Thoughts on Reading

1.    I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Although quite tedious throughout the second stage, overall the story was a good one. The characters were very creative, I really liked the different personalities, and how they interacted; like Wemmick and Mr. Jaggers. My two favorite characters are by far Herbert and The Aged. Herbert is a very like-able character, he has more realistic problems that one could relate to, and he has a good personality. I like The Aged because he is so happy and content to do the simplest of tasks. One thing about Pip that is think most little children could sympathize with is wanting something, and not being "content" until you get it; however Pip's wants are much greater than this. I actually liked Dickens writing style very much, and how he used a lot of satire in sly ways. His long sentences and word choice did get confusing at many points in the novel. One mystery that I did somewhat solve concerns the benefactor of Pip. Many statements in the book led the reader to believe that Miss Havisham is the benefactor, but I never actually thought she was, I knew it was someone else. This deduction was used without aid of Sparknotes, or other students.
2. My reading habits for this book weren't all that great. I was usually able to keep up with the reading, but a lot of the time I read after doing all of my other homework, so the words in the long, seemingly never ending sentences melded together, making some scenes quite confusing to me. I was only behind on the reading for one section, when I couldn't get around to the reading due to other homework. This isn't to say that homework for other classes isn't as much of a priority to me as English homework, but I decided that I would be able to catch up the next day, which I successfully did. I didn't have an actual routine for reading, I just tried to get it done when I could. I usually read in my makeshift reading room, where nobody is, so it's very quiet. All in all, I would say that I understood most of the book, mainly the parts I didn't understand were scenes when they would go to the theatres for plays.