Dickensians! discussion

One of the great things about Goodreads, is that we can be in as many (or as few) groups as we like. And some members are not in groups at all.

But how do we choose a good group, among all the thousands?

Here is where you can recommend a group. It may be one you moderate, or it may be one you really enjoy. Please feel free to link to the home page too, if you like.

So I really should recommend the other two groups I moderate, shouldn't I?

One is "Reading For Pleasure", a friendly and fun general group which is very active every single day. Although we have almost 3 and a half thousand members, people say it has a "small group" feel :) There are ongoing group reads of fiction, nonfiction and classics, plus buddy reads, threads on poetry, art, music - plus lots of "off-topic" ones. We love to chat! LINK HERE to see what's going on.

Another group I moderate is the "English Mysteries" Club. This is another well established group, of almost two thousand members. Broadly the base is English Golden Age mysteries, but this has expanded to cover all sort of other mysteries too. We even have sections on mysteries from other countries, but this is primarily a niche group. We have author threads for the most famous Golden Age mystery authors, led by our members, many of whom are very knowledgeable, and generously share their expertise and enthusiasm. If you enjoy this sort of story and like recommendations, this is the group for you! Again, it is a friendly, lively and active group. LINK HERE for that one.

So what about other groups focusing on Charles Dickens. Are there any?

First of all there are two which sadly seem to be inactive. First there is The Pickwick Club, which used to be a vibrant group, but whose last comment dates from January 2018. Their last group read was in May 2017. Then there is the Charles Dickens group, where the latest comments date from August 2018.

Then there are the specialist groups. The Old Curiosities is a small group, who read all the novels of Dickens in sequence, according to a planned timetable. They devote roughly 4 months to reading each book, analysing and deconstructing each chapter carefully. There are no side reads. They have a very strong leadership, and if close study of a particular book is what you desire, under an expert tutorship, you can't do better than this group. Every few years, they begin the sequence again.

If you like a considered approach, there are the "real-time" Dickens groups. Victorian-style Dickens Readalong - Bleak House and also Victorian-style Dickens Readalong - Our Mutual Friend were established to match the Victorian experience of reading sequentially. Hence they take a year and a half to read a book, analysing just three or four chapters a month, which is the same timescale the novels were published. Just as in "The Old Curiosities", the moderator leads each section, this time by linking to a video she has made, full of teaching points.

These are all the specialist groups I know of, but there are also literally hundreds of groups who include Charles Dickens in their regular reading. Many of these have "Classics" in their title, such as Classics and the Western Canon, Catching up on Classics (and lots more!), Never Too Late to Read Classics and so on, but some do not. Victorians! is another good one, and Vintage Tales is an example of a small group dedicated to classics, with an occasional group read. And don't forget private groups, such as The Round Table who read classics, but like to check you out before accepting you as a member. There are hundreds more!

So yes, there are a few other Dickens groups, but perhaps not one like ours, with the option to read other works by Dickens, and to put him in a wider context, looking at his friends, his life, Victorian society, other authors writing at the same time; in short, Dickens's World.

Over to you. Is there a group, or groups, you would like to recommend?

I will recommend Catching Up on Classics (and lots more!), which Jean has mentioned above. I assume that most people who enjoy Dickens are fond of classics in general. This group focuses on them. One of the things I most enjoy there, besides the marvelous group of individuals who make up the membership, are the yearly challenges. I have been participating in them for the past four years and enjoy both the planning and the playing. It gives me a rough plan for my reading and helps to keep me on track when I tend to stray into too many impulse reads.

That's great - thanks for the extra info, Sara :)

I am a moderator for the Victorians!, so I would have to agree that they are a wonderful group! We do read Dickens at times, since he is decidedly Victorian (we're reading Nicholas Nickleby in May), but we are ready, willing, and able to tackle any Victorian text. Group reads are selected by polls and we try to make sure that we offer a broad array of Victorian authors. Discussions on all things Victorian are welcome!

Lovely! Thanks for expanding this, Cindy.

"Dickensians" seemed such an obvious name for us, but the exclamation mark is absolutely a tribute to you :)

So many lovely groups! :) I was so happy to come across this one specifically for Dickens since, as Jean says, there aren't many out there anymore! I had been looking for something like this for a while.

I am also very interested in the early literature of New England...after all, I live in Maine! The only group I could find for this branch of Classical literature was no longer active, so I recently started my own. There are only 10 of us at the moment but we are a very enthusiastic little group! We are currently reading Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn. If anyone here is interested we would love to have you! :)
Early New England Literature : http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

Thank you for telling us about your group Meg, and good luck! It's nice to have a specialist group to enjoy :)

I am one of the moderators for Goodreads group The Readers' Review: Literature from 1714-1910. They can be English, American, European, and we have even branched out occasionally to Chinese and Australian. We generally read about 40-60 pages per week so that we can discuss in detail and also so that you can still read other things. Anyone is welcome.

We did a project starting in 2012 of reading all of Dickens' novels in the order he wrote them. That took 5 years and then we moved on to Anthony Trollope, though we won't read all he wrote - there are too many. We always have at least one other read going on as well.

I saw you mention your group a couple of times, Robin, so am glad you found this thread, which is the appropriate place. It sounds a fantastic group for those who like to deconstruct and analyse what they read.

Please feel free to provide a link here, if you like.

Jean wrote: "...Vintage Tales is an example of a small group dedicated to classics, with an occasional group read."

Jean, thanks for the mention! I'm one of the moderators of that group, and our fellow Dickensians! member Rosemarie is the other (though neither of us is the founding moderator). It's a pretty quiet group most of the time (we have 194 members, but most aren't active), but we do an annual group read every September; we also have the option of multi-person buddy reads. though we've never done one yet. If anyone's interested, here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... .

Rosemarie and I are also the co-moderators of another group some Dickensians may be interested in, Fans of British Writers (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ). I'm actually the founding moderator of that one (long story!). That group has 556 members, but again most are inactive and it's usually a fairly quiet group. Like Vintage Tales, we do an annual common read (every August), and can do buddy reads. We did our first one of those just this past January (of The White Company), with quite a bit of engaged discussion.

Would anyone else like to tell us about a group they moderate, or especially enjoy?

I am a moderator in the same group that Robin mentioned-so I recommend it highly.😉

I'm in a fair number of groups, and help moderate several; but in the case of many of them, they're not necessarily of obvious interest to members of this one, unlike the two I mentioned already. But I can say that the Reading for Pleasure group that Jean has mentioned already is, of any of those I'm in or have been in, the most fun and the most rewarding to take part in! And I don't say that just because I help moderate it --I felt that way before I was ever asked to do that! (The English Mysteries Club that she also mentioned is a pretty cool group as well, though I haven't been a part of it very long.)

On another thread in this group, I've already mentioned What's the Name of That Book? (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ). Unless you have a photographic memory, if you've been reading for a few decades (or even for less time than that!) there are probably some books you know you read, but can't remember the author/title information for. When that happens, that group is a great resource.

Like Reading for Pleasure, Litwit Lounge (which I also help moderate --my Goodreads friend Reggia is the founding moderator) is a general-interest group, so potentially of interest to anyone. It's a much smaller and more quiet group than RFP (147 members), and normally doesn't do group reads; but we have some threads that see regular activity. And we even have a couple of threads on Charles Dickens, started by "Dickens Duchess" Bionic Jean herself! :-) The link to that group is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... .

I'm a moderator for the Retro Reads group, which concentrates on early to mid-20th century books, mostly what I'd call middlebrow reads. We just read one of Wodehouse's British romantic comedies, and a group read for The Enchanted April is just starting now. It's a lot of fun, and an active group. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I also moderate the Mary Stewart group, but that's currently inactive.

Other groups I belong to that I'd recommend to members of this group: The Georgette Heyer group (VERY active) and Catching Up on the Classics.

These are great! Thanks Tadiana for these really interesting suggestions - and I'm so pleased to see you here. I hope you'll join in wherever you fancy :)

And Werner, you do make me smile (and blush a little!) Thank you for your kind mention.

"What's the Name of That Book?" sound indispensable on occasion. The trouble is that I keep being tempted by all these groups everyone is mentioning ...

Bionic Jean wrote: "These are great! Thanks Tadiana for these really interesting suggestions - and I'm so pleased to see you here. I hope you'll join in wherever you fancy :)"

Thank you! I have good intentions but only so much bandwidth. But I'll try to be actively involved.

Several of the people who've posted on this thread are moderators of Goodreads groups. If you are, and if you haven't already discovered it, the Moderator Support Group here on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ) can be a valuable resource. (Membership is limited to moderators, so if you click on "Join this group," you won't be added right away; they'll first verify that you're actually a moderator in at least one of the groups you belong to.)

Jean wrote: "And Werner, you do make me smile (and blush a little!) Thank you for your kind mention."

You're welcome, Jean! I call 'em like I see 'em. :-)

In a different vein, for anyone who enjoys audiobooks, there is a group called just that, Audiobooks, here on GR, that is quite active. Of course it covers all genres. The group reports on what we are listening to and shares info on free or sale audiobooks, library options, technical questions, etc. There aren't any group reads, although people can set up buddy reads if they wish. Some people really enjoy hearing Dickens read aloud or listening to it while reading.

Another good recommendation, thanks Robin :)

And this is a good point "Some people really enjoy hearing Dickens read aloud or listening to it while reading." Yes, this sort of "immersive" reading can be especially helpful to anyone who find Dickens wordy, or whose first language is not English.

Would anyone else like to recommend another group here?

I started a group dedicated to the Guardian List of 1000 books to read before you die, if which there are a few Dickens (Little Dorrit being one) and most of Mrs. Gaskells. The group is not overly active right now, but I would enjoy reviving it a bit, should anyone be interested!

Jenny wrote: "I started a group dedicated to the Guardian List of 1000 books to read before you die, if which there are a few Dickens (Little Dorrit being one) and most of Mrs. Gaskells. The group is not overly ..."

It would be good if more people got involved in this group. It’s an interesting list that has encouraged me to discover books that I might not otherwise read.

I agree, Trisha. I'm in the group too and have read a lot of books from the list that I enjoyed, and a few that were disappointments(mostly in the comedy section).

Rosemarie wrote: "I agree, Trisha. I'm in the group too and have read a lot of books from the list that I enjoyed, and a few that were disappointments(mostly in the comedy section)."

I’m glad you said that, Rosemarie. Do you think some of the comedy is too old-fashioned for us to appreciate it? I’ve read whole books that didn’t even make me smile. But the other categories are good.

I enjoyed the Wodehouse books more than some of the newer books.

I've read a few from there too, as another group (a general one),
I used to be in chose one a month. A surprise find was Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock, which I'd definitely never have read if it hadn't been on the list!

By the way, we sometimes call the Guardian newspaper the "Grauniad" here, because it used to have so many mistypes :D

A few readers are trying to revive book discussions in the group. NYRB Classics. The New York Review of Books is a publishing house and their classic imprint is devoted to books written in English or English translation that have received previous critical and academic praise. I am posting a note here because some of you have shown an interest in such books and thought you might want to join in. The read for January is Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, Angus Wilson, first published 1956. The link to the group is:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Thanks Sam. That looks an interesting group!