I
have only ever read one book by Charles Dickens – and that was only a
short story, A Christmas Carol – and so I am determined that next year shall be
The Year I Read Dickens. And yes, that is entirely worthy of such a grand title :') Furthermore, since next year is a cause for celebration in the world of
Charles Dickens, what better time to give it a go?
And
so I would like to invite you all to join me in attempting to read or re-read a
number of books by Charles Dickens next year, whether you are already a devoted fan or, like me, a newcomer to his work.
The
event will run from January 1st 2012 until December 31st
2012, and you may decide – from three options – how many of Charles Dickens’s
works you would like to challenge yourself to read next year. The options are:
·
3 books
·
5 books
·
10 books
If
you’d like to attempt the challenge, please sign up in the linky-thing below - just put your name and/or blog name as the Link Title. Also, if you have a blog, you may
wish to post about how many books you are going to read, and which ones these will be, once you have made your choices. I am challenging myself to
read 5, and shall soon be putting together a post of my
choices.
Throughout
the year I’ll be posting reviews of the books I read and the adaptations I
watch, along with a number of other Dickens-related posts. I'd encourage you to do the same!
Also, feel free to
put the button (above) on your blog :) I do hope many of you decide to take part,
but please do leave a comment with any thoughts or questions you might have
either way!
For
more information on the celebrating of Charles Dickens’s bicentenary, see http://www.dickens2012.org/
~Abby
22 comments:
Oh dear! I'm such a slow reader, and his books are so long! I do know, however, that I will be reading at least one, and that is A Tale of Two Cities for school. And I've already read A Christmas Carol, so I can't call upon that one because it's short...:P
But, a challenge is a challenge... maybe I'll do the 3 books one. We'll see. =)
Oh! Sounds wonderful! I think I'll read 5. Do re-reads count?
This sounds like such fun! I've read a lot of Dickens already, but I think I shall attempt three new ones this year.
Are you hosting this event, or is someone else doing it and you are just sharing about it? Looks like fun!
Oops, and I just noticed that at the bottom of the button it says "Newly Impassioned Soul", so you ARE hosting this. Pardon my inane previous comment. :P
I've read nearly ten of Dickens' books already, so I'll go with five this year! :)
This sounds lovely Abby! I've long wished to read more Dickens as I've only ready 'A Christmas Carol' and bits of the other books. I've seen many film adaptations of his works and really enjoy the intricate and throughtful storylines and amazing characters in Dickens.
Since I'm "not a great reader" three Dickens books will be my number. I have three in mind already (two of which are on my "to read" shelf right now). So right now I'm planning on reading A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Curiosity Shop and Great Expectations.
Are we encouraged to write reviews of the books we read or posts? Or maybe about our favorite characters or quotes?
I will have to post about this and definitely put the button on my blog! :)
Melody - short stories are fine, if that is what you want to read :) I'm pretty slow too (I've been trying to get through Daniel Deronda since April...) but I'm trying to be a 'better' reader this year!
Anne-girl - yes, they do!
Miss Dashwood and Rachel Heffington - I'm glad to hear you're going to be taking part in the challenge! And Miss Dashwood, you are pardoned :')
Miss Laurie - like you, I've seen many adaptations but never read any of his books :) And as for reviews etc., absolutely! Anything like that is greatly encouraged.
Thank you all for such an encouraging response! I'm really looking forward to seeing how this event turns out :)
~Abby
Count me in on this Charles Dickens' Reading Challenge! It looks like a delightful challenge! I'll be posting about this very soon on my blog. But just to let you know beforehand, I'm challenging myself to read five of Dickens' books--both old and new ones. I mean, I'll be reading new ones and re-reading others. I should watch some adaptations as well. So far, I've only seen one Oliver Twist movie adaptation, and that's all.
Glad to hear you'll be taking part! :) Yes, that's fine - if you've read some before, I'd definitely recommend challenging yourself to a mix of both new and old books :)
I've seen a few adaptations already, but there are a number of longer ones such as Bleak House and Little Dorrit that are really popular that I haven't got round to watching yet. Hopefully this year will be a chance to do so!
~Abby
So excited to have found your blog! I am also very excited about this challenge! I have been in need of something to make me read more Dickens! :)
How exciting!!! Dickens is my favorite author and I'm sooo looking forward to this! I have a list of classic books i'd like to read this year and I have a bunch on there! I've read almost all of them except for Our Mutual Friend, Dombey and Sons and The Mystery of Edwin Drood...so I'm planning some re-reads this year, too. :)
Elizabeth: Thank you so much for stopping by! I'm glad to hear you'll be participating :)
Alexandra: Yes, I'm trying to make this the year I read more classics too, along with some Dickens of course! The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the one that was left unfinished, right? There's a BBC adaptation of it airing next week, I think. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it and a post a review!
~Abby
May I make a suggestion?
I'm editor of Dickensblog, and this year I'm asking people to do Dickens readathons to raise money for charity. You can ask people to sponsor you for so much per chapter, or for a set amount.
So I'd like to suggest, if it's okay, that some of you who are reading for this challenge might like to join in the fundraiser. Here's the link that explains more:
http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2012/01/happy-dickens-year.html
And the list of charities:
http://dickensblog.typepad.com/dickensblog/2011/12/the-dickens-bicentennial-charity-fundraiser.html
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Wonderful! I would love to participate! I don't have a blog, but I still would like to challenge myself to complete at least three Dickens novels. I know I shall be reading at least one, because I want to read Great Expectations before the new adaptation comes out. As for the two others, we shall have to see!
Thanks!
Rachel
Gina - What a wonderful idea! I'm going to try and get some people to sponsor me :) I'll mention what you said on my next post about the challenge to spread the word. Thank you for making the suggestion!
Rachel - even if you don't have a blog, you're more than welcome to join in! I'm planning to read Great Expectations too :) Keep us posted by comments, if you will!
~Abby
Hi. I came over from 'A Novel Challenge', and have signed up for 3 books- though for my purpose, I'm including A Christmas Carol, as it is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time. Here's my sign up post. Do hop over.
http://www.arightowrite.blogspot.com/2012/01/reading-challenges-for-2012.html
Thanks for hosting.
Great challenge! :) And lovely blog, too!
BTW, I'm so sad I haven't seen the Downton Abbey Christmas Special yet, as I'm not from the UK :/
Sandhya - Thank you very much signing up! This challenge is perfect for reading for reading those books you've been meaning to for a long time :') I've long been meaning to read some Dickens, but never really got round to until now!
Petra - I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed my blog! :)
Is there somewhere you can watch it online? I'm not sure where, but it may be possible. Do you know when it airs where you live?
~Abby
Yeah, I hope I'll find it online somewhere! :) They started to air the first series over there a few weeks ago.
My ambition is to read 3 books by Dickens this year: The Old Curiosity Shop and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (my last two of his novels) and Pictures from Italy.
I hope I can get to them!
I'm joining the challenge. It's an opportunity and encouragement for me to start reading the works of Dickens. :)
I now it's a bit late but I would like to join this challenge to read Great Expectations, Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend. I finished Great Expectations earlier this year already and wrote a post on it, so if anyone else has read it too, it would be nice to compare thoughts. :)
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