A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens 

More Dickens? Your goddamn right there’s more Dickens, and this is one of his heavy hitters (though actually one of his shortest novels). A Tale of Two Cities was required reading when I was in high school. I didn’t read it then. I was a smartass and coasted through high school. 

I finally did read it during my Dickens kick in 2023, and I’m glad I did. It’s great! It’s exciting! It’s tense! It’s perfect from iconic beginning to iconic end. 

Of the Dickens works I’ve read, this is easily the darkest. Not only is the subject matter dour (beheadings and all that), but it also lacks the usual Dickens humor. There are a few oddball characters, but this is mostly a story about very serious folk dealing with dire circumstances. If this book were an instrument, it would be a pipe organ that plays only one low, sustained note. 

Because it doesn’t have the Dickens zaniness I’ve come to love, this isn’t my favorite Dickens book – but it’s certainly up there. The story is great. The characters are interesting. The descriptions are amazing. The themes of class struggle are as relevant as ever. And it helps that this is fast-paced (for Dickens) with all actions leading to the big finale. 

If you missed reading this in high school because you were too busy drawing 3D boxes in the margins of your notebook whilst pondering how Batman would handle a power outage in Jurassic Park, I recommend you revisit this, read it on your own terms, and see what all the fuss is, and was, about. 

Happy Dickens Tuesday!!!!

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