I'm the kind of reader who has bookmarks in several books at once; usually a children's book, a "grown-up" book, a travel book (I'm a sucker for those giant National Geographic coffee-table books), my e.e. cummings fix. Admittedly, the bookmark in War and Peace hasn't moved in several years. But I felt the need to write a little February love-blog for Charles Dickens. Last week I picked up A Tale of Two Cities for the very first time (much to the shame of this English major, although I have read other Dickens). Oh, what language, what beautiful grasp of words we've lost to texts and tweets. For example, Dickens writing about a seaside town:

"The air among the houses was of so strong a piscatory flavour that one might have supposed sick fish went up to be dipped in it, as sick people went down to be dipped in the sea." (Chapter 4 of the Barnes & Noble Classics printing, 2004).

I love this image!!! Dickens is not for the super-casual reader; he takes time and focus (not as intense as Shakespeare or Tolstoy, however). But through Dickens' lens, my whole world takes on a sharper, wry angle. He makes me a better reader.

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