Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Martin Barnaby Rudge Chuzzlewit


Happy, happy, happiest of 195th birthdays to Charles John Huffman Dickens!!


Y'know just Monday I was scouring the internet, really digging for an interesting celeb birthday. I was going to call my sis to wish her a happy birthday (she just turned 34..HA HA!) and , additionally, I was going to regale her with some fascinating also-born-on-your-birthday trivia. But alas, the only interesting person born on Feb 5th -EVER-- is my own sister. But Feb 7th... now that has terrific famous biday pickin's!! Charlie Dickens , for one. Also you've got James Spader and LAURA INGALLS WILDER. Y'know I never actually read any of the Little House books, but still I feel like I grew up with Laura Ingalls reincarnated in a syndicated Melissa Gilbert. So, yeah, understandably, I feel very close to her. And she gets major cool points for marrying a dude named Almonzo. Even if Mary's blind hubby was cuter...

But back to Mr Dickens... I did pick him as the birthday celeb du jour after all. What I like about him is the crazy ass names he gives his characters...Martin Chuzzlewit, Mr Muddlebrains, Nicodemus Boffin, and the like. That last one (Boffin) is from Our Mutual Friend a tale that I recently became smitten with. Granted, I became smitten with the BBC miniseries of it, but I did buy the actual novel on a Dartmouth Book store spending spree a coupla weekends ago. So I shall read that soon and hopefully that will please me &inspire me to procure & read even MORE Dickens, after which I'll be able to say something more substantially praiseworthy about the good gentleman, besides just " I dig them kooky names he comes up with". Maybe I will revisit my Dickens birthday salute after I finish reading Our Mutual Friend. You know I DID read A Tale of Two Cities once, but that was waaaaay back in high school and that's all a hazy blur.

No comments: