Bleak House and Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Not only do I love gardening but I also love books!
Sometimes it seems like a sickness. Anyplace I go
like antique stores or used furniture stores I run across
old books and I feel so sad because I can't give them a home
When my great-grandmother died, her legacy was books!
Some had been passed down from her grandparents so I grew
up always with people who read books and then discussed them

My goal this year is to read all of Charles Dickens. I wanted today
to talk about Bleak House. It gets deeper the more I read it. I love
Dickens because of his ability to create characters like Mr. Guppy, and
Mr. Smallweed and Mr. John Jarndice and of course, the lovable and true
Esther Summerson. You have the tragic Mrs. Deadlock and how
her desire for security and prestige made her a shell, of her former
self, where once she was ruled my her passions, she becomes a
woman ruled by her rigidity and control.
The detective, Mr. Bucket who seems to see and hear everything and
yet seems above reproach. Yet keeps his thoughts so well to himself.
But then we see that he is much deeper. He is not afraid of the rich.

The movie done by the BBC is one I could watch over and over.
Just for a small dose of Dickens when I don't have time to sit and
read a book.


This is my favorite version of the book.

Bleak House (Norton Critical Editions) by Charles Dickens, George Ford, and Sylvere Monod (Paperback - Dec 17, 1977)

There are words I have never seen in Dickens before so this does a nice
job of explaining the meaning behind some words, not to mention
the part about the real people the Dickens knew and used
them in his book to make a smarmy person like Skimpole. Who
was a real person who lived the same way in real life.

I was thinking of doing small book reviews once in a while.
Books that cause my thinking to ponder deeply into
the contrasts that Dickens gives us through his writing.
I hope you have a nice Thursday!