Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb.

Nothing beats Jane Eyre in my opinion, but I did really enjoy The Tenant of Wildfell Hall!

I enjoyed them a lot, as a mid 30s person whose favorite books are Jane Eyre, Persuasion, and Les Miserables. It could be that they just didn’t click for some people, but I didn’t find them badly written.

*3 hour

Another author who does trauma like crazy but with better prose and without all the smut is Kristin Hannah, in case anyone is looking.

Wives and Daughters is fantastic, and the miniseries is excellent as well. It was written and produced by the same team as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice and has a top notch cast.

I’m sorry to say it’s been a few years since I’ve read North and South so I don’t have talking points ready in my head. I do remember finding her take on the Industrial Revolution interesting, especially her unwillingness to praise or censor either side.

I love Elizabeth Gaskell!

I didn’t find either book unreadable but I didn’t really care for Ove or Eleanor.

Except you can’t actually use 3.5 except as a footnote to the star rating you actually give a book.

Yes, I think it needs to be remembered that a lot of older literature was written for the average person to read. I can see people reading something like Monte Cristo today and gossiping about what the next installment will bring.

This sounds amazing. I love Susan Wise Bauer.

The book club I’m currently in is with people who live in my neighborhood. We do spend at least half of the time talking about the book, depending on how remarkable it was. There’s also food and drink and bonding, because that’s a secondary goal of our meetings.

I would say anything goes. I’m a nerd and I’d love it if someone brought notes to our meeting, but unfortunately most of our books are not that deep. We choose 6 genres for the next six months and then vote for books within each genre. Verity this month made my eyes bleed, so I’m following up on my own with Les Miserables.

I would love to have a book club with fans of literature, but I’ll have to settle for online for now.

Oh gosh. If you think the 2005 version is amazing, it’s no wonder you didn’t like the book.