bibliographing

In Jane Eyre, I am one of the bad characters you are not supposed to emulate. That is to say, I identify most with her.
Eliza Reed isn’t an awful character; she’s certainly not as bad as Mr. Brocklehurst or St. John Rivers. When Jane parts from her forever, as she does about halfway through the [...]

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?
I am a little obsessive about the condition of books. You can definitely not [...]

Amateur Reader mentioned in a comment that he had done a week of Jane Eyre himself, and after I finished up the novel last night I stopped by to read the posts. He has done everything: the books, the surprising dates of the novel (maybe—and “snaps into place” is right—the exact same place, in fact, [...]

I am only halfway through the novel, but within 50 pages or so I could completely see why so many people consider this a primary “comfort read.” Unless some antipathetic turn should come in the second half, I expect I will feel the same way.
I know, of course, the mystery of the demoniacal laughter on [...]

One thing I noted throughout my reading of Frankenstein was the difficulty of assigning blame. Yes, Victor created the monster, and then abandoned him, but the monster is not exactly an angel. We have the monster’s account of why he went bad: because he was isolated and alone, and had been rejected by humanity even [...]

In some ways Sunday is my favorite day. I usually have no agenda, can just spend the day relaxing by myself. But then again, tomorrow I have work again. I need to find that rich husband soon, I think.
But this is no time to think of work. The weather today was unexpectedly nice, fortunate for [...]

This week’s Booking Through Thursday meme was too easy—name your favorite literary couple. Ha! As if there could even be a contest. Ada & Van, 4eva. I feel I can hardly say why Ada and Van’s romance is my favorite, nay, the best in the world, without simply telling people to read the book. So [...]

Would it be wise to say I am not going to do 25 installments? Perhaps not. I like these bite-sized posts, and since I’ve moved to the Midwest I’ve kind of had a thing for “exploring the country” or something (says the girl who has never been west of O’Hare—yes, seriously).
Wisconsin
As I mentioned, last week [...]

I’m surprised by the degree to which at least some (but let us hope Norton has chosen representative samples) contemporary critics missed so much of Frankenstein. All admire the descriptions of scenery, of course. Of course. But they are significantly more disturbed by the concept of the monster than I would have guessed, and often [...]

“At job interviews, I assured prospective employers of my immunity to distraction by affectionately invoking Artistotle’s observation that copulation makes all animals sad.”
I’m frankly amazed I haven’t had nearly the embarrassments Lee Siegel has.