A Literary Challenge: Dickens' Bleak House

A Literary Challenge: Dickens' Bleak House

• Feb 26, 2012

I've only recently joined the book blogging world, and I still feel like I'm just getting my feet wet. I've started to join in on a few weekly features, including Top Ten Tuesday and TGIF. While I've looked at a few challenges and read-a-longs, I haven't actually decided to participate in one. Until now.

A Tale of Two Cities has always been one of my favorite books, but I haven't been able to call Charles Dickens a favorite author because I've never read anything else by him. Sometimes I'm just so intimidated by the length of his novels! And, let's face it, certain books are better when you can discuss them with others. That's why I'm so excited to participate in the Bleak House Read-a-long that is being hosted by Unputdownables.

I am kind of nervous about joining in (it's a pretty big time commitment) but also really excited! Many thanks to A Room of One's Own for posting about the read-a-long because I wouldn't have known about it otherwise!

Some Facts About the Read-a-Long:

• You do not have to be a book blogger to join/
• We will be reading the book in March, April, & May (13 weeks), with the first discussion happening on Friday, March 2nd / the book is 817 pages (paperback, Barnes and Noble classics edition) so that's roughly 9 pages a day.
• Don't be intimidated. We will be going at a slow pace and discussing the book throughout our reading. The discussions are quite fun, and make the reading process very enjoyable!

Reading Schedule

Week # / Dates :: Place in which to STOP

Week One / February 24 - March 1 :: Chapter 6

Week Two / March 2-8 :: Chapter 10

Week Three / March 9-15 :: Chapter 15

Week Four / March 16-22 :: Chapter 20

Week Five / March 23-29 :: Chapter 24

Week Six / March 30 - April 5 :: Chapter 30

Week Seven / April 6-12 :: Chapter 34

Week Eight / April 13-19 :: Chapter 45

Week Nine / April 20-26 :: Chapter 49

Week Ten / April 27 - May 3 :: Chapter 51

Week Eleven / May 4-10 :: Chapter 56

Week Twelve / May 11-17 :: Chapter 61

Week Thirteen / May 18-24 :: The End

I'm still undecided if I'll be posting about it here, but I'm leaning towards just writing about it on Unputdownables so that I can stick to the group discussion. But we'll see! I'll definitely write a final review here to share my thoughts on the novel as a whole.