After watching the series it is fun to see the information in print.

Just about everything you ever wanted to know about the English Language is in this book. There are newer and older references but none so complete and at the same time readable. This book covers history, usage, almost usage and possible futures of the language.

One of my favorite antidotes was the one about how the Advisory Committee on Spoken English (ACSE) discussed the word "canine":

"Shaw brought up the word 'canine', and he wanted the recommendation to be 'cay-nine'... And somebody said 'Mr. Shaw, Mr. Chairman, I don't know why you bring this up, of course it's 'ca-nine'. Shaw said, 'I always pronounce things the way they are pronounced by people who use the word professionally every day.' And he said, 'My dentist always says (cay-nine)'. And somebody said, 'Well, in that case, Mr. Chairman, you must have an American dentist.' And he said, 'Of course, why do you think at 76 I have all my teeth!'"

After reading about how English came about, the next book to read would be "Divided by a Common Language" by Christopher Davies, Jason Murphy

I read this book back in my 'English Conversation Teacher' days in Japan. Having been embrassed one to many times by students having to lecture me, their teacher, on the history of English, I figured I should do some 'catch-up reading.' I asked around for suggestions and was recommended 'The Story of English'.

It is free of the linguistic jargon most general readers would find pedantic, and although it is aimed at the general reader it is never condescending. The first half of the book explains the historical development of English while the second half focues on modern English.

Most refreshing though, is that it is free of the triumphalism found in many books of this kind. Reflecting the demographic reality of English today, it gives even-handed attention to the many contemporary varieties of English spoken around the world in places such as North America, Singapore, India, the Anglophone West Indies, and so on.

'The Story of English' is best suited to those who are curious about the origins as well as the future of English, and who want an easy-to-understand introduction to the subject.

This book is a very readable and well researched introduction to the history of the English language. It contains a great deal of material about the many varieties of English, including separate chapters on Irish English, Scots English, American English, Caribbean English, and Australian and South African English. The photographs and maps that are featured throughout the book are excellent. The maps provide invaluable insights to the historical processes of change, and the pictures make the history come alive. In some places, it is clear that the book was written as a companion to the TV series, when the narrative takes us to an interview with a dialect speaker and then falls flat. If you have access to the video, the motivation for these interviews is much more clear when you can hear the person talk. This book would be excellent for the general reader; it would also make a good textbook for an introductory course on the development of English.

I've been a fan of the 1953 version of a the Carol for as long as I remember. It was family tradition every Christmas eve to watch it. I've looked at as many possible versions and have yet to find it's match. This book is an amazing resource of all the various interpretations of the Dicken's classic has gone through from early lantern projected pictures, through the silent era, talking films, television, and animated specials. The early version were fascinating and I found it a special bonus that the author made note of various television shows which featured a special Christmas episode inspired by A Christmas Carol. Who could ever forget the "Six Million Dollar Man" Christmas special using the ideas from the novel. This brought back a lot of great television special memories. I was even able to track down two hard to find T.V. animated specials shown in the early 1970's but not seen since. (I found them on Amazon). All in all a great read, especially for fans. I did not agree with all of the criticisms, and the text is a rather dry read, maybe a little too academic. But still great stuff!!

Fred Guida has presented an incredibly well researched and beautifully written book that blends the literary history of this story along with the history of its various screen presentations. Thank you for this unique presentation.

Everyone has a favorite film or television version of Dickens beloved "A Christmas Carol." But few of us have any idea how very many adaptations there have been. Mr. Guida's wonderful book examines first the written "Carol," then goes on to detail some of the hundreds of adaptations and variations, from the early stage versions and magic lantern slides to modern made-for-television Carols. Mr. Guida discusses the major Carols with wit and humor as well as rare discernment: his love for his subject is evident. Minor Carols and variations are also covered, albeit more briefly. If you cannot find your favorite version in the text, you are sure to find it in the superb and very thorough filmography. The filmography is worth browsing in and of itself; did you know that there have been Western, country-western, rock-and-roll, and even science-fiction variations on "A Christmas Carol"? Or that actors as disparate as Cicely Tyson, Basil Rathbone, and Mr. Magoo have played Scrooge? If you love "A Christmas Carol" or simply dote on film trivia, I promise you will enjoy this book.

I've just read this book a second time and am making a point of recommending it to my friends and to everybody reading here. This is a very crazy novel. In fact it's not so much a novel as a satire of novels. The author gets you interested in the story but there's some kind of gag on every page, so Kelly's book manages to mock every novel-writing convention, in the process of mocking itself. "The Maltese Falcon" is lampooned, as are H.P. Lovecraft's, and to a lesser extent Dickens's work specifically, but the humor ranges widely beyond just these targets. It's sharp but underlyingly good-natured humor. I'll never forget these patently ripe characters: a Sam Spade type, Jake Stalker, who seems to be coming out of the closet, Lucretia Faversham, elderly dowager, in search of rejuvenation while revelling in all the common vices, Veronica Volupturini, globe-trotting golddigger, Haggie the gin-swilling receptionist, Rastus Reilly himself, whose mere description is hilariously unforgettable, and a larger congregation of strangely loveable misfits Kelly describes bluntly as "lowlife swine." They're rather sweet swine, though, and that's part of what makes them funny. One character's impossibly long surname evokes conversational byplay that puts Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" to shame: this alone would make the book worth its price, but the laughs keep coming, from every direction. Bizarre characterization is certainly a strong point. The setting is Boston, Massachusetts, and a treasure-hunting cruise from there to the Caribbean, in the 1930s. Pacing is leisurely at first but the story builds to an adventurous conclusion. The tone can best be described as ridiculous. The writing style parodies numerous styles, as suggested by the subtitle, and manages to do this not just effectively, but fluidly as well: Kelly is a genuinely talented writer. The plot is simply a framework for laughter. The good guys, led by old lady Faversham and her hired gun Jake Stalker, have found out there is an ancient Secret of Eternal Youth, and they're chasing after it, hotly pursued by a fat and skinny pair of archly evil bad guys. I said this was a very crazy book. So if you like Crazy you'll love it. I did, enough to read it all over again, six months after my first reading, and I picked up on jokes I'd missed the first time. A+ for humor.

I was *beyond* pleasantly surprised by Rastus Reilly. Steve takes no prisoners when he parodies Laural and Hardy, Mark Twain, Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, and countless others. This book is funny from page one through the end, and I found myself wishing for more once it was finished! Of course, I drink a lot of beer, so what do I know?

I'll be watching for future releases from Steve Kelly, hope he lives for awhile and doesn't die of liver disorder.

I'm a fan of Stephen King and I had just started reading H.P. Lovecraft's classic horror stories when I came across this unusual novel and decided to give it a try. First I'm going to warn readers who don't like completely crazy humor that they will not like Kelly's book. I do like crazy nut humor so I loved "Rastus Reilly." It's well written it's insane and it's a hoot. Knowing a little Lovecraft will help you enjoy this horror and mystery satire. In some parts of the book Kelly satires the Lovecraft writing style very well and obviously with affection. But you don't really have to know Lovecraft. You do have to be a little crazy like me to enjoy a novel as plain silly as this one. I liked it enough to write my first Amazon review and give this book the top rating but only for nutty humor fans.

In bookstores and libraries, literary classics are a dime a dozen. There are so many different editions available of each that the problem becomes one not of finding a good read but of selecting the edition of it that's right for you. Charles Dickens is perhaps the most popular of the past masters. All his books are enormously entertaining, whether he's writing about the tragedies of this world or its travesties. His eye for the ludicrous is faultless; his representation of it in print is perfection. He never fails to paint on the canvass in our mind, with a few simple strokes, a comic character that resembles someone we've met somewhere, sometime in our lives. His characters are so real that he needs to do nothing more than describe their appearance briefly and then let them speak for themselves. They speak with all the dignity and importance we all feel in ourselves, yet they unwittingly disclose for the reader all the foibles we all possess ... and mistakenly think known only to ourselves. Likewise, when introducing tragic characters, Dickens prefers to offer brief but unerringly accurate descriptions of their build, demeanor, and dress, and then allow their own words and actions to speak for themselves. His creations elicit mirth and misery in us without fail as Dickens masterfully plucks the strings of our hearts.

Unlike most writers, Dickens is equally at home in both the short story and the full-length novel format. This is because his novels were serialized in periodicals in their first publications. Only later were they edited for book form. "Sketches by Boz" is an offering of Dickens's first attempts at writing for a living. It consists of 56 passages, most of which can be read in a single sitting of less than half an hour. These are divided into four sections: "Our Parish", "Scenes", "Characters", and "Tales". Of these, only the last contains fiction. The 44 nonfiction accounts are just as entertaining as their made-up brothers. In fact, I found them even more fun to read at times. Dickens only thinly disguised the identities of his victims while lampooning them, and as editor Dennis Walder so rightly points out, many of these descriptions would surely result in lawsuits for libel if they were published about public figures today.

This was my first experience reading a Penguin Classics edition of Dickens, and I was extremely pleased with it. The editor introduced "Sketches" with a few notes of academic and historical interest, a particular one of which I found to be of great interest as it finally answered a question I'd had for half my life: namely, where Dickens had acquired his nickname of Boz. But more important for today's reader of Dickens is the "Notes" section at the back of the book in which Mr. Walder defines Dickensian slang and explains the author's references to people, events, and places of early nineteenth century London. Much of Dickens's wit is lost on today's reader without such disclosures.

One of my favorite ways of reading a classic author is to collect all of his or her works and then read through them at a leisurely pace in the order they were written. I did this with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with the intention of noting how his style developed over the years. I was surprised to find an unexpected benefit of that project: I was transported to those times and felt as I imagine one of Doyle's contemporary fans must have felt as he read each new Sherlock Holmes story. After finishing Doyle, I immediately began collecting Dickens for a similar project. "Sketches by Boz", being a collection of Dickens's first literary efforts, was of course the first in this series. The second Dickens book is "The Pickwick Papers", of which I have the Library of the Future edition. But after reading the Penguin Classics "Sketches", I'm determined to first replace "Pickwick" with the Penguin edition. The Penguin books are reasonably priced and well worth every penny.

This was a wonderful collection of all of Charles Dickens works! I highly recommend!

The Modern Library is, in my opinion, an extraordinary series, and this book is no exception. During the 19th century, there was a vogue for visiting the young American republic, from abroad, then writing a book about it. Dickens does a fantastic job of revealing the country's manners, morals, flaws and fashions. I highly recommend this book--alongside Tocqueville and Trollope--for a European view of the American democracy.

Chesterton is at his best in his criticism, and this is no exception. His novels show something o the Dickensian flare, but nowhere is he more apreciative of the master than here.

I'll not insult you all by describing the action of this classic novella, nor belabor the lesson taught. I'm sure even Mowgli the Jungle Boy must have heard this story once a year growing up in the jungle. But with all the TV and movie and cartoon and Muppet iterations (the best of which remains the 1951 Alastair Sim movie version), when's the last time you went back and actually read the original book?

Dickens is, of course, a wonderful author and earlier generations read everything that he wrote. Today, however, you read an obligatory novel or two in High School, breath a sigh of relief that's over and then blithely ignore him along with the rest of the ancients. But, as a reacquaintance with A Christmas Carol will remind you, he remains pretty accessible and his novels are often quite fun. What's more, there's even a Reading Version (available online) of the story that Dickens condensed himself for his numerous public readings of the tale. It's perfect for reading aloud to the family.

Here's just a sample of the prose to entice you:

On Scrooge before: Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge. a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.

and Scrooge after: Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

We, all of us, have a tendency to let the classics become so encrusted that we take them for granted and forget how good they really are; if this has happened for you with A Christmas Carol, do yourself a favor and dig out a copy and reread it this Holiday Season. I bet it becomes an annual tradition.

GRADE: A+

This edition of Charles Dickens classic is doubly wonderful in its timeless tale of redemption as well as the wonderful illustrations executed by American artist Everett Shinn. In no way either slick or modern, when one is handed the book, it seems as you are holding an artifact from another time; a time of coal fires, slate roofs, horses in the streets, a time that predates the sad state of comercialism that permeates contemporary Christmas season. In its simplicity of story and its fine nostalgic illustrations it becomes a treasure to be handed down through one generation to the next.Hope dwells here.

This version of the Dicken's classic is magnificently illustrated by one of America's foremost artists.

With the Friendly Dickens, Norrie Epstein succeeds in what must surely have been one of her goals: she makes you want to read every Dickens novel you haven't yet read and reread every one you have. Along the way she gives you an overview of Dickens' life and of his times, in an enjoyable, idiosyncratic style that makes highly engaging reading. Want to know how Dickens wrote or why Victorians got off on deathbed scenes? It's in there, along with sections on food, drink, sex, freaks, Dickens' illustrators, a filmography, and more. Of particular interest are the explanation of just why Pickwick was so popular and the musings on Victorian mores versus contemporary ones. About the only thing that could have made this book more complete was a recipe for rum punch.

ANYONE interested in Dickens should own this book. It is vast in scope and full of accessible detail. Each novel is put into unique perspective(from cannibalism and dying children to physical oddities and real-life locales that inspired his tales), the author's life is made personable, the time period is explained (its mores and mannerisms), and modern film/stage performances are analyzed.

The mood is much the same as a Dickens novel. Witty, sentimental, serious, fanciful, morose. Epstein touches upon every facet. There are pictures galore and chapters are concise so you aren't stuck in one place too long. The nitty gritty nutty facts drew me in ~

the 'Pickwick Papers' contains 35 breakfasts, 32 dinners, 10 lunches, 10 teas, 8 suppers, more than 249 references to drinking, and mention of 59 Inns, 33 by name (someone had time on their hands)

There are 13,143 characters created by Dickens

Before he could begin a novel Dickens would take to the city streets of London and walk as fast as he could for hours

The 20 guineas Pip gets in 'Great Expectations' translates to about $4000 TODAY - puts it into perspective.wow!

Miss Epstein has a gift for communicating, in a lively and acessible manner, her knowledge about and enthusiasm for her subject. Her scope ranges from the broad social and economic factors affecting daily life down to such tiny details as the amount of horse manure tons left every year on the streets in Dickens' London. She is just as good about the books themselves, providing fresh and sensible interpretations of novels as familiar as "Great Expectations" and "David Copperfield" or as obscure as "Barnaby Rudge" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Her Dickens filmography is the best we've ever had. This is a useful and delightful book.

Buttercup sings to the Captain of HMS Pinafore, "Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream." This is what Bruce Bueno de Mesquita would have the reader believe about the reviled Ebenezer Scrooge. In a dramatic trial, with Tiny Tim acting for the defense and Professor Blight serving as the righteous prosecutor, the reader in the jury box is asked to reconsider long-held beliefs about the alleged miser and merciless employer immortalized in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. For this page-turner novella, a knowledge of Dickens is helpful but not required. In the end, you decide if Scrooge deserves a place in Heaven, or elsewhere. A perfect Christmas stocking stuffer and a great gift any time of year.

I can count the number of books I have read in one sitting on the fingers of one hand, and this book is one of them. This magnificant novel takes off where Dicken's A Christmas Carol left off. This beautifully written and fast paced book presents the compelling story of God's trial for the soul of Ebenezer Scrooge, offering Tiny Tim as his defending attorney. Skillfully drawning upon meticulous historical research, Bueno de Mesquita establishes the counterintuitive argument that perhaps Scrooge, and thus Dickens, may have been misunderstood. Part mystery concering the outcome of the trial, part morality tale about the true meaning of kindness in life, and part fascinating historical education, this book will be a delight for fans of the original Dicken's book as well as for those who have never read it, and can thus approach this book on its own terms. This novel cleverly encourages readers not only to reevaluate Scrooge, but also inspires us to rethink the critical judgments that we often make too easily of others. This is a book that stays with you long after you read it. Scrooge reminds us that there are many ways to be the best person we can, and as many ways to bring out the best in those we care about.

The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge challenges our presumption of Dickens' classic tale, "A Christmas Carol". Was Scrooge really a friendless miser? Set as a Faustian trial, Tiny Tim must prove before a court of the Almighty that Scrooge's soul is worthy of entry into heaven. Set against our prejudices, and a court room of Scrooge's detractors, Tiny Tim composes a defense based on primarily on Dickens' own words, supplemented with contemporary evidence from Christmas 1843. With perhaps overtones towards governance, Prof. Bueno de Mesquita -who is a distinguished political scientist-- questions whether conspicuous generosity to some at the expense of others is superior to even handed meanness. As the story unfolds Scrooge's salvation remains perilously balanced with threats always emerging from unsuspecting quarters.
Although the Dickensian style is somewhat ponderous, this is a fascinating tale that confronts our understanding of righteousness. It is well worth a read.

After years without picking up a novel by Dickens (memories of starchy classes at school), I decided to plunge into "Bleak House", a novel that had been sitting on my bookshelf for about ten years, waiting to be read. Although I found it heavy going at first, mainly because the style is so unfamiliar to modern readers, after about ten pages I was swept up and carried off, unable to put the hefty tome down until I had finished it. This book is a definite classic. The sheer scope of the tale, the wit of the satire (which could still be applied to many legal proceedings today) and the believable characters gripped me up until the magnificent conclusion. One particularly striking thing is the "cinematic" aspect of certain chapters as they switch between different angles, building up to a pitch that leaves the reader breathless. I can't recommend "Bleak House" too highly. And I won't wait so long before reading more Dickens novels.

This is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.

"There is little to be satisfied in reading this book"?? I couldn't disagree more. Bleak House left a profound impression on me, and was so utterly satisfying a reading experience that I wanted it never to end. I've read it twice over the years and look forward to reading it again. Definitely my favorite novel.

I don't know what the previous reviewer's demands are when reading a novel, but mine are these: the story must create its world - whatever and wherever that world might be - and make me BELIEVE it. If the novelist cannot create that world in my mind, and convince me of its truths, they've wasted my time (style doesn't matter - it can be clean and spare like Orwell or verbose like Dickens, because any style can work in the hands of someone who knows how to use it). Many novels fail this test, but Bleak House is not one of them.

Bleak House succeeds in creating a wonderfully dark and complex spider web of a world. On the surface it's unfamiliar: Victorian London and the court of Chancery - obviously no one alive today knows that world first hand. And yet as you read it you know it to be real: the deviousness, the longing, the secrets, the bureaucracy, the overblown egos, the unfairness of it all. Wait a minute... could that be because all those things still exist today?

But it's not all doom and gloom. It also has Dickens's many shades of humor: silliness, word play, comic dialogue, preposterous characters with mocking names, and of course a constant satirical edge. It also has anger and passion and tenderness.

I will grant one thing: if you don't love reading enough to get into the flow of Dickens's sentences, you'll probably feel like the previous reviewer that "...it goes on and on, in interminable detail and description...". It's a different dance rhythm folks, but well worth getting used to. If you have to, work your way up to it. Don't start with a biggie like Bleak House, start with one of his wonderful short pieces such as A Christmas Carol.

Dickens was a gifted storyteller and Bleak House is his masterpiece. If you love to dive into a book, read and enjoy this gem!