chesilbeach Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 We had a bit of a discussion earlier in the year about maybe reading A Tale of Two Cities as a group read which Janet reminded me of at the weekend. I was thinking we could start in a couple of weeks, and would break it up into weekly/fortnightly instalments to read. Ideally, we would read it in the same instalments as it was published, but I'm struggling to find anywhere that lists which chapters were published each week, so unless anyone else can find details from somewhere, we'll split up the chapters another way. Would anyone be interested in taking part? Quote
Janet Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 I found this. Issue 1 – Book 1, Chapters 1 to 4 Issue 2 – Book 1, Chapters 5 to 6 Issue 3 – Book 2, Chapters 1 to 3 Issue 4 – Book 2, Chapters 4 to 6 Issue 5 – Book 2, Chapters 7 to 9 Issue 6 – Book 2, Chapters 10 to 13 Issue 7 – Book 2, Chapters 14 to 15 Issue 8 – Book 2, Chapters 16 to 18 Issue 9 – Book 2, Chapters 19 to 21 Issue 10 – Book 2, Chapters 22 to 24 Issue 11 – Book 3, Chapters 1 to 3 Issue 12 – Book 3, Chapters 4 to 7 Issue 13 – Book 3, Chapters 8 to 9 Issue 14 – Book 3, Chapters 10 to 12 Issue 15 – Book 3, Chapters 13 to 15 Source - http://dickens.stanford.edu/dickens/archive/tale/two_cities.html I'm not sure how long each 'Issue' is. I don't like the idea of reading this over 15 months! Quote
woolf woolf Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 I'm interested, count me in. How does it work? Quote
Kylie Posted October 5, 2015 Posted October 5, 2015 I don't like the idea of reading this over 15 months! I don't blame you! AToTC is by far one of his shorter novels. I think 4–5 weeks would be plenty of time. I checked my Kindle edition and the first 'book' is quite short, the second book is the longest and the third is somewhere in between. So the second book, and perhaps the third, could be split into two weeks each. I won't be participating so have no right to an opinion, really. Just thought I'd try to help. Quote
Timstar Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 I'd be interested. This is one I have been meaning to get around to for quite a while. Quote
Janet Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Thanks, Kylie - that's very useful. And I'm glad you're joining us, Woolf Woolf and Timstar. I have the Vintage version (although I'm going to read it on Kindle!). It's 404 pages long, so we could try for five weekly instalments of 80 pages? We can always review if that's too much. Obviously that's just my suggestion - I'm very open to alternatives. My suggested breakdown would work like this: Vintage edition - ISBN 9780099511854 Week 1 Issue 1 – Book 1, Chapters 1 to 4 (p 27) Issue 2 – Book 1, Chapters 5 to 6 (p 51) Issue 3 – Book 2, Chapters 1 to 3 (p 80) – total 80 pages Week 2 Issue 4 – Book 2, Chapters 4 to 6 (p 107) Issue 5 – Book 2, Chapters 7 to 9 (p 135) Issue 6 – Book 2, Chapters 10 to 13 (p 161) – total 81 pages Week 3 Issue 7 – Book 2, Chapters 14 to 15 (p 184) Issue 8 – Book 2, Chapters 16 to 18 (p 209) Issue 9 – Book 2, Chapters 19 to 21 (p 233) – total 72 pages Week 4 Issue 10 – Book 2, Chapters 22 to 24 (p 260) Issue 11 – Book 3, Chapters 1 to 3 (p 286) Issue 12 – Book 3, Chapters 4 to 7 (p 313) – total 80 pages Week 5 Issue 13 – Book 3, Chapters 8 to 9 (p 341) Issue 14 – Book 3, Chapters 10 to 12 (p 371) Issue 15 – Book 3, Chapters 13 to 15 (p 404) – total 91 pages Quote
chesilbeach Posted October 6, 2015 Author Posted October 6, 2015 Sounds good to me too! I wanted to try and match the end chapters of whatever we read with the original instalments, as they're written with cliffhangers or open endings so as to make you want to buy and read the next one, so as long as we match with that, I'm happy. When would you all be happy to start … I was thinking of starting at the end of next week, so we could say have read the first week by the end of Sunday 25th October? Gives me plenty of time to get a copy of the book and finish up some other books I wanted to read first, and still have time to read the first chapters. If you haven't taken part in a group read before, what we do is all read the chapters together, and then after the end date for that instalment, we then discuss the chapters we've read. We tend to discuss the plot and characters openly, which is why we wait until the end date before posting anything about what we're reading in that week … hope that makes sense! Quote
Janet Posted October 6, 2015 Posted October 6, 2015 Sounds good to me. I've edited the title of this to say 'discussion' so we can have a nice fresh thread when we start. Quote
chesilbeach Posted October 7, 2015 Author Posted October 7, 2015 Excellent! I'm really looking forward to this Quote
Raven Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . Quote
Raven Posted October 8, 2015 Posted October 8, 2015 ^ Don't worry, I don't know any more. (Kirk didn't read any further). Quote
Sabry Posted October 11, 2015 Posted October 11, 2015 I want to read this book since years ago so maybe I could join you for the reading. When you will start reading? On Monday, 19? And comment the first 80 pages? Sorry for asking but it's the first time that I want to join to a reading club. I have a Kindle but I don't know if I can read in it because of the chapters, most of online copies that I have doesn't have the chapters. Quote
Janet Posted October 11, 2015 Posted October 11, 2015 Yup, we'd start the first section on 18th and then start the discussion on 25th, on which day we'd then start the next section, and so on... My Kindle shows the chapter divisions so hopefully yours will. I'm not sure how we/you would work out when you need to stop if not. Quote
woolf woolf Posted November 14, 2015 Posted November 14, 2015 I'm sorry, I won't be able to continue. I'm too far behind, life has been busy since the month began and it won't stop for a few weeks more. Quote
Janet Posted November 15, 2015 Posted November 15, 2015 That's a shame, but I understand how life gets in the way. I hope you manage to read it at some stage. Quote
shades Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 I'd be interested. This is one I have been meaning to get around to for quite a while. I read it years ago but it would be a good read over. Sorry I missed this group read, but gave me an idea, thnx Quote
tracy18 Posted January 16, 2020 Posted January 16, 2020 OOooooooooo really happy to have stumbled upon this yesteryear's reading circle! Quote
itsmeagain Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 It's his worst novel by some distance as it happens. Quote
Hayley Posted January 29, 2020 Posted January 29, 2020 Only because all the others are so good though, I still enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities Quote
itsmeagain Posted January 30, 2020 Posted January 30, 2020 I agree Hayley. There are still excellent parts to A tale of two cities , of course. Quote
willoyd Posted April 8, 2020 Posted April 8, 2020 (edited) On 27/01/2020 at 2:53 PM, itsmeagain said: It's his worst novel by some distance as it happens. Am soon to start this for a book group read. I'm a Dickens fan, but have never read this. My most recent was The Old Curiosity Shop, and have to say that that's been the weakest I've read so far (mainly the thread that follows Little Nell, the rest was very enjoyable). Will be interesting how this pans out now! Edited April 8, 2020 by willoyd Quote
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