a very short note . . .

I just wanted to say that I've finished The Eyre Affair and quite enjoyed it. I really like the way Fforde takes us into the novel itself--and sets up an interaction between the characters in Bronte's novel and those in his own. While it has some humorous scenes and interactions with text(s), it's clear that Fforde appreciates and respects Bronte's work. I think that was something I was worried about when I started the Fforde novel--that he would take the "original" too lightly. Since it's a book I've loved since I was a child, I didn't want to see it mis-applied or manipulated in an unkind way. But, while I'm glad I read this novel, I doubt that I'll re-read it--maybe bits of it. It isn't a Bronte novel--that's for sure. The characters are much more caricatures than anything Bronte ever wrote. I love Bronte's novel for its realism and depth of character development, for the fact that Jane becomes a real person for me--someone I truly admire and empathize with, for the carefully developed and intertwining plot(s), for the celebration of moral goodness and strength--and love of course.

Fforde perhaps celebrates these things, but he does so in a light-hearted--sometimes frivolous (?)--way which is very enjoyable but hardly endearing.

OK. Really back to Tolkien tomorrow!

a little break from Tolkien . . .

I did read T today, but I wanted to mention two other books I'm really enjoying, too. While I'm reading Tolkien's poem from a "real" book, I'm reading The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde, via Kindle on my laptop; since Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, I was a bit apprehensive about reading a book like this--I didn't have a clue what he'd do with the original text. But I'm really enjoying it, except that at times the names of some of the characters bug me--they can be pretty strange (A detective named Braxton Hicks is one that comes to mind--if you've ever given birth you probably recognize this one.) But I like the basic plot, and it's a really quick read. It's interesting to think of books like Jane having different--and quite unsatisfactory--endings; I don't know yet how the LiteraTec agents manage to change things so the book has the ending WE expect. I've just read the chapter where a person from the narrative present manages to enter the narrative of Jane just as she is discovering the fire in Mr. Rochester's bedroom--and we all remember how romantic that scene was! But it becomes quite hilarious when a modern man appears in the room and enters the conversation. I won't tell you what happens--in case you want to read it--but what actually does happen is not hilarious in the least. Does make you think about how readers respond to fictitious characters and form attachments to them.

The other book I'm "reading" is David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens; its full title is: David Copperfield or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to publish on any account). Since I teach Victorian Lit and British Novel, I've set myself the task of reading all of Dickens' novels. But I'm doing this by listening to them on my iPod. I really like this way of getting to know the books. I'm reading them chronologically, so this is the 9th one (the Christmas stories all together count as one). So far my favorite character, besides young David, is Aunt Betsey Trotwood--what a "character"! Dickens was an amazing observer of people's characteristic behaviors and speech. I've enjoyed all these novels so far, except perhaps Barbaby Rudge, which was a bit too much of an industrial and political novel for my taste--but maybe someday I'll give it a second chance.

So if you're looking for a good read--without having to think too deeply--you might try either (or both) of these. I think someone should write a novel with Miss Betsey Trotwood as the central character!

Back to T tomorrow . . .