Along with his many novels and stories, Charles Dickens also "conducted" a journal Household Words aimed at a broad range of readers. It contained stores by Dickens and others and essays on the issues of the day. Waters (English, University of New England, New South Wales) examines the journal as an entity in itself and in light of what the articles as a whole say about the Victorian culture of commodities. The fascination with appearance and reality, the anthropomorphism of objects and the conflicting responses to industrialization are all explored through both the fiction and non-fiction. An interesting chapter on attitudes toward the donation of one's body for medical research is particularly revealing. Waters' belief that Household Goods deserves serious study appears to be well founded. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)