oh, I almost forgot

There was something important, I think.  Ralph's man Noggs secretly handed a dirty letter to Nicholas and then walked away right before the coach took off from London.  It has yet to be mentioned again.

Page 70 or so

Well, seriously contemplated exchanging for different book yesterday, but in the end decided to slog through.  The scam crumpet resolution has been approved; Ralph Nickleby has learned of his brother's death; has visited the family and found Nicholas work with a corrupt "schoolmaster" in Yorkshire; the coach has headed out of London and crashed in the snowy night; all aboard have hoofed it to the nearest public room and have just finished telling stories.

I would say that not a whole lot has happened, but there needs to be a set-up.  I read about 40 pages yesterday in a coffee shop surrounded by conversations of theatre and dance performances, and also on the bus.  The writing is colorful.  The story is not so much engaging me, but the writing style is quite nice.

I'm also intrigued that he could keep all these plots lines and characters juggled as he wrote his novels as serials.

Until next update, happy dreams of industial revolutions.

Nicholas Nickelby

I randomly chose to start with this tome of a novel by Dickens.  It was his second, after The Pickwick Papers, and not well reviewed, not even in the preface of the copy I picked up.  The writer thinks the characters are undeveloped (surface) and our "hero" is not particularly sympathetic, but likes the book for it's humor.  It has taken me more than 3 weeks to get through 40 pages.  I read the preface in one sitting, I've renewed it 1x now.  It's almost 700 pages.  I've thought that perhaps I could just read his 10 "best" novels, but I think I will read them all, and probably skip the short stories.  I'm saving Bleak House and Great Expectations for the end of my reading journey, I've heard they are particulary enjoyable.  It's kinda' like eating the crust of pizza first, so you don't have some hard, dry beast to gnaw on at the end.

Reading Dickens

I needed a project.  It's the 200th Anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth and I realize that I have only read one of his books, A Tale of Two Cities, and that was ages ago in a high school lit class.  I liked the book at the time, particularly the foreshadowing, but would I like him now?  I also have to admit, I'm not a fan of Victorian Literature, I tend to find it extremely bleak, so reading Dickens is a somewhat questionable endeavor for me, especially a whole year, or however long it takes me to get through it.  However, I also believe that he is an influential author who is quite often referred to in everyday writing and conversation, and that there are parallels to our world, especially in regard to wealth speculation and disparity.