Although the first section of this book closes out the Little Nell saga, the majority of the edition is focused on Dickens' REPRINTED PIECES, some of which are minor gems. However, to close out the second volume of THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, I must say that while others rage against or support the fate of the main protagonist, my favorite character was a non-human...the Obstinate Pony. Drawing as fine a detailed personality with his pen of this equine being as he did of his human players, Dickens shows how marvelous he could be with simple paragraphs. Instead of just describing a horse with an agenda quite different than his owner's, Dickens brings us a lifelike character (albeit one with horseshoes) who could easily have been supporting the revolutionary barricades of a Victor Hugo novel.

On to the second section of the book and some favorite short stories. THE CHRISTMAS TREE is here, a different take on what the reader would expect of Old Tannenbaum (Simon Callow loved it enough to do a vocal reading). Dickens puts his writer's research into print via a troika of detective anecdotes and he writes of London's bridges and the rascals they have seen.

The air was black, the water was black, the barges and hulks were black, the piles were black, the buildings were black, the shadows were only a deeper shade of black upon the black ground.

The early influence of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS upon Mr. Dickens is here in two stories as is his love of fairytales and his belief that a nation without fancy, without some romance, never did, never can, never will, hold a great place under the sun. He was a man of strong opinions whose hold on our imaginations allows us to walk among the weeds with him, still.

Book Season = Winter (dispirited hyaenas)

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