My favorite author might be Charles Dickens. But from I what I remember from being a lurker on this forum, he isn't particularly popular here.

I thought I'd ask anyone who dislikes Dickens' writing to recommend an author who was as good or better at creating larger than life characters, particularly villains. Recommendations for fun over-the-top books are always welcome.

I like Dickens, and I’d actually rank “A Tale of Two Cities” among my favorite books. However, that and “Oliver Twist” are the only two I’ve read. His writing is sometimes difficult to follow because it is so dense, and he includes so many details and complex language. I do have several of his works on my mental to-read list.
In my opinion Sir Walter Scott is quite similar in language and the way he really dives into his subject/period and turns minor characters into major players. I assume most people have read “Ivanhoe”, but if not, it’s amazing! I really enjoyed “The Talisman” as well, but gave up on “Kenilworth.”

Ha! I see that I was writing while Anfinwen was posting, so sorry for the double answer! (I think you summed it up more thoroughly, Anfinwen)

I've found my enjoyment of Dickens' work is proportional to how much of the story I know ahead of time. David Copperfield in particular was disappointing. I'd been looking forward to the unabridged version but for me the original text felt incredibly dense--walls and walls of words --without adding any nuance or atmosphere to the story.

Going into Bleak House and Dombey and Son I had no idea what was going to happen next and neither felt like a slog to get through, so my theory is that Dickens is an author best enjoyed with No Spoilers.

No, no, no, Mel, you can't say that you like one of Davis Bunn's books that I haven't read, especially not when my library system has The Book of Hours.

I had picked a couple of Georgette Heyer books at the library early this year I think, but I didn't have the time to read them before they had to be returned. I did listen to the audiobook of The Convenient Marriage read by Richard Armitage a few month ago, I didn't love the story, but it was fun listening to Richard Armitage read the different characters. HooplaDigital has two other Georgette Heyer's title read by Richard Armitage, Venetia and Sylvester, both abridged, I might listen to one of them after I finish The Mysterious Affair At Styles.

My current reading plan is to finish the books I am reading (Cherry Ames Chief Nurse and The Courage To Be Christian), then read in order The Tox Files (all three books), finally finish Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson, A Defense of Honor by Kristen Hunter (review copy), and then my next batch of library holds.

I just realized it's been well over a year and half since I had gotten Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl from the library, this time I will finish it since it's my own copy of the book I will be reading.

Has anyone read Nadine Brandes' books? I got Fawkes recently...I haven't had a chance to read it yet. But I am looking forward to it, the cover is gorgeous.

Recently Scarlet decided to let little brother listen to When Calls The Heart the audiobook, he was skeptical at first, but then we had a hard time getting him to stop listening and go play outside. Who needs Jack Thornton when there's Wynn Delaney? I really need to reread the whole series.

SnowAngel

HooplaDigital has two other Georgette Heyer's title read by Richard Armitage, Venetia and Sylvester, both abridged, I might listen to one of them after I finish The Mysterious Affair At Styles.

I use Hoopla as well. I listened to "Sylvester" read by RA and enjoyed it, but I don't think his voice is worth having the book abridged. It just felt a little lacking. "The Grand Sophy" is on Hoopla and is a great story, and "Faro's Daughter" was also enjoyable. The reader for "The Black Moth" was really good.

Dickens: I adore A Tale of Two Cities. The plot and writing style reminded me of Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris. I've also read A Christmas Carol, which I didn't care for much (having grown up on Mickey's Christmas Carol), but that's it. I strongly recommend the UK TV mini-series Dickensian. It felt so real to me.

Austen: what have you read, Col? Pride and Prejudice doesn't have much emotion, but Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility are full of it. If you read these two books, you surely won't see a cold fish.

Larger than life characters, villains = Victor Hugo.

220Christian, the Austen books I've read are Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. (I've read parts of Sense and Sensibility and someday I'd like to read the whole thing.) I would say that Persuasion was the most emotional and also the least enjoyable of them. LOL.

I probably shouldn't have made it sound like I think Austen having an unemotional prose style was a bad thing. It fit in with the message she was trying to convey which was that being overemotional leads to trouble. That's a good message and not one that's popular nowadays if, indeed, it ever was. So kudos to her. In a way, the fact that she's still has a fanbase actually gives me hope for society.

I feel Jane Austen's strengths were humor, character development and psychological insight. I think that's why Persuasion, which was more about emotions, was my least favorite thing I've read of hers. (And from what I've read, Mansfield Park which is more melodramatic and Dickensian, is kind of a you love it or you hate it deal.) She was great at writing about real life and I'm not that interested in reading about real life. (Why should I be when I could go out and experience it for myself anytime?) That's why she's not a favorite of mine though I can certainly understand why she would be someone else's.

Maybe it's telling that her favorite work of mine is Love and Friendship which is a silly parody with no attempt to be realistic. She wrote it when she was a teenager and it's available to read online. Check it out if you haven't read it.

P.S.
I love me some Victor Hugo though I admit I skim parts. I've only read his most famous books, Les Miserables and Notre Dame de Paris. Sometime it might be nice to read his others. Did he actually write any others?

I use Hoopla as well. I listened to "Sylvester" read by RA and enjoyed it, but I don't think his voice is worth having the book abridged. It just felt a little lacking. "The Grand Sophy" is on Hoopla and is a great story, and "Faro's Daughter" was also enjoyable. The reader for "The Black Moth" was really good.

Okay, going to skip the abridge versions and add The Grand Sophy, The Black Moth, and Faro's Daughter unabridged to my list. Thanks, Anfinwen.

Hey, 220, long time no see. Have you read Julie Klassen's latest releases, the Tales Of Ivy Hill series? My library has the first two books, but I haven't read them yet. I am undecided as to whether or not I really want to read any more of her books since I really did not enjoy The Painter's Daughter.

My sisters had been using my hoopla account recently and listened to Pride and Prejudice which I have not read, so I am finally listening to P&P. All of my sisters agree it was about time I "read" it. We've enjoyed watching the '05 version of P&P a number of times and nearly every time Scarlet would hint that I needed to finally read the book.

I finished Cherry Ames Chief Nurse by Helen Wells this morning. I had interlibrary loaned the first four books in the Cherry Ames series, I rate the books 3 stars each. They were fun little reads, but the main character Cherry Ames lacked character development over the course of the four books. I also found

I had completely forgotten when last I posted that I had planned to read The Raven by Mike Nappa next and then The Tox Files by Ronie Kendig. So I am going to start The Raven tonight (probably not get any sleep) and I am super excited to finally read it. The first book in the Coffey & Hills series, Annabel Lee, was terrific, one of the best Christian suspense books I have ever read.

SnowAngel

Col: I'm confused. You don't like the emotion you see in Austen, yet you find her cold? Dickens is saturated in emotion, yet you prefer him? And you don't like real life in novels? Why read them? I haven't read Love and Friendship, and I do prefer real life in fiction. I've loved fiction, fantasy, and mysteries since I was a child. Lately I've been reading a lot of nonfiction.

SnowAngel: I haven't read anything by Klassen since The Painter's Daughter. The more popular she became, the worse her style, which might have something to do with her publishing contract (X books per year). Haste makes waste.

Hi, 220.

I didn't say that the emotional parts of Jane Austen's works are bad. I just don't consider them interesting enough to sustain a book by themselves. I guess when I read Dickens' books, I feel what the characters are feeling. (Well, to a lesser extent since I know they're fictional but you get the idea.) When I read Austen, I feel sorry for the characters but only in the way I would for distant relatives who live miles and miles away from me. (Actually, I'd feel more for them since I know they're real people even if we aren't close aquainatnces.)

By "real life" I mean going to boring social events, putting up with annoying people and worrying about financial security. This is what Jane Austen wrote about. (Yes, I understand that she also wrote about themes. I touched upon that in a previous post. I'm just talking about plotlines here.) I experience all these things in my day to day existence. They have no glamor for me. I'd rather read about things that either couldn't or are very unlikely to happen to me. (Like jumping into a pool and emerging in another world to use a Narnian example.)

But I can respect someone for doing a good job writing about real life even if I'm not particularly interested in it. It requires skill and a good sense of humor, both of which I think can reasonably be attributed to Jane Austen.

P.S.

I am aware Victor Hugo wrote other works. It's just that no one ever talks about them. You don't have to sound condescending.

Anfinwen, I've read a few of Georgette Heyer's books, but my thoughts ranged from finding them okay to hating them. I keep thinking I'll find one I love, but no such success yet...

SA, I understand trying to keep a booklist short.

ValiantArcher, you are so much like Scarlet sometimes it's crazy. All of your historical non-fiction reads sound awesome. I need more hours in a day.

Haha! Scarlet sounds like she has excellent book tastes. But I understand needing more hours in the day - most of my reading takes place over my lunch breaks at work.
I hope you're enjoying the Cherry Ames books! I've never read them, but one of my sisters read and collected them.
I know I've read The Mysterious Affair at Styles before, but I can't tell you what it was about either.

Mel, I still won't bite on the Belinda book, but I can see why those things appealed to you.

Col Klink, I'm sorry you don't enjoy Jane Austen's works. I like works by both Dickens and Austen, but Austen has a much higher rate of enjoyable for me than Dickens. That said, I remember loving Little Dorrit and Bleak House when I read them; Hard Times was distinctly disliked, though.

I finished And if I Perish - overall, a very good read. One note of caution: there were a few more graphic descriptions and few instances of too much information (mostly in relation to treatment & disease connected to the soldiers' relations with local women), and some rather hard incidents covered, so reader beware if those bother you. But I think it's well worth reading; I learned a lot.

I have also recently read the following:
Desert Wife by Hilda Faunce. Adeona recommended this book to me, which an account of a trading post on a Native American reservation in the mid- to late-1910s by the trading post owner's wife. It was an interesting read, to be sure, and I enjoyed it overall. It wasn't without problems, but it was honest and the author did a pretty good job of showing some of the cultural differences on both sides that made it a challenging time and place to be.

To Darkness Fled and From Darkness Won by Jill Williamson. These were the second and third books in a Christian fantasy trilogy which sadly suffered from some common flaws to Christian fantasy/sci-fi. Namely, trying to rebuild Christianity in a fantasy setting. Despite the author taking most of the theology/religious statements directly from the Bible and just replacing names, it fell flat and weak. It just often seems like the harder people try to put Christianity in sci-fi and fantasy settings and the harder they try to portray God, the harder they fail. The stupid decisions characters made, the not-always-well-handled romance, the several poor characters who got unfairly shafted, some hazy worldbuilding, and a dose of kill-your-heroes didn't help matters any. On the plus side, there were a couple of characters I liked pretty well throughout.

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. This one was a retelling of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer; I'm not familiar with the latter, but the former has my interest. Unfortunately, I feel like either I or the author just missed a piece in the telling as it doesn't quite make sense, and there were some pretty big questions left at the end. Also, despite some of the more objectionable parts of the story being left out, I was rather uncomfortable about the timeline, particularly

Valia, from a couple of pages back, it's great to see someone reading and enjoying Arthur Ransome! I have a set of the Swallows and Amazons books that my mum gave me that were hers when she was young, and some of them were her father's when he was young. Funnily enough I always loved the Ds. My mum never liked them as she thought they were interlopers, but as a city child who didn't know how to sail I related to the Ds very strongly.

I recently read A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time. I have a foggy memory of watching TV movie of it years ago and either I forgot everything that happened or it was not a good adaptation because the book was completely unfamiliar. The writing is beautiful. I love the character development and how real the whole world becomes. I'll need to get the others in the series.

A book I was really looking forward to was Jasper Fforde's new one, Early Riser. I don't know whether my expectations were just too high or whether it simply isn't as good as his others, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped to. It took me a long time to get into and, as I got interested, it sped up to the point where the ending came far too abruptly. The whole concept, that of a world where humans hibernate in the winter, is as brilliantly bizarre as usual. It just seemed like the book hasn't been as tightly edited as his others. For those who haven't read any Fforde, I can't recommend him highly enough. Start with The Eyre Affair or Shades of Grey (not THAT one!) and avoid this book for now ...

No, no, no, Mel, you can't say that you like one of Davis Bunn's books that I haven't read, especially not when my library system has The Book of Hours.

I ended up binge reading both A Civil Contract and Laddie after they were mentioned here and (no surprise on the latter) really enjoyed them both. Now I want to read another Heyer, but my to-read stack (it's an impressive pile ) of actual books is looking at me accusingly--and I just checked North and South out of the library. It'll be my first time through, and all I know is that Richard Armitage plays the love interest in the mini-series.

Too bad about the newest Fford book not living up to expectations, AJ. I remember enjoying The Eyre Affair.

I just wanted to say I do like Jane Austen. (I even liked Persuasion, the book I said was my least favorite.) I just don't love Jane Austen. But she's the kind of author whom I can understand being someone else's favorite even if she isn't mine.

I recently read A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time.

I'm so glad you posted this. It's been on my to-read list for a long time but I forgot about it. I jumped on it and checked it out from the library yesterday. Looking forward to getting into it.