Confession number one: I’ve never read David Copperfield. or seen the movie. truthfully, I don’t even know what it’s about.
Confession number two: I’ve not read Charles Dickens, period. well, except for an excerpt of ‘A Christmas Carol’ that was in a Christmas anthology I was gifted once. I have seen various versions of it on film & stage though.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m not that familiar with Dickens. I’ve heard of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations and even have A Tale of Two Cities on my bookshelf, though I’ve yet to actually read it, but I’m only aware of the most basic of story lines.
Oliver Twist=orphan
Great Expectations=Pip, also an orphan
A Tale of Two Cities= “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
I do enjoy reading and I’ve read a variety of books through the years but for some unknown reason the works of Charles Dickens have not been among them. my formal edumacation has been severely lacking.
So if Richard does end up recording an audio book of David Copperfield for Audible, like has been hinted at on Twitter, he will be reaching at least one person who has not had prior knowledge or experience of it.
instruct me, Richard. I’m your willing pupil!
Nowhere in Particular RA 
This is cool! You’re the perfect guinea pig!!
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my first exposure to it will be through Richard. totes better than some boring classroom!
*I would never actually use “totes” in real life. my kids would disown me.
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What a great introduction it will be! I’m not a big Dickens fan but he did create some extraordinary characters, and RA will have a field day with the voices. I’d have preferred Great Expectations, but I will happily listen to David Copperfield. I’m quite surprised at the negativity I’ve seen about this project – maybe it’s a Brit thing to have a sneaking fondness for Dickens? He was an amazing storyteller and some of the TV/film adaptations of his work have been stupendously good (such as Bleak House starring Gillian Anderson).
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yes, I’m surprised at the negativity myself. I could understand if fans wanted something less cliched, something a little more off the beaten path, but they genuinely seem not to like Dickens. hmm. hopefully Richard’s voice and characterizations will make it more enjoyable for them 🙂
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FTR DC is an orphan too. That much I remember from televised versions.
I have *some* other Dickens experience:
There was a Disney (?) musical version of Oliver Twist, called Oliver that I liked as a kid, and a version with Elijah Wood done in the 90s that I liked too.
I always hated Great Expectations. I think that there was version from about 1 decade ago with Gwyneth Paltrow, which was done in modern dress which I think I saw on a plane or something. I hate Gwyneth Paltrow, and I don’t care for the book, so I don’t remember much of it.
We were forced to read A Tale of Two Cities in Grade 9. I remember very little of the book, but I did a paper on the historical context, so I’m not entirely
ignorant. 🙂
I saw something else on tv, which might have been Bleak House.
Otherwise, my favourite Dickens work is A Christmas Carol, which I’ve seen in a zillion versions (including parodies) and had read to me as a child. I think my favourite version (apart the WKRP one) is one of the really early ones in black and white.
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Now the point of all that (which I forgot to say) is that I really never warmed to DC. It will be interesting to see if RA can change my mind.
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I never read anything of Dickens either, nor saw any of the movies except the Black Adder xmas carol. So I have ‘great expectations’ lol !
However I’d love him to read a lot more and different genres – like Sempe’s Little Nick – don’t know if english or american readers are familiar with his hilarious stories?
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yay! another Dickens virgin 😀 truthfully, I had no knowledge of the Heyer books before I heard Richard read them either. I was somewhat familiar with Hamlet and knew a few of the poems he read as well, though not all of them. so being introduced to David Copperfield through Richard will be no different for me.
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I love Dickens’ stories, but I have a hard time reading them. I have a gorgeous edition of Bleak House illustrated by Edward Gorey and I get two paragraphs in and I’m all “UUUuuugggghhhhhhhh… I don’t understaaaaaand *whiiiiiiine*” I could probably get through it if I pushed myself, but I don’t have enough time to read anymore to not read purely for pleasure.
That being said, I highly recommend the miniseries of Bleak House with Gillian Anderson. It’s gorgeous and full of some of the more unsung, but still wonderful, English actors.
And with all due respect to my girl-crush Helena Bonham-Carter, I also prefer the Gillian Anderson version of Great Expectations.
I’m totally psyched to listen Richard’s narration of Dickens. People are getting all bent out of shape about this? WTF is their issue?
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I may read a classic now and then but it’s their respective film versions that get me to actually like the story. I’m not sure what the issue with Richard’s choice of Dickens is. maybe it’s too normal, not out of the box, so to speak? it is outside of my box though, so I’m looking forward to it 🙂
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