h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, admittedly, when I was at school reading a book by any of the Brontes or similar authors was tantamount to torture (which is why I didn't read the set books, and consequently failed my English Literature 'O' level*).

However, when my 'set book' was made into a TV dramatisation ('The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'), I thought I'd watch it... was inspired to read the book, have gone on to read several others (especially Jane Austen's works), and I now like them.

So there!

*'O' levels were exams sat at the age of 15/16, but have now been replaced by 'GCSEs' (showing my age!!)

Oh I like 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', and 'Wuthering Heights'
Just not 'Jane Eyre'.
For some reason

I like "Jane Eyre". It was a sort of autobiography for poor Charlotte, except her employer/love interest didn't love her back. She wrote the book so someone with a story like hers would have a happy ending. I think it's a great book, and I read it when I was 13. Then I read it again in 10th grade, so there.

I'm not going to appologise for disliking it.
In fact I disliked it more than 'The Tempest' which I was also studying.
SO there

Personally, I don't like caviar, but some people do. SO THERE!

Doesn't mean you can't say it though

Who said you can't say it? I did hear a rumour that The Tories were going to abolish free speech if they get back into power again (I believe a taxation rate of 42% was suggested). Oh, it was so much simpler back in Charlottes day...!

What, when you couldn't say, do, or write anything 'immoral' - especially if you were a woman

Simple!

(What a very fishy homepage you have!)

Jane Eyre is a bully. Discuss.

Bully? Steerpike? What a beefy entry.

'sus

Nobody likes the set books, poetry, or Shakespeare they're given in high school. How can they? They're forced to read it all in such an abstract and mechanical fashion, to see only artifice and none of the beauty. The fact is, you're not even meant to read for enjoyment. You're meant to study it, break it apart on the analyst's couch and stitch it back together using mnemonic aids - all so you can pass your exams, go to university, become a lawyer or an accountant and not have to sleep in the gutter.

Even if you are predisposed to liking these works, the lousy reading and acting skills of your classmates can only dampen one's interest. Imagine trying to put some energy and enthusiasm into "Macbeth" and there are a dozen morons who sound as if they're five year olds trying to read "See Spot Run"!

It is only through my own interests and endeavours that I have come to enjoy poetry, Shakespeare, even Wuthering Heights. Not always through wanting to read it, more often a feeling that I should, which is what teachers should encourage in their pupils.

Well I liked the majority of my set texts - the only ones I didn't were Jane Eyre and The Tempest
but I like Shakespeare as a rule

If that's the case, you went to the wrong school! Maybe it's an America/Britain discrepancy?

No, I was just in the wrong English set. The others did Hamlet and Great Expectations - but they did have to do Chaucer and didn't get to do The Handmaid's Tale.
Aren't I allowed to dislike a book anymore in Cool Britannia?

I'm doing Great Expectations soon. I'm also doing Chaucer (great when you get the hang of it), Shakespeare (for the first time - am I the only person who didn't have to do it at school?), and a couple of 'modern' works.

'Course you can dislike something Swiv. Don't take it so personally! Anyway, if you WILL write an entry on Jane Eyre, you can expect more visits from people that liked it than didn't!

Just to widen the debate, my favourite book (probably) is 'Pride and Predjudice'. The worst books I've never read (couldn't get past more than two pages) are Catherine Cookson.

I love Pride and Prejudice - but my favourit Austen is probably Emma
But my all time favourites are probably Alias Grace, The Great Gatsby, The Lord of the Rings and Uncle Fred in Springtime.

Pride and Prejudice and Emma are both wonderful books - in fact, I'm something of a Jane Austen fan, I must confess. If only she'd written more. And to think... she lived so near to here...

Can't decide whether I like Elizabeth Bennet or Emma best, but as far as Mr Darcy is concerned, there is no contest! (Oooh, it rhymes...wonder if that's significant?!) Played brilliantly by Colin Firth in the TV adaptation.

I'm currently studying my first Shakespeare, in the form of King Lear, and it is very powerful. All those wasted years... I never knew books could be like this!

'sus