1001 Novels Challenge - UPDATE 18
I know, I know - took me long enough, right?
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
If you've ever read - or even picked up - the book you'll know that this is a whopping story, coming in at just under 1000 pages. And unlike, say, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it's not one that you can breeze through in a few days. The story introduces no less than 57 characters in great detail, and it's locations vary from the slums on Tom-All-Alone's to the Dedlock Manor.
It's a critisism of the legal system - the story focusing on the case of Jarndyve vs. Jarndyce which has gone on for so long that is has become a legal joke - with the original claimants all long dead and their children (possibly even children's children) now tied up in the case themselves. The story focuses on the various characters tied up in the case - either with or without their own knowledge. As a fun fact it's also the very first legal procedural story.
Going much more into the plot is both too complicated and spoilerish, so I'll lay off and stick to general impressions.
Parenthood is the key theme of the story. Many of the characters have parents or guardians who are so tied up in their own lives and cares that their children are at best ignored and at worst abused:
Esther: raised by her 'godmother' who continually reminds her of the shame she brought to her mother and that it would be better off if she had never lived (ironically we find out that her mother, Lady Dedlock, did not know of her survival and loves her dearly.)
Caddy Jellyby: her mother is obsessed with her african charity work, to the extent that she ignores her own family completely - they lives in chaos and unhappyness.
Mrs Pardiggle: like Mrs. Jellyby in her obsession with charity work - she carts her five boys along with her while she does it and forces them to spend their pocket money on her causes. They all hate their mother.
Mr. Skimpole: I'll talk about him later...a man who claims to be a child with no understanding of the world or money - yet takes money from anyone he can. He had many children, kept in squalor, some of whom he has brainwashed to be like them but most have run away.
Mr. Turveydrop: so obsessed with his 'deportmant' and dreams of grandeur that his poor son (and later daughter in law Caddy) have to double their workloads to keep him.
There are obviously many themes to the story but this theme is the one that most struck me. I have what might be called 'issues' with my parents. A mother so obsessed with writing and art (and hating her own life) that she does nothing but - she hasn't done a chore besides cooking an occasional meal in over a year. Equally my dad lives off the dole, claims to 'hate money' and sees little need for wanting it, and claims there are more important things in the world. While this is a somewhat unfair description (they do love me and I them) it is largely true and like many of the characters in the novel I have become the opressed child. I realised with some horror that I am the equivilant of being the spawn of Skimpole and Mrs. Jellyby! Terrifying!
And Skimpole...I would rant at length about my hated for him, but you'll just have to take it as read. I needed a break after every chapter with him in it.
There were characters I loved: Caddy, Esther, Mr. and Mrs. Bagnet (real love if it has ever been so purely represented on a page), Guppy (until the end), Lady Dedlock (how could anyone not adore her?)
I could talk for hours about this book, so I'll settle for saying I adored it and will one day revisit it...and now I'm off to watch the TV adaption mum has on DVD...
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Die
Starting Point: 27
Current Point: 40
Realistic Goal: 300 (I should finish, reading one a week, in about 5 years!)
Adams, Douglas: Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Emma
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Christie, Agatha: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Dumas, Alexander: The Count of Monte-Cristo
Eugenides, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
Forster, E. M: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M: Howard's End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Cranford
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
Lawrence, D. H: Lady Chatterly's Lover
Lee, Harper: The Kill a Mocking Bird
Levy, Andrea: Small Island
Lindegren, Astrid: Pippi Longstocking
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi
Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Pit and the Pendulum
Queneau, Raymond: Exercises in Style
Schlink, Bernhard: The Reader
Stevenson, Robert Louis: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram: Dracula
Verne, Jules: Around the World in 80 Days
Walpole, Horace: The Castle of Otranto
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Wodehouse, P. G: Thank You Jeeves
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Grow Up (and yes, there are crossovers between the lists.)
Starting Point: 61
Current Point: 65
(For reference I'm only going to read books from ages 8+, anything below that age range was already read before starting this)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
The Story of the Root Children
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Father Christmas
Burglar Bill
The Snowman
Can't you Sleep, Little Bear?
A Visit From St. Nicholas
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The Emperor's New Clothes
The Ugly Duckling
The House that Jack Built
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
Pippi Longstocking
The Worst Witch
Matilda
Tales from Shakespeare
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A Christmas Carol
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Mary Poppins
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Hurrah for St. Trinian's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
James and the Giant Peach
Stig of the Dump
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Magic Finger
The Carpet People
The Indian in the Cupboard
Goodnight Mister Tom
The BFG
The Demon Headmaster
The Sheep-Pig
The Snow Spider
Bill's New Frock
Truckers
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Bomb
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Skellig
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Artemis Fowl
The Graveyard Book
Gulliver's Travels
Little Women
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Madame Doubtfire
Flour Babies
Witch Child
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Young Visiters
Around the World in 80 Days
War Horse
-------
My Private To-Read List
Books Read: 2
Further Reading
Forster, E. M: Maurice
Classics
James, Henry: The Turn of the Screw
Recommended
I Liked the Look of Them
Trashy But Fun
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
If you've ever read - or even picked up - the book you'll know that this is a whopping story, coming in at just under 1000 pages. And unlike, say, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it's not one that you can breeze through in a few days. The story introduces no less than 57 characters in great detail, and it's locations vary from the slums on Tom-All-Alone's to the Dedlock Manor.
It's a critisism of the legal system - the story focusing on the case of Jarndyve vs. Jarndyce which has gone on for so long that is has become a legal joke - with the original claimants all long dead and their children (possibly even children's children) now tied up in the case themselves. The story focuses on the various characters tied up in the case - either with or without their own knowledge. As a fun fact it's also the very first legal procedural story.
Going much more into the plot is both too complicated and spoilerish, so I'll lay off and stick to general impressions.
Parenthood is the key theme of the story. Many of the characters have parents or guardians who are so tied up in their own lives and cares that their children are at best ignored and at worst abused:
Esther: raised by her 'godmother' who continually reminds her of the shame she brought to her mother and that it would be better off if she had never lived (ironically we find out that her mother, Lady Dedlock, did not know of her survival and loves her dearly.)
Caddy Jellyby: her mother is obsessed with her african charity work, to the extent that she ignores her own family completely - they lives in chaos and unhappyness.
Mrs Pardiggle: like Mrs. Jellyby in her obsession with charity work - she carts her five boys along with her while she does it and forces them to spend their pocket money on her causes. They all hate their mother.
Mr. Skimpole: I'll talk about him later...a man who claims to be a child with no understanding of the world or money - yet takes money from anyone he can. He had many children, kept in squalor, some of whom he has brainwashed to be like them but most have run away.
Mr. Turveydrop: so obsessed with his 'deportmant' and dreams of grandeur that his poor son (and later daughter in law Caddy) have to double their workloads to keep him.
There are obviously many themes to the story but this theme is the one that most struck me. I have what might be called 'issues' with my parents. A mother so obsessed with writing and art (and hating her own life) that she does nothing but - she hasn't done a chore besides cooking an occasional meal in over a year. Equally my dad lives off the dole, claims to 'hate money' and sees little need for wanting it, and claims there are more important things in the world. While this is a somewhat unfair description (they do love me and I them) it is largely true and like many of the characters in the novel I have become the opressed child. I realised with some horror that I am the equivilant of being the spawn of Skimpole and Mrs. Jellyby! Terrifying!
And Skimpole...I would rant at length about my hated for him, but you'll just have to take it as read. I needed a break after every chapter with him in it.
There were characters I loved: Caddy, Esther, Mr. and Mrs. Bagnet (real love if it has ever been so purely represented on a page), Guppy (until the end), Lady Dedlock (how could anyone not adore her?)
I could talk for hours about this book, so I'll settle for saying I adored it and will one day revisit it...and now I'm off to watch the TV adaption mum has on DVD...
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Die
Starting Point: 27
Current Point: 40
Realistic Goal: 300 (I should finish, reading one a week, in about 5 years!)
Adams, Douglas: Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Emma
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Christie, Agatha: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca
Dumas, Alexander: The Count of Monte-Cristo
Eugenides, Jeffrey: The Virgin Suicides
Forster, E. M: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M: Howard's End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: Cranford
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
Lawrence, D. H: Lady Chatterly's Lover
Lee, Harper: The Kill a Mocking Bird
Levy, Andrea: Small Island
Lindegren, Astrid: Pippi Longstocking
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi
Nabokov, Vladimir: Lolita
Poe, Edgar Allen: The Pit and the Pendulum
Queneau, Raymond: Exercises in Style
Schlink, Bernhard: The Reader
Stevenson, Robert Louis: The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram: Dracula
Verne, Jules: Around the World in 80 Days
Walpole, Horace: The Castle of Otranto
Wharton, Edith: The House of Mirth
Wodehouse, P. G: Thank You Jeeves
1001 Novels You Must Read Before You Grow Up (and yes, there are crossovers between the lists.)
Starting Point: 61
Current Point: 65
(For reference I'm only going to read books from ages 8+, anything below that age range was already read before starting this)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
The Story of the Root Children
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Father Christmas
Burglar Bill
The Snowman
Can't you Sleep, Little Bear?
A Visit From St. Nicholas
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The Emperor's New Clothes
The Ugly Duckling
The House that Jack Built
Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories
Pippi Longstocking
The Worst Witch
Matilda
Tales from Shakespeare
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A Christmas Carol
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Mary Poppins
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Hurrah for St. Trinian's
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
James and the Giant Peach
Stig of the Dump
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Magic Finger
The Carpet People
The Indian in the Cupboard
Goodnight Mister Tom
The BFG
The Demon Headmaster
The Sheep-Pig
The Snow Spider
Bill's New Frock
Truckers
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Bomb
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Skellig
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Artemis Fowl
The Graveyard Book
Gulliver's Travels
Little Women
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Madame Doubtfire
Flour Babies
Witch Child
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Young Visiters
Around the World in 80 Days
War Horse
-------
My Private To-Read List
Books Read: 2
Further Reading
Forster, E. M: Maurice
Classics
James, Henry: The Turn of the Screw
Recommended
I Liked the Look of Them
Trashy But Fun