Great post, Shannon. Your advice on how to read dickens is well taken. And I loved your quote here: “ There is something world-changing about a great story, and Dickens’ novels have changed me deeply with their ability to turn my attention to what is noble and true and good.” I completely agree :)
Thanks, Brian. It’s always neat to find kindred spirits who love the books you love. It feels lonely, sometimes, reading old books, but there are more of us than we realize!
When I finished all of Dickens' novels, I decided Our Mutual Friend was my favourite. Twenty years later, I still think so, but Bleak House and David Copperfield aren't far behind. I often think of Trollope as kind of a Dickensian narrator, but for the middle and upper classes, and a modern author who is quite Dickensian is Terry Pratchett, particularly his later Discworld novels.
Terrific article! Thank you for this! I’ve loved Dickens since I was in HS and periodically return to him. I just finished The Old Curiosity Shop last week, which was my first time through. More than any writer I know, Dickens has the ability to charm and warm me. But his plots are also extraordinary and, for readers who choose to dive into his worlds, the characters are bizarre and frightening and eccentric and lovely. Reading Dickens makes me see and feel the whole range of life’s offerings, but it gives me hope and delight. Thanks for reminding me of all that!
I just finished Curiosity Shop last night! It was my least favorite of his books, but is was still great. Daniel Quilp is, as you say, exceedingly frightening!
David Copperfield is one of my all time favorite books. I love reading it but I also love the audiobook just as much with Richard Armitage as the reader.
I’ve never done a Dickens as an audiobook but I will have to try it out! In some ways that may be more how he intended his books to be “read”— aloud. Literacy was not widespread in England when he began writing, so many of his readers would have listened to his books aloud.
I concur with the audiobook suggestion. I listened to much of it while doing long runs. I would lose track of where I was on my run because I was absorbed in the story!
Shannon, I've just subscribed and look forward to more of your writing! Little Dorrit is my current favorite, not only because of its beautiful love story and characters, but because of a fun discovery. I knew that Dickens set some of his poorer characters' homes in the Clerkenwell area of London (a slum in Dickens' day, but now a gentrified and expensive area of Central London), and I was amazed to come upon "Bleeding Heart Yard," home of the Plornish family in Little Dorrit, on a walk through that area one day. Its descriptive name -- like so many of Dickens' character and place names -- was so florid that I assumed the place had been named in honor of Dickens' story. But I was excited to discover that this little courtyard has been called this since the 17th century and is named after the local legend of a murdered Lady whose family owned the nearby land! It is wonderful to think of Dickens using the history that came before him to inspire his stories: "Bleeding Heart Yard" became a place of such welcome and sympathy in his novel in spite of its poverty. He couldn't have come up with a better name himself.
What a discovery that must have been! I love to hear the history behind the name. (And to say that Dickens couldn’t come up with a better name himself…now *that’s* saying something!)
Bleak House is hands down my favorite Dickens novel. We read it my senior year of high school-- actually I might have been the only person in my class to finish it. One of the assignments was to cut it by a third, which I found really fun. Which characters and subplots would you cut if you had to make it shorter? It gave me a lot more appreciation for movie adaptations.
Our Mutual Friend is probably my next favorite.
Last year I read Great Expectations aloud to my kids and enjoyed it so much more than I did when I read it in school. And now we are reading A Tale of Two Cities aloud and it's wonderful. Definitely not easy reads, and reading out loud makes me slow down and sometimes I have to read a sentence several times. And sometimes I still don't quite get it. We're having great conversations about personification with this one.
I do think Dickens might work better when read aloud in a group than when read quietly. It's prose that was made to be read that way. So that's my advice, which I would add to your excellent advice: if you're struggling with Dickens: find a friend and form a reading group and take turns reading aloud.
Amen to the read-aloud idea! I agree that hearing the language—the sound of each delicious and carefully chosen word can be very helpful (and immensely enjoyable).
Can’t wait to dig into Our Mutual Friend! Several people have mentioned it as their favorite of all his books so I bought it already and it’s waiting patiently on my bookshelf.
I read to my mother, so I have read Little Dorrit, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, and Pickwick Papers out loud. The reason I didn't read David Copperfield to my mother is that my father already had when they were first married.
He tried to read Oliver Twist and she had to ask him to stop because the violent scenes were too much for her. It took a lot of persuasion from me to get her to try Dickens again.
I have always loved reading, but somehow was able to skip over the Dickens assignments in HS English. Then I began reading his works as my high school children were being assigned his books beginning with Great Expectations. TV series of Dickens’ stories, watched with my teens, showed me what I had been missing, especially with Our Mutual Friend. I’ve now read much of Dickens , often by audiobooks, including Little Dorrit. I do a lot of rereading of Dickens.
So glad you made it to Dickens with your children! My mom and I read Little Dorrit and David Copperfield together and had the best time discussing both. There is so much fodder for thinking and conversation in his books.
I read David Copperfield for the first time this summer and absolutely loved it. I also couldn't believe the amount of characters, especially as they weave in and out of David's life, which is to say: I agree with the character list recommendation. But one impressionable part for me as a parent was the impact of his father's books on David's young life. They continued to form his character and imagination toward the good, even in the midst of an atmosphere of suffering. Powerful.
I wish I could say which is my favorite Dickens. I’ve only read four: David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. All of them occupy free places permanently in my heart and mind. Bleak House and Oliver Twist have been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. I remember watching the 1968 version of Oliver Twist as a kid (in the 1980s) on television and weeping when Oliver asks for more food and is mocked. So, I think that is the next one I want to read. My friend and I do a podcast (through Substack) and the second book we did our deep read on was David Copperfield. I loved it so much. We actually did it as a comparison to Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which she wrote as a modern-day David Copperfield, set in Appalachia, Southwest VA (which where my friend and I live—close, Roanoke, VA). So, first we read and discussed Demon Copperhead (which we messed up the audio and didn’t realize it until we had all the episodes recorded, so the audio on that one is messed up). Then did David Copperfield. I know Dickens is one of those authors we’ll likely be visiting over and over again.
Thanks for sharing your excellent advice and encouragement on reading Dickens (and anything that we must reach up to pull ourselves to).
That’s a really hard question; I may not be the best one to ask! I would probably say A Tale of Two Cities or David Copperfield. It’s hard to narrow it down to just one!
My absolute favorite Dickens is "A Christmas Carol" which I consider in a class by itself, but of his big thick novels my personal pick is one that doesn't get so much attention: "Martin Chuzzlewit." (The infamous American section annoys the heck out of me in several ways, but the rest of the story is wonderful.) In fact, last time I re-read it I found myself pausing over several beautiful descriptive passages in the opening chapter to say to myself with mild surprise, "Why, he really can write a beautiful sentence!" I think that particular aspect tends to get lost behind both the humor and the darkness of his books.
He wrote so many beautiful sentences. Even The Old Curiosity Shop, which I didn’t think was one of his better books, had some wonderfully beautiful passages.
And yes— A Christmas Carol I don’t think of as in the same category as his novels. It’s so good though. We read it aloud to our children every Christmas.
I absolutely love Dickens! And you nailed why it's important to forge ahead instead of giving up. A friend compared it to eating something nourishing instead of a piece of cake—you can just tell that the story is feeding you in an essential way. "Great Expectations" is my favorite of his novels so far. I think there's something a little different about it, Estella is such an unusual Dickens heroine, and there is a scene in the beginning when Pip leaves home for the first time that captures that feeling in the most heartbreaking and beautiful way. He's such a master of using nature as a symbol of what's happening with the characters, too!
I think I read Great Expectations maybe 20 years ago but I didn’t list it here because I don’t remember much about it at all. Clearly time for a re-read! And yes— his metaphors with the natural world are second to none.
I still haven't finished a Dickens but my 12 year old loves them! His two tips are to read them fairly fast or you'll forget the plot (same for Russian literature which he's now tackling) and don't read one and assume you'll love or hate all Dickens based on that one. Pickwick papers is very different to DC or HT for instance and ATO2C is different again. The BBC has some some great adaptations which we've enjoyed together so I can share the Dickens love!
Love that your 12-year-old is into Dickens! (My 12-year-old daughter is enjoying David Copperfield currently.) You would love reading one together, I bet! :)
Maaaaybe!! I tried DC last year but life was stressful and I couldn't get into it. I'm enjoying Gaskill though and North and South was wonderful and paired beautifully with watching hard times with my son! I'll get there eventually
The only Dicken's novel I haven't read yet is The Pickwick Papers but I don't really have any desire to - unless someone can convince me otherwise. I just finished Our Mutual Friend for the second time & it's one of my favourites. Barnaby Rudge & Martin Chuzzlewit don't seem to be as widely read as some of his others but are really worthwhile. Bleak House & Hard Times are two I really love as well.
Have you read Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series? I think if you like Dickens you would also like those.
Great post, Shannon. Your advice on how to read dickens is well taken. And I loved your quote here: “ There is something world-changing about a great story, and Dickens’ novels have changed me deeply with their ability to turn my attention to what is noble and true and good.” I completely agree :)
Thanks, Brian. It’s always neat to find kindred spirits who love the books you love. It feels lonely, sometimes, reading old books, but there are more of us than we realize!
"We read to know we are not alone." (Mistakenly attributed to CS Lewis and quoted in the movie "Shadowlands.")
David Copperfield hands down. And Mr Dick is the ultimate hero, though this novel is so full of memorable characters!
Favorite Mr Dick quote: "I've never seen a crocodile."
Mr. Dick is amazing. I also love Betsy Trotwood!
"Mr Dick... donkeys!" 😂
I know! Love how David renamed himself Trotwood to honor his Aunt and savior.
When I finished all of Dickens' novels, I decided Our Mutual Friend was my favourite. Twenty years later, I still think so, but Bleak House and David Copperfield aren't far behind. I often think of Trollope as kind of a Dickensian narrator, but for the middle and upper classes, and a modern author who is quite Dickensian is Terry Pratchett, particularly his later Discworld novels.
Terry Pratchett is very Dickensian. Especially his novel Dodger, which is a Dickens homage.
[ordering Our Mutual Friend now...]
I'll have to look into Terry Pratchett! Thanks for the recommendation.
I love Dickens! Aunt Trotwood is one of my favorite characters in all of literature.
She is *so* good. An excellent favorite.
Terrific article! Thank you for this! I’ve loved Dickens since I was in HS and periodically return to him. I just finished The Old Curiosity Shop last week, which was my first time through. More than any writer I know, Dickens has the ability to charm and warm me. But his plots are also extraordinary and, for readers who choose to dive into his worlds, the characters are bizarre and frightening and eccentric and lovely. Reading Dickens makes me see and feel the whole range of life’s offerings, but it gives me hope and delight. Thanks for reminding me of all that!
I just finished Curiosity Shop last night! It was my least favorite of his books, but is was still great. Daniel Quilp is, as you say, exceedingly frightening!
David Copperfield is one of my all time favorite books. I love reading it but I also love the audiobook just as much with Richard Armitage as the reader.
I’ve never done a Dickens as an audiobook but I will have to try it out! In some ways that may be more how he intended his books to be “read”— aloud. Literacy was not widespread in England when he began writing, so many of his readers would have listened to his books aloud.
I concur with the audiobook suggestion. I listened to much of it while doing long runs. I would lose track of where I was on my run because I was absorbed in the story!
Amen! With the help of Armitage on 3 of the total, I've probably "read" Copperfield at least 5 times.
Yes, I second this! The audiobooks add an additional layer to the experience.
Shannon, I've just subscribed and look forward to more of your writing! Little Dorrit is my current favorite, not only because of its beautiful love story and characters, but because of a fun discovery. I knew that Dickens set some of his poorer characters' homes in the Clerkenwell area of London (a slum in Dickens' day, but now a gentrified and expensive area of Central London), and I was amazed to come upon "Bleeding Heart Yard," home of the Plornish family in Little Dorrit, on a walk through that area one day. Its descriptive name -- like so many of Dickens' character and place names -- was so florid that I assumed the place had been named in honor of Dickens' story. But I was excited to discover that this little courtyard has been called this since the 17th century and is named after the local legend of a murdered Lady whose family owned the nearby land! It is wonderful to think of Dickens using the history that came before him to inspire his stories: "Bleeding Heart Yard" became a place of such welcome and sympathy in his novel in spite of its poverty. He couldn't have come up with a better name himself.
What a discovery that must have been! I love to hear the history behind the name. (And to say that Dickens couldn’t come up with a better name himself…now *that’s* saying something!)
Bleak House is hands down my favorite Dickens novel. We read it my senior year of high school-- actually I might have been the only person in my class to finish it. One of the assignments was to cut it by a third, which I found really fun. Which characters and subplots would you cut if you had to make it shorter? It gave me a lot more appreciation for movie adaptations.
Our Mutual Friend is probably my next favorite.
Last year I read Great Expectations aloud to my kids and enjoyed it so much more than I did when I read it in school. And now we are reading A Tale of Two Cities aloud and it's wonderful. Definitely not easy reads, and reading out loud makes me slow down and sometimes I have to read a sentence several times. And sometimes I still don't quite get it. We're having great conversations about personification with this one.
I do think Dickens might work better when read aloud in a group than when read quietly. It's prose that was made to be read that way. So that's my advice, which I would add to your excellent advice: if you're struggling with Dickens: find a friend and form a reading group and take turns reading aloud.
Amen to the read-aloud idea! I agree that hearing the language—the sound of each delicious and carefully chosen word can be very helpful (and immensely enjoyable).
Can’t wait to dig into Our Mutual Friend! Several people have mentioned it as their favorite of all his books so I bought it already and it’s waiting patiently on my bookshelf.
I read to my mother, so I have read Little Dorrit, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, and Pickwick Papers out loud. The reason I didn't read David Copperfield to my mother is that my father already had when they were first married.
He tried to read Oliver Twist and she had to ask him to stop because the violent scenes were too much for her. It took a lot of persuasion from me to get her to try Dickens again.
Reading to your mother is a wonderful way to read! I love that so much. Treasured, priceless memories ♥️✨
I have always loved reading, but somehow was able to skip over the Dickens assignments in HS English. Then I began reading his works as my high school children were being assigned his books beginning with Great Expectations. TV series of Dickens’ stories, watched with my teens, showed me what I had been missing, especially with Our Mutual Friend. I’ve now read much of Dickens , often by audiobooks, including Little Dorrit. I do a lot of rereading of Dickens.
So glad you made it to Dickens with your children! My mom and I read Little Dorrit and David Copperfield together and had the best time discussing both. There is so much fodder for thinking and conversation in his books.
I read David Copperfield for the first time this summer and absolutely loved it. I also couldn't believe the amount of characters, especially as they weave in and out of David's life, which is to say: I agree with the character list recommendation. But one impressionable part for me as a parent was the impact of his father's books on David's young life. They continued to form his character and imagination toward the good, even in the midst of an atmosphere of suffering. Powerful.
Such an interesting observation. I love the idea that what we fill our minds with as children can impact us for the rest of our lives.
I wish I could say which is my favorite Dickens. I’ve only read four: David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. All of them occupy free places permanently in my heart and mind. Bleak House and Oliver Twist have been sitting on my shelves for quite some time. I remember watching the 1968 version of Oliver Twist as a kid (in the 1980s) on television and weeping when Oliver asks for more food and is mocked. So, I think that is the next one I want to read. My friend and I do a podcast (through Substack) and the second book we did our deep read on was David Copperfield. I loved it so much. We actually did it as a comparison to Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, which she wrote as a modern-day David Copperfield, set in Appalachia, Southwest VA (which where my friend and I live—close, Roanoke, VA). So, first we read and discussed Demon Copperhead (which we messed up the audio and didn’t realize it until we had all the episodes recorded, so the audio on that one is messed up). Then did David Copperfield. I know Dickens is one of those authors we’ll likely be visiting over and over again.
Thanks for sharing your excellent advice and encouragement on reading Dickens (and anything that we must reach up to pull ourselves to).
So neat that you did a deep dive on the two books; and I had no idea Demon Copperhead was a modern day David Copperfield!
Best of luck to you as you embark on your next Dickens; please come back and let me know which one you end up reading next!
I've never read Dickens, and don't know any of his stories except "A Christmas Carol" (of course). Which book is an absolute must read?
That’s a really hard question; I may not be the best one to ask! I would probably say A Tale of Two Cities or David Copperfield. It’s hard to narrow it down to just one!
My absolute favorite Dickens is "A Christmas Carol" which I consider in a class by itself, but of his big thick novels my personal pick is one that doesn't get so much attention: "Martin Chuzzlewit." (The infamous American section annoys the heck out of me in several ways, but the rest of the story is wonderful.) In fact, last time I re-read it I found myself pausing over several beautiful descriptive passages in the opening chapter to say to myself with mild surprise, "Why, he really can write a beautiful sentence!" I think that particular aspect tends to get lost behind both the humor and the darkness of his books.
And I think "Bleak House" may be his masterpiece.
He wrote so many beautiful sentences. Even The Old Curiosity Shop, which I didn’t think was one of his better books, had some wonderfully beautiful passages.
And yes— A Christmas Carol I don’t think of as in the same category as his novels. It’s so good though. We read it aloud to our children every Christmas.
I absolutely love Dickens! And you nailed why it's important to forge ahead instead of giving up. A friend compared it to eating something nourishing instead of a piece of cake—you can just tell that the story is feeding you in an essential way. "Great Expectations" is my favorite of his novels so far. I think there's something a little different about it, Estella is such an unusual Dickens heroine, and there is a scene in the beginning when Pip leaves home for the first time that captures that feeling in the most heartbreaking and beautiful way. He's such a master of using nature as a symbol of what's happening with the characters, too!
I think I read Great Expectations maybe 20 years ago but I didn’t list it here because I don’t remember much about it at all. Clearly time for a re-read! And yes— his metaphors with the natural world are second to none.
I still haven't finished a Dickens but my 12 year old loves them! His two tips are to read them fairly fast or you'll forget the plot (same for Russian literature which he's now tackling) and don't read one and assume you'll love or hate all Dickens based on that one. Pickwick papers is very different to DC or HT for instance and ATO2C is different again. The BBC has some some great adaptations which we've enjoyed together so I can share the Dickens love!
Love that your 12-year-old is into Dickens! (My 12-year-old daughter is enjoying David Copperfield currently.) You would love reading one together, I bet! :)
Maaaaybe!! I tried DC last year but life was stressful and I couldn't get into it. I'm enjoying Gaskill though and North and South was wonderful and paired beautifully with watching hard times with my son! I'll get there eventually
And I'm just humbly accepting that my son now reads harder stuff than me. It's raising my game!!
The only Dicken's novel I haven't read yet is The Pickwick Papers but I don't really have any desire to - unless someone can convince me otherwise. I just finished Our Mutual Friend for the second time & it's one of my favourites. Barnaby Rudge & Martin Chuzzlewit don't seem to be as widely read as some of his others but are really worthwhile. Bleak House & Hard Times are two I really love as well.
Have you read Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series? I think if you like Dickens you would also like those.
I haven’t read any Trollope but he’s on my list.
I am planning to read Pickwick Papers in 2025! I’ll let you know if it’s worth reading. :)