Cranford

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Barnes & Noble, Inc, 2005
Originally published 1853
176 pages
Classic; FITG
4/5 stars

Source: Mom's copy

I honestly don't have much to say about this book as I mostly read it for my Fill-in-the-Gaps challenge and to further my acquaintance with Elizabeth Gaskell (I've read and seen North and South and seen Wives and Daughters as well as the miniseries from this book). Usually I read YA books in part to be aware of the hyped books as well as lesser-known gems. Not much really happens in this book, which is set in approximately 1830s small-town England. While the world around seems to be modernizing and industrializing, Cranford seems to remain steadfastly the same: ruled over by ladies and filled with compassion and kindness.

Of course that is somewhat revolutionary in a book as most seem to focus on the masculine sphere or else have a love story. While there are elements of "manly" commerce as well as marriages, they are not the focus. There isn't much driving the story either; it kind of just meanders mostly centered on Miss Matty, an elderly spinster, and her closest circle. Miss Matty is just the sweetest person and all of the characters are pretty nice people. But there wasn't much excitement for me.

In fact, this book took me a rather long time to read considering the length. Just one chapter seemed to take me forever to read. And I guess that contributes to my lack of enthusiasm in reviewing. I would like to say that this is NOT a bad book by any means but it is not the book for me.

Recommended: For fans of Gaskell and if you've seen (or plan to see) the miniseries.

Bleak House

Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Barnes and Noble Classics 2005/Originally 1853
817 pages
Classic; FITG
3.5/5 stars

Source: Bought

Summary: A sprawling narrative touching on almost everything conceivable topic for 1850s London: love, death, religion, law, money, etc.  At the center is Miss Esther Summerson, a girl with mysterious origins.  Her guardian Mr Jarndyce is involved in a generations long law suit that seems like it will never be resolved.  Then there are Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock, the latter with a secret she'd die to protect.  Additionally some of Dickens' famous comic characters occur here as does an instance of spontaneous combustion (seriously, I never get tired of that.)

Thoughts: I've been participating in a readalong of Bleak House where I posted more detailed thoughts but I wanted to do a proper review of the book as a whole. So if you're tired of BH, I'm sorry and feel free to skip.  I'm glad I did the readalong; with such a big (and often in the beginning boring) book, I probably would have given up.  I would love to read Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, or David Copperfield like this in the spring.  I liked reading what other people thought (generally they liked Esther more than I did) and where we agreed (mass hatred for Skimpole).

I'm really glad that I read this, both because it now means I've read three Dickens novels (along with Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities) and because it means that I can check off another book in my FITG challenge.  But I did not love this book although I wanted to.  Dickens just writes such long sentences and stuffs so much unnecessary information in there; he really wrote for his time which had a different attention span and different expectations of their authors than this time.

Overall: A big, sprawling read but I'm not sure it's a must-read for anyone.

Links: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, and Week 10.