DDR: Miscellaneous Papers Volume I by Charles Dickens

 

Another Never Read book, as you can see by the un- unfurled bookmark. The spine was already split, and the side piece (surely there's a word for that) fell off after I'd read a few pages.

So I guess it's not worth

                                                    anymore. Oh, well. I probably wouldn't have sold it anyway.

11 1/2 Volumes to go now...which means I'm a little more than 2/3rds of the through. I'd thought I was going to be reading Bleak House next, but I started nibbling on Miscellaneous Papers while I was finishing up Reprinted Pieces, and decided to go for it because (1) I should be able to finish Volume I on DDR 2,000 with less strain and (2) I would REALLY like to have nothing but Novels left between me and the conclusion of My Dickens Project.

And awaaaaay we go.

Day 3 (if I include the nibbling days as 1 & 2) (DDRD 1,984) April 7, 2023 16

Its XVI + 526 = 542. Which would "normally" be an 18 day project, so obviously I'll need to push it a bit to make my deadline (16). But Bleak House Volume I would have been an even bigger push (19 day project), so there it is.

By the way, an Oddity: I'm pretty sure that the other volumes I've read in this Collection were all printed in Switzerland. This one was printed in France, though. What's up with that?

ANYway...I read the XVI and 26 pages whilst finishing Reprinted Pieces (days 1 and 2), so I start today with 500 pages to read and 16 days to do it in. That's 31.25 pages per day...which isn't far off from my normal Dickens Per Day. Sounds do-able.

So let's go.

And?

Read to page 61, and there was actually some pretty interesting stuff here. Speaking of which, here's the Table of Contents:

So that's a whole lot of pieces. Which is good news, because that means that at least many of them are going to be pretty short, and I always find it easier to read a series of short pieces than a long one, even if the page count ends up being the same. (Just did the math; average length is just a smidge more than 6 pages.)

The "John Overs" piece was a paean to the writer of (deep breath) The True History of the Life and Sudden Death of Old John Overs, the Rich Ferry-Man of London, Shewing How He Lost His Life by His Own Covetousness and of His Daughter Who Caused the Church of St. Mary Over in Southwark to be Built. I went looking for it online, but couldn't find a free version, and the for pay versions were too pricey for me, so I guess that's as far as I'll get with that.

There was another "other writer" piece--an introduction to a book of poems by one Adelaid Anne Procter. Pretty heartfelt and moving words. Dickens quoted some lines of Ms. Procter's poetry, and I had to stop on this one: "Oh, what were life, if life were all?" Einmal ist keinmal. 

There have also been pieces about schools for the destitute, the wrongness of capital punishment, and a few other things. And I have to say...I think this is going to be okay. 

465 pages to go, 15 days to do it in. That's just a bit (15 pages) beyond my normal Dickens Pace of 30 pages per day. And you know what? I might even read a few more pages of this book later tonight. After I unclog the bathtub, scoop up the cat shit, wash the dishes, and read three books to Jacqueline and three books to Joe. Assuming I'm still awake after that.

P. S. I wasn't. 😴

Day 4 (DDRD 1,985) April 8, 2023 15

Read to page 100. Which included 16 pages defending Sir Walter Scott's reputation. 

426 pages to go. That's 14.2 days at 30 ppd. Only have to get ahead of that rate by six pages to even it up now.

Day 5 (DDRD 1,986) April 9, 2023 14

Read to page 138. "The Niger Expedition," which categorizes Africans as ignorant barbarians, seems pretty racist... but it also derails how these Africans sold slaves (people captured from other tribes), engaged in human sacrifice, murdered, and broke treaties they'd willingly agreed to. So what do we make of that? In "The Poetry of Science," Dickens says that when we die, most of our body goes back into the atmosphere, leaving just a bit of dust. Which seems to be the case. A quintessence of dust indeed. A bit humbling, that.

388 pages to go. That's 12.93 days at 30 ppd. Looks like we made it, Barry.

But you know, while this isn't Prime Cut of Dickens, and while I'm not sure I'd recommend it, this is (knock wood) not painful to read as some of the other volumes were, and since I now know I'm on track to finish it for Day 2,000, I may not keep up with the "pages to go" shit.

So that's a good sign, ennit?

Day 6 (DDRD 1,987) April 10, 2023 13

Read to page 170. Quite a variety of topics in today's 30, from a work of art to an actor's performance to the deplorable conditions in a "children's farm" to the boring letters of a traveller. Most of it was interesting, but especially the work of art, a panorama by one John Banvard which Wikipedia describes thusly:

"In 1840 he began to paint large panoramas of the whole Mississippi River valley. He traveled through the area in a boat, made preliminary drawings and supported himself with paintings and hunting. He combined the preliminary sketches and transferred them to a canvas in a building erected for this purpose in Louisville, Kentucky. His largest panorama began as 12 feet (3,6 m) high and 1300 feet (369 m) long and was eventually expanded to about half a mile (about 800 meters) although it was advertised as a "three-mile canvas". It toured around the nation, and was eventually cut up into hundreds of pieces, none of which still exist today."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Banvard

And of course I enjoyed seeing the Louisville connection, which Dickens mentions twice.

Day 7 (DDRD 1,988) April 11, 2023 12

Read to page 200.

Day 8 (DDRD 1,989) April 12, 2023 11

Read to page 230. It was an uphill climb today. 17 pages written from a raven's point of view which were something less than amusing, and another dozen pages which were just so-so. I feel compelled to note that I have slightly less than 300 pages to go now.

Day 9 (DDRD 1,990) April 13, 2023 10

Read to page 260. Another uphill climb, though there was some writing on the prison system ("Pet Prisoners") which was interesting and moving. But truth be told, I'm ready for this book to be over with, not planning on going on to Volume II (IV + 490 = 494 = 16.47 days, btw) right away, and a bit dismayed that I still have 266 pages to go. 

I may have to come up with a Plan B for this before I run out of gas.

Day 10 (DDRD 1,991) April 14, 2023 9

Read to page 290. Sigh. 7 pages on turtle soup. 

In order to finish this book on DDR 2,000, which I am desirous of doing, I have to keep to 30 pages per day for the next 8 days. After that, it's Bleak House (and blessed relief). And at some point after that, I'm thinking I could start on Miscellaneous Papers Volume II at like 5 pages per day. It would take 3 months to finish, but it should be bearable... even if (as I suspect) Volume II is worse than Volume I. (I had a little peek.) And then...nothing but novels.

Sigh. Turtle fuckin' soup.

Day 11 (DDRD 1,992) April 15, 2023 8

Read to page 320. 

Day 12 (DDRD 1,993) April 16, 2023 7

Read to page 350.

Day 13 (DDRD 1,994) April 17, 2023 6

Read to page 380. When I quit for the day I was in the midst of several pages reproducing (1) advertisements for places to view a funeral profession for some Duke and (2) advertisements for letters bearing the signature of said Duke. It's not thrilling reading.

Here we go again,

Same old shit again.

Marching down the avenue.

Five more days and I'll be through.

I'll be glad and so will you.

Day 14 (DDRD 1,995) April 18, 2023 5

Read to page 410. Some interesting pages today, as Dickens wrote about a house for "reforming" women who had fallen onto hard times. It hit me that Dickens' non-fiction writing tends to be best when he's not trying to write humorously. Which is strange, because his fiction is often very funny. He seems to be unhinged when he attempts this in non-fiction, though, tending towards silliness or even outright stupidity.

Day 15 (DDRD 1,996) April 19, 2023 4 (!)

Read to page 440. There was a pretty interesting piece about Dickens (?) being lost as a child ("Gone Astray"), but quite a bit of uninteresting stuff as well. Best news? Less than 100 pages to go (86, to be precise). I think I can, I think I can....

P.S. I was strolling through the list of available downloadable audiobooks on the LFPL website, and this one stopped me:

I mean...WHAT? Might have to have a look at this.

Day 16 (DDRD 1,997) April 20, 2023 3 (!!)

Read to page 470. Mmm-hmm.

Listened to the first 15 minutes of Dickens and Prince. The excuse for pairing them seems to rely primarily on the fact that both were prolific creators, with a side order of the author "discovered" them within 18 months of each other. Despite the stupidity of that premise, I found the book mildly interesting, and will probably have another go at it tonight...though it's rare for me to stay awake for 15 minutes with an audiobook. Those things put me out FAST.

Day 17 (DDRD 1,998) April 21, 2023 2 (!!!)

Read to page 500. Just kind of staggering at this point. A couple of times I lost my place and it took me several minutes to find it...all of the words looked the same. Although I did like this bit:

"Neither Religion nor Education will make any way….until a Christian government shall have discharged its first obligation, and secure to the people Homes instead of polluted dens."  (485)

One more day!

Day 18 (DDRD 1,999) April 22, 2023 1 (!!!!)

Read to page 526: The End. It was very unpleasant. For some reason, Dickens found it necessary to recount a dozen (maybe more) tales in which shipwrecked sailors did NOT eat each other...and several more where they did (but just a little bit). 

This was a terrible book overall, and I'm glad to be finished with it.

I mistimed my reading, though. I'd meant to finish on Day 2,000. Ah, well. Tomorrow I start Bleak House Volume I, and my heart keeps up at the thought of that.

So...since there's that ↑...and since I only read 26 pages this morning...I broke out Miscellaneous Papers Volume II (which had its ribbon in place as previously described vis-a-vis Volume I, thus had never bearded before) and read to page 5. Which gives me another 9 pages for the day (including the preliminary material). And it was REALly boring.

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
(43) Miscellaneous Papers Volume I 18 days, 542 pages