Let's Bust a Recap : David Copperfield

Um, you guys? I snapped this photo on a sunny fall day in November...of 2023.  

David Copperfield first made an appearance on my annual book lists in 2019 when I was trying out my first reading challenge. I put him in the category of a book published before you were born. (1850 for those wondering. A solid 137 years before I was born.) He then took up residency on my book lists in 2020, 2022, and 2023 at which point I did finally pick him up to start reading. In February. I was so determined to finally read this doorstop that year. But, if memory serves, I only got about ten chapters under my belt, and then left him largely ignored in my book cart for 2024. 

As you now know if you read my end-of-year recap on New Years Day, my secret goal for 2025 was to finish David Copperfield. And despite picking up the book several times throughout the year to try to start a streak of reading a chapter a day until I finished, I barely scraped by, finishing on the very last day of 2025 reading the final four chapters. I can only attribute my difficulty with David Copperfield to psychological warfare because it wasn't a particularly challenging novel to read. I enjoyed it every time I picked it up. But the sheer length (64 chapters, 877 pages) meant that every time I finished a chapter, it seemed like I hadn't made a lick of progress. And for whatever reason, that made it feel like a slog. On top of that, I wouldn't call David Copperfield a plot-driven novel so there was no big impetus to keep picking him up. I could pop in and out of old Trot's life story whenever I wanted and didn't feel any big drive to stick with him. I think by the time I got to December last year, I still had about half the book left to finish. Crazy.

David Copperfield is famously known as Charles Dickens' "favourite child" which is how he described it himself in his second preface to the completed novel. It just goes to show you there's no accounting for personal taste because of the three Dickens I've read, David Copperfield has been my least favorite. I loved Great Expectations and I was fully blown away by the masterful storytelling in A Tale of Two Cities. David Copperfield is the life story of the titular character who is telling us the story himself. The first chapter is literally titled "I am born" and we just go on from there as David recounts the death of his little mother, the harsh treatment he endures from his stepfather and stepfather's sister, running away to find his aunt Betsey Trotwood, the girls he falls in and out of love with, his friendships—ill-fated or otherwise, his rise to fame as an author, and so on and so forth. It's not what I'd call compelling, but it is known to be Dickens' most autobiographical work so it makes sense that Copperfield is his favorite. 

Dickens' greatest strength in David Copperfield (in this reader's opinion, anyway) is his character sketches. I can't tell you how much I loved, loved, loved Betsey Trotwood. Definitely a new all-time favorite literary character. I loathed Uriah Heep. I rooted for Mr. Peggotty. I admired Tommy Traddles. My heart went out to Martha and Little Em'ly. I wanted to smack the smug "respectability" off of Littimer and wring Steerforth's worthless neck. I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough at ridiculous Mr. Micawber or his wife. And poor little Dora. As far as I'm concerned, she and Doady deserved each other and Agnes really could have done better. I could go on but suffice it to say, Dickens is a master at giving us fully fleshed out characters who feel real and timeless 175 years later. 

As for David Copperfield himself—Davy, Trot, Doady; whatever you prefer to call him—he was a bit insufferable, very much like Victor Frankenstein. I don't know if it's the device of having the character narrate their own story that takes away a measure of their likability for me, but at times I was groaning for old Trot to just get on with it already or to grow up for Heavens' sake. Which he ultimately did, but with all of Dickens' colorful cast of characters, Davy himself was the one I could have done without. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you have it. 

Just this past February (probably during one of my hapless attempts to get back on the Copperfield wagon), I stumbled across this 2024 Forbes article which, among other things, posits Dickens' ten greatest books and ranks them in order. I found that I had unknowingly started my own Dickens journey in the correct order (according to the article) and so I plan to keep working my way down that list in future. It may be a few years before I pick up another Dickens, but when I do, it'll be Oliver Twist which is what comes next on the list. (Although I may have to sneak A Christmas Carol in somewhere because it doesn't make the top ten since it's not a full-length novel and I've never actually read it. I know. The horror.)

All said, it feels good to finally close the loop on David Copperfield. He has without question shown up on more book lists than any other book I own and finishing him feels like a small kind of accomplishment. 

Let's Bust a Recap : A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." So begins Dickens' best known work. A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859, but was set during the historical period of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In it, we meet the French Doctor Manette, his daughter Lucie, English banker Jarvis Lorry, Monsieur and Madame Defarge, Charles Darnay, Sidney Carton, and Miss Pross among others. 

At the beginning of the novel, we learn that Doctor Manette has been languishing in the Bastille, wrongfully imprisoned, for the past 18 years and is finally released to live with his daughter who had previously never known that her father was even alive. In the years that follow, Lucie and her father live comfortably in London with Lucie's childhood governess Miss Pross. Lucie marries and things are going well for the whole family until the French Revolution begins and her husband ends up going back to Paris to clear up some business there. Will his former status in Paris lead him straight to the guillotine? Will Doctor Manette's sympathetic position as a Bastille survivor save his son-in-law? Will anyone make it out alive?? 

This novel was brilliant. While it was a little slow getting started and slightly confusing following everyone's storylines, when Dickens brought it all together, it was truly a masterful tale and it's no wonder this is probably his most famous work. The sacrificial love displayed had me cheering for Miss Pross and crying for Sidney Carton. The bloodthirsty Madame Defarge made my skin crawl. And the gritty depiction of the Reign of Terror sent chills up and down my spine. 

After reading Great Expectations and now A Tale of Two Cities, it's easy to see why Charles Dickens is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His work was instantly popular and remains so today over 150 years later. Critics and scholars have recognized him as a literary genius. I would definitely recommend A Tale of Two Cities. It is a phenomenal novel.

Having said all that, where do I turn next? We have Charles Dickens' complete works, and I have no idea which to put on my 2019 book list. I'm thinking it has to be Oliver Twist, but then I start looking at the rest of the titles and my certainty wavers. What's your favorite Dickens novel? Which ones are the absolute must-reads? And who was your favorite character from A Tale of Two Cities?

*SHOUT-OUT to my Dad*

Have the happiest of birthdays! 

Thank you for always encouraging my love of reading and recommending all the best books.

You're the greatest and I love you forever.

A Word for Wednesday

"...suffering has been stronger than all other teaching...I have been bent and broken, 

but--I hope--into a better shape."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

A Word for Wednesday

"...he had no notion of meeting danger half-way. When it came upon him, he confronted it, but it must come before he troubled himself."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

A Word for Wednesday

"The death close before me was terrible, but far more terrible than death was the dread of being misremembered after death."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

A Word for Wednesday

"All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself. Surely a curious thing. That I should innocently take a bad half-crown of somebody else's manufacture, is reasonable enough; but that I should knowingly reckon the spurious coin of my own make as good money! An obliging stranger, under pretence of compactly folding up my bank-notes for security's sake, abstracts the notes and gives me nut-shells; but what is his sleight of hand to mine, when I fold up my own nut-shells and pass them on myself as notes!"

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

A Word for Wednesday

"I had little objection to his being seen by Herbert or his father, for both of whom I had a respect; but I had the sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle, whom I held in contempt. So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

An Important Lesson from Joe Gargery On How to Progress in Life

In Great Expectations, young Pip's world is suddenly flipped upside down upon meeting the beautiful, unattainable Estella at Miss Havisham's house. As the two children sit before Miss Havisham playing at cards, Pip realizes for the first time some of the disparities between the wealthy and the working classes and that--unfortunately, in his mind--he's on the wrong end of that spectrum.

"'He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!' said Estella with disdain, before our first game was out. 'And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!'

I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it."

When Pip returns home that evening and is being questioned about his time at Miss Havisham's house, he ends up telling some pretty outrageous stories about what he saw and did. As no one else had ever been inside of Miss Havisham's house, no one knew better than to believe his silly claims.

Later on when he is alone with Joe, Pip confesses that he didn't tell the truth earlier and begins to lament his sorry, common life. In the course of their conversation, Joe makes some pretty poignant remarks on how to raise oneself out of that state of commonness that is now plaguing Pip.

 "'There's one thing you may be sure of, Pip,' said Joe, after some rumination, 'namely, that lies is lies. Howsever they come, they didn't ought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round to the same. Don't you tell no more of 'em, Pip. That ain't the way to get out of being common, old chap.'"

 "'Well, Pip,' said Joe, 'be it so or be it son't, you must be a common scholar afore you can be a oncommon one, I should hope! The king upon his throne, with his crown upon his [head], can't sit and write his acts of Parliament in print, without having begun, when he were a unpromoted Prince, with the alphabet.---Ah!' added Joe, with a shake of the head that was full of meaning, 'and begun at A too, and worked his way to Z.'"

"If you can't get to be oncommon through going straight, you'll never get to do it through going crooked."

Simple, common Joe Gargery who was just a blacksmith with no formal education understood that the only true way to succeed and move forward in life is through hard work and uncompromising integrity. The advice he gave to Pip in Great Expectations (written by Charles Dickens in 1861) was sound and wise, and we would do well to follow it today in 2016.


What wise person in your life always points you in the right direction even when you're too focused on yourself to see it?

A Word for Wednesday

"It was not because I was faithful, but because Joe was faithful, that I never ran away and went for a soldier or a sailor. It was not because I had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, but because Joe had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, that I worked with tolerable zeal against the grain. It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable honest-hearted duty-doing man flies out into the world; but it is very possible to know how it has touched one's self in going by, and I know right well that any good that intermixed itself with my apprenticeship came of plain contented Joe, and not of restlessly aspiring discontented me."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

Let's Bust a Recap : Great Expectations

Hello there! I've checked another book off my 2016 reading list, and now it's time to talk about it. After I bought a plane ticket to Japan, obviously one of my first thoughts was, "What books should I take?" Because priorities, people. Nevermind that I'm flying off to a foreign country that I've never visited before and I get to see (and meet!) my favorite people in the world and spend two whole weeks with them--WHAT BOOKS WILL I BE TAKING, for the love?! I quickly decided that taking Great Expectations was out of the question because my copy looks like this:

It's humongous, heavy, hardback, and a heckofa lot to tote around the world and back. So it immediately became my goal to finish it before I left because I really didn't want to start a new novel before I finished this one, but as I already mentioned, I sure wasn't going to take this beast with me. I still had quite a bit left to go, but once I made up my mind to finish it, it really wasn't difficult to do and I finished it last Tuesday with 3 days to spare since my goal was to finish it by last Friday. It's a great book, and I was really into it. But enough with all my goal-setting and accomplishing: let's get down to the actual recap because I leave for Japan TOMORROW, and I probably should start packing.

Charles Dickens wrote and published Great Expectations as a serial appearing in his weekly periodical from December 1860 to August 1861. It was his 13th novel and the 2nd of his novels to be fully narrated in the first person. Dickens began publishing short sketches in London magazines in 1834, and by the time he published his first full novel (Oliver Twist) in 1838, Dickens was already a bestselling writer. 

Great Expectations is set in Kent and London in the early to mid-19th century and depicts the life of an orphaned boy named Pip from his early childhood to his mid-20s written from his own perspective. It reads almost like it's his personal memoir, and in my opinion, it's extremely entertaining. In Great Expectations, we meet such memorable characters as Joe Gargery (the humble blacksmith and truest friend to Pip), Miss Havisham (the wealthy, witch-like spinster of Satis House who is still an icon in today's pop culture), Abel Magwitch a.k.a Provis (the scary escaped convict Pip meets in a graveyard in the very first scene of the book and who shows back up much later in a twist I did not see coming), and Herbert Pocket (Pip's loyal friend and companion) among many, many others. I mean, when you have a cast of characters including people named Jaggers, Wemmick, Pumblechook, and Wopsle, why wouldn't you want to read this book, amiright?

In this novel, we begin by learning that Pip is living with his sister and her husband (Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gargery) and will become Joe's apprentice in the blacksmith trade. Before beginning his apprenticeship, Pip spends some time at Satis House with Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella who are pivotal characters throughout the novel. Four years into his apprenticeship with Joe, Pip is approached by an intimidating lawyer (Mr. Jaggers) with the information that he has great expectations from an anonymous benefactor and, should he choose to accept this offer, he would be off to London immediately to become an educated gentleman under the guardianship of Mr. Jaggers until this mysterious benefactor reveals him or herself to Pip. Pip accepts and off we go on his adventure with him.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's got mystery, intrigue, romance, adventure, suspense, and death all wrapped up into one delicious package, not to mention poignant quotes which will be occupying our Wednesdays here on the blog for a solid month (as you already got a taste of last week). Dickens masterfully weaves this tale together with very few wasted words. It was long to be sure (59 chapters!), but it was not cumbersome in the least, and it really turned out to be a quick read once I got into it. I would certainly recommend it, and after reading this one, I'm looking forward to reading more of Dickens' work. (Confession: Great Expectations is the first Charles Dickens novel I've ever read all the way through.)

All in all, I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. It's only lacking that last 1/2 star because I could take breaks from it whereas when I was reading The Last of the Mohicans (another long novel I read this year), I could not put it down.

What about you? Have you read Great Expectations or anything else by Charles Dickens? Who was your favorite character? (I am #TeamJoeGargery all the way.) Which Dickens novel would you recommend for my book list next year? (Your choices are listed above in the picture of my Dickens collection.) What books should I take to Japan with me? Comment quick because I LEAVE TOMORROW!

A Word for Wednesday

"Mrs. Joe was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and some people do the same by their religion."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~

Is our "godliness" more uncomfortable and unacceptable than sin itself? 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence."
~Matthew 23:25~

#prayforOrlando

"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle."

~from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens~