Currently Reading #21

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

I settled on the Dickens book, but there's a problem. It's a big handsome hardback and an absolute bugger to read in bed. Worse even than the mammoth doorstopper that was Jonathan Strange for hurting my hands. So it'll probably have to be read in places other than bed, which limits its opportunities. A big thick book, too. Going to take time to get through it.

Meanwhile, I might find me a nice gentle paperback to read in bed.

I tripped yet again over what seems to be a mistake in the book, where Dickens is supposedly writing to a former sweetheart yet refers to her in the third person. Cannot decide whether it's a stylistic thing in his letter or if the wrong name's been put in somehow. Eh. A fascinating book, anyway, and Tomalin clearly has affection for her subject while not being indifferent to his faults. It's intriguing also to trace some of Dickens' characters through descriptions of his family and friends.