>>>Surely this forum needs a diversion, and maybe even an opportunity to pick up a good tip. Michel was kind enough to create this section for us and we hardly use it. What are you reading these days?
>>>
>>>This is posed as a straight question, not an invitation to impress everyone with how refined your tastes are. Personally I read a wide range of authors, from potboilers to writers who are as good as it gets. To prove the point, the book of the moment here is "The October List" by Jeffrey Deaver. Stylistically it is a steaming pot of poo. But I keep reading to see how it turns out.
>>
>>I'm currently working my way through Dickens - stuff I haven't read as a kid.
>>David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Bleak House, Tale of Two Cities down. On 'Our MutualFriend' at the moment.
>
>I ran through Dickens last year, Viv.
>It was a reminder of how great he was.
>Tale of Two Cities is on my top ten list.

I love some of the larger-than-life characters but sometimes the Victorian moralising, although probably justified at the time, can be a little, to say the least, maudlin/sentimental. I'm reminded of Oscar Wilde : "You would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the death of Little Nell" :-}