So, in order to take part in the Cornflower Book Group for April 2015 I committed myself to reading Jane Eyre, an undoubted classic by Charlotte Bronte which I had never read before. I had about 10 weeks to read it, and I dragged my feet dreadfully, partly for good reasons and partly because, as I admitted to myself earlier this weekend, I just didn’t want to.
So, it is officially abandoned after only 4 chapters.
I was very happy to make that decision but I started to wonder why this was, and I have come up with what appears to be a slightly uncomfortable truth – women’s writing from the 19th century *whispers* just doesn’t appeal.
Now I don’t mean all women – I’ve read and enjoyed the two other Bronte sisters, and I’ve read Charlotte Perkins Gilman and if we throw in children’s books then Louisa May Alcott and Susan Coolidge spring to mind as great favourites. And I don’t think it’s an aversion to pre-20th century works – I’ve read Dickens & Collins, Tolstoy & Trollope, amongst others. It’s just….
Well I’m not sure what it just is, but I have a confession to make; more than one actually:
- I just wanted to slap Jane Eyre, and I have tried and failed to get very far with Villette or Shirley (sorry Charlotte, but you’re a bit of a prig)
- I have tried really hard with Jane Austen, but the only one of her novels I came close to liking was Northanger Abbey, and I’ve only ever managed to finish Emma and Mansfield Park, and both were a bit of a struggle. I just don’t like Austen and I get puzzled by the adoration she receives
- I abandoned both Ruth and Cranford very early on so that’s it for Mrs Gaskell
- I have tried to read Middlemarch twice and failed both times, ditto The Mill on the Floss (sorry George Eliot); Middlemarch is the one I’m most disappointed with myself for not finishing
I’m not sure it evens things out, but I have never got on with Thomas Hardy either.
So, I’m going to admit that when it comes to the classics I have a bit of a blind spot, and I’ll just have to learn to live with the shame 🙂
Bride of the Book God 
7 comments
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April 10, 2015 at 12:34 am
lynnsbooks
Well, I think it’s good that you know your own mind. I’ve read a good deal of classics – but when I was a lot younger and purely because they were readily available. It could have been a completely different story if my dad had had a different collection!
And, these days, I really don’t think it’s worth while continuing to read a book that you’re not enjoying because I find it just makes you want to stop reading completely – or makes you resentful somehow.
Lynn 😀
April 10, 2015 at 9:54 am
brideofthebookgod
I think as I’ve got older I’ve become better at not only recognising my own tastes but not feeling guilty about stopping a book I’m not enjoying. But I’ve always been a bit nervous about the classics thing because of the prevailing view (especially when I was a young woman) that Austen and the Brontes are authors one ought to like.
April 10, 2015 at 5:16 am
Anne Simonot
I love Jane Eyre, but she is a bit of a prig, I’m afraid. I also enjoy Austen and Anne Bronte. But everyone’s different and we all have our own tastes! I have to agree with you on Eliot (Middlemarch — yawnnn) and Thomas Hardy (depressing, oh so depressing).
April 10, 2015 at 9:55 am
brideofthebookgod
Thanks Anne. Yes, the word that always comes to mind with Hardy is grim 🙂
April 11, 2015 at 9:40 am
Anne Simonot
Lol… Yes, grim is the right word. Glad I’m not the only one!
April 10, 2015 at 3:22 pm
Jenny @ Reading the End
That’s okay! No book is for everybody! I love Jane Eyre with a fierce and abiding devotion, but if it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
April 10, 2015 at 3:55 pm
brideofthebookgod
Thanks Jenny, and it hasn’t stopped me enjoying your posts on Villette. Maybe I just have to learn to enjoy Charlotte by proxy 😀