Pickwickian Discoveries

What happens when I give in to my son’s book recommendation

“That’s a book that always makes me hungry,” said Phil. “There’s so much good eating in it. The characters seem always to be reveling on ham and eggs and milk punch. I generally go on a cupboard rummage after reading Pickwick. The mere thought reminds me that I’m starving. Is there any tidbit in the pantry, Queen Anne?” ~Anne of the Island, by L. M. Montgomery

My almost-fifteen-year-old son is not a big reader when it comes to print. He’s capable, but resists it, and it’s hard to know how much to push him. From conversations I’ve had with other moms of boys, grown and growing, this seems to be more common than not. My one consolation is that he does love stories, and is a huge fan of audiobooks, especially classic. If you ask him today what his favorite book is, he’ll probably tell you it’s The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.

“Mom, you have to read it,” he told me months ago. Then recently, as he pondered what to listen to next he said, “I think I’ll listen to Pickwick again.” And he did.

He’s way ahead of me. I’ve had a copy of said book sitting on my shelf since I picked it up at a secondhand shop soon after college. I think the main reason I even had an interest in it was because it comes up in Anne of the Island, a long-time favorite. I knew, vaguely, that it was episodic, and that there was a character named Sam Weller, and that Mr. Pickwick wore spectacles and gaiters, and that, according to Phil in Anne, there was lots of food. Apparently none of these things were enough to get me to pick up the hefty tome.

But Jon obviously loved it, and we had a good audio version, so a few months ago I started in on it. Our version has a helpful introduction by Neil Gaiman, a “love letter” of sorts, and through this I learned that Pickwick was Dickens’ first novel, and in many ways he learned the craft of writing a novel as he wrote it. Because it was printed episodically, there was no way to go back and edit the beginning once he finished, so we are left with a novel that begins with misadventures and caricatures and finishes with a well-rounded cast of people who seem like old friends. I knew from Gaiman’s intro that there wouldn’t be much cohesion before Sam Weller appeared in Chapter 10 (he becomes Pickwick’s manservant), and I probably didn’t start listening regularly until soon after that point. By the end, I didn’t want to say goodbye.

I can tell why Jon likes it. He’s a great fan of P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster, and other books that lean into misadventures and humor. It’s just the kind of book to give space for refreshing laughter, and I often caught myself giggling out loud as I listened. Sam’s unflappable character and witticisms are central, and I have a desire to go back through the print version and pick out all of his sayings that go like this one:

“Come, sir, this is rayther too rich, as the young lady said, wen she remonstrated with the pastry-cook, arter he’d sold her a pork-pie as had got nothin’ but fat inside it.” (Chapter 38)

By midway through the tale my kitchen was getting regularly cleaned. Brainless house chores are perfect accompaniments to good audiobooks. I believe some very good meals came about as I listened, too (and yes, there is a lot of food in the book—though I can’t say I’m any more interested in oysters than I was before….)

Sam Weller reminds me so much of Samwise Gamgee that I wonder if Tolkien used the name “Sam” as homage. Frodo Baggins is a much wiser master than Pickwick—I think Pickwick reminds me more of Bilbo Baggins—but there is a generosity and compassion in Pickwick’s character that is reflected in Frodo. The relationship, too, of master and servant is a beautiful thing to see. It’s not a hierarchy; rather it’s a living out of certain roles in a mutual give-and-take based on deep respect and love. It makes me think of the Trinity.

After all is said and done, I’m extremely happy that my son pushed me to “read” The Pickwick Papers. Now I’m trying to decide what I’m going to read next…. Maybe I’ll copy Jon and take another rummage in the Pickwick cupboard.

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Art for the week

Another piece by Evie. She’s been playing with color palettes on Procreate, and decided to try creating a picture of Dame Deberrah, an enigmatic side character from my Daughter of Arden Trilogy. I don’t know if one could compare Dame Deberrah to a Dickens character—that would be high praise!—but she is unique, and a little exaggerated, so perhaps…. Whatever the case, I feel like Ev really captured her essence here.

Dame Deberrah, digital art by Evie Warnemuende

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Book News

If you haven’t had the chance to read it, I was so honored to be featured in Michelle Watson’s Library Binding pictorial interview yesterday. You can check it out here.

I also loved my friend Miriam Novotny’s review of Wandering on her blog this week.

The Daughter of Arden Trilogy

Check out Daughter of Arden at Bandersnatchbooks.com, along with other great titles.

You can find links to more of my writing at A Shaft of Sun Through the Rain and my old blog, Willing, Wanting, Waiting.

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Don’t forget to check out Bandersnatch Books’ podcast, including my interview in Season 1, episode 2. The Banderpod has just started season 2, also, and there are great interviews with Rebecca Gomez, Mari in the Margins, and Mark Collins, When Going on a Dragon Hunt.