#12BooksOf2021 #4thbookof2021 #april
My favorite for April, my favorite Charles Dickens thus far, and my 5th favorite of the year. 😁
⭐⭐⭐⭐
@Andrew65
Andrew65 A true classic! 3y
23 likes1 comment
Our Mutual Friend | 
#12BooksOf2021 #4thbookof2021 #april
My favorite for April, my favorite Charles Dickens thus far, and my 5th favorite of the year. 😁
⭐⭐⭐⭐
@Andrew65
pick4⭐️ My first Dickens in English! (I read Great Expectations in Indonesian decades ago) Dickens is brilliant with his characterization; my favorite part about this novel is its character development, formed by either ambition, jealousy, greed, etc. Theme-wise, it can be summarized as “Money is the root of all evil.” It was true then, it is still true now.
This makes me want to read another Dickens now... any recommendation?
The best set-up for reading
Slow progress 😓 It‘s hard to focus when there are a lot of things in my mind
Starting this today, for next month‘s Chunkster Book Club meeting
bailedI‘m so bummed I couldn‘t get into this one. It‘s the only Dickens I‘ve ever read that I didn‘t like! So many characters...I found it to be rambling and confusing. ☹️ I stopped at p80.
pickI‘m finding I much prefer Dickens‘ later books to his earlier ones, I guess my tastes run darker than his earlier books! This was probably my favourite Dickens I‘ve read! I love the bleakness but also the constant idea that you can be reborn, people are always growing into new versions of themselves for better or worse. It was funny and sad and my heart was in my mouth at times. It was definitely worth spending thirty something hours on
pickAaaaaand it‘s finished! 779 pages - I feel like that‘s worth celebrating!
This has more characters in it than any other Dickens I‘ve read - which kept it entertaining, but could be confusing if you were dipping in and out. It‘s also the most humorous of his books I‘ve read, very satirical about the upper classes and politicians. Dickens has a political point to make about the Poor Law here too, always aware of and illustrating those injustices ⬇️
Charles Dickens does a good rendition of “not all men” circa 1863. Love it!
(Dickens doesn‘t have a good record for writing realistic female characters but I love that he is completely on Jenny‘s side in this instance.)
Bradley “But I was not aware it was the way with all of us ... won‘t you say, some of us?”
Jenny “Meaning... everyone of you, but you. Hah!”
Dickens reaches Peak Snark in this novel. He‘s ripping into all manners of bourgeoisie behaviour in nineteenth century London. The chapters about the Veneerings are pretty damn funny! 😂 Here he has Lady Tippins who comes to weddings specifically to sum them up in her caustic manner.
pickAs the last novel Charles Dickens completed before his death, Our Mutual Friend displays the author at the height of his sharp wit and observation of human nature. No shortage of evocative descriptions, colorful dialogue, and magnetic characters here. So overall I give this a thumbs up, although it‘s not my favorite of his. Like most Dickens novels, the gist is: characters scheme and suffer, and a lucky few make it to a (relatively) happy ending.
Hoorah!! Finally I have finished this doorstop of a book! I think my next read will be something much shorter. 😅
This just might be ⭐️THE QUOTE⭐️ of the book for me. ❤️❤️❤️
Woo-hoo! Made it to the 25% mark. 🙌 I am really enjoying the experience of reading this in manageable daily issues via the Serial Reader app. Tackling Dickens 15 minutes at a time! (And not completely unlike the way his original readers would have experienced the book in serial print issues.)
pickOut of all the Charles Dickens‘ novels that I‘ve read, Our Mutual Friend has the most satisfying end. Its beginning is a bit baffling due to the crowd of characters, but the tightly paced, intricate plot in the middle leads swiftly to a happy and very satisfying end. When the book finishes, there is no shade of lingering sorrow or loss. Everyone the reader wants to see happy, is made happy.
I loved it.
@Morr_Books Thank you so much for the book and your note 😄 I'm so excited to read it & I will send out a reply soon! #jb
This one wasn't required. Our required reading was, in general, books from the 20th century. However, in one course we made our own selections to read and analyze. I enjoyed Our Mutual Friend so much I read it 2 or 3 times! I would like to reread it, but I am nervous it may not live up to my memories.
#requiredreadingredo
Over 1,000 for Litfluence! May not seem like a lot, but I‘m pretty proud!! 😊 I love the book suggestions I get from Litsy! Thanks for being a positive bookish community!
One of the key plot points of my favourite Dickens is the possibility of a secret #hoard of riches that may or may not be hidden in the dust heaps of the late miser John Harmon. #quotsymay18 @TK-421
@MatchlessMarie is celebrating 1000 followers with a #1Kgiveaway! My (very specific) literary sin: when I was supposed to read Dickens's novel "Our Mutual Friend" for a grad class in Victorian Lit, I read only the chapters about characters I liked & justified it by reasoning that contemporaries of Dickens might have missed picking up certain chapters as they were released, so my experience was more authentic. #giveaway #LiesReadersTellThemselves
#WordNerd Word of the Day. I love using the dictionary function in #SerialReader. Wouldn‘t “Sublunaris” make a great title for something? Or band name? 🤓 #vocabulary
#friyayintro @jesshowbooks
1. It‘s my daughter‘s 17th bday! How‘s this possible?! Where‘d the time go?! 😲
2. 5‘7”
3. Left 🇨🇦 for Cali (the Bay Area) ~12 years ago, but just moved into San Francisco last October.
4. The tagged book plus Brideshead Revisted on audio. Trying to decide which paper book to bring down from Mount TBR next...
5. I don‘t take a lot of selfies but here‘s one my husband took on the ski lift over the holidays.
My #thriftbooks #bookhaul. More beauties for my #modernlibraryclassics collection.
Judging from recent news it would seem that alas, this ‘Podsnappery‘ is still alive and well in America today. Although the language used to express the sentiment would certainly violate Podsnap‘s ‘young person‘s blush‘ standard. 🙊🤦🏻♀️ #LitsyClassics Letter O @Sarah83 @Moray_Reads
😂😂😂 The whole passage that follows outlining the many ways humans are not like bees, or camels, had me in stitches. I sometimes think in our day Dickens would be great at stand up comedy 🎤
I‘m already becoming quite fond of “that ligneous sharper” Silas Wegg. #LitsyClassics
The lovely Bella Wilfer adding her signature, “which was a bold one for a woman‘s” #LitsyClassics
I‘ve been reading this on #SerialReader for #LitsyClassics because it‘s a little easier on the eyes and more portable but tonight I‘m dipping into my 1910 edition for the introduction and illustrations. I‘m loving this story so far, Dickens last completed novel. @Sarah83
Getting a jump on #LitsyClassics. This is off to a creepy good start. @Sarah83 #OurMutualFriend #DickensianDecember @jenniferw88
pickI loved it! It‘s one of my favorite Dickens‘. It‘s chock-full of humor, memorable characters, and his trademark searing social commentary that reveals the foibles of the human psyche. I even got a new favorite word from the book: podsnappery! You have to read it to find out what it means! 😁. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
pickDickens' final completed novel is also one of his least known but it is my favourite. It had all of his trademarks, a living London, convoluted plot, outrageous coincidences, high drama, humour, social courage. It has his flaws too but I can happily ignore them because it's a wonderful tale
pickWow, surprisingly good; I would recommend it to anyone who likes Charles Dickens.
He looked at the beautiful brown hair, shading the coquettish face; he looked at the free dash of the signature, which was a #bold one for a woman's; and then they looked at one another. 'Much obliged to you, Miss Wilfer.'
'Obliged?'
'I have given you so much trouble.'
'Signing my name? Yes, certainly. But I am your landlord's daughter, sir.'
My favourite Dickens novel and one of my favourite Dickens heroines, Bella the Bold! #quotsynov17
After read Christopher Fowlers book which talked about the Thames I was inspired to read this as a book. However I've never been able to actually read Charles Dickens with pleasure. So I was pleased to see it was a TV series. After a little wait its come in at the library. Looking forward to watching it. @MrsMalaprop
" 'As to the amount of strain upon the intellect now. Was you thinking at all of poetry?' Mr. Wegg inquired, musing.
'Would it come dearer?' Mr. Boffin asked.
'It would come dearer,' Mr. Wegg returned. 'For when a person comes to grind off poetry night after night, it is but right he should expect to be paid for its weakening effect on his mind,'" (50).
My students would certainly agree with Mr. Wegg!
"So boyish was he in his curves and proportions, that his old schoolmaster meeting him in Cheapside, might have been unable to withstand the temptation of caning him on the spot," (31-2).
"He glanced at the backs of the books, with an awakened curiosity that went below the binding. No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot," (18).
When I think of London, I think of Dickens. My bookmark is still holding my place from when I started this and put it aside a few years ago. Whoops. #londoncalling #rockinmay
And this is the eternal law. For, Evil often stops short at itself and dies with the doer of it! but Good, never.
Used book sale! It has been awhile. I work hard to keep my book hoarding under control. Read 'em and move 'em along...
