Thursday, June 4, 2009

Memorable Characters

As many of you know, my computer was out of commission last week. It's why my comments were non-existent. I did read everyone's posts, by the way, and they were great. But anyway, to pass my time without a computer (which housed not only my books, but any of my friends' books I happened to be in the middle of reading) I picked up an actual published book. Gasp. I know. :) It's been a while for me. Reading is my first true love and it's always great to remember why I love it.

The book I decided to tackle is a favorite of mine, "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens. I know, I'm a dork. But I really love Charles Dickens. He knows how to rip my heart out and then mend it back together very nicely. If you only want to read one of Dickens' books or if you want to get a feel for him, I would start with this book. I'm sure most of you have read "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens, and although that one was good, I like this one much better. As I was reading this book again I wondered to myself what exactly is it about this book that I love so much. And I've decided, now that I'm in the last 50 pages, is that it is his characters.

His characters are larger than life to me. None of them blend together. Each of them has a distinct purpose and a distinct voice. And each of them are amazingly human and unpredictable. And his bad guys, ew are they bad. He has this one bad guy that is always going around claiming how nice he is and humble, but I just want to punch him in the nose every time he comes into the scene. In fact, as I was reading (even though I'd read it before and knew) I was constantly telling David to punch his lights out. David is much more composed than I am. :)

Anyway, it's not often I read a book more than once (especially one so long) so I thought I'd recommend it. What about you? What books have you read multiple times? And why do you think they keep drawing you back?

8 comments:

  1. I hate reading books twice, but I do have a few exceptions. Harry Potter books, Jane Austen, Robert Jordan, Tom Clancy, and some Victoria Holt books.

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  2. I just finished These Is My Words, and the characters have really stayed with me, as if they're really alive. I think that's my new goal.

    My favorite book is always The Great Gatsby. I heart Jay Gatsby (and not just because he was portrayed by Robert Redford :D ). But really, I think I've only read it once or twice. Odd, since it's such a short book.

    Sometimes, I like a book so well (especially if there's something mysterous about it), that I'll finish it and start it over again right away. I probably would have done that with These Is My Words, but the library wanted it back.

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  3. I'm a lot like Nikki, I've read the Harry Potter books all twice and I can read Jane Austen over and over, but what's really weird is that I love Victoria Holt! I didn't even know there was anybody who still read her stuff!

    I usually just read my favorite parts of a book again, not the whole thing, or I read most of it, but skim the descriptions of scenery and stuff.

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  4. I love Victoria Holt! I think Jenni was the one that got me started reading her books. I even read one of her Philippa Carr books too. Now there was a prolific author. She wrote so much that I think she had three or four pen names!!

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  5. Kasie, I love Dickens, too. I've read so many of his books I've lost count, and I own a couple Dickens BBC movie collections. And DAVID COPPERFIELD! It is my favorite Dickens book, and I have read that one a few times. And I want to punch Uriah in the nose, too.

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  6. Yay, I love a new list of books for me to read. Thanks everyone.

    And, Jessie, awesome! We can be Dickens pals. :)

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  7. I've never read Victoria Holt, but if you say she is that good, I might just have to try her books out! Thanks for a few new books for me to read!:)

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  8. Chantele, She's kind of old school gothic, but I love her stories. They're full of mystery and romance.

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