I have been going a lot to movies lately
and I even have a backlog in writing about the ones that I have seen and that made
an impression on me. I would like to sort out my thinking by writing about the
films. Writing brings clarity to my, at times, convoluted thoughts.
In addition to liking movies I love
reading. I started the year with one of the books on lists of the greatest
books ever. My pick was The Personal History of David
Copperfield. It was rather a strange choice as I had never been attracted to
Dickens even if I know most of the stories but mainly from films. In Poland
Dickens was not mandatory as school reading, so I missed it in my young years. Maybe
I read Great Expectations early on, I do not quite remember. Obviously it did
not make a memorable impression. So, I thought that it is time to catch up with
English classics. There was a need to get a copy of the book and luckily I
found a second hand shop run by a lovely lady and a little King Charles
spaniel, Hugo. The shop is called Love Vintage Books and specializes in
children literature. I just found that the shop has its Face Book presence https://www.facebook.com/LoveVintageBooks/.
It looks that there are many interesting things going on in the shop. I will
follow the shop in the future.
The book I bought was published by
Oxford University Press and is lovely. The whole book s in one small volume,
printed on over 800 very thin pages in a small print, almost too small to read comfortably.
I love it! It has been my companion this month and I will be sad to part with
it. This will happen today as I have only twenty or so pages to finish. After being
lately exposed to so much violence and cruelty in films, the book has been a positive
element bringing gentleness and high moral values to my days.
When I told my Polish friend, who
happens to teach literature in a school near Warsaw, that I am reading David
Copperfield he laughed and said – Oh, probity will mark now your life big way. And
this is true, I love the feeling that all good people will at the end get their
rewards and all bad ones will be punished for their wicked deeds. I realized that
even if I did not read David Copperfield in my childhood, I read books with
similar messages and I grew up believing in the world being good and honest. That
made me perhaps a bit idealistic, or a lot?
I am very impressed by the book,
it kept my attention on the story and I read all descriptions of landscapes,
weather and divagations of Mr.Micawber with interest and without skipping a
line.
In spite of the story happening in
the XIXth century it is current in
psychological sense and life lessons still apply. It is a wise book. One pronouncement
of an older wise person saying “There can not be disparity in marriage, like
unsuitability of mind and purpose” made me stop and think for a while and it put
new light on some events I observed and experienced. Poor Dora had to die for
David’s “first mistaken impulse of and undisciplined heart” for the story to
maintain integrity of David and happy end of the book. There was a great disparity
of mind and purpose between the two lovers. Their hearts were still
undisciplined.
So what do I like best about the
book? Of course, the integrity of the message, clarity of what is good and what
is bad in human actions and motives, the story itself, the beautiful language,
psychology of describing characters, their actions and motivation. Everything
really.
I intend to continue with
recommendations of the lists of the best books ever but may take a break for
something more contemporary like Knausgaard or Donna Tartt. Then it will be
Stendhal - The Red and the Black. But
first I will re-read Missing Out by Adam Phillips, the book recommended by
Ramana whose comments motivate me to write my posts. This is not a book to read
on a bus or in short bursts. I need to give it my full attention and quiet
uninterrupted time.
