[COMPLETE] The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens-icequeen

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

Those three are PL OK!
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

Three more done.

Brad
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

And three more PL OK!

Poor Nell, I found this to be one of his sadder books when I read it last year.
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

So you already know where it's going then. :(

I admit that it's my least favorite of his novels. Not so much because of Nell's fate. It's mostly because she and her grandfather are the most important characters, and Dickens twice leaves them for many many chapters. Not that the other chapters don't contain important information also, but because we hear nothing of Nell for such long periods. But if I'm going to do all of Dickens' works, I had to do this one sometime, and since I've decided to do the novels in order (except for Tale of Two Cities and Dombey and Son, which I did first), and it was next in sequence, I'm doing it now.
I still have to go back and do "Oliver Twist" at some point. I skipped it earlier because someone else was already doing it at the time, and I thought it might be confusing. Meanwhile there's also a group Oliver Twist, which I read a couple parts for over a year ago, which is still ongoing after so long. But I plan on doing "Barnaby Rudge" after "Old Curiosity Shop" and after that I'm hoping that there'll be no Oliver in progress, so I'll do it then.
By the way, I've been trying to decide when and if I should do his non-fiction works, such as "American Notes" and "A Child's History of England." Not to mention a few short story collections. His first published work was "Sketches By Boz" which is a mix of fictional short stories and some non-fiction shorts. I've occasionally recorded some chapters of it over the last few months, even though I have yet to officially begin it as an actual project here, so some day I'll have all the sections ready ahead of time, or at least most of them.

Didn't mean to ramble lol. Anyway, I'll have the next three chapters of the current group ready in a day or so. :)

Brad
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

Great Expectations is my least favorite of his novels. I have read most of his long ones and a couple short ones. I just did not relate or even really like most of the characters in it. I found it slow and boring, though I am not sure why. The plot sounds interesting when I read s summary but I can never get 'into' it. It took me two painful years to read it just so I could someday say I have read all his books :roll:

I watched the mini series of The Old Curiosity Shop half way through reading it, which I think is a first for me. I almost always read the book first, and doing that reminded me why! I really did not want to finish reading it knowing the ending and then when you let me know this one would be next I thought 'oh no, I just went through reading that ending and now I have to listen to again so soon!' but it is not a long part of the book I guess, and the rest of it is not quite as sad. I can never quite decide what I think of Nell's Grandfather, I don't think I have ever been so undecided about a character before. Sometimes I like him, often I pity him, but most of the time it is mixed with a dislike of him. This is kind of silly but I usually feel bad for disliking him! Oh well, now I am rambling! Most people I know think Dickens is boring, or have never read any of his books, and if they have it is usually Great Expectations so I don't get to talk about them often.

Do you have a favorite book by him? I don't know if I have one favorite, but my top three are Martin Chuzzlewit, Little Dorrit, and Bleak House, in no particular order.
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

My favorite is "A Tale of Two Cities" which was the first one I read for LibriVox, and the only one I did without you, since I didn't have you until my second, "Dombey and Son."
I do like "Great Expectations" but if I continue to go in sequence it will be awhile before I get to it. I've already been trying to decide what voice to use for Miss Havisham. Probably a more insane sounding variation of the one I used for Mrs. Nickleby.

As for Nell's grandfather, I look on his as a figure of pity. To me, he's clearly senile, or he wouldn't need to by guided so much by Nell, a mere thirteen-year-old, so much. But he has that gambling addiction, and so people are quite willing to take advantage of him. In many ways, even though Dickens constantly refers to Nell as a child, she is the adult, and the grandfather is the child.

Brad
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

Completed three more.

Brad
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

44, 45, and 46 are PL OK!
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

Three more chapters are read, but I'm a little bit concerned about one.

While editing Chapter 48 I noticed some slight volume fluctuations. I redid bits and pieces of the entire file that I felt were particularly bad. I thought I'd submit it as it is and ask if you think I should read it over again. I have no idea what would caused it, since I didn't do anything differently than other times.

Brad
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

48, 49, and 50 are PL OK!

Just to note, they are all just a touch loud, so maybe keep an eye on that. No need to re upload though.

48 was fine. I noticed the volume jumped a little in three places within the first few minutes, however it was not bad, and I think I only noticed two of them because I was pling, therefore paying extra attention.

Keep up the amazing work!! :thumbs:
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

When I do Quilp's voice, it tends to get loud. He may be small, but I suspect his voice is not. I do use the amplify feature on Audacity's Effects menu to bring his volume down a bit, but perhaps I'm just not doing it enough.

Brad
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

Sorry for the delay in new chapters. I got a new headset/microphone and it distorts my voice for some reason. I'm hoping to take it to a friend sometime in the next few days to see if he can figure out the problem.

Brad
Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet »

Still working on the microphone issue. I hate these long absences from this project. But it will get done!

Brad
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

That must be a fancy microphone! I hope you ger it figured out soon, it can be frustrating trying to figure out things like that!
~Tiffany
Hamlet
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Joined: March 14th, 2015, 11:11 pm

Post by Hamlet »

Still trying to fix the microphone problem. I thought I should check in just in case you were wondering.

Brad
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