Hoping to wrap up my reading of "Great Expecations" over Spring Break. If that doesn't happen, I'll keep reading until I do finish - I'm really enjoying this book and I've gotten too attached to the characters not to.

Memorable characters

I've read in various biographies that Charles Dickens was known for writing unforgettable characters. I've decided as I go along reading "Great Expectations" that that's exactly why I'm loving this book, and why I loved "David Copperfield." The character absolutely come to life. And yet none are overly caricatured or unbelievable, even when their traits are extraordinary. We all can think of someone in our lives (whether we like them there or not) who crosses the boundaries of "normality" or even "decency." These are the kinds of characters worth writing about, and certainly worth reading about.

Finally, I will have the opportunity to read a book I've wanted to read for several years, but never had the time. "Great Expectations" has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while. I've picked it up during the last couple summer vacations but for some reason or another never finished. In high school I read "David Copperfield" and it's a favorite. Charles Dickens writes with a dryly descriptive, sympathetic, and untarnished honesty I easily connect with and have attempted to emulate in my own creative writing. He has a way of writing about the struggles of adversity without drudging out any sort of martyrdom, and with hope and strength. It's a refreshing perspective in Victorian literature, or any literature for that matter. These days, it seems that any hopeful sort of writing oozes in saccharine or shallow phrasing. Dickens writes from his time, and yet it has proven to be absolutely timeless (i.e. one film adaptation of "Great Expectations" - the film that actually introduced me to this novel, is set in the 20th century. Hopefully I will complete "Great Expectations" this time around. It's a long book, and I have so little time! As busy as I found myself in the last few years, I think I might have had a better chance of reading it then than I do now!