When I told my friend Matt about my new blog, one of the first things he said to me was "is it going to be about Charles Dickens?" I said "no" but here I am writing about him anyway.
Charles Dickens is above all my favorite writer, and it kinda came to a surprise to me. Growing up I loved going to the library, yes I was that kinda kid, I don't know who first instilled my love of books the first time, but I found the library to be a magical place. I grew up with a well fed diet of kids authors such as Beverly Clearly, Judy Blume, and the Hardy Boys. I also had a weakness for Charlie Brown comics, but I'll leave that for another time.
In school we had reading month, which was probably my favorite time of year, it was a competition throughout the whole school to see which student would read the most. We would get these lists, and the higher grade you got up to the more challenging the book had to be. I don't remember ever winning in my class, I think the closest I got to was in the top three afterwards we got prizes, I don't remember which one I got.
As I grew the books grew too, in ninth grade I took on "To Kill a Mockingbird" for the first time, but like I am with a lot of things I would come to love, I didn't really like it. Then came Mark Twain with "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", a book I was only 90 pages away from finishing until I decided to stop for some reason.
By seventh grade I was reading Shakespeare in my spare time. I didn't always understand it, I usually cheated by reading the description of the scene before reading it in old English, I fell in love with "Hamlet" mostly because it was such a challenge, I even performed a scene from it in front of my school. (Since I didn't know how to act Shakespeare, I pretty much stole from Mel Gibson's performance). I would later go on to read "MacBeth", "Othello", "A Midsummer's Night's Dream", "The Taming of the Shrew" and others in my love for Shakespeare. I felt of myself as an independent learner when it came to reading these, when it came to classes about Shakespeare, I was mostly bored by them.
Dickens didn't come until later, the first book by him that I remember reading was "Hard Times" which might've been because it was his shortest book. I remember reading through it very slowly and considering an actual victory when I finished it. I remember thinking it was a good book, but I had no thought of returning to Dickens anytime soon.
More time passed, I was in college about 24, when I picked up a copy of "David Copperfield". I was curious about reading Dickens again, I opened up the first book and saw the first sentence which read,"whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anyone else, these pages must show." Right away Dickens grabbed my attention, to this day I think it is the most brilliant opening sentence I've ever read in a book, I had to read it.
"David Copperfield" remained a challenge, I sometimes grew impatient with it, but what I was slowly discovering was that I was actually reading Dickens for the first time, in fact it may be the first time (other than Shakespeare) that I was reading anybody for the first time. All great writers have their own voice, and through the pages of "David Copperfield", I felt I was learning what Dickens' voice was. At first I was frustrated and confused by the way he described locations or characters, but as I read more and more, I became enchanted with his way. His books are so much about description, he can make a tavern feel like the dingiest place on Earth, or somebody's Estate feel like heaven by comparison. He draws on broad almost stereotypical characters to make his point, and he has a wonderful flare for creating names for them all.
I finally finished "David Copperfield" after about four months, maybe even more, I was bored sometimes by it, but then I would read a passage that made me go on. When I finished it didn't take me long to pick up another Dickens book. Soon after came "Oliver Twist", then "Nicholas Nickleby" (a personal favorite), then "The Old Curiosity Shop", then "Great Expectations", then "A Tale of Two Cities" (Another personal favorite). The more I read Dickens the more I loved him.
I've taken to defend his honour when I come upon anyone who dares to question his greatness. I've heard from others that they think his books are too dry or too sentimental, or overlong. I would say those are fair initial arguments, but those who have said that to me have always failed to back it up with any real insight into his work, which causes me to suspect these people have never actually read one of his books.
Not that I blame those people who would rather not tackle one of his books, everytime I sit down to read Dickens, I do have to get into a certain state of mind. I like quiet when I read, I prefer to laze on a couch or a bed, preferably with a blanket or pillow near by to keep me comfortable. If there is a season for Dickens I pick the winter to read him in. Winter is a time or warmth, it's a time where the days are shorter and the nights are longer, the air is bitter, and your body feels like ice. This is the time when we need a little patience, and reading Dickens is like taking a really long deep breath when you inhale the entire world he maps out for you. For every book, I usually take my time to read it, with Dickens I'm never in a hurry, I will take whatever time is required of me to finish it, and when I am done, I usually take a moment to breath it all in again, and usually I can't wait for another taste of his world.
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