I've read only a few of these (16? but I detested pious Jane Eyre), but some twice (such as Middlemarch and Treasure Island). Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog is the reason I read Three Men in a Boat, which isn't nearly as good, imo.
Ayesha is "she's" name. I read this when I was a young--adventure, but also "speculative"--not high art, mind you, but sucks you into a different world--otherness, deep time. And JANE EYRE? Maybe try it again, more as a literary artifact, rather than focusing on her nature as a character. I found it sublime, myself. And to be honest I've tried several times to get into the boat with Jerome and his chums, but disembarked after a bit. The Willis book I remember liking is Doomsday Book (1992).
I'd read Doomsday Book before To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is funnier for it countless allusions not just to Three Men in a Boat (I did manage to finish that one) but to Oscar Wilde and everyone else. I looked up SHE, and it's online.
So many of these are sitting on my shelves; think I’ll give your challenge a go. Thanks for the inspiration!
Wonderful!
Thanks, David, for bringing bookshop.org to my attention! (See, some people do read your footnotes.)
Last fall I bought Bleak House...this fall I may read it. Currently knee-deep in current fiction, though.
The opening is wonderful. I'm on a Trollope kick myself--less dramatic/melodramatic than Dickens. Anyway, thanks for the note!
I've read only a few of these (16? but I detested pious Jane Eyre), but some twice (such as Middlemarch and Treasure Island). Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog is the reason I read Three Men in a Boat, which isn't nearly as good, imo.
Now I have to find SHE.
Ayesha is "she's" name. I read this when I was a young--adventure, but also "speculative"--not high art, mind you, but sucks you into a different world--otherness, deep time. And JANE EYRE? Maybe try it again, more as a literary artifact, rather than focusing on her nature as a character. I found it sublime, myself. And to be honest I've tried several times to get into the boat with Jerome and his chums, but disembarked after a bit. The Willis book I remember liking is Doomsday Book (1992).
I'd read Doomsday Book before To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is funnier for it countless allusions not just to Three Men in a Boat (I did manage to finish that one) but to Oscar Wilde and everyone else. I looked up SHE, and it's online.