In 1836 the 23-year-old Dickens was invited by his publishers to write `a monthly something' illustrated by sporting plates. Thus the Pickwick Club was born: its supposed `papers' soom outgrew their origins and became a brilliantly comic novel, still among Dicken's most popular works.
In the 2nd centenary year of his birth, my plan to read the entire works of Dickens. Doubt I'll succeed reading everything by the end of 2012, but I'll sure give it a try!