Remembering Charles Dickens on his 200th birth anniversary.

Charles John Huffam Dickens, more popularly known as Charles Dickens or Dickens needs no introduction to people of my generation who grew up reading books for entertainment as there was no TV in India, even during my college days. He was a great English Novelist born on 7th February 1812 at Landport, Portsea, England. From very modest beginnings and modest family backgrounds, he grew into a prolific writer. His masterful prose soon won praise from critics and his ability to create memorable characters solidified his position in the ranks of must-read authors. The fact that none of his works has ever gone out of print attests to the popularity of his novels and short stories.  Even today he is very popular in all countries where English is read and spoken. Today is his 200th birth anniversary and thankfully I was reminded of it through Google’s doodle and through the news over the internet. He is my all-time favourite author and when I went to England I made it a point to visit “The Old Curiosity Shop” on Portsmouth Street, London, which Dickens used to frequent and immortalize it by writing a novel by the shop’s name. At the top of this article, you can see a photograph of me standing in front of this historic shop. I decided to post this article as my tribute to him on his bicentennial birth anniversary along with an exhaustive list of all his works as available on Wikipedia:  

Novels

§  The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (Monthly serial, April 1836 to November 1837 §  The Adventures of Oliver Twist (Monthly serial in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837 to April 1839) §  The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Monthly serial, April 1838 to October 1839) §  The Old Curiosity Shop (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, 25 April 1840, to 6 February 1841) §  Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, 13 February 1841, to 27 November 1841) §  The Christmas books: §  A Christmas Carol (1843) §  The Chimes (1844) §  The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) §  The Battle of Life (1846) §  The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848) §  The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (Monthly serial, January 1843 to July 1844) §  Dombey and Son (Monthly serial, October 1846 to April 1848) §  David Copperfield (Monthly serial, May 1849 to November 1850) §  Bleak House (Monthly serial, March 1852 to September 1853) §  Hard Times: For These Times (Weekly serial in Household Words, 1 April 1854, to 12 August 1854) §  Little Dorrit (Monthly serial, December 1855 to June 1857) §  A Tale of Two Cities (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 30 April 1859, to 26 November 1859) §  Great Expectations (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 1 December 1860 to 3 August 1861) §  Our Mutual Friend (Monthly serial, May 1864 to November 1865) §  The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Monthly serial, April 1870 to September 1870. Only six of twelve planned numbers completed) Short story collections §  Sketches by Boz (1836) §  The Mudfog Papers (1837) in Bentley's Miscellany magazine §  Reprinted Pieces (1861) §  The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1869)

Christmas numbers of Household Words magazine:

§  What Christmas Is, as We Grow Older (1851)

§  A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire (1852)

§  Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire (1853)

§  The Seven Poor Travellers (1854)

§  The Holly-Tree Inn (1855)

§  The Wreck of the "Golden Mary" (1856)

§  The Perils of Certain English Prisoners (1857)

§  A House to Let (1858)

Christmas numbers of All the Year Round magazine:

§  The Haunted House (1859)

§  A Message From the Sea (1860)

§  Tom Tiddler's Ground (1861)

§  Somebody's Luggage (1862)

§  Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings (1863)

§  Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy (1864)

§  Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions (1865)

§  Mugby Junction (1866)

§  No Thoroughfare (1867)

Selected non-fiction, poetry, and plays

§  The Village Coquettes (Plays, 1836) §  The Fine Old English Gentleman (poetry, 1841) §  Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) §  American Notes: For General Circulation (1842) §  Pictures from Italy (1846) §  The Life of Our Lord: As written for his children (1849) §  A Child's History of England (1853) §  The Frozen Deep (play, 1857) §  Speeches, Letters and Sayings (1870)