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#WhatTheDickens Hard Times Buddy Read

Hard Times is the 10th novel by Dickens published in 1854. With themes, including the consequences of unchecked capitalism and the importance of empathy it‘s still relevant today. All are welcome! We will check in mid month and post a discussion question at the end of January.

Repost for @TexReader

@Cuilin and I are hosting a year-long Dickens buddy read! Let us know if you want to participate in some or all of the readings. We promise A Christmas Carol will be read again in 2025!! #whattheDickens

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2822407

@Cuilin and I are hosting a year-long Dickens buddy read! Let us know if you want to participate in some or all of the readings. We promise A Christmas Carol will be read again in 2025!! #whattheDickens @LitsyEvents

Sorry guys, for not being present as l should, considering the readalong #FellowshipOfTolkien.
Thing is, I'm leaving my job and it is proving to be harder and more confusing than l anticipated.
But l hope that once this is all done and in the past, I'll be back (really back) here.

But you keep reading and sharing. I'll dive right back as soon as l can ☺️

The novel follows three spheres that are intertwined: Mr Grandgrind is deep down a good man, but he only believes in facts and not feelings and tries to raise his kids accordingly...with totally forseeable consequences; his friend Mr Bounderby is a banker and manufacturer devoid of feelings who has problems with Unions and recognising employment rights; and Stephen Blackpool is on of Bounderby's employees that has a difficult life. ⬇️

6-14 Aug 23 (audiobook)
It‘s Dickens, so I am reluctant to pan as the language is wonderful and there were a few memorable characters, but definitely not my favourite. I felt there was not enough going on to be classic Dickens. Hard not to like Stephen and feel sorry for his ending and despise Thomas and rue his escape.

Happy birthday, Charles Dickens! It's a good day to read _Hard Times_, a book that feels peculiarly suited to the world we live in:

“'And he said, Now, this schoolroom is a Nation. And in this nation, there are fifty millions of money. Isn‘t this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty, isn‘t this a prosperous nation, and a‘n‘t you in a thriving state?‘

“‘What did you say?‘ asked Louisa. . . .

Hard Times is not Dickens's best novel, but it might be the most directly relevant to the current world.

https://newrepublic.com/article/169577/sam-bankman-fried-charles-dickens-hard-ti...

Un Dickens che sa rivolgersi al lettore con un'armonia di penna incredibile. Il grigio delle strade di Londra si incontra con il mondo delle fabbriche e con la classe operaia del XIX secolo. Una cultura borghese che esplode di concretezza e scientificità, il tangibile che diventa carcere dell'anima e distrugge il sogno. Un semplice capolavoro che nessun lettore o scrittore può perdere. Grazie Dickens. Grazie.

Still feeling Dickens, so grabbed this one off the shelf, solely because it was shorter than the other ones there. Am only a few chapters in, but already the names and descriptions of characters are 🤣

#OppositeDay @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheKidUpstairs
Prompt: Soft

Fact, this book was a painful read. There were moments that the book was enjoyable to read but this is subpar in comparison to many other of Dickens‘ works that I have read. I wouldn‘t recommend this one. Unfortunately not his best work in my subjective opinion.

November 2020
The Bass Rock: Evie Wyld 4.5 🌟 📖
Such A Fun Age: Kiley Reid 2 🌟 🎧
The World That We Knew: Alice Hoffman 5 🌟🎧
Half Gods: Akil Kumarasamy 4 🌟 📖
The Confessions of Frannie Langton: Sara Collins 3.5 🌟📖
The Vanishing Half: Brit Bennett 3 🌟🎧
Wow, No Thank You: Samantha Irby 3 🌟🎧
The Cost of Living: Deborah Levy 4.5 🌟🎧
Hard Times: Charles Dickens 4 🌟🎧
Magic Lessons: Alice Hoffman 2🌟🎧
Homeland Elegies: Ayad Akhtor

A delight. Simplistic and moralistic but he sure can tell a story. 4 🌟

Did not care for this audiobook. It is public domain and was recorded by volunteers. Some did okay and others were dreadful. This is not my kind of book either. ⭐️

@Eggs here‘s my #spinepoem1 attempt for #AcrossApril:

Hard Times
Kindred spirits
Gathering
Across the miles
Against the odds
Brave new world

Obvious choice today #hardtimes #newyearnewyou @Eggs

Day 21 - #HardTimes #NewYearNewYou #CharlesDickens

I do own this book but have not read it yet!

#GratefulReads Day 20: While I have read quite a few Dickens, being a huge fan, these are two that fit into the category of #ClassicYouHaventRead. I think I now own several of his classic novels that I wish to get to, hopefully soon. 😭😂📚📚📚

Very difficult to get through

#wellreadmom bookclub, February selection.

Look what arrived today! Thank you Ammy! 😘

#nortoncriticaleditions

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finlands_flagship_library_so_popular_its_runn... Who said people don‘t read books anymore???? Our library is so popular it‘s running out of books!

I‘ve actually read all of these. Incubus and Girls Night ain‘t are both good, I‘ll just never reread them.

I'm revising the view I've held on this book for 30 years. I hated it when I had to read it in college. But you have to admire a character who throws shade like Mrs. Sparsit. My new thought is that Dickens is best performed because I thoroughly enjoyed the BBC audiobook. This was my "Read a Book You Hated" for Bookriot's #ReadHarder2018 challenge.

#Bookhaul part 2. After resting at a coffee shop, we hit a vintage store and found these beauties. Tom Jones replaces a copy whose spine is falling off. The Dickens match the copy of Little Dorrit that my daughter gave me for Christmas several years ago. None of them even look like they‘ve been read.

Tried. Couldn‘t do it. Moving on

“Do the wise thing and the kind thing too, and make the best of us and not the worst.”
― Charles Dickens, Hard Times

This May ( @Bagfullofbooks @Bookishsteph1 @PagesAndCup and myself) will be hosting the read-along for Dickens 10th novel, ‘Hard Times‘ over on IG.

For all the details and the reading schedule see the link below:

https://instagram.com/p/BiNEPtdghBa/

#DickensBuddies #HardTimesWithDickens #classicliterature #classics

#academic_read
It's good in its own way.. coz nothing can beat Oliver twist, david Copperfield n Great expectations(favourite). Character portrayal is very vivid. and it has a lot of symbols and stuff.

This past month I‘ve been reading and studying Hard Times as an historical text for university 😅 I love Dickens so it‘s been illuminating and fun. It‘s all done now though and I‘m swiftly into studying Victorian Manchester 💁🏼‍♀️ Just as fun and includes looking at Gaskell‘s Mary Barton! #booklover #bookstagram #bookaddict #bookreviewer #bookblogger #prettybooks #prettycovers #bookish

1. Gift from work... apparently I'm too happy in the morning😃
2. The Orville, and it's awesome!
3. Tagged above as part of my degree. So far so good, but I'm only just starting it 📖
4. Grey, cold and windy 🌬🌫
5. 5 tattoos and quite a lot of piercings, but mostly ear piercings
@MinDea #HumpDayPost

My name is Lee and my #Litsyhandle is Leelee08.

My handle is pretty self-explanatory.😂 However, here‘s a little secret: Only those closest to me call me Leelee, like my husband or grandmother. I‘ve always wanted to be called Leelee, but it never really caught on with anyone else. So I‘m super glad y‘all call me Leelee! Also, my son was born in 2008. 😊😊😊

A Butterbeer latte and some Dickens.🖤

1912 Charles Pears illustration of Louisa Bounderby from #HardTimes. I think Louisa is one of Dickens more interesting female protagonists. #DickensianDecember @jenniferw88

“...in the day of your triumph, when romance is utterly driven out of their souls, and they and a bare existence stand face to face, Reality will take a wolfish turn, and make an end of you.” -pg. 163

#ThomasGradgrind and his beleaguered children Louisa and Thomas. I recently read this for the first time and really liked it. Many unfortunate parallels to today. #DickensianDecember @jenniferw88

“Filled with these thoughts - so filled that he had an unwholesome sense of growing larger, of being placed in some new and diseased relation towards the objects among which he passed, of seeing the iris round every misty light turn red - he went home for shelter.”

A little stack of green...

This is the most overt social treatise of all of Dickens novels and as such it reads a little differently from the rest, with ideas and allegory overshadowing character and plot development and him slipping into outright speechifying from time to time. But I loved those speeches and his impassioned pleas are still so relevant today. And certain characters like Stephen Blackpool left their mark on me. All and all a fine novel.

In one of his shortest books, Dickens covered some heavy topics. Set during the Industrial Revolution, we see pollution from factories, treatment of workers by the capitalist system, social class and the education system making up part of the back story. And, of course, over the top villains.

Well, there‘s a quote for our time. No alternate facts, please. #readathon

Mic drop 🎤

Dickens is really on a roll here....if only he were on Twitter ☺️

I feel you, CD, I feel you...🤦🏻‍♀️Also, I am def going to be working #SloughOfInanity into my conversations and comments wherever possible 😂

Hey... this guy sounds so familiar to me...

Here‘s an argument that sadly we are still hearing today.