O how mighty we humans tend to think of ourselves, we restless, willful creatures with such hunger that are hard to be pacified! Struggled through every fear, dissected even what we revered, all in the name of our thirsts! For them we’ve come so far that the great shroud of the sea is being largely unveiled—but never ever absolutely, and the ones who want to triumph over nature will find themselves in Ahab’s ending—for I believe there definitely exists a being like the white whale that is Moby Dick of the secret sea!

Melville distorted the fact that sperm whales are not the largest of all whales in order to bring more awe to Moby Dick, but his technique didn’t work with me. What he had refused to admit made his epic tale closer to a complete lie. Ishmael’s undeniable truth became hyperboles, and more than a few times this reduced my enjoyment of the entire book immensely.

The 2nd novel by Dickens that I’ve read. I blamed it on my own incompetence for all complicated sentences that I encountered. For once I understood them, I was awestruck by how vivid Dickens’ mere proses were to my mind. The opening scene was the most dramatic, most splendid, and the grandiosest of every book I’ve ever read. Even if the ending was hinted and became obvious once Sydney Carton opened himself to Lucie Manette, Dickens managed to captivate me in his storytelling and cinematographic writing until the end. Oh, and how delightful were the satires and metaphors! I hope I would have enough time to read all other works of Dickens before I die.

Favorite character: Sydney Carton—because who could not? He will always stay at the top among most memorable characters on my list.

A simple plot but which’s executed in its most superior extent. Intensely, vividly, enthrallingly and masterfully. I had a hard time separating myself from the book. Raskolnikov’s mind was misdirected in certain ways. A muddled yarn ball of paradox his character was, but he had courage and the most kind and loving heart which was what made his struggle compelling to me. When a kind person killed other for his own cause, he also became his own executioner. And in spite of his crime, he would be sure to conjure the most sympathy from those that benefited from his honest love and also honestly loved him, but silly Raskolnikov didn’t know that.

There was also such a colorful cast in such a story that was so dark. Dostoevsky is a powerful wizard of characterization.

Favorite character: Sonya Semyonovna Marmeladov