Evidently they will be reading A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, bound as one? Or not? I'm not sure, as when you click the Buy Now button, it says "no image available," but this image is available.
Anyhoo, Dickens is great fun. And 'tis the season for Dickens, too.
Another list, the 2010 list from Lemon Hound.
Books inspired by Alice in Wonderland, via Chicago Sun-Times.
Ditto the source, books about Hanukkah, for kids. (I also wrote about a vintage Hanukkah book at work today.)
A young woman got 33 books for her dad for Christmas, in the Perry Mason and Nero Wolfe mystery series.
And I just read Figure Studies, a book of poems by Claudia Emerson, because I need to return it to the person I borrowed it from. Wonderful. And I loved her books Pinion and Late Wife, too. Figure Studies accomplishes a quiet feminism somehow, by examining life in a school for girls and speaking in a community voice--the "we" voice--in the "Gossips" section, which is not so gossipy as to lack compassion. The epigraph for that section is from "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner, famous for its "we" voice.
Plus, this book mentions Atticus Finch in a poem! My hero! And Harper Lee in an epigraph, speaking as Dill: "I'm little but I'm old."
Yep, I saw the book today and it is both novels bound in one edition.
ReplyDeleteI love Dickens, but I am a little bit skeptical about the two in one approach. They are very different kinds of books.
We read "Great Expectations" in my 9th grade English class (4-5pm arghhh!) and ALL I remember is someone reading a section that mentioned "Gentiles" but pronouncing it "genitals." Not enough to make me go back and read it again. There are too many other books I haven't yet read.
ReplyDeleteShannon, you've got me giggling early this morning!
ReplyDeleteHey Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteWhat would be the chances you could send me a copy of one of your books (Living on the Earth, Broken Sonnets) which ever one of these two that you think is the one you prefer. This is the kicker and i hope this makes you giggle also, with your autograph. I will send you a check. I know this is a little odd and maybe you might, hopefully not, think I'm teetering on the fence of asking to much. I tried to see if one of your books might be in my local library but they weren't. Anyway! I would 'totally' understand if you don't want to go his route.
Nene, that's perfectly fine! Thank you! I am running short on Living on the Earth, so I will send Broken Sonnets. Send me your address by email OR in another comment here. I can write down the address, and not publish the comment!
ReplyDeleteThe book is in the mail!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Dickens now for the first time ever, and I've started with A Tale of Two Cities. Yeah, I see what the big deal is - incredibly cinematic, and so facile with language he's practically a show-off. BTW I shouldn't read your blog because there are already too many books I want to buy. That field guide to prose poetry looks very enticing.
ReplyDeleteYay, Dickens! I've heard from various people who are reading Dickens right now, either for the first time or going back in adulthood to read something they read for school...or on the advice of parents. It's all getting me in the mood to re-read or to try one I've never read.
ReplyDeleteI love Dickens, too, but didn't peg Oprah as the Dickens type. Dunno. I think those two books in one volume is hugely weird. I re-read "Great Expectations" a few years ago (after also reading it in 9th grade with Mr. Meltzer!), and it was great. I'm reading "Drood" now, a novel in which Dickens is the central character, but at 10% through I remain skeptical.
ReplyDeleteHappy December!
Are you shoveled out of the big snow?
ReplyDelete