“When the church came to itself…”

Reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens right now. Being over 450 pages long, this could take a while. That being said, I am thoroughly enjoying the read so far. This is the first time I’ve read Dickens since I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and that encounter barely qualifies as reading since I pretty much just blankly stared at text, skipped pages, and half-assed a reading journal–all within the span of an hour to boot!

I particularly like Dickens’ imagery.  Here are a couple passages that struck me:

• “The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread. When the church came to itself–for he was so sudden and strong that he made it go head over heels before me, and I saw the steeple under my feet–when the church came to itself, I say, I was seated on a high tombstone, trembling, while he ate the bread ravenously.” (page 4)

• “‘Mrs. Joe,’ said Uncle Pumblechook: a large hard-breathing, middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked, and had that moment come to.” (page 24)

• “She was an orphan like myself; like me, too, had been brought up by the hand. She was most noticeable, I thought in respect of her extremities; for her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel. This description must be received with a week-day limitation. On Sunday she went to church elaborated.” (page 43)

I can vividly imagine the characters and their movements in my head. The exaggerated imagery reminds me of old-time Looney Tunes cartoons. Awesome stuff.