Bleak House

What an unexpected pleasure. Simply delightful. Of course like many people I have listened to adaptations on the radio and so forth but have never read/listened to the book, in fact Whilst listening to this book I read it at the same time. The language itself is so intricate, ironic, and more than clever, he is intriguing. Yes, Dickens has an eye for description of character and location and this comes out to a certain extent in the adaptations; but what is so different here is his prose style: the creations of mood, dynamics in speech and so cleverly interlinked around the law in Chancery Lane. The downside? I'm never sure whether some of his women are drawn as well, especially characters such as Esther - in this he reminds me of Shakespeare's Desdamona - not quite believable. A few words about the male reader: throughout this long book he never faltered once, his voice was absolutely perfect, very well represented - Brilliant!