I’m taking a bit of a break from the classics to read a few other books. I’ve been working on From Good to Great by Jim Collins for a bit. It’s good but a bit businessy for me so I’m trying to pull out as much as I can.

There are some great business principles but I’m in the process of getting my brain to think in that way. It does break the main points down at the end of each chapter which is nice.

Next on the radar will be Stuff Christians Like by blogger/tweeter Jon Acuff. I’m really looking forward to this one but scared it will go by way too quick.

Soon Scrooge rehearsals will start & I’ll be immersed in all things Christmas Carol. Last year, I got the audio book & it was brilliant to have someone read it to you with the accent & different voices.

What are you reading?

In my quest to conquer the classics, i have consumed yet another one. I finished Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens a couple of nights ago and have a bit of time to think it over.

It was a harder read than i thought it would be. It takes me a couple of chapters to get into the groove of each book, especially those written in a different century and this one took a while to get that groove. It’s also much darker than i thought it would be. When i think of Oliver Twist, i think of the Artful Dodger, Fagin, Oliver, Please Sir may i have some more…you know, the musical. But the book had lots of deceit and seediness and death and revenge.

Dickens is excellent at capturing a character or situation with a well-turned sentence. He also used a lot of words for some situations. I’ve got some more Dickens on my list, so we’ll see how those go.

Next up: i’ve kinda started The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It’s pretty interesting so far. I’m thinking something much lighter when i’m done with that.

What are you reading?

I finished Dracula by Bram Stoker - not at all what I expected. I thot it would be all Bela Legosi creepy but there was some great character development & plot. It wasn’t as “scary” as I thot it would be. There were moments of intensity but nothing causing nightmares. It wasn’t my favorite book so far, but it wasn’t bad.

Next up - Oliver Twist by Dickens. I’m looking forward to this one. I like his characters & this one has some great ones. It may be time for some more Twain after that or venturing in to some I haven’t read before…