David Copperfield

Book: David Copperfield
Author: Charles Dickens
Like/Don't Like: I think I'm making Dickens my literary boyfriend.

Once I decided that I loved Dickens I felt it only fair that I read more of his stuff. So I happened to be in the library last month and they didn't have the book that I wanted so I grabbed David Copperfield off of the shelf. I could have maybe planned it a little better because this is a fatty book - 1000 pages - and it always takes me a long time to get through fatty books. I've been reading it for a month now. It's not that I don't like big books, it's just that I get to a point where I forget what happened earlier in the book. I forget that characters existed or that certainly plot lines even happened. And I feel like it eats away at my book reading time, like I've devoted enough time and that I should be done, when I still have 300 pages, or essentially another book, left to read.

But I don't regret reading this at all because I really loved it. All 1000 pages of it. I really love his subtlety and wit. It carried the book for me. The story is about David Copperfield (a fairly typical Dickens ragamuffin) and his rise from obscure orphan to prominent author. Along the way we meet relatives and villains, servants and sailors, and his great aunt Besty Trotwood, who holds a personal vendetta against all local donkeys who trample upon her lawn. It's filled with hilarious characters and interesting stories.

In the introduction Dickens wrote that he felt truly sorry at the end of writing it because he would miss them all so much. And, while I'm glad to move on to a new book, I kind of feel the same way.