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LilyM
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Oh I can’t claim to like every chapter he’s written (not close) but there are flashes of brilliance here and there.
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deb1
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I enjoy Dickens a lot but I admit his writing style can be challanging. Little Dorrit and Hard Times are some of my favorite novels of his.
Did you know that he left his wife and the mother of several of his children for a young actress?
Okay, that is tabloid type of gossip but it is true.
By the way, it helps when reading Dickens, to skim the sections that get boring. I know that sounds like cheating but it does make the novel more enjoyable.
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deb1
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I read David Copperfield in the ninth grade and it was my first introduction to Dickens. I like him a lot, but occasionally I find myself thinking that beneath all his humor there is some darkness. There really was a lot of poverty and suffering in the 1800’s. A lot of writers from that period tend to write about the middle class or upper classes. Dickens wrote sympathetically about all classes of people.Oh Pride and Prejudice for me - must have read it at least half a dozen times apart from having studied it in high school.
And I have to say David Copperfield as well - love the discussion of David’s growing up and the very funny description of the ins and outs of his love life
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deb1
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My opinion on why Jane is so enjoyable is that the character could be any woman. She is not beautiful nor is she brillant. She is an underdog, not loved by her family and forced to find her own way in life. She always does what she believes is right even if doing so is difficult. Its hard not to admire a Jane Eyre.
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Jason_Hurd
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Please do give David Copperfield another try, lizaanne. I know it starts out slow and seems to go nowhere much, but believe me, once he arrives at Aunt Betsey Trotwood’s cottage on the white cliffs of Dover, things pick up mightily and your interest is piqued. I bet if you can make it that far, you’ll be in for the duration.I’ve tried so hard to get through David Copperfield, but for some reason I just can’t. I’m actually looking at it right now in my book shelf in my office.I must give it another try. I did enjoy what I had been able to read, but maybe I just got distracted with life or something.
Too many books, not enough life.
~Liza
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a_priori
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I’m a guy and I love Jane Austen. My favorite in this vein is actually Frances Hodgson Burnett who came a bit later. She wrote “A Little Princess”. Great stuff, even for the guys…
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LilyM
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Oh a definite dark edge. He had a really rough David-Copperfield-type childhood himself, so he felt strongly about such issues and really hammered the point home in his writing.
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deb1
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We are used to modern novels in which the action begins almost from page one. Novels of long ago took their time getting to the point. If you go into such novels with the understanding that its a slower read then you will enjoy the experience more.
I like to write and sometimes I will read advice given to writers. Modern writers are told to start novels in the middle of action. To get the story moving quickly from page one.
If Jane Eyre was written today, we would only know her background and family life through flashbacks. The novel would start with her at Rochester’s mansion.
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Karen1996
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Deb, it may have already been mentioned, but I think you would like the new book, The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield. It’s full of melancholy, lost siblings, a dusty old bookstore, a huge estate on the moors, wierd twins, unspeakable family history, a kindly gardener, a devestating fire, etc. It doesn’t start out full of action as other modern novels, and I think it’s sort of an homage to novels like Jane Eyre, which I haven’t read yet, but bought a copy after reading The Thirteenth Tale.
I like Daphne du Maurier. Rebecca is one of my favorite books.
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lizaanne
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Ok - I will - I promise I will pick it back up as soon as I’m done with the rest of the Narnia series that my DH keeps trying to get me to read.
I think that now that I’ve been to England it might make it more interesting as well. ------yes, trying to talk myself into it, I know…hehehe
~Liza
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lizaanne
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I think you are probably right. I’m very much like Jane, I feel plain (though DH insists I’m beautiful), and I’ve always been very head strong and committed to doing what I know is right, in spite of what others might think. How many times has my Dad told me that he never thought that I was making a good decision about something when it only turned out nothing but positive, I can’t begin to count.
So, yes, I believe that Jane is so appealing because we can all see ourselves in her eyes. Her struggle to be loved, and to be herself, no matter the cost.
…resisting the urge to read it again for the zillionth time…
~Liza
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deb1
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Last night I dreamed of Manderly…(the first line from the book) I also like Rebecca. The main character is sort of like Jane Eyre in that she is not, compared to her hubby’s deceased wife, beautiful.
I will try The Thireenth Tale.I’m an avid reader so I like lots of suggestions.
If we are going to get out of the 1800’s then my favorite novel is Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe(different writer then Tom Wolfe). But then again, as a native of NC, its difficult for me not to like a fellow North Carolina native.
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mercygate
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These are all my DH’s favorite “other” women. But George Eliot has to go up close to the top of the list.A lot of women, myself included, like Jane Austen. But there are some lesser known female authors from her time up until the late 1800’s who are very enjoyable to read. I thought that I would write a list for anyone who would like to discover some really good, but not well known female authors.
Please add to the list. I love to read, especially classical literature.
By the way, I have nothing against male writers-I love Tolstoy, Dickens and Wilkie Collins. I just thought that those who liked Austen might like a few additional female fictional authors
Elizabeth Gaskel I read a book by her entitled *North and South. *It is an excellent book-all these books are very good- and I believe that this book was portrayed on Masterpiece Theater.
Francies Burney Thus far my favorite author and guess what? Jane Austen liked her too. Burney was married to a Catholic and she is more sympathetic toward Catholics then some other writers of the time period.
Ann Radcliffe Many of her novels have what would be considered cliché’s today; the wet, thundery night, eerie castles, possible ghosts, but that is because this lady helped invent such clichés. Just be aware when you read these books that the women have an annoying habit of fainting.
**Marie Edgeworth **I recently finished reading Belinda(1801) Another good book
Margaret Oliphant Currently I am reading a book entitled Hester by this woman. It is an interesting read because one of the characters, Catherine Vernon-a woman, of course- used to run a successful bank! Wait, I thought women couldn’t do these things in the 1800s? Apparently they could in Oliphant’s novels. She also wrote a very entertaining book that is more humorous then Hester. That book is Miss Marjobanks
Please add to my list. I am always on the look out for different books to read, especially books from before the 1900’s.
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deb1
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I can’t wait to share this book with my daughters.
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puzzleannie
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well I just finished watching the Masterpiece theater version of Jane Eyre that we tivoed. Jane was great. Rochester was too pretty, not craggy enough, just moody, no other personality traits. fairly true to the book, very few anachronisms, digression in making the minor characters at the house party do and say more than they did in the book. most versions drop the part about the gypsy which is IMO a vital plot link, this one apparently forgets that Rochester himself played the gypsy, and Jane is not nearly as outraged at his trick as she should be. all in all a passable production, had a lot more of the dreaminess of Jane’s imagination than most other film versions.
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maria29
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I just finished reading some of these and they are superb…who know she could write gothic thrillers so well
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lak611
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I’m surprised that you never read A Tale of Two Cities** in school. It seems like just about everyone is forced to read that one! My parents were, and so was I. I actually liked it, though. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
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Jason_Hurd
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I’m always surprised by people who don’t like Dickens(and there are a lot of you out there!). I guess it’s just because I have always found him one of the most accessible of authors. His affection for his characters always comes through, even for the evil ones. The humanity and compassion of his novels moves me greatly. Is it perhaps the archaic language that bothers modern-day readers?
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Contarini
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I find it hard to imagine not liking Dickens either. I grew up on him, so to speak (in fact he had a very bad influence on my writing style for a while–he’s not a good writer to try to imitate!). One advantage I have is that in my family we read Dickens the way he was meant to be read–aloud. He always wanted to be a dramatist and the novels work much better in performance than simply on the page (they’re still enjoyable that way, but the melodramatic parts seem less ridiculous aloud).
Edwin
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LilyM
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Absolutely - he himself went on tours and apparently read his own work aloud brilliantly and gave quite the dramatic performance while doing so.
Don’t forget most if not all of his novels actually were published in serial form in magazines of the time - they were their equivalent of modern-day soapies. Hence the slightly overwhelming effect when you read from beginning to end
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