PICK THREE (3) MINI CHALLENGE - JANUARY 2023

PICK THREE (3) MINI CHALLENGE...JANUARY, 2023

CLASSY CLASICS:

Our Classy Classic for January is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Published in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities was released in serial form, like many of his other novels. Moving between London and Paris in the late 1780s and early 1790s, the novel probes the social ills that plagued both cities and created the unrest that exploded in the French Revolution. Dickens weaves the themes of redemption and social justice within A Tale of Two Cities, with his criticism of the French aristocracy and their treatment of the poor echoed in the plight of the poor in London.

1. A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens's best-selling and most popular novels. In addition to its social commentary, the novel includes espionage, adventure, grave-robbing, love, war, and execution.

2. The book inspired a Batman film. he director of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan, stated: " What Dickens does in that book in terms of having all his characters come together in one unified story with all these thematic elements and all this great emotionalism and drama, it was exactly the tone we were looking for. In the eulogy given for Batman in the film, the director included the character Sydney Carton's last words from the book: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done."

3.One Dickens character in the story was inspired by two computing pioneers. Madame Defarge is a character who hid and encoded information in her knitting, which contained the names of those to be killed by the revolutionaries. These practices may have come from the work of English mathematicians Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. Lovelace is now considered the first computer programmer. Babbage merged hardware and software to create an early computer. Dickens moved in the same social circles as Babbage and Lovelace, whose ideas might have inspired his character.

4.A Tale of Two Cities is the only Dickens novel set outside England. Dickens set all of his 13 other novels wholly in England. While much of the story takes place in London, other events occur in Paris. The author was obsessed with the social problems in England, many of which he explored in his fiction, but for this novel he claimed he wanted to create "a picturesque story, rising in every chapter with characters true to nature, but whom the story itself should express, more than they should express themselves, by dialogue."

5.Rumors of plagiarism swirled around A Tale of Two Cities. In 1856 English playwright Watts Phillips wrote a play called "The Dead Heart", which bore many similarities to A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens's many fans charged the playwright with plagiarism, but as the play was written before the novel was published and as Phillips and Dickens were at least acquaintances if not friends, it's impossible to tell whether plagiarism took place. However, both works were set in revolutionary France, and both had heroes who were guillotined to save another's life.

6. A Tale of Two Cities reflects the tumultuous times in which Dickens wrote. Though Britain in 1859 was peaceful, France and other Western countries were not. Revolutions in France in 1830 and 1848 resulted in the Second Empire, led by Louis Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew. In 1858 a plot to assassinate the emperor by Frenchmen living in England was uncovered, and the United States was on the verge of civil war. The novel is colored by Dickens's awareness of the unrest that was destabilizing much of the Western world as he wrote.

7.A Tale of Two Cities is one of only two historical novels by Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities wasn't Dickens's first historical novel. Barnaby Rudge, the fifth novel he wrote, had that honor. The novel was set in the 1780s and focused on the anti-Catholic riots in London. A Tale of Two Cities is set a few years later and centers on the French Revolution. Dickens's other novels are set more or less during the time he wrote them.

8. Body snatching was a common practice in Dickens's day. The character Jerry Cruncher in A Tale of Two Cities spends his nights collecting corpses for dissection by doctors. Only the corpses of executed criminals were legally allowed to be used in this way, so the shortage of available corpses led to grave robbing and even murder for profit. It was addressed by Parliament in the Anatomy Act of 1832, which allowed corpses of those who died in workhouses to be used for dissection.

The Challenge
Choose as many books as you would like in groups of 3, from the list of options. You may choose 1 from three different options, or 2 from one and 1 from another or 3 from the same option etc... You just need to end up with 3.

Choose a book or books that...
are set in either England or France
has been made into a film or a play
is set in any country OTHER than England or France
the story takes place during any war, or a conflict of any type
the title contains the word "TWO" or "CITY(IES)"
features any member of the medical profession
features a character that has committed a crime
features a character that collects things (hopefully not corpses)
is written by an author whose first and last initial can be found in CHARLES DICKENS.

Carol visits The Tale of Two Cities with batman
🍷 - ★
Are Set in England or France
🍷1.The Lantern Men - Elly Griffiths - 4.5★
🍷2.Whispering Corner - Marc Alexander (Ronson) - 5★
🍷3.Sleeping Dolls - Helen Phifer - 5★

🍷 - ★
The title contains the word "TWO" or "CITY(IES)"
1. Two Dead Fish Named Kevin - L A Witt - ★
🍷2. Two Can Keep a Secret - Karen M. McManus - 4.5★
🍷3. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare - 3.5★

Choose a book or books that...
are set in either England or France
has been made into a film or a play
is set in any country OTHER than England or France
the story takes place during any war, or a conflict of any type
the title contains the word "TWO" or "CITY(IES)"
features a character that collects things (hopefully not corpses)

is written by an author whose first and last initial can be found in CHARLES DICKENS
K D - Kate DiCamillo The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane ✔ 02Jan23

features any member of the medical profession
Goldi's "date" and also her ex ... Dying For Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson ✔ 05Jan23

features a character that has committed a crime
Will Stirman in Southtown by Rick Riordan ✔ 06Jan23

>3 BookConcierge: Glad to have you joining us, Tessa.

Are set in either England or France
✔️The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✔️Talk of the Village by Rebecca Shaw ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms by Jessica Redland ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Are set in any country OTHER than England or France
✔️The Whispering Land by Gerald Durrell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Set in Argentina)
✔️ The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Set in Ecuador)
✔️ Excavation by James Rollins 🤣⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Set in Peru)

Features any member of the medical profession
✔️The Last Bloody Straw by J D Kirk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️The New Rector by Rebecca Shaw ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✔️The Village Show by Rebecca Shaw ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Features a character that has committed a crime
✔️Blood and Treachery by J D Kirk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️Caution Death At Work by Rhys Dylan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
✔️Dirty Martini by J A Konrath ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Seven Bridges - LJ Ross 4.5★s (Author’s initials in CHARLES DICKENS)
A Mouse Called Miika - Matt Haig 5★s (Character steals some cheese 🧀)
Ticket to Oblivion - Edward Marston 4★s (Set in England)

Well, it looks like I've got 2 books finished by this point, so I'll jump right on in!

1) The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths (set in Norfolk and Cambridge, England, and makes me just want to go exploring the bogs and the seascape. Just sayin'.) ✔
2) Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (features many, many medical professionals). ✔
3) Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana (author's initials can be found in CHaRles Dickens) ✔

And yes, I made it to all 3! Loved all 3 books for this challenge. Thank you >1 Carol420: Carol!

>3 BookConcierge: And I am DONE!

>9 BookConcierge:


Good job, Tessa!

>9 BookConcierge: 👏🙂

Well done >9 BookConcierge: 👏👏👏🙌

>9 BookConcierge: Congratulations!

I'm a little late getting onto LT this evening because I'm finding it hard to put down Two Years Before the Mast. The edition says it is "edited for young readers" but I find the language about what I would expect of a book written in the 1830's. The nautical terms go right over my head; I wonder if today's sailors would be familiar with all of them?!

And the descriptions of the California coast are fantastic historical reading. The ethnocentrism, not so much. But Dana's descriptions of life at sea are very gritty and left their mark on the future lives of those in service onboard service. Conditions for the Merchant Marines became better (or so the Forward says. Or is the Aftward? Larboard-ward??!).

All told finished 4 sets of three.

>15 Andrew-theQM:



A round of applause and congratulations coming your way.