We had snow last night and the roads are a mess but no snow day for my oldest who let it be known how aggrieved she was. I white-knuckled my way to drop her off and didn't relax until I was safely parked inside the garage. I am a newbie when it comes to driving in the snow, so for all the experienced out there, I am the snail moving ten miles an hour that you are stuck behind. My youngest and I had a snow day of our own sledding down the steep hill in our backyard and throwing snowballs at one another finishing up with a happy face snow angel. Except for the driving, I love snow!
Moving along through Little Dorrit, I remembered a post from Thomas at My Porch
about his progress through War and Peace. He created a character tree to follow events and associations. I knew I needed to do something similar because sometimes I lose or confuse characters and events when reading Dickens. Taking notes after each chapter to which I can refer seems a heck of a lot easier than digging through past pages to find the lost threads.
Moving along through Little Dorrit, I remembered a post from Thomas at My Porch about his progress through War and Peace. He created a character tree to follow events and associations. I knew I needed to do something similar because sometimes I lose or confuse characters and events when reading Dickens. Taking notes after each chapter to which I can refer seems a heck of a lot easier than digging through past pages to find the lost threads.
7 comments:
Playing in the snow is MUCH more fun than driving in it... even for us veterans! Taking notes should help - that post of Thomas' made an impression on me, too.
Slow and steady gets there in the end. Great advice for driving AND reading! A notebook can usually be found on top of my current read as well, makes the review later so much easier.
And such a cosy atmosphere for Dickens, Stacy...enjoy!
I have seen lots of Dickens stuff recently that has me thinking I need to try some more of his work. I love Trollope but have a hard time with Dickens. I think I need to try again.
We had a snow day Wednesday as well and it was wonderful-- I can see why your oldest was mad :) Enjoy Little Dorrit. It's my favorite Dickens so far. The nice thing about such a long novel is that the characters begin to show up more and more. That makes it easier for me to remember them. Hopefully the same happens for you.
JoAnn - Agreed:) I think it was definitely the visual Thomas provided that stuck in my mind's eye.
Darlene - I do need to do the notebook thing for all that I read because it is helpful to keep my thoughts fresh and help them stick.
Thomas - We have the opposite problem...so far I have had a hard time getting into Trollope and usually move on to another choice after I read the first few pages but I am committed to sticking with one of his works and finishing in 2011.
mindy - My oldest is making up for lost snow play today...no snow falling but enough left over. You are right...a lot of the same characters are showing up more and more but I fear he may surprise on page 700 with someone he introduced on page 20:) I can see why Little Dorrit is your favorite...I am really loving this book so far and the chapter on the science of government is just pure genius.
Good idea about the character tree! I don't usually take notes in books but that sounds like a good idea. I've seen a few books with family trees in the beginning but that can also include spoilers. I think your way is better.
And sadly, we have no snow days here in South Texas! No hurricane days, no excuses to cancel school. Horrible heat just doesn't cut it around here. Maybe a flash flood.
Karenlibrarian - I think they should have hot/humid days where all you have to do is lounge in the air conditioning or by the pool or under a tree and READ:) We had more snow last night and we had a delay but what did that help when they roads were still scary icy. I have been using notes as opposed to the tree which has been super helpful. I realized I would need more space than a tree could allow for because my notes can go on and on and on:)
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