The Bronte sisters

[KAY]

i read charlotte brontes "Jane Ayre" and emily Brontes wuthering heights and have now started charlottes vilette but am finding it hard going. i need to be in a room of absolute silence and concentrate on what is written. anyone else read it or found it difficult?

[Purple Poppy]

I haven't read Villette, although I have read many of her sisters' works. The prose is so long winded sometimes, that if you are not careful you get lost in the sentence LOL. I usually have soft classical music in the background for difficult reads.

 

Pp

[Kell]

I've not yet read any of the Bronte sisters' work, but I have The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre on my shelf, waiting to be read for my Classics Challenge. I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of Vilette...

[Polka Dot Rock]

Jane Eyre is definitely one of my favourite books, as is Wuthering Heights. I have Villette on my TBR shelves - I've heard mixed opinion on it: it's meant to be very melancholic, bordering on depressing! But I still really want to read it ('Depressing' has never put me off a book, unless someone say's "this is so awful, it made me depressed knowing someone had bothered to write it" )

[Icecream]

I love the Bronte sisters. Howarth is not too far from where I live, and I have been there a lot. I went round the museum a couple of years ago and found their life stories amazing. I am yet to read their books though. I know I have Jane Eyre upstairs.

[JudyB]

i read charlotte brontes "Jane Ayre" and emily Brontes wuthering heights and have now started charlottes vilette but am finding it hard going. i need to be in a room of absolute silence and concentrate on what is written. anyone else read it or found it difficult?

 

 

I love the Brontes having read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - I started Villette at the beginning of the year and gave up on p130 - not sure if my mind was on it properly or whether it just didn't grip me. It's supposed to be very gothic and I was enjoying initially so I'd like to give it another try some time when I can give it the attention it probably deserves.

[Fay]

You know, I have not read a single Bronte book since studying them. I think that studying them took me away from the real story,I was too busy searching for symbology and such. I will read them again and hopefully loose myself in the story.

[princessponti]

I haven't read Villette but I do struggle with the classics. I love reading them, but I do find the language hard going. I really need the space to concentrate, not books to read on tube journeys! - so I can sympathise with you! I takes me a good half hour of really quiet, uninterupted reading to get into the flow of the language before I can really take anything in!

[Moonchild]

I love the Brontes and have read quite a few of them with loads more in my TBR pile. Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are probably my favourites.

 

Villette is in my TBR pile and I hope to read it before the end of the year.

 

They can take a little more concentration than other books at times but I usually find once I start getting into it they get much easier, especially if I read a few one after the other.

[Kell]

I've started reading Jane Eyre, but I'm having a bit of difficulty - only because the print in my copy is rather small though! I'm not quite 100 pages in at this point, but I'm enjoying it so far. Jane seems to be a character with whom I can identify and sympathise without pitying...

[Purple Poppy]

Moonchild said...

They can take a little more concentration than other books at times but I usually find once I start getting into it they get much easier, especially if I read a few one after the other.

 

I agree. It's the same when reading Shakespeare or Chaucer. Once you get into it, there isn't a problem, but learning how to 'think' the language can be a bit of a problem for people who have not read any before. Well worth persevering though.

 

Pp

[Child.of.God.1989]

I have only read Jane Eyre by Charlotte. That one I've read twice, though, when I was thirteen for a book report and then again a couple of years later for fun. As Mary Riso points out in her book Heroines, the character of Jane is just so wonderful to watch: she's humble but unflinching in her morals, and inwardly so passionate though she stays quiet until you provoke her. I like having such a realistic example of finally becoming able to forgive and ask forgiveness, no matter how proud you were before.

Good thing Jane's life taught Mr. Rochester that, too!

 

 

Anyway, I've been told by my cousin and Echo that Wuthering Heights is probably the next best one, so I'll go for that next.

 

Later I will do a bit of research on the Bronte sisters' background, who was the oldest, et cetera, which I'm sure will help us understand their books even better. How do you guys see them as unique from each other? What do they have in common?

[Echo]

I believe that Charlotte was the eldest, and Anne was the youngest. Of all three, I prefer Charlotte, and Shirley is my favorite of her books.

[kay_loves_purple]

Ooooh, I love Vilette, for some reason it's one of my favorite books (despite the ending which I didn't quite like). I have read it so many times I have lost track, although I do remember it being a bit hard to read the first time around.

 

I love all Bronte's books actually, having read them all (the only one I didn't like was Emily's Wuthering Heights, as to me both Catherine and Heathcliff seemed simply too evil for me to like -- then again, that was years ago, who knows how I'd see it all were I to re-read now).

 

Actually, there is one more I remember nothing about (I mean, I don't even remember if I read it or not) it's Jane Eyre (I've seen all these movies they made after the book and I even had a record with the radio play when I was a kid so I do know all about the story and have known it ever since I can remember, which makes it harder for me to realize whether I have actually read the book or not). Anyway, that is about to change soon as I do have Jane Eyre on my TBR list Nevertheless, I can say for certain that I love that book too, as I do know almost everything there is to know about the story and I do love it (plus the Bronte's writing style so it's a sure thing )

[Nollaig]

The only Bronte book I've read IS Wuthering Heights haha, and its possibly my favourite book of all time.

 

Yeah, its dark and dreary and Heathcliff's evil and Catherine has her moments, but its just so wonderfully written, and the ultimate point is that of connected spirits surviving everything - I don't really read it as a love story since I studied it twice in school (second level and third level) - what Cathy and Heathcliff have is something so much more than mere mortal love! Its wonderful!

 

Best quote: ' I cannot express it, but surely you and every body have a notion that there is - or should be - an existence of yours beyond yourself? What were the use of my creation, if it were entirely contained here?'

 

 

There are so many other quotes I could ramble about, but that one for me is the heart and soul of the book.

[kay_loves_purple]

Wow, interesting!

 

I definitely have to re-read it!

 

I almost envy you people who got to study the great English classics in school. The are so much more interesting than my national great classics I was saddled with in my younger days.

[Nollaig]

I'm going to be doing probably another 8-10 classics this semester in college =D

 

Wuthering Heights was great for me though because I first read it when I was about 14 and loved it. Then I studied it at 17 and saw it ina new light. Then I studied it again in university at 19 and saw it in another way again. Wonderful.

[kitty_kitty]

I love Jane Eyre and i am going to reading Wuthering Heights soon. I grew up around Haworth.

 

My dad hates the book due to the fact that he has had to rescue a couple of people dressed up in cloaks having a 'Cathy' moment from the Moors!!!!

[Nollaig]

My dad hates the book due to the fact that he has had to rescue a couple of people dressed up in cloaks having a 'Cathy' moment from the Moors!!!!

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA thats awesome!!!! Oh your poor dad!!! Crazy people!

[kernow_reader]

My dad hates the book due to the fact that he has had to rescue a couple of people dressed up in cloaks having a 'Cathy' moment from the Moors!!!!

 

That's hilarious but I can see people's attraction to "being Cathy". . or can I?

 

My favourite Bronte book and sister is Anne's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall.

[Nollaig]

'I'm sorry, she was having a Cathy moment.'

 

Hehe. I can see the attraction, totally. Its my favourite book, I adore Heathcliff and Cathy and the relationship between them.

[BookBee8]

I have Wuthering Heights on my wishlist as from what I've heard, it's one of those books you should definitely read.

[Nollaig]

Everyone should read it, yes.

 

And note when you do - contrary to popular belief, it is not a love story. It is so very much more than that.

[s.gal83]

I love a book by her. I forget the title of that book. It is about this widow who everyone kind of despise. But a guy, his name is gilbert, I think, fall in love with her.

[s.gal83]

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. That is the title of the book by Anne Bronte which I like.