Hayley

I finished The Leviathan last night and next I think I’m going to start From the Depths and Other Tales of the Sea, which I couldn’t resist when I saw it on offer last month. I do want to read Treasure Island too though. If I can hunt down a cheap copy, I might read them both 😁

Having just finished The Devil and the Dark Water, I decided to go through my shelves to see if there were any other sea-related books I hadn't read yet. Although it's not actually set on the sea, I do have The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews. I know it has something to do with a shipwreck and I'm assuming at least a little to do with a sea monster, so I'm going for this one next!

Actually I have a question for those who've read the book (it's about something that happens at the end, so big spoiler alert!)

Review time! Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens 5/5 - I loved it, of course I have loved every Dickens book I've ever read, so my feelings about this one were already expected. Dickens loved showing individual goodness overcoming the evil schemes of the powerful and that's very much the theme in Nicholas Nickleby. I found myself particularly invested in the story of poor Smike, a young man who was abandoned at a boarding school and is used horribly by the people around him. Dickens really builds your sympathy for him before strongly hinting that something terrible might happen. The tension was killing me! And that's one of the things I appreciated in this pretty lengthy (just under 800 page) book - there are so many schemes and escapes and tragedies that it's never boring for a moment. It also helps that Nicholas is probably one of the most headstrong of Dickens' characters. It's difficult to say more on that without spoilers, but he is not afraid to get himself into trouble. It also left me strongly wishing that there were more real Cheeryble brothers in the world... The Devil and the Dark Water 4.5/5 - I loved it I really expected this to be a typical detective story and it is not. It has some of the same tropes (which you're clearly meant to recognise - like the detective/sidekick duo and the locked door mystery) but there are also twists and turns that I'd never have expected. The detective being imprisoned at the very beginning of the book is one of them! The fact that nearly all of the events of the novel happen onboard a ship really starts to build the claustrophobic tension as we go. It begins to feel like a case of 'solve the mystery or die trying' and it is not an easy mystery to solve... especially when nobody can be trusted. I stayed up far too late for two nights in a row reading this book and I think that says enough about how gripping it was. The author notes at the end of the book that he did sacrifice some historical accuracy (it's set in the 1600s) for the sake of the narrative and I can imagine that some people might be annoyed by that, but I didn't personally think that it mattered.

If someone passes Lilly (my dog) without paying attention to her, she stares at them as they pass - kind of like she’s saying ‘excuse me, where are my pets?’ 😅

(I hope you don’t mind, I did a tiny edit because there was a clue in your phrasing 😄) It was really good! I’ll post my review soon. About half way through, I actually thought

I stayed up WAY too late finishing this last night and I did NOT guess who it was!!! At what point did you guess @lunababymoonchild!?

Does everybody else’s brain imagine it being pronounced the way it’s spelled too? 😂. These are the kind of mistakes I’ve found most often!

Oh, that’s good . Some of the visitors will be people who’ve clicked through from search engines, looking for an answer to a particular thing. Undoubtedly a lot of the guests are just bots though, sadly! Edit: oh, and all the people telling me how great the site is and then trying to sell me things through the contact form 😅

I wish I knew what would make that many people join the forum 😅. You don’t need to worry about your personal details though. The forum’s software has good security, which is updated every month. The only way someone could get your personal information is if you posted it on the public side of the forum, which I know none of you would do 😄.

I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to anyone who preferred Agnes! She’s a bit too perfect.

I’m on chapter 9 and already very intrigued!

I hope it’s feeling better today @lunababymoonchild! And I hope you get to eat properly!

Poking my head back in here a little late to say that I finished Nicholas Nickleby and I loved it! And I was NOT expecting that with Smike 😬

No, I don’t think Dickens modelled Dora on Catherine. I think it’s more that, viewing David Copperfield as based on the events of Dickens’ life, Dora’s an acknowledgement of the fact that he’d started to view his first marriage as something that he didn’t necessarily want to last forever. Of course, things didn’t work out as conveniently for him in reality. Hence the attempt to have Catherine institutionalised, which you mentioned! On the subject of women in Dickens, I’d also like to throw Betsy Trotwood in to the list of good characters. She’s one of my favourites.

I was on the fence about getting this when I first saw it. I’ve seen another review that said the characters were unlikeable. Maybe when it’s on sale 😄. I like that about Hound of the Baskervilles too!

I’ve never had a peach muffin but I love both peaches and muffins - I need to try this!! A little sad that I can’t go to a lovely orchard to buy baskets full of seasonal fruit, but I guess the supermarket will do 😄

Yes, definitely not an accurate portrayal of his marriage 😅. Perhaps more the way he’d have liked it to have gone… @KEV67 is right though, he wrote David Copperfield quite a few years before the divorce. So it’s kind of a sweeter portrayal of youth and naivety and marriage not always being what you expect. But I agree, it is painful to read!

Dora’s part in the story is sad. Her intentions are good but she’s so young and just does not know what she’s doing at all. Even sadder when you consider the fact that David Copperfield is semiautobiographical and the issues with Dora likely reflect Dickens’ real issues with his wife.

Hi Mostafa, the sites which offer free pdfs of books which are still in copyright are illegal and we don’t allow them on the forum. It looks like archive.org has Mistborn available to borrow though (it’s free to sign up for an account if you don’t have one already): https://archive.org/details/mistbornfinalemp0000sand_a4i8

Oooh that is tempting…

Great! I think I’ll be going for The Devil and the Dark Water too then (as soon as I’ve finished off Nicholas Nickleby!) I might also re-read Rime of the Ancient Mariner because it’s been years since I read that! 😄

Great! I think I’ll try The Devil and the Dark Water (as soon as I’ve finished off Nicholas Nickleby). It’s been a very long time since I read that, so I might join you!

Happy first of the month! With one additional vote in for the sea, are we all happy to proceed with that without a poll? (although @lunababymoonchild, I like the idea of including poems in our reading, based on different themes! There are definitely plenty featuring the sea…)

Don’t forget to throw any other suggestions in before tomorrow! 😄