Our Dickens Champions, Immaculate Conception Church reading group have been busy immersing themselves in Dickens’ Dombey and Son. Here’s their latest blog post:
Finishing Dombey and Son
All challengers have now finished reading Dombey and Son, with Maureen claiming that she, “felt like the marathon runner who reaches the finishing line when the lights are off and everyone has gone home!” We held a meeting, over cheese and wine, to discuss our views and to a man (or rather woman) we all agreed that it was a fabulous read and probably not one we would have initially plumped for. 
The doctor and nurses amongst us gave us their musings on the possible medical conditions of some characters and we shared our favourite passages and quotes. As a final goodbye to Dombey we are watching the BBC DVD over two evenings. Made in 1983 and starring amongst others, Julian Glover and Lysette Anthony, it makes a good stab at portraying the characters and story, although it can never be anything more than a representation. Captain Cuttle and Joey Bagstock are probably the nearest in accuracy it was agreed.
The photo is us watching Dombey and Son on DVD. Is that Madame Defarge with her knitting? Ha Ha!
Here are some more of our thoughts on Dombey and Son.
Our next read and getting out and about
We now embark on our next novel which is The Old Curiosity Shop. We are currently in the throes of planning a trip to London on May 12th. Carole is going to lead a Dickens walk which will include the old curiosity shop itself and while we are in London we will visit the Dickens exhibition at the Museum of London.
Our Dickens Champions
Watch out for our Dickens Champions’ blog posts as they read their way through Dickens during 2012.
Read Ealing Book Groups thoughts on Great Expectations – the book and the recent BBC adaptation.
Read Dickens Readng Group, Manchester’s thoughts on David Copperfield.
Read Belper Book Chat, Derbyshire’s thoughts on The Old Curiosity Shop.
Check out our Dickens Champions photos on Facebook.
Reading Dickens in your reading group or book club? Get in touch or post a comment to let us know how you’re getting on.
