Friday, January 6, 2012

Forgive me, Mr. Mitchell

Ah, the folly of youth. I just started re-reading Great Expectations (I love, love, love my Kindle). WHY, oh why did I not appreciate the genius of Charles Dickens before? Even as a high school freshman, one would think I could enjoy the comedic value in these gems:

Pip's guilt as he goes to feed an escaped convict:


and his fictional description of his play date at Miss Havisham's:


I love Joe the blacksmith, and can identify so well with Pip's description of his childhood perceptions and feelings. It's just masterful. Such a far cry from the junk reading I download from the Kindle top 100 free list (some time I'll have to blog about my exposure to Christian romance novels - also comedic gems, in a much less intended way).

4 comments:

Rachel Helps said...

I once started reading a "Biblical fiction" romance and I almost threw up.

Brook said...

This post is so funny to me, because I also just finished reading Great Expectations about two months ago, and I didn't appreciate it half so much as you did! By the end of it, I was scratching my head as to why anyone thought it was an entertaining plot line, and reflecting, as I often do with Charles Dickens, that he could have delivered the same story in roughly 1/5 the word count. This post makes me wonder how many other great books I have underappreciated. I did love K., though. We'll have to discuss.

Victoria Blanchard said...

I love Dickens overall, but I'll have to give GE another try. I read it, but don't remember anything remarkable about it. In fact, I don't remember much at all. But my FAVORITE Dickens is Martin Chuzzlewitz. It's one of his lesser known works, but I bet you'd enjoy it. I think it's hilarious.

Beth said...

I misplaced your email address, so I am reduced to posting this here. Does Olivia still have a stamp "collegshun?" I ask because I have some she might like, including one from Ireland!

I can send them back to Houston w/ my parents. Email me back - ithilien19 at yahoo dot com

Thanks!
-Beth