Location: Milton Keynes
No. of members: 10
Running since: 2005
The MK Borrowers are reading Dombey and Son throughout March, and discussing it at the beginning of April. They’re all looking forward to reading it!
David Reed from the group, tells us how he’s been immersing himself in Dickens:
It’s difficult for me to decide on a single favourite Dickens character, but I suppose Tom Pinch from the book Martin Chuzzelwit rates quite highly. I have great sympathy with his simple, honest character and his quite acceptance of his fate.
We shall discuss our first Dickens book – Dombey and Son – at our meeting in April. I’m looking forward to this as it’s one of my favourites. I believe that there was a TV series in the 80s that I also enjoyed.
The main things I have managed to watch so far are the latest TV adaptations of Great Expectations and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I enjoyed both.
I still think the David Lean version of Great Expectations to be the best I have seen; I particular liked the mix of melodrama and humour. The latest TV version of Great Expectations seemed to be without the humour; however, I did think the promotion of the importance Herbert Pocket worked very well and Ray Winstone as Magwitch was excellent. I look forward to the new cinema version of Great Expectations later this year.
I thought the adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood to be good, but perhaps the ‘happy’ ending wasn’t quite what Dickens had in mind. I watched the BBC 4 Arena production of Dickens on Film, and I regret not having seen any of the early silent film versions of his books.
I listened to a Radio 4 version of A Tale of Two Cities, which I liked a lot except for the abridged version of the final lines. I thought the actors who played Sydney Carton and Charles Darney gave the impressions I had of the two from reading the book many years ago. I look forward to reading the book again later this year.
I also went to a local talk of Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelites, which explored some early critical pieces written by Dickens on the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
