This being the Dickens year, I intend to read (or re-read) as many of his works as I can! I started over the holidays with the shorter books, just to get into the spirit...
In A Christmas Carol, I was totally hooked in the eerie atmosphere of the book. I've seen most of the movie versions of the book, so I did know the story, getting away from the purely material aspects of our lives and looking out for our fellow people (still applicable to our modern lives btw). What I loved about this book were the descriptions and the use of adjectives - especially words relating to colour and sound were so aptly used that images would just spring out of the pages - and I have to admit that the description of Scrooge in the first pages instantly sets the tone for the remainder:
In Going into Society, I was astonished that a short story could be such a work of art. Just the language used had me re-reading the beginning, until I got into the habit of reading phonetically... But it is the phonetic writing that best depicted the slang? the accent? used by the "lower" classes. A whirlwind experience of Chops, who, upon winning the lottery, desperately tries to go "into Society", only to realise in the end that
In A Christmas Carol, I was totally hooked in the eerie atmosphere of the book. I've seen most of the movie versions of the book, so I did know the story, getting away from the purely material aspects of our lives and looking out for our fellow people (still applicable to our modern lives btw). What I loved about this book were the descriptions and the use of adjectives - especially words relating to colour and sound were so aptly used that images would just spring out of the pages - and I have to admit that the description of Scrooge in the first pages instantly sets the tone for the remainder: "the cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and poke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin..."I found the story-telling almost like poetry with lots of rimes at the end of sentences, and I can well imagine a parent or grand-parent reading this to small children in a dimmly-lit room...
In Going into Society, I was astonished that a short story could be such a work of art. Just the language used had me re-reading the beginning, until I got into the habit of reading phonetically... But it is the phonetic writing that best depicted the slang? the accent? used by the "lower" classes. A whirlwind experience of Chops, who, upon winning the lottery, desperately tries to go "into Society", only to realise in the end that"the difference is this. When I was out of Society, I was paid light for being seen. When I went into Society, I paid heavy for being seen."Yes, some choices may end up not being the right ones... it's therefore crucial that we do check them and the reason for taking them...
Also want to pay him homage, but don't think I'll have the courage to read the canon (I'll skip Hard Times with the bookclub, even). The plan is to read a biography or some other book *about* him. Have "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" by Daniel Pool in the TBR and might (finally) pick it up.
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