The Little Dorrit Challenge (Dickens)

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Charles Dickens at his Desk in 1858 – This was from Wikimedia and I make no claim to ownership

Way back on the 7th of February, in honor of Charles Dickens’ birthday, Yvette Prior and myself decided to do a little challenge. We asked everyone to read the book “Little Dorrit” and do a post about it someplace around June 9, which is the other end of Dickens’ live, i.e., the day he passed away. We planned a drawing of a $25 Amazon gift card for people who took the challenge.

OK, OK, I have been remiss in this challenge! But it is still on. Yvette has recently posted about it. And yes, the $25 Amazon gift card is still being drawn!

All you have to do is read, attempt to read, try to read or skim or whatever Little Dorrit and write a post about it. Use the hashtag #Dickenschallenge and place a comemnt with the link on one of the Little Dorrit posts, such as this one, my original or any on Yvette’s blog (like this page).

You can start now, but the official challenge is from June 9 – June 13.

You can write anything at all about. Talk about the story. Talk about the politics. The humor. How long it is! How many words… The historical background. Anyway, here is a little bit copied from Yvette’s post:

Invitation:

  • If you want to read (or skim) the book Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, then share a post about it on or around June 9th, which is the date of Dickens’ death.  The last day to join in will be Sunday June 13th.
  • If you want a free e-copy of this book – go here to Gutenberg Press 
  • If you do “not” want to post about it, you can also join us by commenting on any of the Little Dorrit posts – like this post today or over at Trent’s master Dorrit post here.  
  • If you CAN join us – use the hashtag #Dickenschallenge and have your post out by June 13th.  
  • AfterJune 13th, 2021 – we will announce the gift card winner and Trent and I will both post about the challenge on our blogs. 

Hope you can join!

Note – if this is successful at all, we may try to do it every year. Show us that you want to continue by contributing!

15 thoughts on “The Little Dorrit Challenge (Dickens)”

  1. Pingback: Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens! Bleak House Challenge #Dickenschallenge | Trent's World (the Blog)

  2. Pingback: Little Dorrit Challenge Kick Off! | Trent's World (the Blog)

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      We had planned this months ago and it sort of snuck up on both of us! If you have any life at all you most likely won’t read the entire thing in the next few days ;)

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  5. Marilyn Armstrong

    GOOD LORD! The listening length for Not So Little Dorrit is (depending on narrator) between 31 and 42 hours, which is about the same as the current length for Stephen King’s updated “The Stand” — which I also haven’t been able to convince myself to read (again, having read it when it was first released). They do offer a free summary of the book which is how I survived “Ulysses” in sophomore literature. Mind you I read almost all of Dostoyevsky and Thomas Wolfe (I was a wild and crazy kid) — but Victorian literature and I have never been able to have a civil conversation. Fortunately, Garry is also a hater of Jane Austen and friends so we at least we can go straight to Picard. Oh and Little Dorrit — depending on which version — costs from $20 to $37. I could buy a nice pair of jeans for that.

    Good luck! I forget who wrote it, but there was an absolutely HILARIOUS parody of A Christmas Carol written sometime in the 1940s which still cracks me up today. I have the book somewhere amidst the rubble of my book collection.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I was not able to read Ulysses. As to the updated very long version of The Stand, I loved it. Back to Little Dorrit – read or listen to The Stand instead, it will be time better spent ;) I did read, and enjoyed, The Brothers Karamazov, but that was the only time I attempted to take on Russian literature…

      $20 -37? Wow. The paperback was $3 and there are free versions. If you are not a fan of Dickens, I’d say skip it and buy those jeans instead ;)

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  6. Marilyn Armstrong

    I have to admit that I’ve never been an enthusiastic reader of Dickens. i admired the man and I really like the old (Alastair Sim) version of Scrooge & Co., but unless it was a school assignment — with the exception of “A Sale of Two Titties” which has the world’s best opening line, his books read like what they were: serials for magazines. Long because he got paid by the word and all required multiple hankies. I will see if they have a free audio version of this and IF they do, I’ll whack myself over the head in an attempt to get from beginning to end. At least it isn’t “The Little Match Girl.” We have to draw the line somewhere.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I’ll admit, I have only read a few of his books, and it has been ages. I actually enjoyed Oliver Twist. But, well, Little Dorrit is long. It is not an easy read, even if the actual words are light and easy. Way, way too many words here…

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