Before, it's
A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities,
Bleak House,
David Copperfield,
Great Expectations,
Oliver Twist, and
Our Mutual Friend.
And now, it's
The Pickwick Papers.
I'm trying to redeem myself from a shameful childhood of abridged versions. I'm reading the real thing -- two inches thick with point-8 type. Glorious.
Mr. Dickens accompanies me in the morning while I travel to work, 'cause that's about the only time I can spare to read a book for leisure. I decided to pick him up again since I've been speaking in colloquial idioms, and people don't seem to understand sometimes. So I resolved to start reading my 8th Dickens to show I can still hack it in the proper English arena. It makes me doubt the 18th century syntax helps though, I mean, can we still speak this way today?
That gentleman had gradually passed through the various stages which precede the lethargy produced by dinner, and its consequences. He had undergone the ordinary transitions from the height of conviviality to the depth of misery, and from the depth of misery to the height of conviviality.It's like saying, "So he dozed off to sleep after a boisterous dinner." Geez.
But who's complaining? It's beautiful and rich and oh so wordy, in a way my journalism professors would condemn in a copy. It's all right to be rebellious sometimes, eh mister? #
