Ours Was The Marsh Country...

I was selling someone a book (so far so everyday!) when I noticed one of them had a small golden triangle in the corner. 

VOTED BEST BOOK IN KENT

"Best book in Kent eh?  What is it?" I asked. 

"Great expectations." he said. 

0.09 seconds of googling followed and I knew the people of Kent had voted Great Expectations their best loved book in a BBC survey carried out in 2006.  A little further investigation and I came across a blog called Ours was the marsh country...


Ours was the marsh country… is a partnership between Kent Libraries, Medway Libraries and the Guildhall Museum, Rochester.

Its aim is to assemble a community of readers who will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations by reading it in the original weekly instalments.

Readers are encouraged to share their thoughts by commenting on this project blog.

All registered readers will be invited to monthly special events at the museum and a final party in August 2011.

I think this is a great idea.  Reading Dickens in chunks, a chapter or two a week, reminds us that the novel as a form is supremely flexible.  A blog such as this comes at you in easily digestible chunks.  Surely reading long works by authors such as Dickens is trasformed as a reading experience by chopping them up?  I also love the idea of it taking eight months to read a book and not out of choice but because that's how it is made available. Imagine the suspense of having to wait a week to find out what happens next? 

Anyway I'm sold.  If you like the idea too then you can purchase a copy here and get reading.  Click on this sentence to visit the website.  We have some catching up to do...