The Old Curiosity Club discussion

Dear Curiosities,

I have hardly any preliminary observations to make right now apart from the one that we are finally reading the novel that gave our group its name back in February 2017.

Originally, the novel was published in Dickens's weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. Originally, the Clock was supposed to feature short stories by Dickens, the assumption being that Master Humphrey had a bunch of manuscripts stowed away in his wall clock. It's a long time ago that I read MHC, but I remember that one of the guests frequenting Master Humphrey and also telling a story is Mr. Pickwick himself. TOCS was not the only novel published in this serial; the next in line being Barnaby Rudge.

Since the instalments were published on a weekly basis, the individual chapters are shorter than usual (at least, for Dickens), and that allows us to put five of them into one week's reading assignment. We'd otherwise feel afraid that our reading pace would be too slow.

So here is our reading schedule for our first novel in 2019:

17/01/19 – 23/01/19 Chp. 01-05
24/01/19 – 30/01/19 Chp. 06-10
31/01/19 – 06/02/19 Chp. 11-15
07/02/19 – 13/02/19 Chp. 16-20
14/02/19 – 20/02/19 Chp. 21-25
21/02/19 – 27/02/19 Chp. 26-30
28/02/19 – 06/03/19 Chp. 31-35
07/03/19 – 13/03/19 Chp. 36-40
14/03/19 – 20/03/19 Chp. 41-45
21/03/19 – 27/03/19 Chp. 46-50
28/03/19 – 03/04/19 Chp. 51-55
04/04/19 – 10/04/19 Chp. 56-60
11/04/19 – 17/04/19 Chp. 61-65
18/04/19 – 24/04/19 Chp. 66-69
25/04/19 – 01/05/19 Chp. 70-73

I think I'm speaking for everyone in saying that I'm sure we'll have lots of spirited discussion, and fun! I'm looking forward not so much to reading the book, but to reading it with this group!

Me too, grump.

Kim wrote: "Me too, grump."

This book will certainly inspire me to achieve feats of what you will consider grumpiness but which is just good sense ;-)

And here is a schedule to keep me and Kim on track. :)



The Old Curiosity Shop

01/17/19 – 01/23/19 Chp. 01-05
01/24/19 – 01/30/19 Chp. 06-10
01/31/19 – 02/06/19 Chp. 11-15
02/07/19 – 02/13/19 Chp. 16-20
02/14/19 – 02/20/19 Chp. 21-25
02/21/19 – 02/27/19 Chp. 26-30
02/28/19 – 03/06/19 Chp. 31-35
03/07/19 – 03/13/19 Chp. 36-40
03/14/19 – 03/20/19 Chp. 41-45
03/21/19 – 03/27/19 Chp. 46-50
03/28/19 – 04/03/19 Chp. 51-55
04/04/19 – 04/10/19 Chp. 56-60
04/11/19 – 04/17/19 Chp. 61-65
04/18/19 – 04/24/19 Chp. 66-69
04/25/19 – 05/01/19 Chp. 70-73

Thanks, Linda! This way, we‘ll be on track on both sides of the Atlantic :-)

Tristram wrote: "Kim wrote: "Me too, grump."

This book will certainly inspire me to achieve feats of what you will consider grumpiness but which is just good sense ;-)"

No, it's just grumpiness.

Linda wrote: "And here is a schedule to keep me and Kim on track. :)



The Old Curiosity Shop

01/17/19 – 01/23/19 Chp. 01-05
01/24/19 – 01/30/19 Chp. 06-10
01/31/19 – 02/06/19 Chp. 11-15
02/07/19 – 02/13/19..."

Oh Linda, thank you, thank you, thank you!