In the dark ages, when I went to high school, required classes in English Literature inevitably involved having to read at least one, sometimes two novels of nineteenth century England. Charles Dickens, who practically invented writing as a career, would always be represented. In my case it was David Copperfield. It was an interesting story, but not enough to hook me on Dickens. It wasn’t the fault of the teacher, either. I was a teenager, for Pete’s sake. Movies, television, and science fiction took precedence over classic literature. That’s my excuse, although I do know of very talented teachers who got their students so involved in Great Expectations that they were ready to thrash Pip, the main character, for the miserable way he treated a faithful old friend.
I did not read another novel by Dickens until several decades and a lot of life experience had accumulated. Even then, I did not read it myself, but listened to an audiobook recording of Dombey and Son, performed by the talented actress, Mil Nicholson. I was immediately hooked. Since then I have listened to seven more Dickens novels, all performed by her, and I look forward to hearing the entire lot eventually, because that is Ms. Nicholson’s goal – to perform all of Dickens’ works, and because I happen to be her audio engineer, and partner in all things. Mil’s Dickens recordings have at this date now garnered over a million downloads, and her fan mail comes from all over the world. Here are some samples:
“…It is voice acting at its best, characterized by brilliant attention to detail and obvious love of the material.”
“…It is through you and that wonderful, melodic voice and those beautiful characterisations that I have discovered Dickens.”
“You and Dickens were made for each other. I really believe he would be pleased. Thank you again for sharing your talent with us. You could read to me my last speeding ticket and make me happy to go pay it.”
The price of any of her Dickens recordings is quite affordable, because they are free. They can be downloaded from the unique website, http://www.librivox.org, whose objective is:
“To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.”
Besides Charles Dickens’s works, there are literally hundreds of audiobooks available on Librivox, all free. And all the work required to record and archive these recordings is done by volunteers.
So if you are a Downton Abbey fan, or you have seen the BBC production of Bleak House, or Nicholas Nickleby and enjoyed it, perhaps you might be ready for some hard-core, unabridged Dickens, performed by Mil Nicholson. Go to http://www.librivox.org. But be careful. It’s addictive.
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