I've read a few emotionally tough books this year. And, I don't consider it wise for me to read those during the winter when there's not so much in the way of sunshine. Keep the really depressing stuff to the summer months I say. Then, you can read and go play at the park and work it off. Wimpy? I know it is, but that's how I have to do things.
After I've read some tough ones, I love to go back to the classics I adore. I just finished David Copperfield yesterday, a great novel. It's not A Tale of Two Cities mind you, but a great novel.
It's interesting that it was actually Dickens favorite (this, on the left, is a picture of him). He loved David Copperfield more than all the others because the book is the most autobiographical of all his books.
I won't go into the similarities to his own life, that would take hours and you don't want to read that much here.
I always find the themes of Dickens novels so refreshing. In David Copperfield, he talks a lot about how to choose a mate and what makes a happy life. I agree with all the things he writes on the subject.
Do you know that Dickens books have been so popular that they have never been out of print? Amazing, but if you read them .. not surprising. The themes are timeless, the morals are infinitely illustrated and valuable even today. I am grateful to have books like these available. They are a refuge.
It is interesting to live in today's troubled world and look back and see that there has always been great trouble. In Victorian times, for instance, you would not be able to reasonably expect all of your children to live to adulthood. We still lose too many children to accidents and disease, but back then I would say they lost close to half. In fact, according to The Demography of Victorian England and Wales By Robert Woods the average life expectancy in 1850 was between the ages of 35 and 40. I would be a very old woman if I had not already met my maker.
So, I suppose that I take some courage from Dickens novels. He lived in a challenging time as well. But, I believe that the way to the good life is still the same.. moral excellence.
