The Illustrated History of Magic

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book for Magician Historians

Great Magic reference

Fantastic book! Buy it!

Excellent!!!

The Illustrated History of Magic
Milbourne Christopher , and Maurine Christopher
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Magic | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0786716886

Book Description

Set off on a magical history tour with Milbourne Christopher's classic Illustrated History of Magic. Follow the fascinating stories of the world's greatest conjurers, from sorcerer-priests in ancient Egypt, The Great Herrmann, Harry Kellar, Chung Ling Soo, Houdini, to modern miracle workers like David Copperfield, Siegfreid and Roy, and David Blaine. Filled with fantastic illustrations—poster art, photographs, illusion diagrams—this book is a feast for anyone interested in the conjuring arts.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book for Magician Historians.......2007-04-25

This is not a book on "How to do Magic" but on the History of Magic and the expert conjurers and Illusionist of all times. It's extremely well written with detail accounts of parlor and stage magic stories. If you are a serious Magician, this is a most for your private collection. As a close-up Magician, I have learned many strateties, and this Book served me and inspired me to continue with my craft.
By, Rasputin

Great Magic reference.......2007-01-17

This book is full of all kinds of magical history and theory. Whether you are a practicing magician, a magic hobbiest or just enjoy reading an interesting historical story... this book is a "Must Read".

Fantastic book! Buy it!.......2001-12-05

After seeing this book on several times at my local magic shop, I finally bought it here. The list price is (...), but I paid less (...) here and it was new in plastic wrap too. It is an absolutely fabulous book with very detailed illustrations and numerous color picture. Worth much more than they ask for! It's an invaluable reference also for magic lovers!

Excellent!!!.......1999-05-11

This is one of my favorite magic books. I have to go back and look at it from time to time. Great stories- great pictures. -Diamond Jim Tyler

David Copperfield (Modern Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

Ummm.....
A Masterpiece
great classic novel
A Brilliant Masterpiece
Difficult but worth while

David Copperfield (Modern Library Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679783415
Release Date: 2000-11-28

Book Description

Hugely admired by Tolstoy, David Copperfield is the novel that draws most closely from Charles Dickens's own life. Its eponymous hero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness, heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains. Praising Dickens's power of invention, Somerset Maugham wrote: "There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens's exultant imagination...you can never quite forget them."

This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates, in addition to new explanatory notes.

Customer Reviews:

Ummm............2007-07-30

While I admire anyone who can write 800+ pages with an overarching theme (the discipline of the heart), and while I also consider Dickens to be one of my favorite writers of all time, I was very disappointed in this book. It ultimately comes down to three main story lines: (1) the events regarding Uriah Heep, (2) events regarding Emily, and (3) events regarding David finding love. Maybe in 1850 it was a big deal, but reading 800+ pages to find out that Emily ran off with an egoist isn't exactly stimulating, nor is plowing through only to find out Uriah Heep is a scoundrel. Sure, the last couple of pages are nice with David and Agnes, but I'm not sure it makes the book worth reading.

I'm really not sure how Dickens could consider this character his favorite. Copperfield is the consumate pushover and patsy. Instead of doing something, anything, to defend the abuse/neglect of his mother and himself when coming across the Murdstone's in later years, he does absolutely nothing. His main event with Uriah is a slap in the face. It's almost like David Copperfield was Boy George placed in the 1900's.

But, if you have several hours to spend on the pursuit of being so bored you want to contemplate suicide, I would highly recommend this book.

A Masterpiece.......2007-07-15

This is Dickens's best and it is on par with other great novels such as Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, Madame Bovary, etc. In short, it is a masterpiece that brings together all of Dickens's writing skills with a great story.

As background information, I am in the process of reading most of Dickens 22 novels and longer short stories. I bought the Penguin Popular Classics version of the novel. It is very basic and comes in a simple green cover. It contains no introduction or analysis, just the text plus a very brief historical sketch of Dickens. It seems to be an excellent value for the money and I bought three Dickens novels in the series. I was a bit disappointed in that the book seemed to fall apart as I read it: the binding seemed very weak and cheaply made. After this bad experience, I bought other versions of Dickens's works - Wordsworth Classic versions, the regular Penguin Classic versions, the ones with the photo on the covers, and others.

Charles Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870, is the best know male English writer of the 19th century. He authored 22 novels plus numerous short pieces. Most of his writing was first written in serialized form, later published as single novels.

A young Dickens at the age of 12 had the unenviable job of attaching labels 10 hours a day at the Warren's boot blacking factory. That experience shaped much of his writing career. Still in his teens he became a law clerk, then later in his twenties a journalist. The last job as a reporter led to the serialized writing of his novels. His works were social commentaries with larger than life characters, or colorful caricatures, living in the slums of London. He was a critic of poverty, social injustice, and the slow moving court system.

All of Dickens's experiences come together in David Copperfield. The story has many biographical elements in it: a young man forced to take a job in a factory, attendance at a difficult school, working in a law firm, being a reporter, etc. The book was the author's favorite because of all of these biographical elements. The novel is twice as long as Great Expectations and has a wonderful set of characters, a good story, and it is a compelling read. It is clear from reading the novel that Dickens has put a lot of enthusiasm and creativity into writing the novel and into the creation of many memorable characters such as Edward and Jane Murdstone, Wilkins Micawber, Uriah Heep, Tommy Traddles, Mrs Trotwood, etc. Readers will not be disappointed.

Having read many of Dickens's novels I still rate David Copperfield as best as a work of literature and for entertainment value.

great classic novel.......2007-05-29

This is a great classic novel full of wonderful insights of human nature and humorous notions from David's viewpoint. It shows how people do better when treated better, something very worthwhile for people to read nowadays when overly strict discipline has been transferred to overly diagnosed mental illnesses and medication for this. This shows a believable resilient child, though in unusual circumstances for modern times, children are normally resilient to hardships, as well as adults. The difference between the way David is treated by the Murdstones and cruel teachers as opposed to how he is treated well by his Aunt Betsy and good teachers show how much a difference kind treatment to people makes.

A Brilliant Masterpiece.......2007-03-29

This book was a slight drag at first in the first part, but the ending is remarkable and sheds a new light on charles Dickens' work. It is sure a masterpiece. Its portrayal of love, death, hope, misery, and so much more is quite striking. It is definitely one of the best books I have ever come across.

Difficult but worth while.......2007-01-09

Well this was my first Charles Dickens book. I found it difficult at times to read, a lot of flowery descriptions and some English expressions I wasn't familiar with. BUT, I did enjoy reading it and found the characters interesting. I found some of the events that happened were to coincidental, but then again that's how the author brings some zest to the story. This book is long. I did appreciate Modern Library Classics little extra touches like discussion points, even the front of the books art work is nice.

Average customer rating:

No wonder Dickens was deemed one of the best English writers, ever!
Dicken's Autobiographical Masterpiece
Why it still matters
A classic novel from Charles Dickens at the top of his game!
very good book

David Copperfield (Penguin Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140439447

Book Description

David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In David Copperfield—the novel he described as his “favorite child”—Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure.

Customer Reviews:

No wonder Dickens was deemed one of the best English writers, ever!.......2007-08-19

I had read the Chinese version of "David Copperfield" when I was about 14, and enjoyed it very much, though it didn't leave much trace in my mind after I grew up. I was glad to be able to enjoy it a second time recently. This time I read the English version, that is, the original work of the great writer Charles Dickens. I was immediately subdued by Dickens' mastery of the language. Reading the book is just like having someone very talented in telling stories talking to you. The rhythms in the language of this book are simply beautiful. Very, very beautiful. Although there're a lot of long sentences in this book (the longest one seemed to be the one in the chapter of Copperfield's wedding, about 2-3 pages for a single sentence. Can you imagine that!), it seems very natural to read -- just like having someone very smart, very passionate and very eloquent talking to you. Although it's about 900 pages, although it's a novel published more than 150 years ago, it's not boring at all to read! I was taken by the story at the first page, and continued enjoying it during these several months, and finished the last page tonight with a satisfied smile, as if I had just finished a gorgeous banquet! No wonder Dickens was deemed one of the best English writers ever! He really had a wonderful mastery of the language, and was really good at telling stories!

Dicken's Autobiographical Masterpiece.......2007-07-03

** This review is a synthesis of the three Charles Dickens books that I've read: A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics), Great Expectations (Penguin Classics), and David Copperfield (Penguin Classics). The rationale for reviewing in this manner is to provide a foundation point of reference for those not new to Dickens' work.

In the last two years I have read, in this order, Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and David Copperfield. All three of these books were exceptional reads, and if you are thinking about dipping your toes in the waters of Charles Dickens you can't go wrong with any of them. However, notwithstanding the fact that these three books are all in the upper echelon of world literature, I have no difficulty in distinguishing between them and coming to the conclusion that they are properly ordered, from "most best" to "least best": David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations.

It seems generally to be the case that, for those who have read just one of Dickens' books, Great Expectations is the book most people have been exposed to. And most people who read Great Expectations love it. The genre is probably best described as romance meshed with individual tragedy among numerous characters. However, perhaps the strongest part of the book is the manner in which the secondary characters present a contrast to the primary story. I liked the book very much, but I think it suffers from two flaws not present in the other works reviewed here. First, the characters are not as believable as in the other two works. Second, the plot follows an unlikely path, especially in the end. Concerning this second point, it should be noted that Dickens struggled with the ending of this work, and I think it shows.

Tale of Two Cities ranks second in this group in my mind. This book is a combination of political intrigue, romance, and personal triumph. I rank this book above Great Expectations for the sole reason that the characters in this book are so strongly developed. I don't think I have been exposed to more memorable characters in any book I've ever read. The story is interesting, too, because it takes place against the backdrop of a historical event, the French Revolution. I think Dickens had an easier time writing a convincing plot in this story than in Great Expectations because he had the aid of a real historical event.

Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities are both excellent books, but David Copperfield is simply the best piece of literature I've ever read. To be sure, I'm only 24 and have only read 10 pieces of classic literature since my high school years. However, David Copperfield so outdid anything I've read that I feel more than comfortable in recommending it as certainly one of the best books of all time. Dickens did a remarkable job of capturing a wide variety of human emotions and mindsets. He was aided in this by two things. First, the length of the book gave him space to fully develop his sentiments. Second, the book is written in a first-person autobiographical voice, which I think made capturing sentiments much easier than in attempting to narrate them in the third-person. Further, because the book chronicles David's life from childhood through middle-age the reader is exposed to a wide variety of human thoughts. The characters, for the most part, are more believable and the plot is generally good; I took offense to only one chapter in the whole book.

Now, if you haven't read any of Dickens' books, I don't recommend starting with David Copperfield. I would start with Great Expectations and work through a couple others before David Copperfield. In terms of the plots, David Copperfield is much more similar to Great Expectations than Tale of Two Cities. So if you loved Great Expectations I think you will be well satisfied with David Copperfield. The plot from Tale of Two Cities is the odd-ball of this trio. In any case, all three of these books are great pieces of literature... enjoy.

Why it still matters.......2006-09-25

Somehow, I'd graduated from college - with a degree in English, no less - and had never had to read a single thing ever written by Charles Dickens. I read quite a bit on my own, but still found David Copperfield to be the height of ambition - my copy was 1001 pages long, and I hadn't ventured into a book over a thousand pages since I'd read The Stand at age 12. I cannot imagine that I am alone in completing my education and sidestepping Dickens altogether, so I think it's important I share my experience. In truth, the only reason I chose David Copperfield over, say, Great Expectations or Hard Times was the passing comment made by Jeff Daniels in The Squid And The Whale - dismissing a Tale of Two Cities as "minor Dickens," saying David Copperfield was "much richer."

It is rich. I tend towards modern fiction nowadays, fiction that, unexpectedly, takes you deep inside the heart of its characters sometimes bewildering behavior and humanity. What strikes me about the complex nature of the characters in Copperfield is the way it seems that no effort at all has been used to distinguish each of them, yet there is no doubt as to how vivid they are. Each character speaks in a tone that is a perfect elucidation of who they are - you can hear, just in the dialogue, the calm wisdom of Agnes, the parasitic obsequiousness of Uriah Heep, the punctilious rambling of Micawber, the pleasantries that barely mask the aggression of Miss Dartle, the rigid boredom of the Murdstones, the spoiled impishness when Dora speaks (so precise I heard her voice in cloying and nasal babytalk in my head). It's a delicate balancing act to keep this level of detail so hidden in his work, and it makes the plot machinations speedy and exciting. The varied heights in this book astound - moments of drama, whimsy, intrigue, romance abound, and the book is even prone to its bit of slapstick - midgets falling over into umbrellas, or extreme umbrage taken when donkeys appear on lawns.

What I mean is that it's easy to know you "should" read David Copperfield, but as anyone who's ever had a reading assignment knows, that doesn't necessarily make it something you'd want to do. I know, in a way, that David Copperfield is considered a standard - a book Tolstoy and Virginia Woolf, for example, hold as the pinnacle of English fiction - but then again, I slogged my way through supposed classics in school that, over time, have turned out to appear dull and unsurprising. David Copperfield is so underread these days that I had no idea what to expect, no notion of the amazing surprises within, the sublimely addictive cadence of Dickens' prose, the dazzle of his language. Reading it for no particular reason, then, was a triumph all around - a book that doesn't require a degree to "understand," that moves breezily through its pages, and that teaches a thing or two (or twenty) about the rich heights capable in fiction. It's as rich and winning as you've heard and then some.

A classic novel from Charles Dickens at the top of his game!.......2006-08-21

David Copperfield was the favorite novel written by the English genius Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Copperfield tells the long story of David Copperfield as he rises to become a
favorite novelist after many dangers, toils and snares!
It has been said that David is the least intersting character is this huge three decker 1,000 page tome! Perhaps that is a
wise observation. Think of the glorious cast of characters in this broad stroked portrait of preindustrial Britain.
Peggoty the nurse who cares for David
Ham and Little Emily, Mrs. Gummidge and Daniel Peggoty who live in Yarmouth on an old boat and form indissoluble ties of friendship and love with the young David
The women loved by David: Dora Spenlow and the angelic Agnes
Wickfield
The odious villain Uriah Heep who is so "'umble"!
Steerforth the hero of David's youth who is not a nice guy!
The greatest comedic character in English since Shakespeare's
Falstaff-the inimitable Mr. Micawber (based on Dicken's own
impoverished father John Dickens).
Even minor characters come alive when described by Dickens.
I have read David Copperfield several times but it is a book calling out for rereading. A book to treasure and love. Since
1850 this wonderful novel has become a loved treasure of our
English language.
Enjoy!

very good book.......2006-01-05

I enjoyed this book alot.It was very sad in the beginning of the story,when it talks about davids growing up and how cruel his stepfather and his sister were to him.But the end made up for it.A very interesting book.I strongly recommend it.

David Copperfield (Cover to Cover Classics)

Average customer rating:

David Copperfield (Cover to Cover Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: The Audio Partners, Cover to Cover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1572707194

Average customer rating:

Classic catharsis
A wonderful (audio)book
Poor print quality for the price
Sublime
Dickens' favorite Dickens... with good reason.

David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Audio Literature
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0787102407

Amazon.com

Beginning in 1854 up through to his death in 1870, Charles Dickens abridged and adapted many of his more popular works and performed them as staged readings. This version, each page illustrated with lovely watercolor paintings, is a beautiful example of one of these adaptations.

Because it is quite seriously abridged, the story concentrates primarily on the extended family of Mr. Peggotty: his orphaned nephew, Ham; his adopted niece, Little Emily; and Mrs. Gummidge, self-described as "a lone lorn creetur and everythink went contrairy with her." When Little Emily runs away with Copperfield's former schoolmate, leaving Mr. Peggotty completely brokenhearted, the whole family is thrown into turmoil. But Dickens weaves some comic relief throughout the story with the introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Micawber, and David's love for his pretty, silly "child-wife," Dora. Dark nights, mysterious locations, and the final destructive storm provide classic Dickensian drama. Although this is not David Copperfield in its entirety, it is a great introduction to the world and the language of Charles Dickens.

Book Description

"        Like so many fond parents I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child," wrote Charles Dickens. "And his name is David Copperfield."
        Of all of Dickens's novels, David Copperfield most closely reflects the events of his own life. The story of an abandoned waif who discovers life and love in an indifferent world, this classic tale of childhood is populated with a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains who number among the author's greatest creations.
        "David Copperfield is filled with characters of the most astonishing variety, vividness, and originality," noted Somerset Maugham. "They are not realistic and yet they abound with life. There never were such people as the Micawbers, Pegotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens's exultant imagination, but they have so much vigor, they are so consistent, they are presented with so much conviction, that you believe in them. They are extravagant, but not unreal, and when you have once to know them you can never quite forget them." T. S. Eliot agreed: "Dickens excelled in character; in the creation of characters of greater intensity than human beings." And Virginia Woolf concluded: "In David Copperfield, though char-
acters swarm and life flows into every creek and cranny, some common feelings--youth, gaiety, hope--envelops the tumult, brings the scattered parts together, and invests the most perfect of all the Dickens novels with an atmosphere of beauty."

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-
dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

Download Description

'I really think I have done it ingeniously and with a very complicated interweaving of truth and fiction.' So wrote Dickens of David Copperfield (1850), the novel he called his 'favourite child'. Through his hero Dickens draws openly on his own life, as David Copperfield recalls his experiences from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Rosa Dartle, Dora, Steerforth and Uriah Heep are among the characters who focus the hero's sexual and emotional drives, and Mr Micawber, a portrait of Dickens's own father, evokes the mixture of love, nostalgia and guilt that, put together, make this Dickens's most quoted and best-loved novel.

Customer Reviews:

Classic catharsis.......2007-08-31

What could be more prosaic? A physically abused child surmounts all obstacles through diligence, devotion, goodness, and terrific good luck at key moments. But within this simple frame Dickens paints a tapestry of pity and terror and epiphany. To encounter such a broad spectrum of good and evil - the pure femininity of a lover, the earthy sweetness of a nurse, the generosity of a mentor, the frivolity of a sweetheart, parental naivete and cruelty, the destructive arrogance of a best friend, the viciousness of a Uriah Heep - would be an object lesson in Humanity. But we encounter all this each day. This dawns on you with each passing chapter - and that you are confronting yourself as you confront them: Your own evil and your own goodness rising above the shadows. Copperfield is a quick course in religion and philosophy and psychology. By the end, you're transformed vicariously and like David Copperfield dismiss the shadows: "Thus I leave them; thus I always find them; thus they wear their time away, from year to year".

Please note: Dickens is not my favorite author. His style at times is too melodramatic. But David Copperfield is wonderful. If we had only this, it would be clear Dickens was a master who walked the talk. Highly commended even for those who are not Dickens fans.

A wonderful (audio)book.......2007-07-03

I have read and listened to many of Dickens' novels, and this is, without a doubt, my favorite. In fact, this is my favorite audiobook bar none.

This BBC Radio adaptation is the perfect introduction to Dickens and to David Copperfield in particular for those who may be dissuaded from reading Copperfield because of its length. It is impossible to imagine that the BBC could have found better performers for the roles--I can easily hear their voices in my mind as I recall the story. Although the story is abridged, you don't get the sense that you are missing any of the important points of the story. In fact, it's a much more satisfying "read" than most books in their unabridged version.

Poor print quality for the price.......2006-12-25

For the price of the Everyman edition, one would expect the pages to be cleanly printed. Instead, the letters are faded and weak on many pages. On many pages, parts of some letters are missing altogether.

Sublime.......2006-12-03

"But one face, shining on me like a heavenly light by which I see all
other objects, is above them and beyond them all. And that remains. I turn my
head, and see it, in its beautiful serenity beside me. My lamp burns low,
and I have written far into the night, but the dear presence, without which
I were nothing, bears me company."
[David Copperfield]
Timeless, full of plastic characters, entertaining, colourful, warm. Imagine Dostoevsky, but with more optimism and respect and deep love for humans. Kind regards, Mario.

Dickens' favorite Dickens... with good reason........2006-07-07

Charles Dickens said that his favorite work of his own was David Copperfield. I'm still partial to Tale of Two Cities, but this is a truly spectacular piece of literature that deserves every bit of its status as a classic.

Dickens draws you into his stories in a way that nearly no other author can. In David Copperfield, you truly feel as if you are the protagonist/narrator Copperfield. You feel his pain and enhaltation, you sense his difficulties, mistakes and triumphs before they come through Dickens' subtle foreshadowing.

The other thing that Dickens does so masterfully is create his characters. Dickens' characters are the stuff of legend for a reason. In anyone else's hands, characters as vivid and over-the-top as Dickens' are would be ridiculous, but somehow Dickens writes the colorful characters to be completely believeable. This trick has something to do with the way Dickens develops the characters over time, something to do with the detail with which he describes them and something to do with consistent core of the characters. The villians alone make this story well worth reading and they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Read this classic, you'll be glad you did.

David Copperfield: Adapted for Young Readers (Great Illustrated Classics)

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David Copperfield: Adapted for Young Readers (Great Illustrated Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Abdo Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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Great Expectations (Great Illustrated Classics)

ASIN: 1577656857

David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)

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A Masterpiece
Charles Dickens's Favorite Cretion.
Has its moments
One of the finest books in English
THE BEST NOVEL EVER!

David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140620265

Customer Reviews:

A Masterpiece.......2007-07-15

This is Dickens's best and it is on par with other great novels such as Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, Madame Bovary, etc. In short, it is a masterpiece that brings together all of Dickens's writing skills with a great story.

As background information, I am in the process of reading most of Dickens 22 novels. I bought the Penguin Popular Classics version of the novel. It is very basic and comes in a simple green cover. It contains no introduction or analysis, just the text plus a very brief historical sketch of Dickens. It seems to be an excellent value for the money and I bought three Dickens novels in the series. I was a bit disappointed in that the book seemed to fall apart as I read it: the binding seemed very weak and cheaply made. After this bad experience, I bought other versions of Dickens's works - Wordsworth Classic versions, the regular Penguin Classic versions, the ones with the photo on the covers, and others.

Charles Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870, is the best know male English writer of the 19th century. He authored 22 novels plus numerous short pieces. Most of his writing was first written in serialized form, later published as single novels.

A young Dickens at the age of 12 had the unenviable job of attaching labels 10 hours a day at the Warren's boot blacking factory. That experience shaped much of his writing career. Still in his teens he became a law clerk, then later in his twenties a journalist. The last job as a reporter led to the serialized writing of his novels. His works were social commentaries with larger than life characters, or colorful caricatures, living in the slums of London. He was a critic of poverty, social injustice, and the slow moving court system.

All of Dickens's experiences come together in David Copperfield. The story has many biographical elements in it: a young man forced to take a job in a factory, attendance at a difficult school, working in a law firm, being a reporter, etc. The book was the author's favorite because of all of these biographical elements. The novel is twice as long as Great Expectations and has a wonderful set of characters, a good story, and it is a compelling read. It is clear from reading the novel that Dickens has put a lot of enthusiasm and creativity into writing the novel and into the creation of many memorable characters such as Edward and Jane Murdstone, Wilkins Micawber, Uriah Heep, Tommy Traddles, Mrs Trotwood, etc. Readers will not be disappointed.

Having read many of Dickens's novels I still rate David Copperfield as best as a work of literature and for entertainment value.

Charles Dickens's Favorite Cretion........2006-07-25

This book never became quite as popular as "Oliver Twist," "A Christmas Carol," or "A Tale of Two Cities." Nevertheless, it is easy to see why Charles Dickens felt that this was his best creation. David Copperfield is born. His widowed mother is nice enough, but she becomes involved with the cruel Murderstone. (Murderstone feels that beatings are acceptable if David does not learn his lessons well enough.) David's mother dies, and Murderstone sends David off to work where he encounters the eccentric but benevolent Mr. Micawber. (Mr. Micawber is somewhat of a combination of Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Brownlow. And he is largely based on Charles Dickens's father.) David and Mr. Micawber become fast friends, but Mr. Micawber is arrested for debt. David (for obvious reasons) does not want to return to his wicked stepfather Mr. Murderstone. So he runs away to his Aunt Betsey. The eccentric but kind Aunt Betsey takes David in, and he soon meets Mr. Wickfield, his daughter Agnes, and the diabolical Uriah Heep. It is not long before we realize that as kind as Mr. Wickfield is, he is an alcoholic. And the evil Uriah Heep will use that to his advantage. Up until now, David Copperfield has been kind of an Oliver Twist. But David Copperfield (unlike Oliver) reaches adult hood in the story. We then come to the matter of marriage. Even before David meets his eventual wife Dora, he is preoccupied with Agnes. Interestingly, Aunt Betsey loses her property and David must take her in as she took him in some time ago. Well, Dora and David get married, but the relationship is more of a father-daughter relationship. If we wish to partially excuse Dora, we can argue that her father and aunts kind of sheltered her too much. (While Dora's father was not so happy about the thought of them getting married, we may argue that it is not going to be a good marriage.) Moving on, Mr. Micawber starts to work for Uriah Heep. He speaks well of Uriah, but of course, Dickens is preparing a big reversal. Uriah Heep continues to increase his power as he manipulates Agnes's father worse and worse. However, Uriah crosses the line when he expresses a desire for Agnes, and both Agnes's father and David fly into a rage. In a comical (but somewhat disturbing scene), Dora shows herself incapable of even preparing a dinner. While David knows he should not have married Dora, he stays with her, even though Dora is getting ill. In a dramtic, but really comical scene, Mr. Micawber exposes HEEP and Agnes's father is freed from the corrupt hold Uriah Heep has over him. Sadly, Dora dies leaving David a widower. But all is not lost. Agnes's father overcomes his alcoholism, and David and Agnes marry. Overall, this is a great book that shows the world through the eyes of a child and then a man. If you like this book, be sure to see the excellent 1935 movie where Frank Lawton does the grown up David, Edna May Oliver does Aunt Betsey, and W.C. Fields does Mr. Micawber.

Has its moments.......2006-05-28

As biographies go this left me a little unsatisfied. To fail to mention Mr Copperfields huge commerical success as a magician or his rocky relationship with Claudia Schiffer seems an unforgiveable oversight. It was interesting however to discover about his difficult upbringing at the hands of the odious Mr Murdstone, his heartwarming relationship with Ms Peggaty and the various setbacks he suffered on the road to success. Worth a look.

One of the finest books in English.......2005-09-26

This book excels marvelously on two fronts - style and story. Dickens has a masterful style that uses to good effect the best elements of English. His prose is simply wonderful.

The story is also tremendous. Its wraps up a little too tidy, but that is the Dicken's style. The characters are vividly painted and the failures and triumphs feel as real as can be.

It is a masterpiece I recommend to everyone.

THE BEST NOVEL EVER!.......2005-07-23

I should preface this by saying that Dickens is really, really not for everyone. I am a voracious reader, an English Lit. major and an honest lover of the novel as a literary form... and this is in all sincerity my all time favorite novel.

HOWEVER: many people find Dickens to be not only overly drawn out and boring (I will never understand why) but also a lot of fluff. It is the kind of literature that appeals to your emotion and sense of dignity and the unfairness of the world.

This book tells basically the whole life story of David Copperfield. You will probably enjoy it if you have enjoyed reading other 19th century novels by Eliot, a Bronte, Jane Austen etc. Nothing has ever affected me the way this novel has... Every time I read it I laugh like a madwoman and cry like I have never cried. It is worth a shot, he is one of the most incredible characters ever; not to mention all the other amazing characters in the novel, (which are so colorful they are more like paintings than characters) such as the wonderful Peggoty whose buttons shoot like projectiles off the back off her dress every time she gets excited, or the creepy little red haired albino urchin Uriah Heep.

Do your heart a favor and read the story...

Average customer rating:

great eccentric characters, Victorian moralizing wore thin,
Well worth reading...

David Copperfield (Signet Classics)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451530047

Book Description

The quintessential novel from England's most beloved novelist, David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful author.

Customer Reviews:

great eccentric characters, Victorian moralizing wore thin, .......2007-05-12

I just finished reading DC, and although I enjoyed it, I was also heartily glad to be finished. The Victorian ideals did not wear well through such a long novel. I began to feel that Dicken's emotional values were creepy.

To me, Dickens showed himself in this book to be primarily concerned with moral education. He is holding up various models to the reader, in order to `form their character', although ironically, efforts to do so in the book are either evil (the Murdstones) or useless (David trying to give his bird-brained wife some character). Yet this is Dicken's passion: to teach us to be affectionate above all, utterly selfless, incapable of self-assertion (the highest praise he gives to Traddles and his perfect wife Sophy), simple as the madman Dick, kind and patient. These are Christian virtues, and yet religion per se is virtually absent in the book - oddly so, given how steeped it is in Christian self-abnegation and kindness. I almost wonder if Dickens were antireligious; I assume he was anticlerical given his critique of most social institutions. Yet Dickens himself is not so much a student of the human heart as a preacher. All his characters are there to teach a lesson.

Yet he carries you along as the reader with the pleasantness of his loving characters, the fun of the eccentric characters, and his powers of careful observation, which brings even cartoon-thin portrayals to life through original detail. His plot moves along, with many exciting incidents. He seems a primitive writer by todays standards, signaling crudely plot developments to come, and ham fistedly signaling what characters we are to admire, to pity or to loathe. All is done is broad strokes. At times his social satire and humor leaven the work. But mostly, it is his own goodness - his wish for happy, loving, tolerant relations, his desire to improve the world, that cast a pleasant glow on the work.

Still, three quarters through the book I perversely declared myself to be on Uriah Heep's side, and refused to let Dickens bludgeon me into believing Heep is evil. For what is Heep's overarching sin? The nightmare of Victorian society (of which Dickens professes to be critical in so many regards). Why, Heep is ambitious, he is upwardly mobile, he rebels against being `umble.' Dicken's paints Heep's means to success in wholly black colors - all rage and spite and jealousy and meanness, all cheating and blackguardery. But that is because this refusal to stay happily in one's place can have no positive colors in Dicken's imagination. (His own driving ambition as a writer did not make it into these pages.)

My favorite character is the Aunt, and my favorite scene, David's birth, when she puts cotton in her ears not to hear the mother's birth pains. I enjoyed the virtuous and happy fisherfolk, especially their cosy cottage which is an overturned boat, despite feeling it was awfully contrived, . The Happy Lower Classes, More Virtuous Than their Betters.

Most of the women characters lacked interest, and none won my empathy. (Dickens got me to cry more than once, but I can't say I really cared about his characters, not even David.) Agnes the Angel was too much Patient Griselda; Emily the fallen angel saved by forgiveness never came to life; the wicked women were flat as cardboard. I didn't believe in everyone's fondness for DC's `child-bride' because self-involved, vain, immature, shallow and lazy people - as she was - are not endearing, affectionate, and beloved. They are hard to take. I don't know if Dicken's was holding up a social ideal of the childish, spoiled woman, and trying gently to lead his readers to see her as inadequate.

Speaking of which, Dicken's himself definitely has a creepy repeated imaginative theme here about love and sex being mixed into father-daughter relations: we are given a beautiful love match between the old Doctor, seemingly 30 or even 40 years older than his lower class wife, who actually calls him her husband and father; Agnes replacing her mother in relation to her father; DC's `child-bride'; Emily and her clinging to her Uncle, and eventually foreswearing marriage to live with him. Traddle's and his wife are similar in age, but she is presented as a mother before marriage, taking care of her invalid mother and brood of 8. The only romance between those equal in age happens off-stage and is tragic, illicit and evil: Emily being seduced by DC's friend Steerforth. ( I wonder if when Dicken's left his wife and ten children for an actress, 8 years after this book was written, was the actress was 30 years younger? Answer - yes. She was 18 and he lived out the part of Steerforth himself. No wonder he has David being so tolerant of Steerforths ruining an entire family's happiness by his sexual predation of a young girl.)

The Micawbers again did not win me over - a pontificating loser of a lush, willing to ruin poor Traddles - yet we are to forgive him completely because, why? (Turns out he is modeled on Dicken's father.)

Which brings me to DC himself. DC is an anti-hero in 20th century terms: although he does eventually choose and embark on his own career as stenographer and then writer, the writer's amition and hard work is largely off-stage. What is on-stage is a person who relies on the kindness of others, who has no gumption or ambition, who is kind and dutiful and appreciative, who can't even assert himself with servants who steal his very clothes, and bursts into tears every other chapter if not more often. He chooses very stupidly in love, falling for a pretty face with an empty head (rather like his mother, but worse). As a child he is utterly helpless every time anyone wants to victimize him - not a resourceful impulse, let alone action - we are supposed to love him for his innocence and helplessness, but I would prefer a kid with quicker wits, more intiative, more courage, quicker fists, who solved some of his own problems

Well worth reading..........2006-11-24

Holden Caulfield told us that he wasn't going to go into all the David Copperfield kind of crap on the first page in The Catcher in the Rye. After reading David Copperfield, I understood exactly what he meant.

My praise of David Copperfield goes more to the writer and his writing than to the story itself. I found some of the characters, especially Mr. Micawber and Uriah Heep (one being a little too long in the tooth and one being a little too `umble), though important to the story, tolerated far longer than any sane person would have been able to do. But by no means do they diminish the other wonderful characters or the over-all masterpiece.

From the first page, the narrator grabs you with a gentle tug and holds you there until the last word is read. Most of the characters are never forced upon you. They enter, leave, and re-enter the story as a pleasant breeze might pass through a room. Your heart breaks as young David's draconian childhood is told. But, it gradually heals as Dickens' words flow from the pages bringing through a life that will make you laugh, cheer, and cry.

David Copperfield was beautifully written and it was beautifully told.

The Magic Secrets of David Blaine & David Copperfield Revealed (CD) (Also includes "The Miracle Mongers -- An Expose" by Harry Houdini)

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Confusing

The Magic Secrets of David Blaine & David Copperfield Revealed (CD) (Also includes "The Miracle Mongers -- An Expose" by Harry Houdini)

Manufacturer: A2ZCDs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
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Mindfreak: Secret Revelations

ASIN: B000HX4VX2

Product Description

David Blaine & David Copperfield's Magic eXposeD! Over 200+ tricks and optical illusions revealed in all! This CD-Rom reveals some of David Copperfield's and David Blaine's best kept secrets. Over 30+ David Blaine secrets and 3 David Copperfield secrets. Also included are 100+ other street magic tricks card trickscoin tricks, and other sleights of hand illusions! You also get the book in electronic format, The Miracle Mongers -- An Expose, written by the great Harry Houdini in 1920. Some of David Blaine's tricks revealed include: The Levitation - you"ve seen David Blaine do this floating trick on the street. Find out how! Ambitious Card - selected card repeatedly moves from the middle to the top or bottom of the deck Arm Twisting Illusion - twist your arm 360 degree Card From the Mouth - selected card is removed from the magicians mouth Card in Bottle - selected and signed card is found in a bottle behind spectator Card on Ceiling - selected card is found sticking onto a ceiling Card Through Window - selected card is found inside a window Cigarette Through Coin - push a cigarette through a quarter Coin Bite - bite a borrowed quarter and looks like it has been bitten Coin Vanish (Raven) - make a borrowed quarter disappear in front of you Elevator Card - selected card is placed in the middle of the deck and instantly rise to the top Psychokinetic Time - advance another persons watch 10 - 30 minutes Small Object Levitation - learn to levitate small objects and bills Sponge Balls - vanish a sponge ball from your hand to the spectator hand String From Stomach - swallow a string and pull it from your stomach Torn and Restored Card - selected card is torn and put back together Two Card Monte - turn two Queens from spectators hand to two Aces Watch Steal - take the spectators watch without them knowing it

Customer Reviews:

Confusing.......2007-01-31

It is very unclear what this product is, who wrote it or who published it.

Is this a book by Houdini or an expose of Blain and Copperfield

I need more information before I could consider buying it.

David Copperfield Volume I (Large Print)

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David Copperfield Volume I (Large Print)
Charles Dickens
Manufacturer: ReadHowYouWant.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1425026133
Release Date: 2006-12-01

Book Description

A classic novel based on Dickens’ personal experiences, it delineates the sufferings and sentiments of orphans and abandoned children through the outstandingly portrayed character of David.

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