Shirley | 
I keep meaning to look up “shovel-hat” every time it‘s mentioned, but then forget by the end of the chapter. I put down the book and looked it up tonight. It‘s always gratifying when Wikipedia has the exact information I wanted, along with pictures. It‘s also gratifying to learn the existence of the word “shovelhattery.” 😆 #HashtagBrigade
I'm about 10 seconds away from full-on hyperfixation with the Luddite Uprisings. I was vaguely aware of the movement in broad strokes but I see several nonfiction deep dives coming soon! Anyway, some workers gather to meet with Moore (some to issue an ultimatum, some to talk rationally) and old Robert Capitalist doubles down on screwing the workers and has their leader arrested while he threatens everyone else with a pistol. Truly, fuck this dude.
Ch 8: #thisonewashardtogetthrough #robertisanass #arrestingaprotester #carolinewouldbesoproud 🙄 #peekintofarrenslife 😭 #thissucks #countdowntoshirley #hashtagbrigade
“Are all marriages unhappy?”
“Millions of marriages are unhappy: if everybody confessed the truth, perhaps all are more or less so.”
“You are always vexed when you are asked to come and marry a couple—why?”
“Because one does not like to act as accessory to the commission of a piece of pure folly.”
…
“A yokefellow is not a companion; he or she is a fellow-sufferer.”
Well, isn‘t this a delightful commentary on marriage? 😳😂 #HashtagBrigade
Good GOD, this book! First of all, let's just acknowledge the unexpected party that unfolds, with unwelcome guests popping up like so many dwarves descending on Bag End - first the miserable curate trio and then the maddening ladies Sykes?! After being totally dissed by Robert earlier in the day, Lina's day can't get much worse. But then, oh yes, we see some startling 1800s racism and antisemitism on display and omg is this chapter done yet??
Ch 7: #somuchfinallyhappened #robertisbeingweird #thewholeuniverseshowsupfortea #boysaredumb #sweetingwantsdora #whoofcoursedidntshow #donneisobnoxious #robertshowsup #carolinegetswisetohisbullshit #andyethekissesher #heneedstomakeuphisdamnmind #countdowntoshirley #staytuned #hashtagbrigade
#breakfastandabook although this chapter is so long it will probably turn into #lunchandabook too #hashtagbrigade
Shakespeare has entered the chat! Caroline spends the evening with Hortense and Robert, and Coriolanus becomes the driver of romance, admonition, and maybe a bunch of foreshadowing?? Will the citizens rebel and will Moore refuse to heed their suffering? Will he be overthrown? Will a female family member push him to be peaceful at last?? Anyway, cast your vote for your fave bloody general of the 4 above - McKellen, Hiddleston, Fiennes, or Branagh?
Where is Shirley? asks the #hashtagbrigade taking a minute out of my wheel spinning aka starting a million things, getting nothing done to read today‘s chapter ‘Coriolanus‘ Shakespeare? and no Shirley no doubt and I‘m wondering “is this where heavens to Murgatroyd “ came from? I‘ve never seen this name in print before but I‘ve heard it ( Bugs Bunny I‘m sure, where all my knowledge comes from )
Ch 6: #thecoriolanusimpicturing #shakespeare #hortenseistheworst #carolinehasacrush #robertleadsheron #whatadick #thatsallihavetosayaboutthat #countdowntoshirley #staytuned #hashtagbrigade
We have a LOT to unpack in today's chapter! We meet Moore's self-important sister, Hortense who venerates her brother but hates the local villagers. To be fair, they laughed in her face when my good sis rocked up to church in her finest wooden clogs. But in between the family talk, we see that Robert engages in the practice of the day of hiring literal CHILDREN in his mill and also is maybe hitting on a child, 17 year old Caroline Helstone. 😬
Ch 5: #childrenworkinginthemill #mooreliveswithhissis #hortensehatesitthere #aheseemsabitparanoid #cousincarolinecomesforlessons #morefrench #carolineandmoore ⁉️ #wheresshirley #staytuned #hashtagbrigade
These dudes, with their love triangles, infighting, and grudges! Don't ever let anyone tell you men are not full-on bringing the drama all. the. damn. time. We learn more about Yorke today, and you know what? I mostly love him; I can hardly ever resist a "rebel and blasphemer". Alas, he also succumbs to the drama and the chapter ends with him angrily throwing everyone out of his house. These men - so emotional! #HashtagBrigade
Ch 4: #wahwahwah #helstonegotthegirl #ignoredthegirl #thegirldied #wahwahwah #yorkehateshelstoneforit #helstoneisclueless #wahwahwah #yorkekicksthemout #wheresshirley #hashtagbrigade
Current reading companions #TrickyCat and #DavidCat — in the background, #ChipmunkCat
#CatsofLitsy
Helstone and Moore go to rescue the men bound on Stilbro' Moor and fight about their opposing political views the whole way. This comes after our narrator becomes a disappointing apologist for Helstone, the "warlike" parson. He may be "without sympathy; ungentle; and prejudiced" ...but any criticism for that is just "poisonous rancour". ? The bar for men has always been in Hell! Anyway, the translation for the chapter's French dialogue is above.
Chapter 2 is a doozy! I love any narrative that reminds us to reflect on labor history and the rights of workers and this chapter is IT. The Luddite uprisings are in full swing and the pitiless capitalist known as Robert Moore is bringing in new machinery, which the workers cannot abide. Despite how the term is used today, the Luddites were not explicitly anti-tech; they were pro-worker, which included highly skilled craftspeople, i.e. artists.
Ch 2: #holyheck #thesemenhatewomen #ugh #karmacomesfast #starvingvillagersrevolt #staytuned #hashtagbrigade
“If you think, from this prelude, that anything like a romance is preparing for you, reader, you never were more mistaken. Do you anticipate sentiment, and poetry, and reverie? Do you expect passion, and stimulus, and melodrama? Calm your expectations; reduce them to a lowly standard.“
😂🤣 These opening paragraphs are 💯
#HashtagBrigade @BarkingMadRead
Hedging my bets — I‘m very much a mood reader, and when I felt like reading another chapter. I seized the day!
#HashtagBrigade #Shirley #themill #waggons #hardtruthsbyauthor
And we now know everything we need to know about landlady Mrs. Gale and the “gentlemanly” curate… 6% in, in the first chapter 🤣
#HashtagBrigade #MrsGale #MrMalone #odiousyoungmen
Ch 1: #mrsgalegivingemilycratchettvibes #donnesweetlingandmalone #annoyingmrsgale #maloneespecially #helstonegivingmrcollinsvibes #wantsthecuratestograbsomeguns #maloneisallin #donneandsweetlingnotsomuch #soldiersnearby #staytuned #hashtagbrigade #itotallyspelledsweetingsnamewrong 🤷🏻♀️
I'm being very ambitious this January and have added this month's #HashtagBrigade title to my reading. I love a lesser-known Bronte and haven't yet cracked this copy my husband bought me last Christmas, so off I go! Chapter 1 is full of eye-rollingly argumentative faux-religious bros who live for roasting each other and not doing much by way of ministry. Check the comments for the hashtags; I think I'm really going to enjoy this one.
Didn't find a physical copy at my local bookstore - So I ended up getting the Audible Version. Might end up switching over to print (as I find these types of books easier in print) - or something I can read along (but --- today's chapter, I found online, so I read along while I listened - so might just do that.
All-in-all, thrilled for a 2026 #HashtagBridgage group! @BarkingMadRead
repost for @BarkingMadRead
Ok #hashtagbrigade it‘s about that time again! Our first book of 2026 is Shirley! Drop a comment below if you‘d like to join in! Anyone can join, but please know that my hashtags are often ridiculous and always chapter spoilers, so you should read the chapter before you read my post!
#BuddyRead
#HashtagBrigade
Am I probably actually going to read a free copy from Project Gutenberg downloaded to my ereader? YES
Did I nonetheless splurge on this beautiful hardcover? YES
Does it match my other Anne and Charlotte Brontë Everyman‘s Library editions? YES
Am I probably going to buy Wuthering Heights in the same edition, even though I own it in a Penguin black spine paperback and will likely never reread having already read it twice? YES
Ok #hashtagbrigade it‘s about that time again! Our first book of 2026 is Shirley! Drop a comment below if you‘d like to join in! Anyone can join, but please know that my hashtags are often ridiculous and always chapter spoilers, so you should read the chapter before you read my post!
Reposting for @barkingmadread
Ok #hashtagbrigade here is our 2026 schedule! A chapter a day for all but the Count of Monte Cristo. Since the chapters are shorter, we will do 3 a day. Anna Karenina is our very first #hashtagbrigadesidequest and we will start her on February 1, a chapter a day, alongside whatever other books we are reading at the time. I‘ll post again in December to see who wants to read Shirley!
Ok #hashtagbrigade here is our 2026 schedule! A chapter a day for all but the Count of Monte Cristo. Since the chapters are shorter, we will do 3 a day. Anna Karenina is our very first #hashtagbrigadesidequest and we will start her on February 1, a chapter a day, alongside whatever other books we are reading at the time. I‘ll post again in December to see who wants to read Shirley!
pickI‘ve had to resort to an ereader once again 📚 this weekend I need to read several novels— Shirley (which I quite like), The Professor, The Gift of Asher Lev and My Name is Asher Lev, The Dybbuk, and Regrowth by Der Nister. That‘s not listing the textbook chapters and scholarly articles also assigned. Thankfully, they‘re all on this beautiful little device so I can speed read at my ease instead of carrying their collective literary weight 📕📗📘📙
panAs a part of my yearly goal to read all of the works of the Brontë sisters, Shirley was apart of my required reading for the year. A far cry from Jane Eyre. I found Shirley lagging in plot, and difficult to imbed oneself into the story as I usually do in most of the books I read. To be fair it was well written but not to my taste, I would have shelfed it earlier if it was not a personal goal of mine to complete this novel in its entirety.
pickThis was quite a pleasant surprise for my #bookspin it took me a long time to read it... I was worried it was going to be really boring, and it was dense, but an entertaining read! The set up was quite obvious from the start but I enjoyed the dialogue and a lot of wry humour from the narrator!
@TheAromaofBooks
pickSuch a joy to read. Two brothers find their true loves during a rocky time of the Industrial Revolution. I enjoyed the different romances and how each relationships were developed. All four find themselves with an illness that only their love can cure. That was a little bit too much.
#EasterExtravaganza @Andrew65 4/5
#ClassicsChallenge2020 @Reviewsbylola
I never can touch her hand, or a ringlet of her head, or a ribbon of her dress, but I will make privileges for myself. Every feature of her face, her bright eyes, her lips, shall go through each change they know, for my pleasure- display each exquisite variety of glance and curve, to delight, thrill, perhaps more hopelessly to enchain me.If I must be her slave, I will not lose my freedom for nothing.
I may like this more than Wuthering Heights.
We have none of us long to live. Let us help each other through seasons of want and woe as well as we can, without heeding in the least the scruples of vain philosophy.
Love can excuse anything except meanness; but meanness kills love, cripples even natural affection; without esteem true love cannot exist.
#WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen
Continue reading and discussing - Joseph and His Brothers and 1Q84 (I can't wait to be finished with these two)
Complete Shirley (another GoodReads discussion), Twig, and A Friend of the Family
Begin The Sandman, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Anne of Avonlea
Not being a native, nor for any length of time a resident of the neighborhood, he did not sufficiently care when the new inventions threw the old workplace out of employ.
I never thought this would have been relevant in 1811. I thought the Industrial Revolution brought jobs to the people, but this was before IR. Maybe, it means farm machinery and the tenants were being replaced. 🤷
