Tag Archives: Charles Dickens

“Part of these essays probably are rooted in genuine recollections, but how, in the circumstances, can we trust anything that he [John Forster] says in them?”

Posted on January 12, 2024 by Kate Stover

But how much can we trust the new conclusions drawn by this author, writing 150 years after Dickens died? That’s the question readers need to consider. Newly digitized information is now available, and the author has a Ph.D. in English … Continue reading →

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“Where does the road to ruin start?”

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Kate Stover

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is written as a recovery journal by a young man in Appalachia who was born to a single mother experiencing addiction. It’s the story that author Barbara Kingsolver wanted to write for years because every family … Continue reading →

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“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Kate Stover

Because we all make questionable decisions from time to time, it’s only natural to wonder if we are our own worst enemy, or if we are the hero in our life, or something in between. Many memoirs begin with this … Continue reading →

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Kate Stover

Charles Dickens’ famous opening sentence ends with the astonishing idea that the turbulent period leading up to the French Revolution was “like the present period.” The present period! Was he warning leaders against making the mistake of ignoring the horrible … Continue reading →

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Four Favorite Books from 2017

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Kate Stover

I’ve already written about the best books of 2017 for teachers, and so today I will focus on the other books that I’ve read this year. My “favorite” books are the ones that I am most likely to read again. … Continue reading →

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“He didn’t fit in.”

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Kate Stover

Even though he was wealthy and influential, Charles Dickens didn’t fit into middle-class life in Victorian England for many reasons. Here are three: He made fun of “society” people in his novels. Instead of writing anonymously, as the other novelists … Continue reading →

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“The pupils formed in line and buzzingly passed a ragged book from hand to hand.”

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Kate Stover

What?  Only one book for all the students to pass around?  In England? In many of his novels, Charles Dickens describes how difficult it was for ordinary families to get any sort of education. In Great Expectations, Pip’s family had … Continue reading →

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“The Hopper painting hung on the wall with an indifference so vast it began to feel personal, as though it had been painted for this moment”

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Kate Stover

The passage continues: “Your troubles are huge and meaningless, it seemed to say, there is only the sun on the side of the house.”  The troubles of the people in this illuminating book are vast indeed: no novelist, including Charles … Continue reading →

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“It was as if nothing I’d ever done in my life prior to this counted.”

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Kate Stover

The wonderful thing about 600-page sagas is, in my view, the opportunity to develop a wide perspective. Readers get to see the consequences of decisions as they play out over the span of decades. Sometimes characters come to see things … Continue reading →

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