

And the last character referred to turns out to be a White guy in Black face, which makes it even worse, I think.

Also, when I was searching the text of this book for this passage, I found there was another racist reference earlier in in the book:

"‘Now den! Hoy! One. Right and left. (Put a steam on, gib ’um powder.) La-dies’ chail. Bal-loon say. Lemonade! Two. Ad-warnse and go back (gib ’ell a breakdown, shake it out o’ yerselbs, keep a movil). Swing-corners, Bal-loon say, and Lemonade! (Hoy!) Three. Gent come for’ard with a lady and go back, hoppersite come for’ard and do what yer can. (Aeiohoy!) Bal-loon say, and leetle lemonade. (Dat hair nigger by ’um fireplace ’hind a’ time, shake it out o’ yerselbs, gib ’ell a breakdown.) Now den! Hoy! Four! Lemonade. Bal-loon say, and swing. Four ladies meet in ’um middle, Four gents goes round ’um ladies, Four gents passes out under ’um ladies’ arms, swing—and Lemonade till ’a moosic can’t play no more! (Hoy, Hoy!)’" (Chapter IV: TWO VIEWS OF A CHEAP THEATRE)

Which doesn't increase my love for Dickens, though I suppose that historical context would go far to mitigate his 'guilt' on this one.

On the plus side, I'm finished with this book tomorrow! Woot!

Day 12 (DDRD 1,966) March 20, 2023 34

Read to page 425, aka The End. And not a moment too soon. This was not a good book. Not as bad as Sketches by Boz, and not without some good moments, but for the most part full of trivial, uninteresting, pointless bits, with humor that was very forced, insincere, and juvenile. I'd strongly suggest that you pass on this one if you want to keep your live for Dickens intact.

And now...we join A Child's History of England, already in progress.

P.S. The spine didn't crack on this book! I'm pretty sure that that's a first for this collection.

P.P.S. 22 1/2 down, 13 1/2 to go! 

DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read, 13.45 Average Pages Per Day

A History of Philosophy Volumes I - XI

History of Civilization in England by Volumes I - III

Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volumes I - III

Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volumes I - III

The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IIl Volumes I - III

This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611

The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

Peat and Peat Cutting

+

DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages

(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages

(15) Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence 13 days, 304 pages
(16) Toward Jazz 18 days, 224 pages
(17) The Worlds of Jazz 13 days, 279 pages
(18) To Be or Not...to Bop 14 days, 571 pages
(19) Kind of Blue 4 days, 224 pages
(20) Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and his Masterpiece: 5 days, 256 pages
(21) Miles: The Autobiography 16 days, 445 pages
(21) A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album: 8 days, 287 pages
(22) Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest 8 days, 304 pages
(23) Living With Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings 11 days 325 pages

(24) The Pickwick Papers 28 days, 983 pages
(25) Oliver Twist 16 days, 542 pages
(26) Nicholas Nickleby 27 days, 1,045 pages
(27) The Old Curiosity Shop 22 days, 753 pages
(28) Barnaby Rudge 24 days, 866 pages

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 pages
(30) Martin Chuzzlewit 32 days, 1,045 pages
(31) American Notes 10 days, 324 pages
(32) Pictures From Italy 7 days, 211 pages
(33) Christmas Stories Volume I 10 days, 456 pages
(34) Christmas Stories Volume II 15 days, 472 pages

(35) Christmas Books 17 days, 525 pages

(36) The Annotated Christmas Carol  7 days, 380 pages

(37) Dombey and Son 30 days, 1,089 pages

(38) Sketches by Boz 22 days, 834 pages

2nd 1K Total: 26,834 pages (to SBBII) = 28.76 Average Pages Per Day

Grand Total: 40,273 pages, 20.83 Average Pages Per Day

(39) David Copperfield 21 days, 1,092 pages

(40) The Uncommercial Traveller  days, 440 pages