The Pickwick Club discussion

Dear Fellow Pickwickians,

I am now posting our reading schedule. The dates are posted in European fashion, i.e. day before month.

12/02 - 18/02: I, 1-3
19/02 - 25/02: II, 4-6
26/02 - 04/03: III, 7-9
05/03 - 11/03: IV, 10-12
12/03 - 18/03: V, 13-15
19/03 - 25/03: VI, 16-18
26/03 - 01/04: VII, 19-21
02/04 - 08/04: VIII, 22-24
09/04 - 15/04: IX, 25-27
16/04 - 22/04: X, 28-31
23/04 - 29/04: XI, 32-34
30/04 - 06/05: XII, 35-37
07/05 - 13/05: XIII, 38-40
14/05 - 20/05: XIV, 41-43
21/05 - 27/05: XV, 44-46
28/05 - 03/06: XVI, 47-50
04/06 - 10/06: XVII, 51-53
11/06 - 17/06: XVIII, 54-57
18/06 - 24/07: XIX, 57-64

I hope there will be quite some members who are going to take part in the group read and the discussions!

Hurry Everyman, post the schedule in real American fashion I'm already getting a headache.

Kim wrote: "Hurry Everyman, post the schedule in real American fashion I'm already getting a headache."

LOL. I thought perhaps I might beat Everyman to it and post the American dates to help out. But looking at the list IS giving me a headache!! Let's see if I can forge ahead and give it a go, though...

American dates listed below.


David Copperfield 2015

2/12 – 2/18: I, 1-3
2/19 – 2/25: II, 4-6
2/26 – 3/4: III, 7-9
3/5 – 3/11: IV, 10-12
3/12 – 3/18: V, 13-15
3/19 – 3/25: VI, 16-18
3/26 – 4/1: VII, 19-21
4/2 – 4/8: VIII, 22-24
4/9 – 4/15: IX, 25-27
4/16 – 4/22: X, 28-31
4/23 – 4/29: XI, 32-34
4/30 – 5/6: XII, 35-37
5/7 – 5/13: XIII, 38-40
5/14 – 5/20: XIV, 41-43
5/21 – 5/27: XV, 44-46
5/28 – 6/3: XVI, 47-50
6/4 – 6/10: XVII, 51-53
6/11 – 6/17: XVIII, 54-57
6/18 – 6/24: XIX, 57-64

Looking forward to the discussion... I read Copperfield a few weeks ago, or at least I managed to get halfway through. I loved Micawber, but couldn't stand Copperfield himself or the novel as a whole. So I'm curious what everybody else will make of it.

Linda wrote: "American dates listed below.


David Copperfield 2015

2/12 – 2/18: I, 1-3
2/19 – 2/25: II, 4-6
2/26 – 3/4: III, 7-9
3/5 – 3/11: IV, 10-12
3/12 – 3/18: V, 13-15
3/19 – 3/25: VI, 16-18
3/26 – 4/1: V..."

Thanks Linda. I suppose I could have done it myself, but all that switching numbers around was bringing back nightmares of long past math classes. Long past and yet, still not long enough. :-}

Kim wrote: "Thanks Linda. I suppose I could have done it myself, but all that switching numbers around was bringing back nightmares of long past math classes."

You're welcome. I still do plenty of math for work, so it's all good. :)

Linda wrote: "American dates listed below."

thanks for saving me. If one person volunteers to do it for each book we can spread the headaches.

At least until Tristram gives in and posts in Americanism!

Started DC last night. I thought I knew the book, but I'm finding some neat things I either hadn't noted on earlier reads or noted but forgot about.

But I'll save mentioning them until the discussion officially starts.

Tristram wrote: "Dear Fellow Pickwickians,

I am now posting our reading schedule. ."

Do these follow the original publication schedule?

Everyman wrote: "Tristram wrote: "Dear Fellow Pickwickians,

I am now posting our reading schedule. ."

Do these follow the original publication schedule?"

Yes, they do.

Uhm, sorry: Do they, yes. ;-)

Yay for the American military then, Barbs! Logic wins again! :D

Tristram wrote: "

Yes, they do.

Uhm, sorry: Do they, yes...."

OK, that was funny.

Barbs wrote: "Kim wrote: "Hurry Everyman, post the schedule in real American fashion I'm already getting a headache."

American military do it day/month/year, like us."

Then it's good I never joined the military, I would have had to quit over the math. :-}

Haha Kim! ;-)

Everyman wrote: "thanks for saving me. If one person volunteers to do it for each book we can spread the headaches."

That sounds like a great plan!

Linda wrote: "Everyman wrote: "thanks for saving me. If one person volunteers to do it for each book we can spread the headaches."

That sounds like a great plan!"

We beat those Europeans back in 1776 and we can do it again!

Hahaha! I hope that you have ALL your fingers and toes crossed! ;-)

Everyman wrote: "We beat those Europeans back in 1776 and we can do it again!"

Ha! We need to do a headcount in the group here!

Good idea, Linda, as long as you count 10 non-Americans for every 1 American. Seems fair to
me! :D

Everyman wrote: "We beat those Europeans back in 1776 and we can do it again! "

The military can, but the civilians would not be able to follow suit because they would always mix dates up.

Kim wrote: "Barbs wrote: "Kim wrote: "Hurry Everyman, post the schedule in real American fashion I'm already getting a headache."

American military do it day/month/year, like us."

Then it's good I never join..."

About the military and math, did I ever tell the story here when I was in the army - in the 90s ours used to be a country with general conscription - and some comrades and I had to load the floor of a truck with empty petrol cans because our sergeant wanted to find out how many of them would go onto it? Probably also because he wanted to keep us busy?

In case I didn't tell you, here goes:

We were given that thankless task with the intimation that it might keep us busy for some hours, and so what we, of course, did was put one row of cans along the length of the cargo area, another along the breadth and a last one along its height. The rest - I'm looking at you, Kim! - was a matter of multiplication.

We then whiled away two hours in the sunshine but after a while we felt bored and I went to the sergeant telling him the result. He looked at me, full of suspicion, and said, "You cannot have loaded and unloaded the truck in so short a time."

"No, we didn't", I answered.

"Then how do you know how many cans can go on that truck?"

So I explained to him how we did it. The man looked at me, flabberghasted and even more suspicious, and then he said, "Well with those new-fangled methods it can also be done. I guess you'll have the rest of the day off then", and he grumpily shooed me away.

So much for the German military and maths.

Tristram wrote: "The military can, but the civilians would not be able to follow suit because they would always mix dates up. "

Confusion to the enemy!

We would leak our attack plans to you, but because you read our dates wrong you would be waiting on the wrong day, and all asleep on the real day. So we would march right in and steal all your books and you would have to surrender to get your books back.

Well, in that case we might simply write new books, mightn't we? However, you're right, E-man: I'd rather surrender to get back the old books written by Dickens et al. than read anything new ;-)

LOL Tristram! In another group I was complaining about how bored I was with a particular novel and how I went scampering back to Dickens. This seemed to cause some hilarity on the lines of, "Only you could go scampering back to Dickens from a long boring novel, Jean!" ;)

Tristram wrote: "so what we, of course, did was put one row of cans along the length of the cargo area, another along the breadth and a last one along its height. The rest - I'm looking at you, Kim! - was a matter of multiplication."

That makes absolutely no sense. There is no way making one row each way will ever tell me how many cans will fill the truck so don't bother trying, and why you put one on top is beyond anything I'll ever comprehend. I could drive to Harrisburg, fly to Germany, fill the gas cans (which I've never done before) and put them all in the truck before I'd figure out that height-breadth-length thing.

I'm going to look up what general conscription is.

Germany had conscription (Wehrpflicht) for male citizens between 1956 and 2011. On 22 November 2010, the German Minister of Defence proposed to the government to put conscription into abeyance on 1 July 2011. The constitution, however, retains provisions that would legalize the potential reintroduction of conscription.

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and several special laws (e.g., Wehrpflichtgesetz) were regulating these duties and the exceptions. During the last year when conscription was active, men were obliged to serve six months either in the military, which they could refuse, and do alternative civilian service, or honorary service (like any volunteer) for at least six months in a civil protection organisation.

Kim wrote: "fill the gas cans"

Exactly why would fill the cans? It would make them much heavier, and therefore much harder to stack, and it wouldn't make a hill of beans of difference how much room a metal gas can takes up whether it's full or empty.

But I guess if someone gave you a diary and asked you to count the pages in it, you would fill each page with writing before you counted them. Same theory.

well, well, well ...

It's good to see that on my two week holiday w/o internet (I refused to pay the outrageous fee) you all have solved the reading date crisis and gas can multiplication question. LOL

Soon David Copperfield will come to the rescue!

Interesting! I must admit to feeling ambivalent - how many of these will be worth reading? Don't usually like "sequels" of classic works ... but then this is Dickens!

Barbs - it would be nice if you could add the one you suggest to the list please (click the tab top right and follow instructions) as I've book marked it! Thanks! :) (Or let me know if there's a problem, and I'll do it.)

My favorite Dickens' novel--I read it 2-3 times as a teen, once as an adult, but I haven't read it in >20 years.

So excited to reread this wonderful book.

Fabulous, gas can story, Tristram! Having said that I would almost certainly have gone the Kim route! :s

Yay! I started reading David Copperfield in mid-January.

Everyman wrote: "Kim wrote: "fill the gas cans"

Exactly why would fill the cans? It would make them much heavier, and therefore much harder to stack, and it wouldn't make a hill of beans of difference how much ro..."

True, I didn't think of that. As for the diary, it wouldn't be a diary if the pages were blank so of course I'd fill them. I've been doing it for years, I tell people that when I'm dead my kids will have them published and make millions of dollars.

Peter wrote: "well, well, well ...

It's good to see that on my two week holiday w/o internet (I refused to pay the outrageous fee) you all have solved the reading date crisis and gas can multiplication question..."

I was wondering where you were! I hope you went somewhere cold for your holiday. If you can figure the gas can thing out, good for you, I never will. He might as well posted it in German if it was meant for me, especially that one on top part. :-}

Kim wrote: "If you can figure the gas can thing out, good for you, I never will."

I have to admit that it's incomprehensible to me that you can't understand the gas can thing. I mean, it's not really math, it's more like the manipulatives that kindergarten students learn.

Any second grader doing math today would know exactly what Tristram meant and why it worked. You don't even need to be smarter than a sixth grader; just a first grader.

Kim wrote: "Peter wrote: "well, well, well ...

It's good to see that on my two week holiday w/o internet (I refused to pay the outrageous fee) you all have solved the reading date crisis and gas can multiplic..."

Kim

My wife and I did our annual Caribbean cruise thing as we crave sun and warmth at least once in the winter.

We did, however, return home to Victoria through Toronto to visit the kids just in time for the worst storm and cold of the winter. As we looked out of our hotel window we realized why we moved to the west coast.

Peter wrote: "As we looked out of our hotel window we realized why we moved to the west coast. "

Which is why I moved from Pittsburgh to San Juan Island!

Barbs - Sure, I've just done it. Hope things went well on your visit :)

Everyman wrote: "Kim wrote: "If you can figure the gas can thing out, good for you, I never will."

I have to admit that it's incomprehensible to me that you can't understand the gas can thing. I mean, it's not re..."

It is incomprehensible to me that someone of your advanced age (old) is able to remember kindergarten, first grade, second grade and sixth grade. I wouldn't have thought they had kindergarten in one room school houses.

I thought you lived in Philadelphia before going off to your deserted island.

Kim wrote: "I thought you lived in Philadelphia before going off to your deserted island. "

Was brought up in Phila (actually, just outside). But my last job before coming west was in Pittsburgh. I could deal with snow. But not snow and the perpetual steep hills of Pittsburgh along with a decided lack of snowplows. There were nights I thought I would never get my spinning wheels to maneuver up the long hill to where I lived. Ugh.

Tristram - what date will you open up the first discussion for chapters 1 - 3? Just so I can keep up and read just before I post!

The new school year is absolutely chaotic. I'm hoping I can keep up with the three chapters a week and get involved with the discussion in time.

Looking forward to DC. Another I have never read!

Kate wrote: "Tristram - what date will you open up the first discussion for chapters 1 - 3? Just so I can keep up and read just before I post!

The new school year is absolutely chaotic. I'm hoping I can keep..."

He is away for the weekend - I will be posting the Sketches tomorrow if I ever get them finished :-}. As for DC if I'm reading his European dating correctly (don't worry I skipped down to the American) since he usually opens the threads on a Sunday the first thread should be on Sunday, February 15th. Or if you prefer 15th February, Sunday. :-}

Kate wrote: "Tristram - what date will you open up the first discussion for chapters 1 - 3? Just so I can keep up and read just before I post!

The new school year is absolutely chaotic. I'm hoping I can keep..."

Would it be possible to teach DC to all your classes, at a pace of one chapter per week? With reviews, time for group activities and all that other stuff you should be able to limp through the entire semester/year with ease.

Just a thought ...

I bought the following edition of Dickens for Kindle:

http://www.amazon.de/Complete-Charles...

I don't know whether it is the best Kindle edition but all in all I am quite satisfied with most of the Delphi editions.

As a book, DC should at least have 800 pages, shouldn't it?

Lindsay wrote: "I notice that David Copperfield is NOT available on Kindle Unlimited...any suggestions on the best Kindle edition of DC???

what is the correct page count, I notice a wide variance between the edit..."

Gutenberg.org is almost always the best source for classic Kindle editions. Most of the free editions available from Amazon or elsewhere start with Gutenberg copies, but don't always incorporate the corrections that Gutemberg makes whenever they are identified in the text. And some source, like Archive, are simply awful -- they use OCR and seem to do nothing to correct the errors that OCR always puts into a text (every Gutenberg text that starts as OCR is proofread by real readers, usually more than one).

While people are at it, toss a $10.00 donation Gutenberg's way every now and then. They need and deserve it.

I'm a fan of the Delphi Complete Works series: cheap and competent. They do the same for artists/paintings, too.

Kim wrote: "Kate wrote: "Tristram - what date will you open up the first discussion for chapters 1 - 3? Just so I can keep up and read just before I post!

The new school year is absolutely chaotic. I'm hopi..."

Phew, I thought I was going to be late! Thanks Kim. :)

Peter wrote: "Kate wrote: "Tristram - what date will you open up the first discussion for chapters 1 - 3? Just so I can keep up and read just before I post!

The new school year is absolutely chaotic. I'm hopi..."

Hi Peter

A good thought but unfortunately I'm not teaching English at the moment. I'm teaching Geography and Commerce. Lucky I like Geography and don't mind Commerce! Trying to get work in English, over here, is ridiculous. But that's another story.

I've just sat down after cleaning the house, so I'm going to try and read the first chapter, at least, today.

Peter wrote: "Would it be possible to teach DC to all your classes, at a pace of one chapter per week? With reviews, time for group activities and all that other stuff you should be able to limp through the entire semester/year with ease. "

Peter,

that would be an attractive idea indeed but I am afraid that there would not be enough time. For a start, German English students when they finish school with their A-levels would still be challenged by Dickens's style so that reading the novel would not be too easy for them. I remember that I read DC the first time when I was doing my A-levels (and I bought the book, along with Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities in Dorchester, where our English course went for its final class trip; these were my first English Dickens books, before I had read Dickens in German), and I found it very hard. Had I not been a fervent Dickens aficionado at that time already, I would probably have given up.

So most students would probably give up in the face of Victorian English.

Another problem is that the German school system does not grant you enough time for so long a novel as there are all sorts of topics to be covered.

A last problem - and this is a flaw of our recent development - is that literature is no longer at the centre of our English courses. We now focus on non-fictional texts as well, e.g. speeches, newspaper articles, discussions, and literature, let alone good literature, is just one aspect in many that have to be dealt with.

Last not least, more and more of my colleagues - I'm talking of the younger ones - have no real idea of how to deal with literature. Actually for them, The Hunger Games is a book worth dealing with in class, and they read it as a dystopian novel, where I would still make my students read classics such as 1984 or Brave New World. My students at first often sigh at these novels but in the course of events they are often intrigued with the discussions that these novels trigger off. I cannot fancy anyone discussing The Hunger Games in earnest but then some of my colleagues regard me as a bloody snob ... However, I don't mind being seen as one as long as a certain number of my students feel encouraged to deal with good literature as a consequence of having sat in my classes.