Trollope and James

I feel I haven't got any time now to reread as there is so much new stuff around. All right perhaps not as great as the greats but surely they must be given a chance. And i feel there are only so many years left too me. The only rereads I can enjoy are Jane Austen and oddly Cranford. Hardy makes me suicidal too.

Don't think I'll ever bother with these old books again though.

Love the Mill on the Floss.

Well, did when I read it years ago.

Both great novels, Tegan though The Mill is less complex than Middlemarch which, I would agree, is too complex for A-level study. I liken it to a very complicated, inter-linked pattern which eventually makes sense at the end. I love it - there was a pretty good attempt to televise it some time ago - a challenging adaptation, I would think.

Oh blimey; having yet another senior moment; it's The Mill on the Floss that I've been trying to read for years. Does that mean I have to read both now ....

Middlemarch was on my A level English text and I can remember at 16 thinking what an unsuitable book it was for 16 - 18 year olds. It is primarily a study of marriages from Dorothea and Casaubon, her sister's marriage, Lydgate and Rosamund Vincy, the elder Vincys, Bulstrodes and several others. At 16 I was aware that I did not have enough experience to understand the book other than in a most superficial way.

Twenty years later I came back to it and was pleased to discover my teenage judgement was correct. As an adult it is a riveting read, the subtle interplay of how a range of different marriages work, the balance of power within them and the way individuals in a couple will manipulate their partner to achieve their aims was spell binding.

j; mine has probably been ongoing for a decade. Tell you what, I'll take it with me when I go on me hols and I'll read it for both of us !

Well, I'm NOT gonna try again! No way!!!

Anyone read 'Death comes to pemberley'? PD James follow on from Pride and prejudice? I was up in Yorkshire recently and they were filming this at 'Castle Howard'

I've read Middlemarch at least twice as well. Great book.

anno the poems are beautiful, as is all of T H's work. But so sad.

Tegan I stuck at Middlemarch on and off for two years before giving up.

Oh lord bags perish the thought.
The Way we Live Now was my favourite Trollope.
Great TV adaptation.

From this day on I'm blaming Trollope for people adopting 'less' where 'fewer' is correct and 'less' is incorrect. "No less than five of the twelve..." Tut, tut!

Love Hardy's poetry, 'Beeny Cliff' is one of my favourite poems. I have never succeeded in reading any of his novels. Thoughts of suicide (mine) occur far too soon when attempting any of them.

Trollope I love. I am re reading the Barchester novels, but on my Kindle. The way a Kindle forces you to read every sentence, every word means that I am reading those boring off-piste bits and author interjections that I slid over before and realising now how key they are in fleshing out characters and highlighting plots. His previously interminable detailed description of Mr Slope in Barchester Towers is a triumph of characterisation when actually read in full.

I have recently read the Palliser novels and watched the mid 70s serialisation of them, which does not appear dated and is an excellent adaption of the books.

In my opinion his best novel is The Belton Estate. I would almost describe it as a feminist novel featuring a heroine trying to make her own decisions and shape her own life when all the cards, including the financial cards, are held by men.

I have been reading Jane Austen's novels for 60 years. She writes such deceptively simple plots but she builds them up in wafer thin layers like millefeuille pastry and every time I read her it is like reading another novel because I seem to land on a different layer and read a different novel.

I used to live in the part of Cornwall where Hardy met his first wife, and would walk along the Valency valley knowing that I was retreading his footseps. I love Tess of the D'Urbevilles, and also Jude the Obscure [[especially as, at one time in my life I did feel very deeply for a second cousin of mine who I'd never met before, so understood a lot of the emotions thrown around in the book]. However, I'm with j on this one, as I can't seem to read heavy stuff as I get older, but hope that when I retire I may be able to get my head round heavier stuff again [I've never read James or Thackeray]. And I've yet to finish Middlemarch .

J08 Hardy regarded himself as a poet who wrote novels for a living. I enjoyed the poems he wrote after the death of his first wife, Emma from whom he had been long estranged. They are full of nostalgia but I don't find them depressing.

Nobody should read Hardy if they want cheering up! My daughter is always suggesting new writers to me, including African or Asian writers. I have to admit that I tend to stick to the tried and tested English classics but when I go on holiday I often find a book I enjoy that somebody has left behind.
I found 'I know why the caged bird sings' by Maya Angelou very moving, even though it also filled me with rage.

And Donna Leon

And Anne Mcaffry

And Mercedes Lackey.

Adore Jane Austen!

Hate Hardy. Read Tess when I was young, made me depressed.

Anyone tried Thomas Hardy' s poems? The sure road to misery!

Jude the Obscure was the only one of TH' s that I couldn't finish. Tried several times.

I know Greatnan. I agree with really about Jane Austen. It's just so hard to find time for all of the old and the new. Especially since Grannsnet was invented!