Here’s the question this month:
Pick a classic someone else in the club has read from our big review list. Link to their review and offer a quote from their post describing their reaction to the book. What about their post makes you excited to read that classic in particular?
Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to pick one book from The Big Review List? That list is already miles long (can you imagine how long it will be in 5 years time?)! Then, I have to narrow it down to, do I pick a book I want to read or do I pick a book I want everyone else to read? Do I pick from a blogger I know, or a blogger I don’t know? Decisions, decisions.
In the end, I picked a book by an author I have wanted to like, but have always struggled with and I picked a blogger I’m unfamiliar with. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Reviewed by Jean at Howling Frog Books. Oh Charles. We have such a love hate/relationship, don’t we? Honestly, I’ve begun to think of Dickens as my literary nemesis. Ridiculous. I know. I mean, I KNOW Dickens isn’t out to GET me. It just feels like he is. Who will win? Time will only tell. So far, I’m still a Wilkie girl.
So, anyhoo. Jean’s review. She has me intrigued with this one paragraph:
Esther observes the effects of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a legal case that has dragged on for years. It blights the lives of everyone involved. Meanwhile there are some secrets about Esther’s own past that come to light. Everything is quite a tangle of suspicions, maneuvers, and forlorn hopes, and it’s all quite interesting, though the legal critiques can get overlong.
I have to emphasis with you. Dickens is difficult to read at times though I’m going to try and get through as much of the collection as possible. Bleak House does sound, well, bleak. Otherwise it’d be next. Hard Times sounds a better choice, I have to say.
Bleak House is really anything but bleak! I was surprised by what a good read it was. I’ve heard the opposite about Hard Times though — just saying.
I really want to read this one but it’s so damn long. Jenny Girl mentioned a readalong in November but I haven’t heard anything since. Definitely one I’d have to tackle with audio and paper.
Dickens is work for me but good work.