Bookish Thoughts

I read this book more out of a feeling of "I should read this" than an actual desire to. Though my reasons were slightly more involved than it just being a classic. I want to read the second book in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, and I wanted to have a working knowledge of Miss Havisham before I did that. That said, I ended up enjoying this book more than I expected to. It still took me a long time to read (nearly two months), and I struggled with parts of it. I understood just enough to know how much I was missing. There's a fantastic chapter where Pip sees a production of Hamlet , and it had me laughing a lot. But I studied Hamlet pretty thoroughly in high school, so I understood all the jokes. Most of the other jokes in this book went right over my head. Pip's story was interesting, though, as infuriating as Pip himself could be. The twists and turns at the end and the way everything came together was exciting and satisfying. I'm glad I read it...

I read this book in high school, and unlike so many other people I actually did all of my assigned reading in school. I decided to re-read it because I didn't remember a thing about it. What's weird is that I definitely remember reading this book. It was the first time I was allowed to read one of my grandfather's fancy books, so I took great care of it. I distinctly remember sitting in an auto shop, reading this for hours, while my first car got its first oil change (the first one I gave it anyway). I remember talking about the symbolism and taking quizzes. But aside from the knitting lady and the opening and closing lines, I couldn't tell you a thing about the plot or characters or anything. Having re-read it, I think it's mostly because Dickens uses so many words. He repeats himself, goes off on tangents and comes back to the point within a single sentence. His descriptions are flowery. And while he sometimes sets the scene in an incredibly powerful way, more...