Book Review : Oliver Twist

While driving the 396 hours from Philadelphia to Texas (exaggeration), my Mom and I decided to start off the new year right- by her reading aloud to me a classic novel. It's one that I'd heard of and been interested in for years, but had never bothered to pick up and actually READ, Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist." So as we were pulling onto our first major highway, Mom got out her Kindle and downloaded the whole book in about 2 seconds. It was pretty neat and she giggled with delight about how modern she's becoming.

This novel will go towards my completion of the Mini Book Challenge hosted by blogger Lazy Girl Reads. (See post on 12/9.) "Oliver Twist" will be my Something Old.

So. Did I like it? Yes.
Is it something I'll ever read again?  Yes, but probably only aloud to my children someday.

It's an old book, published way back in 1838, so the diction and writing style are old-fashioned. Amazingly, though, many of its deeper sentiments rang true with me and I was touched many times over with the moral of the story- Love One Another. Forgiveness, compassion and understanding are also pushed forward as things we all should aspire to.

Dickens did a wonderful job with the characters. Their descriptions make them so vivid. The villians make you cringe, the comic characters make you chuckle, and my oh my the good characters are almost too saccharine sweet. But that's why it makes a good children's book. It teaches valuable lessons and because the difference between good and bad is so obvious, there's no doubt for the reader as to which path she should take in her own life.

Two thumbs up.

Longview, Texas Thus Far...

Okay, so, it's been a while. BUT THINGS HAVE BEEN BUSY, I SWEAR!

No but seriously. They have. This is the first quiet moment I've had, or at least the first quiet moment I've had in which I felt like getting online to update my blog. Let's do it quick-style. Since my last blog I have:

* Flown to TX with Lully the cat. I gave her kitty xanex for the flight. She willed her eyes open and stayed awake the whole time we were in line for security, the whole time we waited at our gate, the whole time we taxiied... but just couldn't help herself and fell asleep right as we took off. Perfetto!

* Celebrated a happy and blessed Christmas with all sorts of family. It was hard being a vegetarian during the holidays (I'm still pretty new to vegetarianism), but I will admit, I cheated a teensy bit here and there. I also decided I'm allowed to eat any meat my step-dad shoots, because it's unprocessed and has led a happy life in the wild.

* Flown to Boston with Mom, celebrated New Years with my brother Ken and wife Linz, then trained it to Philly to get all my crap.

* Gotten all my crap into a very cute little U-Haul trailer and lugged it behind my poor dear Nissan Versa ALL THE WAY to Longview, Texas. Thanks be to the Lord for that nice little stop in Jackson, TN to see my sister Andrea and husband Scott.

*Sung at two different gigs in Longview - one was a Christmas Concert, and it was very well attended. The second was an exhibit opening at the Longview Museum of Fine Arts.

* Made connections with Opera East Texas director and will be singing at their next event, Pasta and Puccini!

* Gotten a day job with perfect hours - no nights or weekends!

*  Got my start-up kit and also started advertising my Music Pups Music Class..... (trying to figure out how to upload my flier's doc file here.....any help, void??)

* Been working on my fist aria of... 10?!?! Did I say 10?? Let's make that 8. Let's get real. But like I was saying, I started working on Caro nome. I've sung through it several times but never memorized it or truly worked on it in earnest.

So... It seems like I'm doing pretty well. I haven't started lessons of any kind, but I have been cooking with Ma. There. Now everyone knows everything.