Werepuppy's (Attempt At) Doll-A-Day 2019!

[davidd]

I admire people who can read Dickens. I can't....

I read... sort of... A Tale of Two Cities in a high school literature class. At that time, I doubt I could have made my way through it on my own, and I definitely would not have understood much of it, if the instructor were not guiding us through nearly every chapter, page, and paragraph.

I guess I'm a little bit smarter now, and better at deciphering antiquated writing styles, because a few years ago I attempted, for the first time, to read A Christmas Carol, and to my surprise, I discovered that the story is funny! It's not entirely the grim, gloomy story presented in movies, but rather, it is rich in satirical humor and wordplay that I was not ekspecting.

I would imagine that reading Dickens in English as a non-English speaker would be extremely challenging, seeing as how his works are a bit of a slog for most of us who are native English speakers.

I suppose that among Dahl's works, or at least among those I've read (I have not read Matilda), my favorite would be James and the Giant Peach. Again, satire and snark. Some people, so I understand, do not care for it because it is "mean spirited." Back in the day, it was merely funny. Plus, the part about the aunts being eaten by an escaped rhinoceros has stuck in my mind since the moment I read it.

Curious thing, Dahl wrote the screenplay for the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That would eksplain some of the more subversive, not-exactly-a-kids'-movie elements in the film.