Book 1/52 - Great Expectations

"A Christmas Carol" is Charles Dickens' greatest work. I have not changed my opinion on this after reading "Great Expectations".

Pip, Miss Havisham, Joe, Mrs. Joe, Estella and Biddy are a decent group of characters. Miss Havisham and Pip are still occasionally referred to. Abel Magwitch was not well-defined enough for me. He wasn't entirely a villain, but nor was he a persecuted hero either. Perhaps this was how the author wanted it- deliberate ambiguity. It was a little annoying for me though, given how inherently black and white the other characters were presented

This was a hard slog of a book for me. The slang is very much outdated and hard to follow in places. If there is humor, I think I missed most of it. The book is also long-winded, which when you consider that it was originally released as a serial in a magazine does makes sense.

I am glad that I read it, simply because it is considered to be a classic. My final verdict, with all apologies to Charles Dickens, is that the movie was probably better than the book.

Book 2/52 for this upcoming week: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I loved this book as a young girl, so I am excited to revisit it this week.

Why Kindles Are Amazing

I was looking through the list of 52 books, trying to decide where to begin, when I had a flash of insight. Kindle has many classics available for free, as public domain works. I love it! Half an hour later, I have 13 out of the 52 books downloaded without spending a penny. It's a beautiful thing.

Book 1/52 has been chosen: "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

I have never actually read this book, which is a little embarrassing to admit. It just never came up. "A Christmas Carol" is one of my holiday favorites. "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities" were both required reading between high school and college. "Great Expectations" has just never made the cut, until now.

This is very fun, so far.