While my provider access was off, I found that my notebook has little in the way of amusing myself, almost no programs, or things that I like to do with a pc.
But I did find a bunch of audio files and a cribbage game. I had downloaded some audio e-books, as my increasing and developing cataract makes reading troublesome of late. And since my old files of all of Dickens' works had been locked in my old pc without a chance of recovery, had been downloading audio versions on slow news days.
So I went back to one in the hiatus, the only one that I had hated when I first read it, and had never gone back to. His novel Hard Times. I had a professor who used to hammer one fact into us. There are some things that should be read later in life, in order to be really appreciated, and that novel seems to be the proof of his theory.
So I turned it on in the background and honed my cribbage skills on the surface while listening. And soon became engrossed in that short but brittle novel. It is divided into two parts--- 'Sowing' and 'Reaping'.
I only remembered it being dark and almost suffocating, and very depressing. Imagine my surprise at having to laugh out loud over some of it. And being amazed at some of the themes in the first part which would be considered daring even today.
I'm only a bit more than half-way through listening, but can say it is a masterful depiction of corporation towns and how they tick. And in actuality, it's lost nothing in the way of being timely.
It takes place in a fictitious town called 'Coketown'. Which makes me grin every time I hear it. Change it to 'Kochtown', and it's what some global vultures would love to have the world look like.
The story is going to end in tragedy, that much I can see already. But it is the descriptions of Coketown that blew me away. I grew up there.
I found the books at this site you can browse through it here. Type in Hard Times in the search window, and download the first chapter of book two, and take a listen. The descriptions are every factory town anyone ever experienced. Disconcerting, how many things never change.
The site has hundreds of classics for free. Seemingly, there is a site where volunteers record their readings of chapters and register them, and so they get all the book parts together, and you can download and listen to them.
It's sort of a place for the reading impaired, and you can catch up on things you always thought you should have read, but never got around to.
The only drawback is that some of the books get read by alternate people, and some are better than others. I especially enjoy it when someone from England is doing the reading, because it 'fits'. Some of them make the prose sing. It sort of grates when you go from one such chapter, and the next is from someone in Carolina. Or Minnesota. Although some of those are exceptions to the rule. I suppose it is a matter of taste, but the Brits have more talent when it comes to Dickens, and that is hardly surprising. They are the ones who make me laugh outright. Or give me a spine tingle.
Hard Times was always near the bottom of my list of Dickens' novels, but after hearing it... well it has gone up several notches in my estimation. Just for the descriptions of Coketown.
And apropos nothing, and referring to the post below... I spoke with Peter Sunday night, and well, he doesn't remember what happened last week, let alone what probably happened that morning, but can still carry a conversation, somewhat. And he can still laugh, and how I miss that. I was telling him about John Sununu, and he lost it. Just the name. Of course, I was being satirical in describing that racist lout. but the name alone set him off. Will wonders never cease, hey.
But I did find a bunch of audio files and a cribbage game. I had downloaded some audio e-books, as my increasing and developing cataract makes reading troublesome of late. And since my old files of all of Dickens' works had been locked in my old pc without a chance of recovery, had been downloading audio versions on slow news days.
So I went back to one in the hiatus, the only one that I had hated when I first read it, and had never gone back to. His novel Hard Times. I had a professor who used to hammer one fact into us. There are some things that should be read later in life, in order to be really appreciated, and that novel seems to be the proof of his theory.
So I turned it on in the background and honed my cribbage skills on the surface while listening. And soon became engrossed in that short but brittle novel. It is divided into two parts--- 'Sowing' and 'Reaping'.
I only remembered it being dark and almost suffocating, and very depressing. Imagine my surprise at having to laugh out loud over some of it. And being amazed at some of the themes in the first part which would be considered daring even today.
I'm only a bit more than half-way through listening, but can say it is a masterful depiction of corporation towns and how they tick. And in actuality, it's lost nothing in the way of being timely.
It takes place in a fictitious town called 'Coketown'. Which makes me grin every time I hear it. Change it to 'Kochtown', and it's what some global vultures would love to have the world look like.
The story is going to end in tragedy, that much I can see already. But it is the descriptions of Coketown that blew me away. I grew up there.
I found the books at this site you can browse through it here. Type in Hard Times in the search window, and download the first chapter of book two, and take a listen. The descriptions are every factory town anyone ever experienced. Disconcerting, how many things never change.
The site has hundreds of classics for free. Seemingly, there is a site where volunteers record their readings of chapters and register them, and so they get all the book parts together, and you can download and listen to them.
It's sort of a place for the reading impaired, and you can catch up on things you always thought you should have read, but never got around to.
The only drawback is that some of the books get read by alternate people, and some are better than others. I especially enjoy it when someone from England is doing the reading, because it 'fits'. Some of them make the prose sing. It sort of grates when you go from one such chapter, and the next is from someone in Carolina. Or Minnesota. Although some of those are exceptions to the rule. I suppose it is a matter of taste, but the Brits have more talent when it comes to Dickens, and that is hardly surprising. They are the ones who make me laugh outright. Or give me a spine tingle.
Hard Times was always near the bottom of my list of Dickens' novels, but after hearing it... well it has gone up several notches in my estimation. Just for the descriptions of Coketown.
And apropos nothing, and referring to the post below... I spoke with Peter Sunday night, and well, he doesn't remember what happened last week, let alone what probably happened that morning, but can still carry a conversation, somewhat. And he can still laugh, and how I miss that. I was telling him about John Sununu, and he lost it. Just the name. Of course, I was being satirical in describing that racist lout. but the name alone set him off. Will wonders never cease, hey.
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