Alright; for school I have to choose between two books to read and study.
A)The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
B) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
If you've read either of these, please give me some advice about which of these I should choose. Remember, I need to actually read this instead of just the Sparknote review! 
I need advice by Thursday so I can choose by Friday, so don't bother posting afterwards. Thank you. Go with Charles Dickens.
I'm going to tack a disclaimer on here and say that of the two books, I've only read The Mayor of Casterbridge, and I found it unbearably boring; whereas Dickens is really good at drawing caricature-characters and using the drama/darkness of the city backdrops he tends to write about (I have read other Dickens books), Hardy is heavy on the descriptive passages, slow on the action, and coy with the salacious bits.
If anyone thinks differently, go ahead and contradict me--as I said, I haven't read A Tale of Two Cities yet, and I know there are some Hardy readers on the forums here. Just didn't find him to my tastes in that book.
Also, from a study point of view, I suspect there's been more written about Charles Dickens than about Thomas Hardy--possibly not much, because they are both writers in the English canon, but still. Ease of research. 
I've read neither, sadly, but I've read plenty of Dickens and a few by Hardy. Usually I find Hardy more interesting--but, what Obake said tends to ring true, I just find Dickens grinds against my tastes. I've also heard that A Tale of Two Cities is the most positively boring novel ever written, but that's heresay.
oh, Yeah...go with Dickens....His books are highy readable. I remember I had to to a report in the 8th grade on Great Expectations. I was not looking forward to reading it, but I started one afternoon and I couldn't go to sleep until I finished it. I seem to remember that Dickens was writing stories for a paper in serialized form, so each chapter was sort of a "cliff hanger". I definitely recommend Dickens in this case.
| HoboPelican wrote: |
| oh, Yeah...go with Dickens....His books are highy readable. I remember I had to to a report in the 8th grade on Great Expectations. I was not looking forward to reading it, but I started one afternoon and I couldn't go to sleep until I finished it. I seem to remember that Dickens was writing stories for a paper in serialized form, so each chapter was sort of a "cliff hanger". I definitely recommend Dickens in this case. |
Really?
I tried Great Expectations and couldn't keep going as soon as he started growing up and going to the long passages at Ms. Havisham's. | Zampano wrote: |
Really?
I tried Great Expectations and couldn't keep going as soon as he started growing up and going to the long passages at Ms. Havisham's. |
LOL. I understand that. But there was just something at the end of each chapter that made me tell myself, "just one more chapter, then I'll stop".
To be honest, I never really read any other books by Dickens. But given the choice between Hardy and Dickens....no contest for me. | HoboPelican wrote: |
| I had to to a report in the 8th grade on Great Expectations... |
My mother read Great Expectations to my siblings and myself when I was in middle school, and we all loved it (made her read more of it every night than she "wanted" to), it was one of the last novels that she read to all of us, since we were getting a little old for that any way. So, in other words, I loved it. And I have liked most other Dickens works that I've read. Far too few people (including, sadly, my British Lit Prof) haven't read Great Expectations.I hated A Tale of Two Cities when I had to read it in high school. I've never read anything by Hardy, but I would probably pick that anyway because I have such awful memories of Dickens. I don't think I could ever get through one of those books if my grade didn't depend upon it. It didn't help that I really couldn't relate to or like any of the characters in A Tale of Two Cities.
I can't comment on the Hardy, but I can say that Tale of Two Cities is my favorite Dickens. Love it, love it, love it. I'd recommend any Dickens book any day of the week, but since I recommend to people to read Tale of Two Cities just for fun, you'd definitely luck out to do it for school:)
Just if you're wondering, I chose A Tale of Two Cities.
This decision, though influenced greatly by you, was likely due to the fact that I have an edition of htat book with the guy holding up a head on the front cover.
How could I not choose it then?
A Tale of Two Cities is just more comprehensible and is easier to make an essay on. Never read Hardy so I don't know.
| rheanna wrote: |
| A Tale of Two Cities is just more comprehensible and is easier to make an essay on. Never read Hardy so I don't know. |
Lucky guess for me then (see two posts up from this one).Good luck!! I hope you enjoy the book. There are definitely some cheesey elements to it, but it's not hard to understand and the characters are great:)
