October 2024-April, 2025: The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens
October 27, November 24, January 26, February 23, March 23, and April 27
at 1:00-3:00 PM (Pacific) | Virtual Event
This year, we will return to reading two novels, The Old Curiosity Shop (October 2024-April 2025) and Silas Marner (May-June 2025). Join Dickens enthusiasts and Pickwick Club members for a series of discussions about these books.
For six months, we will focus on one of Dickens's most intriguing novels, The Old Curiosity Shop, which contains such memorable characters as Dick Swiveller, Samson and Sally Brass, Little Nell, and the grotesque, violent dwarf, Quilp. It is probably Dickens's first novel of the city, where the urban environment becomes character, setting, and theme. Its picaresque roots make it an adventure story as well as an allegory of moral journey; its interest in the urban landscape, its pleasures and dangers, suggest Dickens's social concerns.
Reading Schedule
| Oct 27 | Chapters 1-12 with Wayne Batten |
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| Nov 24 | Chapters 13-28 with David Brownell |
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| Dec 22 | No Meeting | |
| Jan 26 | Chapters 29-41 with Ginny Hofmann |
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| Feb 23 | Chapters 42-55 | |
| Mar 23 | Chapters 56-68 | |
| Apr 27 | Chapter 69-Chapter The Last with Prof. John O. Jordan |
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The Old Curiosity Shop Resources:
Recommended Edition: We recommend the Penguin Classics edition of the novel for its appendices and notes, but other versions are fine. First-time readers should avoid the Introduction if they don't want spoilers. Download the novel to read at Gutenburg.org or listen to it at LibriVox.org.
The Santa Cruz Pickwick (Book) Club, a branch of the Dickens Fellowship, is a community of local bookworms, students, and teachers who meet monthly to discuss a nineteenth-century novel. The Santa Cruz Public Libraries provide support for the reading group.
