Common bleak Common bleak The common bleak ("Alburnus alburnus") is a small freshwater coarse fish of the cyprinid family. The body of the bleak is elongated and flat. The head is pointed and the relatively small mouth is turned upwards. The anal fin is long and has 18 to 23 fin rays. The lateral line is complete. The bleak has a shiny silvery colour; and the fins are pointed and colourless. The maximum length is approximately 25 cm. In Europe the bleak can easily be confused with many other species. In England, young common bream and silver bream can be confused with
Bleak House "The Western Canon", considers "Bleak House" to be Dickens's greatest novel. Daniel Burt, in his book "The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time", ranks "Bleak House" number 12. Horror and supernatural fiction author Stephen King named it among his top 10 favourite books. The house named Bleak House in Broadstairs, is not the original. Dickens stayed with his family at this house (then called Fort House), for at least one month every summer from 1839 until 1851. However, there is no evidence that it formed the basis of the fictional Bleak House, particularly as it