strangecs

I was forced to read this in high school. For the longest time, I thought I would never read classic lit, but as soon as I put this down, I picked up Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. (Followed by Moby Dick and Anna Karanina.) Anybody else read this? I know there is a movie by the same name, yet (like so many other novel-based films) it was nowhere near as good.

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elizabeth_472

I just finished Jane Eyre and loved it! One of the best books I have ever read. I even loved the few parts that were kind of boring! Jane Eyre is a FANTASTIC book! I am still amazed by what I read. I started watching the 2006 miniseries last night and am going to finish it tonight! How exciting!

I have been thinking about reading Moby Dick. What exactly is it about?

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A bit of advice for my fellow human beings: Read Jane Eyre!

strangecs

Well, it's a story about a man's journey as a whaler who gets caught up in the hunt for a paticular sperm whale, Moby Dick. It was a good read for me, but my only problem was that it took a long while before I actually got into it. The first five chapters gave me a headache, but I did enjoy it in the end. I recommend the unabridged version (as with all classics).

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The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
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elizabeth_472

Okay, thanks. Yeah, my friend read the abridged version of Jane Eyre, but she didn't know it was abridged until after she was finished.

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A bit of advice for my fellow human beings: Read Jane Eyre!

RebelGoddess

The abridged version of Jane Eyre is still good. It cuts out the first ten chapters in which we see Jane growing up.

While her childhood and adolescence do provide great backstory and insight into who Jane is as a person, they're not vital to enjoying the book.

I've read both versions and found each just as good.

StrangeCS I've both read the novel and seen the movie of the Count of Monte Cristo and I have to agree with what you've heard. The movie does not do the book justice. As a stand alone, the movie can be considered fairly decent, but if you watch it with any intimate knowledge of the book, you'll be sorely dissapointed.

I've never read Moby Dick or Anna Karenina (though I do want to read the latter), so I can't really comment on those.

But what I can say, to sum up this post that is quickly becoming the boring ramblings of a writer hopeful, is that if you love Jane Eyre, you'll ADORE the first novel of my favorite author, Jasper Fforde (yes, with TWO Fs).

It's called:

The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

(Hopefully this link will work - HTML and I are not good friends)

[link]http://www.amazon.com/Eyre-Affair-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0142001805/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3498095-7724840?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182953780&sr=1-1[/link]

If you love Jane Eyre you'll defintely get a kick out of this fantastically written novel.

And you'll love it even more if you've read (though knowledge of them is not necessary to enjoy the book) books such as Martin Chuzzlewit, Brahm Stocker's Dracula, and anything by Shakespeare.

I'll stop peddling Jasper Fforde's books now, lol. *blush*

Racheal

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Olly Buckle

Read Jane Austen who I found to have a wicked sense of humor, which I did not expect, and so was encouraged to try this. Thought it was terrible, over long sentimental slush with a plot that made me wince, that stuff about running away, leaving the coach at random , walking across a moor, finding a house and it being her long lost relatives who live there, how totally ridiculous is that. On the other hand I kept getting women who saw me reading it saying "Oh that was my favourite book ever" , No accounting for taste but if anyone asked I would say read Austen, she is wonderful, forget Bronte , she's rubbish.

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Mira

Really love the book Jane Eyre (In fact, I am writing a paper on it for school). Anyone who could recommend any other books that someone who likes this book might enjoy?

elizabeth_472

I recommend Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

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A bit of advice for my fellow human beings: Read Jane Eyre!

superchase32

Jane Eyre is a wonderful novel. A total classic. I loved the beggining with Helen Burns, Mrs Reed, Miss Temple and everything. It is a long but well worth book wich teaches you a lot from life.

Soph

'Jane Eyre' is a wonderful novel - one of my favourites. The ending is just heart-wrenching! Mr Rochester is also one of my favourite male heroes (along with Mr Darcy of course).

lilacstarflower

I love Mr Rochester - he has a sense of humor and seems more life-like than Darcy (even though I am an Austen fan). I thought Mr Rochester was not in the novel enough. Towards the end I found myself putting the book down quite a lot. Although I believe the encounter with St John and co was probably needed to let Jayne discover who she really was as a person and equal to Rochester, I found it a little unbelievable that she just happened to find her cousins while wandering aimlessly in the countryside. It would have been far more realistic if she had found some sort of clue in the letter her aunt eventually gave her and sought them out in my opinion. Besides that, it was a really good book

however, I still prefer Anne over the other Bronte's any day. She deserves so much more recognition. She writes with real passion

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Walkio

Not a fan of Jane Eyre at all, simply because it was too slow for my liking (the style of the day, I guess). Did no one else find it utterly emotionless? When Jane found out on her wedding day that whatshisname was already married she felt no emotion at all. There was nothing, didn't even mention her feelings even though her heart would presumably felt cleaved in two by a hotwire. It's the same as To a God Unknown by Steinbeck - when Elizabeth fell off that rock and died Joseph was just like, "Oh. Dear me. She's dead. Might as well go home, la dee dee" and that was it. When I compare that to the heart-wrenching in Auel's The Mammoth Hunters, say, the classics seem devoid of feeling and rather empty.

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BOURBON

if there was a celebrity death-match between Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen...I'd put my money on Chaz...
"Reader, I slaughtered her..."

lilacstarflower

Good one Bourbon lol

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Roxane

Yes Jane Eyre is amazing (though I agree about the first couple of chapters)! I love Wuthering heights too. Walkio, obviously the language reads more slowly than todays literature, but I think there is so much beauty, style and class over it too.

Another classic must read, though it isn't originally in English is "La dame aux camélias" (Alexandre Dumas), otherwise I can think of "An ideal Husband" (Oscar Wild), and "Persuasion " (Jane Austen).