Oliver Twist Readalong Sign-ups AND Giveaway.

I am pleased to announce that we will be reading Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist for our February readalong here at A Literary Odyssey. This novel beat out "Romeo and Juliet" during the voting session, and in a way, I'm kind of glad.

While I am not a huge fan of Dickens, I am excited to tackle another of his novels with a bunch of you. If you are questioning whether this is a novel you want to give a try, here is a summary from Goodreads.com,

"One of Dickens’s most popular novels, Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan who dares to say, "Please, sir, I want some more." After escaping from the dark and dismal workhouse where he was born, Oliver finds himself on the mean streets of Victorian-era London and is unwittingly recruited into a scabrous gang of scheming urchins. In this band of petty thieves Oliver encounters the extraordinary and vibrant characters who have captured readers’ imaginations for more than 150 years: the loathsome Fagin, the beautiful and tragic Nancy, the crafty Artful Dodger, and perhaps one of the greatest villains of all time—the terrifying Bill Sikes.

Rife with Dickens’s disturbing descriptions of street life, the novel is buoyed by the purity of the orphan Oliver. Though he is treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, his pious innocence leads him at last to salvation—and the shocking discovery of his true identity."

It sounds fascinating, doesn't it?

Here is the reading schedule I have planned out, based on the edition I own (I will be reading from the Penguin cloth bound classic, which has 455 pages divided into three books). I should note that because the book is divided into three "books" I decided to do three posting periods. If there is huge public outcry against this, I will change it.

• Post 1 will go up on February 8th (Tuesday) and will cover Book 1 (roughly 180 pages-the longest section)
  
• Post 2 will go up on February 17th (Thursday) and will cover Book 2 (roughly 120 pages)
  
• Post 3 will go up on February 28th (Monday) and will cover Book 3 (roughly 140 pages)
  

That morning I will put up a post with my thoughts and feelings about the section we're posting on. If you are participating, all you have to do is leave a comment with a link to your post so I can link them up here! I do not require participants to go read everyone else's post, but it is always encouraged! After all, the point of a readalong is to see what everyone else makes of the same book and discuss it.

Everyone who completes the readalong will receive something from me in the mail (a surprise!) and a hearty congratulations!

WAIT!!! THERE IS MORE!!!!

As of January 16, 2011, the GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED as a winner was chosen.

In addition to having sign-ups, I am also GIVING away a copy of this book. Really? How did this happen? Well, my generous and wonderful parents purchased the rest of the Penguin clothbounds for me as a Christmas gift. My mom accidentally ordered an extra copy. So yes, I have a glorious Penguin clothbound of Oliver Twist for one of you.

Here's the deal. I would really like to give this book to someone who wants to participate in the readalong. So, if you are interested, you have until Sunday at NOON to enter to win (I want to make sure I can get it mailed out to you ASAP). All you need to do is comment to sign up for the readalong and let me know you're interested in winning this beauty! I should also point out that I can only ship to someone living in the U.S.

I would also appreciate it if you would spread the word on your blog and/or Twitter about this readalong, so we can get as many participants as we can!

If you are signing up for the readalong, comment and let me know so I can link to your blog!

Participants:
Adam
Kristi
Eclectic Indulgence
Bookworm1858
Jillian
Karenlibrarian
mel u
L.L. (No link to blog!)
kassy
readwriteandlive
Willa
Katy F.
Cindy
Annette
Aimee
terri-maree
tasseled
fleurfisher
Zoe
Darlyn
Alison
Staci (I know you said you were a maybe, but I left you on here, just in case)