Why we still need to read Dickens Walk into any bookstore, and you can hardly avoid “bumping into” Charles Dickens. Many of Dickens ‘s works still sell well today. 1 _____As someone who teaches Dickens, the question why we still read him is often in my mind. 2 _____One day nearly 10 years ago, however, when I was giving a lecture, I was telling the students that for Victorian readers, Dickens's writing was a “tune-in-next-week" type of thing that generated crazes. 3 _____“But why should we still read this stuff?" the student asked. The answer I gave was only acceptable, " Because he teaches you how to think," I said. The question annoyed me for years, and for years I told myself answers, but never with complete satisfaction. We read Dickens because he is not just a man of his own times, but also a man for our times. We read Dickens because we can learn from the experiences of his characters almost as easily as we can learn from our own experiences. 4 _____But these are not exactly the reasons why I read Dickens. My search for an answer continued until one day a text message came from a student of mine. “We still read Dickens’s novels”, she wrote, “because they tell us why we are what we are.” Simple as it was, that's the explanation I had sought for years. Dickens shines a light on who we are during the best of times and worst of times. 5 _____If you have time, go to pick up one of his many novels, read it and enjoy what it has to tell you about yourself. A. Then a hand shot up. B. And they are placed on outstanding shelves. C.I know that wasn't really the reason. D.I already know who it is I'll meet in those novels. E.That's why we still need to read him today. F.That question was never more troubling. G.These are all wonderful reasons to read Dickens.