Oliver Twist

"Oh, lady, lady! If there were more like you, there would be fewer like me, there would. There would!¹"

This was a challenge. The story was interesting and I liked it when I did get some time to read it; but I found the use of language and punctuation distracting and would read the same page once or twice and still not always know exactly what setting I was in. Back in the day, this was a popular book (one of Dickens' most famous novels and only his second to be published), so I know it's just my not being familiar with books written in the mid-1800's, and not a reflection on the writing itself.

It's a nice story and one that has been retold over and over but really: This is a classic. In my mind, this is about as classic as you can get with a project like this. No list would be complete without this book.

The characters were all so different and complex. All had different levels of morality and decency. My favorite character would have to be Mr. Brownlow because of his charity toward Oliver and the role he plays in the entire story, of course. He seems like a nice, grandfatherly-like man who would sneak you peppermints when your mom wasn't looking, wear a pocket watch and always smell nice.

A close-second for favorite character is Nancy. I know, I know, she was with the bad guys. Why would I pick her as a favorite character? Because she's not all bad. She actually helps Oliver more than once and you can tell that despite being a street urchin herself since an early age, a thief, beggar and who knows what else, she still has a conscience and a heart. And for that conscience and heart to survive through the life she led, it must have been a good conscience and heart, you know? I was sad for this character when I read her final scene. I felt she deserved a better ending that that. But, it was essential to the story and helped bring about an important ending.

Least favorite character was definitely Sikes. I hate this guy. What a bastard. Seriously. He beats his dog, he plots against his friends, he threatens his lady-friend, (and eventually murders her), he's not on Oliver's side and is just an all-around lousy person. The way he meets his end was one of the best scenes in the book.

My favorite quote from the book (mostly because of what was going on in my life when I read it) is:

"There was such peace and beauty in the scene; so much of brightness and mirth in the sunny landscape; such blithesome music in the songs of the summer birds; such freedom in the rapid flight of the rook, careering overhead; so much of life and joyousness in all; that, when the boy raised his aching eyes, and looked about, the thought instinctively occurred to him, that this was not a time for death; that Rose could surely never die when humbler things were all so glad and gay; that graves were for cold and cheerless winter: not for sunlight and fragrance. He almost thought that shrouds were for the old and shrunken; and that they never wrapped the young and graceful in their ghastly folds.


A knell from the church bell broke harshly on these youthful thoughts. Another! Again! It was tolling for the funeral service. A group of humble mourners entered the gate: wearing white favours; for the corpse was young. They stood uncovered by a grave; and there was a mother - a mother once - among the weeping train. but the sun shone brightly, and the birds sang on.²"

Beautiful.

I want to adopt an orphan now - especially if he (or she) is a nice little waif, like Oliver. I'm waiting for the feeling to pass. 

Oliver Twist

My next selection is number 9 on the list "A Prayer For Owen Meany" by John Irving. I need a modern book after the Victorian-era language in Oliver Twist. Hopefully it won't take me two months to read this one!

1. Taken from chapter 40, pg 305.
2. Taken from chapter 33 pg 253

Time spent with Jane Pt 2

I finished Pride and Prejudice today. I can't believe it took me this long to finish reading the book. I lost a lot of time when I accidentally left it outside overnight and it got completely soaked in the rain. I spent a week drying it with a fan/hairdryer/sunlight, hoping and praying that the pages wouldn't keep that wrinkled, damp-book look to them. It is a library book, after all. Happy to say that my patience while drying out the book paid off and you can hardly tell it was almost ruined. Once I reattach the cover, that is. Funny thing about books - they expand when they've been completely soaked and then dried. So now the cover is slightly smaller than the book itself. Hopefully, this will escape the eye of the librarian when I return it. 

The story itself was very good and I now understand why this book is considered a classic. I think you should read it. Or watch a movie version of it (I recommend the Kiera Knightley version, or the Colin Firth version). In a nutshell, girl meets boy and boy is rude to girl, so girl decides she hates boy and that he's a stuck-up and proud jerk. Girl eventually rethinks her dislike and they profess love to each other, after a bunch of other things happen, and eventually boy and girl become engaged. Happy endings all around.

What's amazing to me is that Austen's books have spawned an almost cult following (there is even a term for its followers: Janeite). If you do a Google search for Pride and Prejudice, you get roughly 14 million results. Some jewels out there are along the lines of extremely detailed websites that go over every detail of the book and the life lessons it teaches us (taking it a bit too far, in my opinion), and quizzes that tell you which female character you are (I'm Elizabeth, apparently).

Basically, what I learned from this book is sometimes, if you're open-minded, you find a Mr. Darcy; but other times, if your vanity gets in the way, you may find yourself with a Mr. Wickham. Fortunately, there are sites like this one to point us in the right direction. 

Jane Austen herself never had much luck in the romance department and it seems that she channeled all these secret hopes and desires into her books. She was only 42 when she died, young by today's standards. Her books were published in the last years of her life, with two posthumously. She started Pride and Prejudice (initially titled First Impressions) when she was 21, following a ill-fated romance with the nephew of neighbors, Thomas Lefroy (who was most likely the basis of her character Mr. Darcy). He eventually became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland but at the time of his romance with Jane, was dependent on family for financing his legal education and career. It was decided that Jane was not properly suited to him and they were kept away from each other, marriage being strongly discouraged. If you've read Pride and Prejudice, this all sounds very familiar.

My next book selection is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Truthfully, the only Dickens book I can remember reading is A Christmas Carol, so I'm looking forward to starting this book and thereby adding another Dickens novel to my read-list. Initially, I had toyed around with the idea of making this summer's selections all Dickens novels, as I have five on my list. But I find I become bored if I read several of the same author's works in a row and would likely enjoy the five more if they were separated by other genres, authors, styles of writing, etc. I'll also check out the movie once I'm finished the book. Who knows, maybe once I've finished Oliver Twist, I'll find myself saying these famous lines and read another Dickens novel:  "Please sir, I want some more" .