Alistair MacGregor's story about Nicholas Nickleby

Without a doubt the book that changed my life was Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I had not enjoyed school and had left at fifteen to work in a shipyard. I did like reading though, adventure stories mostly. I was about 21 when I discovered this book, a slow starter you might say.
First there was the story. Exciting. Rich in interesting and disturbing characters. Perhaps Wackford Squeers reminded me of schoolteachers I had encountered. He was an excellent introduction to what I later discovered was a Dickens' caricature- though,having said that, Squeers was not all that much of an exaggeration to me. I was a child in postwar Britain when more than one so-called teacher was no more than a belt-wielding bully.
Then there was the richness of the story. I don't suppose I thought much about it then but the scale of the story was far more than I'd encountered before. Even the journeys undertaken by characters seemed unique. They were often by stagecoach, hazardous,eventful, stories within a story. One particularly memorable one is when Nicholas travels from London to Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire. Memorable contrasts are the coldness of the school and the warmth of the Cheeryble brothers- yes Dickens could communicate a warmth in the world as well as an all too realistic coldness.
Poor Smike and wicked uncle Ralph- what a tragic connection that turned out to be. And the fun of it. The laughter- Fanny Squeers and Wackford Squeers junior. And what a name to choose for a school- Dotheboys Hall. The richness, the scale, the warmth of Dickens,especially the early Dickens. I later discovered that like all great writers Dickens was a writer who developed from novel to novel. But that was later, in my university days.
I did something special with Nicholas Nickleby,something I'd never done with a book before. I read it twice.There were so many words in it that I didn't know, had either never heard before or heard and been intimidated by. This book was so rich in language as well as stories. I wrote down every word I didn't know the meaning of. I bought a dictionary - Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (I still have it) and I looked every word up and wrote its page number and its meaning. I alphabeticalised them and put them into a hardback notebook bought specially for the purpose. I still have it, more than forty years later.
Then I read Nicholas Nickleby again, this time hoping to understand every word. I think I enjoyed it even more the second time, and no, I'm sure- hard to remember -but I'm sure there were too many to remember the meanings of them all.
But what it did for me the second time was give me a taste for language,a desire to read more Dickens, more of everything. Nicholas Nickleby inspired me to go back and do English courses at nightclasses. One thing led to another and after three years I had qualifications enough to go to university- I'd never have had the courage on my own,but I'd been lucky enough to get encouragement from teachers
Now I'm retired. Retired after 30 years as a teacher of English in Further Education.Everything has to start somewhere. Looking back I'm sure that there were many "roots" that determined my later course in life. But if there was one major spark, one book that changed my life, it was Nicholas Nickleby by Mr Charles Dickens. Thank you Mr Dickens.