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Jeremy wrote: "One never knows what one would like but given our common book likes I think you will really like O'Brien. tTTC was quite amazing but then again he has done no wrong by me. As you may know much of..."

I made a note of the O'Brien books. He is a gap in my reading that I would like to address, and I agree that you and I do tend to have similar reading tastes.

Skimpole is different. The last chapter that I had read before going to bed last night puts him in an interesting light, which may change your perspective. I'll be curious to see :)

Wow! Mr. Tulkinghorn is one shady character. I suppose he might be trying to pay Lady Dedlock back for some snobbery.

I know! He's turned out to be THE villain in the book. I am not sure what his problem is yet or what's on the agenda for him, but he's a piece of work.

I'm about 150 pages ahead of you Jeremy (75% complete).

Maybe he has more at stake in the lawsuit then just acting as counsel for the Dreadlocks?

Hard to figure out his motive. The power of knowing peoples secrets and weaknesses and using against them seems to be it. But then money and envy could come into play.

Just wait Jeremy! You haven't even gotten to the good part (I think. I'm fuzzy on the actual page number when the "plot thickens".)

Sera wrote: "I know! He's turned out to be THE villain in the book. I am not sure what his problem is yet or what's on the agenda for him, but he's a piece of work.

I'm about 150 pages ahead of you Jeremy ..."

I don't know. guppy really did me in. Creepy. He'd totally be an online stalker today.

Oh - I am sure there is so much more to come! Dickens certainly is sympathetic to Skimpole! Reminds me a bit of Copperfield's older friend who kept going to debtor's prison. That character didn't have the same attitude as Skimpole nor the rich friend to keep bailing him out!

Yes, Guppy is a freak, too! Ew....

Ok, I hit a really big spoiler last night at around Chapter 50 or 51. Jeremy, don't look at this one until you get to that part :)


(view spoiler)[Tulkinghorn was murdered!!! So I am trying to figure out who dunnit now. It's difficult because so many people have motive. George has been taken in for questioning. I actually thought that it might be him but it's unlikely that Dickens would have the first suspect introduced be the killer. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[Is anyone else uncomfortable with Esther marrying her guardian? I know that there's nothing sinister or dirty going on here, but I still find myself uncomfortable with the notion. Plus, I really like the doctor fella. I have a bit of a crush on him myself - hee hee. (hide spoiler)]

Also, (view spoiler)[Does Richard really love Ada? I know that the two are married now, but are his motives pure? I still can't tell because Richard has changed so much as a result of the lawsuit. (hide spoiler)]

Ummmm.......spoiler on Esther and marriage possibilities!! :)

Fixed it - sorry, Jeremy. I thought that you had already read that part.

I'm going to spoiler tag everything because it appears as Meghan had said that the twists and turns are going to be coming in abundance now :)

No worries! I must be almost there. I hope to catch up very soon...(haven't I been saying that all along?)

No worries - I think that you are really close to that part.

I hope to finish it by Monday (haven't I been saying that all along?)

Sera wrote: "Ok, I hit a really big spoiler last night at around Chapter 50 or 51. Jeremy, don't look at this one until you get to that part :)


[spoilers removed]"

That's the "dun, dun, dun" moment I was talking about!

Jeremy wrote: "Ummmm.......spoiler on Esther and marriage possibilities!! :)"

I promise you haven't been too spoiled :) she's in high demand, our Esther.

I didn't get so far after all but did get to the Esther proposal and acceptance. It does seem odd to me but kind of makes sense given Esther's role with John. Now she is off to attempt to sway Richard. Again.

Jeremy, let us know what you think of Richard once you finish the next part about him.

I haven't read anything since last week so you should be catching up to me, Jeremy. I'm at 80% or so complete. I have 200+ pagest to go.

I will read that part very very soon. But I probably won't get too much further for a couple of days as I have to finish my weekly allotment of Swann's Way before I get more than 200 posts behind in the discussion!

Ha ha - no problem, Jeremy. I completely get it. I have 72 pages left so I should be finished soon. As you jump back into the reading, let me know where you are and what you think. I'll come back to the thread and join in the discussion, because I am really looking forward to getting your thoughs.

I'm sure that Meghan is in for more discussion, too :)

I did finish the next chapter but it didn't seem to reveal much other than that Richard is still quite immovable in his resolve to be a selfish deadbeat!

I am. Richard has still plenty of more ways to exasperate you too! Dickens was quite clever in coming up with all those turns.

The paragraph of Mrs.Bagnet having to eat the poultry prepared by her husband was classic and priceless Dickens humor!

Richard is a very interesting character, whom I have found to be a very different type of Dickens character than I have found in his previous books.

I love how he inserts those great comedic moments to liven things up. That was a great scene.

Yeah, I haven't read a lot of Dickens, but spoiled, angsty teenager isn't one I've come across.

Richard, the first emo before emo was cool. Hahahaha

Good one!

I have made much progression now. And the twists and turns have been very nice! He did have me thinking it was Lady Deadlock for quite awhile and I was glad when it turned out to be her ex-maid. I know what to expect in Dickens but I thought it was a little bit of a stretch that Mrs. Rouncewell would turn out to be George's mother. It was that one over the top connection, but still another surprise. Although I am not yet to the point to see if it will matter or not since Bucket has already done his job. And I am liking Bucket much much better after he put Smallweed in his place!

The biggest thing I am wondering right now is what ever happened happened to the loud fellow that is on the adjoining property to Sir Leicester? He seems to have disappeared altogether. My guess is he pops up real soon.

I'm not exactly sure where you are, but I think he makes a brief appearance at the end. But I think his story is almost over.

I kind of wondered if Dickens wasn't using his story (with Leicester) to show how ridiculous these things start out to be and how they can go on eternally if someone doesn't man up and take the high road? Otherwise you end up with court cases that no one wants to touch.

Meghan wrote: "Richard, the first emo before emo was cool. Hahahaha"

ha ha ha - nice

Jeremy, we will have much more to talk about once it's over. I can't wait!

Not much to say at the moment but Lady Dedlock just died. Like people do in Dickens novels. They do not have to commit suicide - they just die from shock and broken hearts!

I had this sudden but not quite so profound thought that this is much like a Shakespearean tragedy. I honestly can't remember if I read Othello or not in college as we read a number of them and it was all I could do to keep up, I do wonder that Bucket made the sudden reference to this play to Mrs. Snagsby in terms of her mental state and now I would like to know if there is indeed some literary reference embedded into this whole story.

Curious that this was said in an article which is not the reason for my thinking but also reminds me how I originally thought the book was sort of written like a play at times:

Bleak House is Dickens's most Shakespearean novel in that every character speaks what they are thinking. Speechifies rather. What they're thinking and why they're thinking it. And why they're saying what they're thinking.

Article location:

Also, I am wondering if Jarndyce isn't actually now trying to set up Esther and Woodcourt.....

You are now getting to the good parts! The story should roll now for you.

I like the Shakespeare references. I would say, given it's Dickens, it's deliberate. Maybe that's why I liked this one so well...I like Shakespeare.

Othello is interesting. But Dedlock's husband didn't kill her nor did Sir Leicester. Or is she Othello? And it was her actions that killed her sailor guy?

So probably not Othello...I was thinking along the lines that Lady Dedlock felt the need to die when Sir Leicester was more than willing to forgive her and at the same time her disappearance and death did him in. That would be of the Romeo and Juliet tragedy type but I wonder if it falls in line with another play or just the way Dickens rolls with characters dying of broken hearts. But interesting you also think of tying in the murder....

I finished up last night and confirmed my suspicions from message 187. Interestingly, when Jarndyce was telling her he knew he would want to marry her when she was a little girl I couldn't help but think Lolita even though I have not read that yet. Imagine my surprise when I go back to the front of the book and there is a portion of a lecture on Bleak House by none other than Vladimir Nabokov.

I have to say that nothing surprised me at the end. I don't know if I read a spoiler somewhere or if Dickens just foreshadowed it so well but I was pretty confident that once the court case was resolved that there would be no money left.

All the same it was a great read for me which is no surprise.

I think Dickens made it fairly obvious about the case itself. But I thought it was interesting what it did to Richard.

I think Dickens romanticized this story, which surprised me. I guess I felt he gave everyone a happy ending (although probably not so much Lady Dedlock).

And the Jarndyce marrying Esther thing bothered me too. On the one hand, it gave a poor girl a safe haven. On the other hand, creepy old guy!

But yay to you for finishing it. Now you can devote yourself to Proust. I think you lost Sarah though on that journey.

Jeremy wrote: "So probably not Othello...I was thinking along the lines that Lady Dedlock felt the need to die when Sir Leicester was more than willing to forgive her and at the same time her disappearance and de..."

I didn't think of it like that. I always think of Othello as murderously jealous rage. I think I tend to forget the nuances. There is a certain star-crossed lovers tragedy to it. Although I suppose you could pick any tragedy and make it work. Dickens was fairly broad here.

Love the Nabokov find! That is really cool. I don't particularly care for Lolita, but I like him.

I love the Nabokov connection, too. I recently read Lolita and I thought that it was fantastic. In the Spring, I will be getting more into Nabokov.

ETA: I found the guardian thing with Esther to be creepy. I'm glad that they didn't end up together and that Esther received a happy ending.

I thought that it was priceless that the money ran out. In addition to Lady Deadlock, I also thought that Richard was a tragic character. Early on, I was hopeful that he would rise up as a result of the opportunities that he was given. Instead, he was kind of a dolt and continued to be that way through the novel, even though he had the love and support of good people. It's sad that he failed to find peace with himself and his life.

Overall, another great Dickens book for me. However, I think that Great Expectations continues to be my favorite. There are so many books left for me to read that Dickens wrote so we'll see if one ever knocks that one off the top of the list.

I have Charles Dickens: A Life that I am hoping to get to this year, too. Does anyone else have this one?

Yes, Richard was very tragic. And incredibly stubborn. Although it might have been hard to deal with him if he turned out as angelic as Esther and Ada. It might have seemed too happy happy joy joy. Can only have so many David Copperfields!

I liked how in the end Boythorn and Leicester turned out to be adversaries for sport and weren't truly angry with each other anymore.

I do not have that book on Dickens. I think I'd rather read all of his fiction before getting to the biographical type stuff...but maybe that will change after I've read a few more. I liked Great Expectations the best, too, but still do not have one I don't like. And hopefully I don't bring this up too much, but the point on his works becoming darker. I finally checked and realized that I have not read a single work from the first half of his career. I think I am going to finish the "older" books, with likely exception to Edwin Drood as it was unfinished and then start from the beginning of his works.

I like the point about his work becoming darker, because it is something that I want to look out for while reading his works. I would like to tackle some of the biographical because I know how much it influenced his storytelling.

By the way, I really enjoyed our first buddy read together! I hope that we can do another down the road.

Meghan, thanks for chiming in. As always, your comments were much appreciated!

Every time someone mentions Drood, I think of Doctor Who (Dickens appeared in one of the episodes) and they playfully implied how he was influenced in writing it.

Well, let me know if either of you pick up another one. Little Dorrit is on my up-next list, although no time table set.

I'm trying to read 1-2 Dickens' books a year. I'd like to read Little Dorrit, Meghan. I'll keep you posted on timing. My initial thought is to start it in November. I like reading Dickens when it's cold out. Maybe some other folks would like to join us, too.

I can handle November, although I have found I tend to read him in the summer. Interesting. But would love to do a group read. This was fun. Sort of sad I didn't read this one with you both.