Literary Comfort Food

Hey all! As indicated in my earlier post about how this year was going to play out, I took January more or less off from reviewing. I have read ten books this month, but I won't be reviewing them as they were all fun books. I love doing the blog and the reviews, but sometimes it is nice just to read guilty pleasure books and not have to think about things to say for them. It was a good mixture of classics and sentimental YA stuff. I have started my project of working my way through Dickens with Oliver Twist. So glad I finally read it. And it was interesting to read Dickens again after having studied other notable novalists from whom Dickens derived inspiration. Specifically, Dickens is said to have admired and to an extent emulated the amazing yet less often known by modern readers Henry Fielding. I can very clearly see his influence in Dicken's writing now. That is kind of fun, making connections and stuff. I am also working through Shakespeare. I will try to hit one Dickens and one Shakespeare a month roughly. I started with Romeo and Juliet. I swear that story never gets old. And I adore the fact about myself that I can read it again and again and each time honestly and genuinely hope it will play out differently this time. But seriously, that story is pretty much the original YA fiction novel, right? Beyond that I took several strolls down memory lane, rereading series and books from my teens and youth. Overall, it was refreshing to read randomly. Which brings to mind a caution I would like to remind myself. I started this as a break from reading for requirement. Should I worry when I really enjoy a break from my break reading?? Oh well, let's see what next month brings. Valentine's day is coming up, so maybe I need some good sappy books. Or not. Whatever.
Keep reading!
Sarah