Oh, I love Jane Eyre (completely unable to type that as anything but Jayne the first time), and I hate Wuthering Heights. Jane is a great character, and so much more likeable than anyone in WH.
Hmm. It's sounds like the finest party I can imagine getting paid to go to.
Mal ,'Shindig'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Dana - Nov 08, 2006 9:59:01 am PST #1488 of 28151
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Atropa - Nov 08, 2006 10:01:00 am PST #1489 of 28151
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Jilli, I have to know what you think of Jane Eyre when you're done. I personally love it. I think it is much different from Wuthering Heights, so I hope hating the latter doesn't ruin your enjoyment of the former.
I may eventually re-read Wuthering Heights to give it another try. While I say I've read it, I've actually skimmed it. My main problem with it is that it gave me the overwhelming urge to slap both Cathy and Heathcliff.
I suspect that if I go back and re-read Wuthering Heights with the mindset that it's also a comedy/parody of Gothic novel conventions, I'd probably enjoy it a lot more.
Atropa - Nov 08, 2006 10:02:48 am PST #1490 of 28151
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I saw that in a bookstore the other day, Jilli!
I admit, it was Dame Darcy's art that sold me on it. She's so deliciously loopy and over-the-top Gothic Victorian.
sarameg - Nov 08, 2006 10:03:33 am PST #1491 of 28151
My main problem with it is that it gave me the overwhelming urge to slap both Cathy and Heathcliff.
From what I recall, that's pretty much why I didn't like it. As Dana says, Jane's a great character.
sj - Nov 08, 2006 10:04:14 am PST #1492 of 28151
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I having been eyeing that edition of Jane Eyre for a while. I think I have 3 copies of the book already, what's one more..
Atropa - Nov 08, 2006 10:07:58 am PST #1493 of 28151
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I having been eyeing that edition of Jane Eyre for a while. I think I have 3 copies of the book already, what's one more..
Ha! That's like me and editions of Dracula. (I haven't picked up the new edition that's illustrated by Jae Lee, because I wasn't *that* in love with the art. Of course, if a remaindered copy turns up at the local Half-Price Books, I may change my mind ...)
shrift - Nov 08, 2006 10:10:29 am PST #1494 of 28151
"You can't put a price on the joy of not giving a shit." -Zenkitty
I love Jane Eyre.
My main problem with it is that it gave me the overwhelming urge to slap both Cathy and Heathcliff.
I don't know that characters like Cathy and Heathcliff improve with age and perspective
sj - Nov 08, 2006 10:12:54 am PST #1495 of 28151
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Ha! That's like me and editions of Dracula. (I haven't picked up the new edition that's illustrated by Jae Lee, because I wasn't *that* in love with the art. Of course, if a remaindered copy turns up at the local Half-Price Books, I may change my mind ...)
My worst is Middlemarch. Everytime I see a pretty, old edition, I have to have it. Plus, I have about 3 paperback copies.
JZ - Nov 08, 2006 10:14:03 am PST #1496 of 28151
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Yay Jilli! I'm in the middle of re-re-re-reading Jane Eyre right now (illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg; sadly, none of his Eyre illustrations are Googleable), and loving it (first read it at 10, the age Jane is when it opens, and I still think of Jane as one of my oldest friends). In my current reading, Mr. Rochester has just been rescued from a suspicious fire in his bedroom. Can't wait for... well, everything that comes after. All of it.
It's very, very different from Wuthering Heights (Charlotte and Emily were, after all, rather different writers and different persons, or at least as different as two extremely close siblings in a self-contained family in an isolated region of a small country can be).
Kathy A - Nov 08, 2006 10:31:05 am PST #1497 of 28151
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
If you end up liking Jane Eyre, Jilli, read The Eyre Affair after that. Very fun book on its own, but it adds a lot to have read JE, or at least be familiar with it.
My "want to smack the lead character upside the head for being a dolt" book is Tess of the D'Ubervilles. I literally threw the book across my dorm room in disgust with her when I had to read it for my Victorian Lit class.