Classics > A Classics > Charles Dickens

Advantages: Gripping novel set during French Revolution
Disadvantages: Dickens gets a bit gory

A Tale of Two Cities starts with one of the most famous opening lines in English literature - 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. Over the English Channel in Paris, the French Revolution is underway at the end of the eighteenth century. This means that the world for ordinary people is turning upside down. The decadent king, Louis XIV and his queen, Antoinette, will be excuted by guillotine as the people demand an end to absolutist ...
...time, there was a threat that these ideas may spread to England. As such, it is Dicken's only historical novel. It is also my favourite, not that I do not like David Copperfield and his others. He manages to avoid the over-sentimentality that some characters indulge in. ... Read review

Advantages: A really beautiful story, about Scrooge's past, present and future.
Disadvantages: A little bit boring story.

...outcome of his skinflint ways. A Christmas Carol is not so much a Christmas story but like for New Years. This story can influence us in changing ourselves, if we want this year's resolutions to actually mean something, we need to go through an Ebenezer-like process. For me the past for its lessons, search the present for its patterns, and project where those patterns will lead us in the future. And if the patterns lead to sadness, those patterns ... Read review

Advantages: Discover a great story of friendship and hardship
Disadvantages: Read it and you will know

...book is about the struggles of two very contrasting yet likeable charactors in the duo George and Lennie. They are two out of work and out of luck men in the depression period in the USA. They do everything together, work eat sleep everything. They even share the same dream of owning their own ranch where they can work for themselves. A thoroughly enjoyable book which I am glad that I bought, definitely surprised me more than once and especially ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting twists and turns in the plot
Disadvantages: Difficult to get into

...for the next chapter. Great Expectations: This was written in 1861, and has become known as one of the best novels of Dickens, with its strong characters such as Miss Havisham. Each installment of Great Expectations contained two chapters, and explains the crescendo's of climax found in the novel. Plot: THe story follows Pip from childhood to adulthood. At first, he is seen as an orphan, being brought up by his harsh sister and her gentle husband, ...
...deals with this. THoughts: Great Expectations is an interesting read in regards to atttitudes towards different classes, and for those who have interest in such history, there will no doubt be enjoyment from this novel. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, and found it a captivating read, as you identify with the feelings of many characters; Joe's continuous kindness towards Pip, Pip's desire to be a genteman, and Miss Havisham's ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful vivid descriptions, extremly developed characters
Disadvantages: Some may find it too detailed

...expressed in her writings. Although Rebecca is considered her masterpiece and has become a famous film, she wrote many other books such as Jamaica's Inn, My COusin Rachel and Frenchman's Creek which are less well-known. Rebecca: Rebecca was written in 1938, while Rebecca was unhappy at Egypt, where her husband was osted at the time. It is a story of a woman's first love, a story of mystery and a story of crime. As these different genres of the book ...
...to Maxim's first wife, Rebecca. Rebecca was a beatiful, sophisticated woman, with a high position in society, and was considered a social butterfly. In contrast to her, the new Mrs de Winter feels clumsy, ashamed and embarassed, and without her husband's suport, she is left to dream of Rebecca, and almost becomes obsessed with her. Rebecca had died at sea, and she feels that perhaps she is just a poor replacement of Rebecca, and under the constant ... Read review