Oliver Twist

Allie · April 24th, 2007, 08:26 AM

I bought this yesterday (impulse) and I'm wondering if I should bother. It looks deliciously thick and seems very easy to read in the language sense. I've given it one chapter, I like the font and the size... Just wondering, is it good? I LOVED A Christmas Carol, but that was because it was so creepy.

buttmunch · April 25th, 2007, 03:05 AM

Ok, I tried to read this book at one point and did really like it but was forced to put it aside because I had just given birth to a little boy and just could not deal with what happened to poor little Oliver. I'm sure he ends up fine in teh end but it was just too damn painful, what with me in the midst of falling madly in love with my kid.

A*O · April 25th, 2007, 06:07 AM

Ahem, if you pick books on their font size then perhaps Dickens isn't your first choice LOL. Oliver Twist is a great gothic story and worth the effort (if you find it an effort) but it's a very 'literary' style of writing so either settle down and absorb the nuances of Victorian London and it's social/historial issues or stick to New Idea LOL

**NoDayButToday** · April 25th, 2007, 07:25 AM

IMO, anything by Dickens is worth the time. I had to read Tale of Two Cities freshman year of high school and fell in love with him as an author. He may be wordy, but his writing is beautiful.

buttmunch · April 26th, 2007, 04:17 AM

I like the old authors alot and really get into the wordy, literary style of writing. Flaubert is a fave as is Gogol and Kafka. Actually, there's a number of great 'literary' writers workign today, although they are getting a bit long in the tooth. Atwood, Roth, Lessing...they all have long, descriptive passages that are absolutely amazing.

Sassiness · June 13th, 2007, 07:04 AM

^^ Ditto... I love a book where you can get lost in the language as much as the plot.

I mean, I love my easy to read garbage as well (why else would I be counting down the days til the next Harry Potter?!) but I do like the classics. Have been on a massive classics bender over the last few years, partly because they are cheap and partly because I'm fed up with sounding illiterate when someone asks me my opinion on a great work.

buttmunch · June 14th, 2007, 04:17 PM

Isn't it great how all the classics are offered for next to nothing these days? I love it--I get to catch up on the ones I missed along the way as well as revisit old faves.

Sassiness · June 15th, 2007, 10:26 PM

It's awesome. $30-50 for a new fiction book or $5-20 for a classic? Easy!

Does mean that I can no longer walk into my fave bookstore, as I have no self control when it comes to books.... my bank account is scared of the book store!