I picked these flowers; they're prettier than you

You'd be forgiven if you've never heard of Castle Rackrent, or for that matter, its author Maria Edgeworth. You also wouldn't be missing all that much. There's nothing really painful about it, but I was mostly bored most of the time. It was short, though; I definitely appreciated that about it.

My main thought in reading this related to how incredibly American I am. It boggles my mind that you can have aristocracy that essentially have no money and never do and who borrow it from their servants, but they are the aristocracy and the servants have more money and. . . I just don't get it. I know that "class" is made up of more than just money in the US as well, but our class system is very much based on money and capitalism, not a sense of aristocracy/genetic nobility. I feel like I'm not explaining this well, but essentially, on a basic level I do find it these rigid notions of class and status that really actually have little to do with wealth so counter-intuitive, and while I can sort of understand them intellectually, I have a hard time understanding how someone would accept them as at all sensical.

Anyway, if you haven't heard of my next read or its author, there really is no forgiving you. The exciting piece of reading David Copperfield is that I am now a bit closer to finishing the canon of Dickens. I believe I just have two novels left, and then I will have read every single, shockingly long, shockingly numerous book written by this prolific man. It's hard to go into a Dickens without preconceived notions. First of all, they are all remarkably similar. Second, they are such a part of our cultural knowledge.

I also couldn't help thinking of the illusionist, of course. Man. I don't usually wish I was born in a previous era (I love technology, temperature regulation, improved women's rights, and diet soda a bit too much), but sometimes I think it would be fun to have lived in a time when magic and illusions were really magical. Now we have too much with computer generated options, and nothing is shocking or unbelievable or really magical. Of course, small-scale, close up magic/slight of hand/illusions can still be fun. I'd like to learn some magic tricks; I also would like to learn to juggle.

Before going any further down that rabbit hole that is my brain, let's return to the novel in question.

I actually really enjoyed this one. Yes, it's long, but it's fun, engaging, and a quick read. David and Agnes are adorable as a couple. Just absolutely adorable. I loved their relationships and how Dickens handled their friendship. Even some of the more annoying characters were less annoying that their equivalents in other Dickens'.

Dickens said this was his favorite, or hinted at that at any rate, and I have to agree with him. Apparently it's his most autobiographical as well. I would say read this one and Great Expectations. Don't read Oliver Twist. Seriously.