As a boy, I used to read abridged versions of Charles Dickens' works. I would finish each one in the half hour I got in the school library.
While transitioning into high school, we had to learn an abridged version of A Christmas Carol. Its fantasy elements caught me by surprise.
When I went to college, A Tale of Two Cities was in our syllabus. More than the reading of the book itself, the passionate and compelling lectures of Mr. Oommen Mathew, my English teacher, made me a die-hard Dickens fan.
Even now I remember him pointing out a student's spelling mistake without naming him (or her), "Whoever wrote Dicken's should be shot."
During a sabbatical I had taken from writing, I went on a movie-viewing spree. I spared none of the classics that were aired on television. In the months leading up to the theatrical release of Casino Royale (2006), I went on a Bond marathon. In the same year, I got a rare chance to see a 1968 musical titled Oliver!
This was the fourth time Charles Dickens had an impact on my life. I look forward to a fifth.
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