Charles Dickens: A Literary Legend

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in 1812, on 7th February in Portsmouth. He lived until 9th June 1870. In his fifty eight years, Mr. Dickens wrote fifteen classic tales, most of which are still cherished and loved to this day.

These were:

The Pickwick Papers - 1836

Oliver Twist - 1837
Nicholas Nickleby - 1838
The Old Curiosity Shop - 1840
Barnaby Rudge - 1841
Martin Chuzzlewit - 1843
Dombey and Son - 1846
David Copperfield - 1849
Bleak House - 1852
Hard Times - 1854
Little Dorrit - 1855
A Tale of Two Cities - 1859
Great Expectations - 1860
Our Mutual Friend - 1864
The Mystery of Edwin Drood - 1870

On top of these novels, he also wrote five Christmas novels.

These were:

A Christmas Carol - 1843

The Chimes - 1844
The Cricket on the Hearth - 1845The Battle of Life - 1846The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain - 1848

Some Fun Facts about Charles Dickens:

· He Had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
He would spend hours combing his hair, looking at himself in the mirror and rearranging his furniture. He also had to sleep in a bed that was aligned north-south,

· He Gave His Children Odd NicknamesMuch like Pip in Great Expectations, his children were dubbed with strange nicknames such as: ‘Skittles’ and ‘Plorn’

· He Had A Fake BookcaseHis study featured a fake bookcase along with fake books. He came up with the witty titles for the books himself. One of the fake collections was a nine-piece set entitled ‘Cats Lives’

Some Quotations From Charles Dickens:

‘There are books of which the backs and the covers are by far the best parts.’ - Oliver Twist

‘No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of

‘Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.' -  Great Expectations

This is just a quick post, to keep the blog active. It's actually homework I've been given by my English teacher as we are currently studying Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations at the moment for our Literature GCSE. I just thought I'd share with everyone what I've found about Mr. Dickens! I'm currently reading John Green's An Abundance of Katherines, so hopefully I'll finish that soon, and I'll be able to get a review up. I knew that as soon as I got back to school, I'd stop reading as much, but I'm going to keep this blog running, I promise! (In my defence, I have had English and Science exams to revise for.)

Anyway, I hope you're all having a fabulous start to 2013. 

Happy Reading! 

- Lauren