Random org has determined the winner of one copy of John Sutherland’s The Dickens Dictionary offered by Icon Books.
The winner of the copy on this blog is Shimona from the Palace.
Congratulations, Shimona.
Please send me your address via beautyisasleepingcat at gmail dot com.
Earlier this year I reviewed John Sutherland’s The Dickens Dictionary and it was this book which started the whole idea of Dickens in December. That’s why we are particularly pleased that Icon Books have offered us two copies of the Dictionary for our first giveaway. We are giving a way one book per blog.
I really like this book, it’s informative, interesting and contains a lot of illustrations. Here is the blurb
For fans old and new, a fascinating tour through Charles Dickens’ novels in the hands of a master critic.Oliver Twist … Great Expectations … David Copperfield – all contain a riotous fictional world that still leaves and breathes for readers the world over today.But how much do we really know about Charles Dickens’ dazzling imagination, which has brought this all into being?To celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Dickens – 2012 – Victorian literature expert John Sutherland has created a gloriously wide-ranging alphabetical companion to Dickens’ novels, excavating the hidden links between his characters, themes, and preoccupations, and the minutiae of his endlessly inventive wordplay.Covering America, Bastards, Childhood, Christmas, Empire, Fog, Larks, London, Madness, Murder, Orphans, Pubs, Punishment, Smells, Spontaneous Combustion and Zoo to name but a few – John Sutherland gives us a uniquely personal guide to Charles Dickens’ books.
If you’d like to win a copy of this book, just leave a comment. If you want to improve your chances of winning you can leave a comment on this and one on Delia’s blog. That way your name will be in both draws but you can only win once.
The giveaway is open internationally. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 11 December.
It’s already December and time that we start reading our Dickens novels and watch some movies based on his books. The detailed plan of this month can be found in the Introductory and Sing up Post. I’m co-hosting this event together with Delia (Postcards from Asia). Don’t miss to visit her blog as well.
The most important date to keep in mind is December 21 as that is the date for our A Christmas Carol readalong.
I have already started Great Expectations and really like it so far.
I will re-watch the movie Great Expectations (1998) starring Gwyneth Paltrow as I loved it but I would also like to watch one of the many versions of A Christmas Carol. The one from 1935 can been watched on YouTube.
Do you have a favorite movie version of A Christmas Carol? Let me know. I have a hard time choosing the one I should see.
Another amazing week for German Literature Month. The final wrap up post is due in a week or so as Lizzy has decided to extend the month.
All those of you still want to contribute or finish a book, feel free to do so and join her. There will be a final wrap-up post and a link list next week as well.
Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (A Work in Progress)
Grimm Readathon 2012: Meet me at Hanau (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
No Place on Earth by Christa Wolf (Tony’s Reading List)
Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm (Vishy’s Blog)
Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler (Tales from the Reading Room)
The Story of the Hard Nut by E.T.A. Hoffmann (The Reading Life)
Grimm Readathon from Hauna to Kassel (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
My First Wife by Jakob Wassermann (Gaskella)
Demian by Hermann Hesse (Babbling Books)
Grimm Readathon: From kassel to Fürstenberg (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Brenner and God by Wolf Haas (His Futile Preoccupations)
Ich sehe was, was Du nicht siehst by Birgit Vanderbeke (Tony’s Reading List)
The Weekend by Berhard Schlink (Vishy’s Blog)
Grimm Readathon: From Fürstenberg to Bremen (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
The Tale of the Honest Caspar and Fair Annie by Clemens Brentano (A Work in Progress)
Crime & Guilt by Ferdinand von Schirach (A Fiction Habit)
After Midnight by Irmgard Keun (chasing bawa)
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin (Tony’s Reading List)
Grimm Readathon 2012 Meets Book Week Scotland (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Wonderful, Wonderful Times by Elfriede Jelinek (St. Orberose)
Schnitzler and Stoppard collaborate (Wuthering Expectations)
Forbidden – Ostracized – Banned German Women Writers Under National Socialism (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (Winstonsdad’s Blog)
Amerika by Franz Kafka (A Hot Cup of Pleasure)
Sci-Fi Stories by German Authors (Slightly Cultural, Most Thoughtful and Inevitably Irrelevant)
The Pharmacist by Ingrid Noll (A Work in Progress)
Another Schnitzler – Stoppard Play (Wuthering Expectations)
Siddharta by Hermann Hesse (Tabula Rasa)
The Gordian Knot by Bernhard Schlink (Winstonsdad’s Blog)
This Wednesday is Wunderbar GLM extension (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
The Reader by Bernard Schlink (Iris on Books)
The enthusiasm for German Literature Month is still amazing.
I think I’ve added all the links but let me know if one has escaped my attention.
Schnitzler’s Substitue for the Talking Cure (Wutherin Expectations)
Meet the Translator Sally-Ann Spencer (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Hotel Savoy by Joseph Roth (Tony’s Reading List)
Schlink Week – Links (Reader in the Wilderness)
A Schlink Link – A Key to Understanding (Reader in the Wilderness)
Night Games – Schnitzler Stretches Out (Wuthering Expectations)
Tell me What You See by Zoran Drvenkar (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
The Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler (Wuthering Expectations)
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing and The Sweetness of Life by Paulus Hochgatterer (Farm Lane Books)
Summerhouse, Later by Judith Hermann (Tony’s Reading List)
Seven Years by Peter Stamm (Tony’s Book World)
Tell Me What You See by Zoran Drvenkar (Vishy’s Blog)
Talking of Romance… (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Being German, Writing Fiction and the Holocaust (Reader in the Wilderness)
Final Words About Bernhard Schlink Week (Reader in the Wilderness)
Fräulein Else by Arthur Schnitzler (A Work in Progress)
Man of Straw by Heinrich Mann (His Futile Preoccupations)
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Day by Day (Read, Ramble)
Bunker by Andrea Maria Schenkel (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer (The Little Reader Library)
The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach (Vishy’s Blog)
Winters in the South by Norbert Gstrein (Winstonsdad’s Blog)
Mesmerized by Allissa Walser (50 Year Project)
Der Elfenbeinturm by Herbert W. Franke (Slightly Cultural, Most Thoughtful and Inevitably Irrelevant)
The Poetry of Trakl (Wuthering Expectations)
Zbinden’s Progress by Christoph Simon (everybookhasasoul)
This Wednesday is Wunderbar (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Salzburg in Trakl’s Poems (Wuthering Expectations)
All Roads Lead to Berlin (Tony’s Reading List)
This was another great week for German Literature Month.
Let me know if I missed a link.
Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm (Tony’s Reading List)
The Cow by Beat Sterchi (Farm Lane Books)
One Hundred Days by Lukas Bärfuss (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
German Literature Month (and then she read)
The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig (Tabula Rasa)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (Still Life With Books)
A Happy Man by Hansjörg Schertenleib (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser (Vapour Trails)
Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe (Iris on Books)
Reckless by Cornelia Funke (and then she read)
Bernhard Schlink Week (Reader in the Wilderness)
L’adultera by Theodor Fontane (Tony’s Reading List)
My Prizes by Thomas Bernhard (in lieu of a field guide)
The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (Vishy’s Blog)
Introduction GLM (Curious Incidents in the North East)
On the Edge by Markus Werner (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig (everybookhasasoul)
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (Sightly Cutural, Most Toughtful and Inevitably Irrelevant)
The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel (A Hot Cup of Pleasure)
Eckbert the Fair by Ludwig Tiek (A Work in Progress)
Summer Lies by Bernhard Schlink (Winstonsdad’s Blog)
The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (Tony’s Reading List)
Summer Lies by Bernhard Schlink (Reader in the Wilderness)
Schnitzler’s Short Fiction (Wuthering Expectations)
The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig (The Little Reader Library)
Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer (Leeswamme’s Blog)
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek (A Fiction Habit)
Summer Lies by Berhard Schlink (Lizzy’s Literaray Life)
The Weekend by Bernhard Schlink (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat)
The Dead Are Silent by Arthur Schnitzler (Wuthering Expectations)
German Stories from Best European Fiction 2012 (The Reading Life)
Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane (Still Life With Books)
Loving Rilke (Tales From the Reading Room)
This Wednesday is Wunderbar (Lizzy’s Literary Life)
The Collinin Case by Ferdinand von Schirach (A Book Sanctuary)
The Beggar Woman of Locarno by Heinrich von Kleist (The Reading Life)
Here is a great resource which Mel U (The Reading Life) sent me yesterday. It has a lot of online stories, in English and German, mostly from the Rom
As you know, this year marked the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. When I reviewed The Dickens Dictionary this summer Delia (Postcards from Asia) had the wonderful idea to dedicate the last month of the year to Dickens and celebrate him in different ways. We decided we will read and review one or several of his novels in December, host a readalong and a watchalong and at least two giveaways. Because Christmas isn’t far, it seemed a good idea to choose A Christmas Carol as our readalong title. It’s a short novel and online copies are available for free. The readalong will take place on Friday 21 December. We will send out questions one week in advance, you can either use those or just post a review.
The weekend of 14/15 December is dedicated to movies based on Dickens’ novels. You are free to choose whatever you like, just post your review either on Saturday or Sunday.
I hope that many will feel tempted to join us. I’m really looking forward to this. I had a list of authors I wanted to read for the first time this year and Dickens was one of them. I’ve only read A Christmas Carol so far. I decided that I will read Great Expectations and re-watch the movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
Here is the detailed program of the event
Book reviews – You can choose any Dickens book you like, even books inspired by his work like Lynn Shepherd’s Tom-All-Alone’s are an option. Non-fiction on Dickens is welcome too. We will collect and add all your reviews on a page dedicated to the event. Date: 1 December – end of month.
Watchalong: You can choose any movie based on a Dickens novel. Date: 9 – 15 December
Giveaway: There will be two giveaways during 16-21 December. One will be on this, the other one on Delia’s blog.
Readalong: We decided to read A Christmas Carol. We will send a couple of questions to those who participate. If you don’t like that approach, just post a review or your impressions and join the discussion. Date: Friday 21 December
Wrap up post: At the end of the month, the event will be wrapped up and a post containing all the links of the participants will be posted on our blogs.
Please consider joining Delia and me.
Anyone who wants to join, please grab a badge and sign up in the comment form. Tell us whether you will also read along, so we can send you the questions. There is no need to tell us which books and movies you will choose but you can do so in an intro post.
I would like to thank Delia for the idea, for co-hosting and for the lovely badge which she has designed. The title of the event is inspired by Roof Beam Reader’s Austen in August.
Here is Delia’s intro post.
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 