BritishLiterature

It was dusk when he came to the Ferry.
He could have been there much earlier. The truth was, he had put it off as long as he could.
#OrdealByInnocence #AgathaChristie #firstline #openingline #book #books #bookcase #bookcases #bookcover #bookcovers #bookcoverdesign #bookcoverdesigner #bookclub #bookclubs #bookvibe #bookvibes #bookvsfilm #bookvsmovie #Mystery #Fiction #Crimes #Classics #MysteryThriller #Detective #Audiobook #BritishLiterature 💓💓💓

4 likes

BarkingMadRead

Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman | Thomas Hardy

The #hashtagbrigade will be reading Tess of the D‘Urbervilles in October! Drop a comment below and let me know two things! Will you be joining me for Tess, and would you like your name on the master list for 2024. The master list will be used for the announcement of the next book ONLY. After I post the roll call, you can tell me if you want to be tagged for the book. I hope this makes sense! #pemberlittens

BarkingMadRead @staycurious @catlass007 @daisey @deblovestoread @bookwormjillk @willaful @ruthiella @indoordame @librarybelle @dabbe @cuilin @annr @mcctrish @peanutnine @thearomaofbooks @bklover @morr_books @julieclair @TheBookHippie 8h

CatLass007 Please include me in Tess and in the master list. Thank you for all you do.❤️ 8h

IndoorDame I‘m in for Tess and please include me on the master list. Thank you for chaperoning the #hastagbrigaide for another year! We definitely couldn‘t get through most of these classics without you ❤️ 8h

See All 26 Comments

TheBookHippie Yes and yes!!!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ 8h

Librarybelle Yes to both! Thank you for continuing this! 8h

BarkingMadRead 😍😍😍 8h

Tineke Include me on the masterlist please. I am not reading along with Tess. 7h

Bookwormjillk Yes to both please! 7h

BarkingMadRead 😍😍😍 7h

rubyslippersreads I‘d like to be on the masterlist, but I‘m not sure about Tess. 7h

BarkingMadRead @rubyslippersreads I‘ll add you to the master list for now and you can let me know about Tess! 7h

currentlyreadinginCO I would love to reread Tess with you, and be added to the master list! 7h

AnnR Please tag me for Tess and add me to the 2024 list. Thanks so much. (I've previously read Tess but will try to join in with the conversion, even if I decide not to reread it.) 7h

eeclayton Yes to both, please ☺️ 7h

Deblovestoread Yes please to both! Thank you! 7h

julieclair Yes and yes! So glad you‘re up for another year of #hashtagbrigade fun and craziness! Thank you for being our fearless leader! 😘 6h

Ruthiella Yes to both! Thank you! 😊 6h

jenniferw88 Yes and yes! 6h

BarkingMadRead 😍😍😍 5h

dabbe Yes and yes and thank you for being our brigade bugler! 🤩🤩🤩 5h

peanutnine I think I've decided to skip Tess this time but put me on the master list please! ☺️ 4h

willaful Out for Tess, in for master list. Thanks for all your hard work! 4h

Bklover Yes and Yes! Thank you for all you do!!❤️❤️ 4h

Cuilin Yes x 2. Thank you ☺️ 2h

BarkingMadRead 😍😍 2h

mcctrish Yes and yes 40m

33 likes26 comments

TheBookHippie

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

@hazel2019, @jerdencon, @annececilie, @tamra, @amiable, @daisey, @sarabellym,@llwheeler,@liz_m,
@slategreyskies, @covertocovergirl, @librarybelle, @localtxlibrarian, @cewilf, @dd42500, @hilded, @bookwormM, @mamareading, @jewright, @lauraisntwilder, @leahbergen,
@jenniferp, @rubyslippersreads, @currey, @theelliemo, @barbarajean, @arubabookwoman,

Just occurred to me I haven‘t flagged one page! 😵‍💫🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😅 #Clarissa

Lcsmcat

Librarybelle I am so behind on this one! Maybe I‘ll catch up over the next few weeks (and perhaps flag passages!) 1d

TheBookHippie @Librarybelle it‘s the first tome I‘ve not marked up 🤣 I was behind a few times… 😅 1d

LeahBergen I‘m a little behind right now, too. 😬 1d

See All 34 Comments

Lcsmcat I‘ve highlighted so many pages - but mostly just to yell at them. 😂 1d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 1d

rubyslippersreads Sadly, I gave up long ago. ☹️ 1d

TheBookHippie @rubyslippersreads I‘m a tad stubborn… 1d

Amiable I'm reading it on my Kindle app, so I'm highlighting as I go. But I were reading in a hard copy, I wouldn't mark it up -- I am weird about writing in my books. 😬 1d

TheBookHippie @Amiable I usually use flags, and write- but nothing I'v read has made me want to read it again! HAHAHAHAHA. 1d

Amiable @TheBookHippie Oh god, I'm not reading this again. I only highlight so I can have something halfway intelligent to contribute on Saturdays. Ha ha! 1d

Tamra @rubyslippersreads me too. Once my eye surgeries were done I just couldn‘t muster the effort to catch up! 😜 1d

TheBookHippie @Amiable 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ 1d

TheBookHippie @Tamra 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️😵‍💫 at this point it‘s for bragging rights 😵‍💫😵‍💫🎉🎉 1d

LeahBergen @TheBookHippie @rubyslippersreads @Tamra Bragging rights is why I‘m still here. At this point I‘m just hate-reading it. 🤣🤣 23h

TheBookHippie @LeahBergen WORD 💯😵‍💫🎉🥳 23h

jewright We are so close to the end. I have read a lot of long classics, but this one might be the most difficult. 21h

TheBookHippie @jewright I agree!! 21h

Daisey It‘s absolutely about stubbornness and bragging rights at this point. This is also one of the hardest to continue classics I‘ve read. 20h

TheBookHippie @Daisey that‘s what I said earlier in the thread. I‘m stubborn!!! 20h

Amiable @LeahBergen @jewright @Daisey This one has been a challenge for sure. But it was way more difficult for me to push through and finish “Les Mis.” 😖😖THAT‘S RIGHT, I WENT THERE. 😀 19h

TheBookHippie @Amiable 🤣 Les Mis is my favorite book of all time 🤣🤣🤣🤣 19h

Amiable @TheBookHippie OMG, talk about a book that got thrown across the room on multiple occasions…😖 13h

Jerdencon @LeahBergen it‘s all about bragging rights - although I have to admit many times I‘ve skimmed through some of the letters just to keep up! 12h

TheBookHippie @Jerdencon 🤣🤣 8h

TheBookHippie @Amiable 😅 8h

rubyslippersreads @LeahBergen @TheBookHippie @Tamra I decided that having read Pamela was probably enough Richardson for me. 😉 8h

Lcsmcat @rubyslippersreads I hated the ending of Pamela, but I don‘t remember being as angry as Clarissa sometimes makes me! I was slogging this summer, but now that the finish line is in sight it‘s all I can do to hold back and not just finish the d**n thing already! 8h

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I feel excited about ending it! Could have never done it without you! 8h

TheBookHippie @rubyslippersreads 🤣😵‍💫 8h

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie We should have a (virtual) party to celebrate. Everyone raise a glass of choice at the same time on October 14th. 8h

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I‘m for that 🍷🎉 7h

rubyslippersreads @Lcsmcat It‘s been so long since I read Pamela, I can‘t even remember how it ends. 🤣 7h

rubyslippersreads @Lcsmcat Great idea! (Although I‘m surprised people haven‘t been drinking just to get through it. 😂) 7h

TheBookHippie @rubyslippersreads I‘ve been insomnia reading 🤣 7h

57 likes1 stack add34 comments

BookwormM

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

This post contains spoilers

show me

My God what the actual 🤬 is this man on??

#Clarissa

Sorry to anyone I haven‘t tagged.

Lcsmcat, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, Amiable, LeahBergen, AnneCecilie, llwheeler, Tamra, Currey

Lcsmcat I know! I highlighted this too because OMG, it‘s horror movie worthy! 4d

Amiable He's a complete psycho! I had to reread that letter several times because I was like, WTH did he just say?? 4d

BarbaraJean 😡 😡 😡 SO many times while reading, I have shouted “She is NOT YOURS!!!“ “Surely nobody will dispute my right“... um, I can think of a whole list who will dispute, and it is absolutely NOT his “right.“ (edited) 4d

See All 15 Comments

Lcsmcat How many eighteenth century readers had to reach for the smelling salts to get through this letter?!?! Talk about Gothic! 4d

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Yeah, I‘ve added so many outraged Notes to my Kindle version. I don‘t often talk back to books, but this one has me doing it a lot. 4d

Amiable @BarbaraJean @lcsmcat I was reading a critical analysis of the book, and it said that many readers complained about the first version that was published-- apparently the majority of them really wanted Clarissa and Lovelace to end up together! So Richardson rewrote the book to make Lovelace sound even worse so people would understand the point he was trying to make. (edited) 4d

Lcsmcat @Amiable @BarbaraJean I read that too and , if that‘s what he was going for, he has been more than successful. 4d

Amiable @Lcsmcat Right? Perhaps the point could have been made without the creepy serial killer vibe! 4d

BarbaraJean @Amiable @Lcsmcat We‘re reading the rewritten version where Lovelace is worse, right? ….right?!? 😂😫 4d

BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat I have added so many notes in my Kindle version that consist of only emojis, usually 😡, and frequently 🙄 Then there are the times that I just all-caps shout at Lovelace. 😂 When at the end of each volume, Goodreads asks me if I want to share my notes and highlights—I go back through and ensure I keep all my rants and emojis to myself 😂 4d

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean 😂😂😂 I never share my notes for the same reason!! 4d

TheBookHippie @Amiable I was WTAF omg psychopath narcissist and WTH AND Oy vey what a douche canoe asshat … ughhhhh 4d

Daisey I had a similar reaction to this section and had to read it again just to make sure I was reading it correctly. Definitely a throw the book moment! 😡 4d

LeahBergen At this point… I can‘t even. 🤣 4d

Amiable @BarbaraJean I don‘t even want to meet the people who read this and think, “Oh, he wants to keep her heart in a jar for eternity—-HOW ROMANTIC!!” 😖😬😀 4d

9 likes15 comments

jlhammar

The Abbess of Crewe | Muriel Spark

pick

Funny, sharp and strange little book. Inspired by the Watergate scandal, but can be read as a satire on corruption/abuse of power in general. My third Spark (after The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Girls of Slender Means) and probably my least favorite. Any recommendations for which Spark should be my fourth?

#NunLit

kspenmoll

Graywacke I enjoyed this oddball one a lot

Memento Mori

kspenmoll I have not started this yet, but plan to 4d

Liz_M I also enjoyed the tagged. Strike that, I think I would have liked it if I read it at a different time. (edited) 4d

jlhammar @Graywacke I'll have to give that one a try. Thanks, Dan! 4d

70 likes4 comments

Amiable

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Now that we‘re only about 170 pages from the end, of course I just found this! Did any of my fellow #Clarissa reading buddies know this challenge was happening on TikTok this year? I don‘t use that social app so it escaped my attention.

Link to article in the Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3RmDqD2

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, Jerdencon, Lcsmcat, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, LeahBergen, cewilf, AnneCecilie, llwheeler, Librarybelle, Tamra, CoverToCoverGirl, lauraisntwilder, slategreyskies, Currey, BookwormM, JenniferP, hilded, Liz_M, GinaKButler, arubabookwoman, TheEllieMo, mamareading, jewright, Hazel2019, LocalTXLibrarian, dd42500

Lcsmcat I hadn‘t seen this. I‘m not on TikTok either, but one of my daughters is. 6d

Amiable @Lcsmcat I loved this quote from the article: “Once you‘ve read it, you join a fairly small club of other people who‘ve made it all the way through.” We‘re going to be members of a fairly exclusive club! 😀 6d

Lcsmcat @Amiable I‘m thinking that may be the best part of having read this doorstopper! 😂 6d

See All 8 Comments

TheBookHippie 🤣 no I‘m past the age of TikTok but we are almost members of a fancy club 🤣♥️📖 6d

BarbaraJean Thanks for sharing this article! I hadn't seen this challenge (I'm not on TikTok, either), but I love knowing that it's happening! I wonder if the TikTok challenge was (like us) prompted by this being a year where our dates/days align with those in the book. They started on Jan. 12, which is the first letter, and they're reading in chronological order. @Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I too am looking forward to being a member of this exclusive club!! 6d

LeahBergen I‘m not on TikTok either and I can‘t WAIT to be finished with this behemoth. 😆😆 6d

Librarybelle No! I did not realize this, though I am not on TikTok! 6d

Jerdencon I‘m on tik tok and haven‘t come across this - guess there are others like us! I am glad we are almost done and proud of myself for making it this far! 5d

48 likes8 comments

TheBookHippie

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Clarissa (1912) my Art A Day pic yesterday
Gave me a mood while reading
…
https://www.wikiart.org/en/childe-hassam/clarissa

Lcsmcat

TheBookHippie Lesmcat
@hazel2019, @jerdencon, @annececilie, @tamra, @amiable, @daisey, @sarabellym, @l|wheeler, @liz_m, @slategreyskies, @covertocovergirl, @librarybelle, @localtlibrarian, @cewilf, @dd42500, @hilded, @bookwormM, @mamareading, @jewright, @lauraisntwilder, @leahbergen, @jenniferp, @rubyslippersreads, @currey, @theelliemo, @barbarajean, @thebookhippie, @arubabookwoman, @ginakbutler 6d

Lcsmcat Let‘s hope this Clarissa has a happier life. 6d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat 🤞🏻 it‘s incredibly sad to read but I keep thinking I wonder how many Clarissas back then there were. .. and what did this publication do for them 🤷🏻‍♀️ 6d

See All 7 Comments

Amiable Sch a melancholy portrait. I do love Childe Hassam—I have a poster of his painting of Boston Common on my bedroom wall. 6d

Amiable @TheBookHippie @lcsmcat I read that Clara Barton was actually named for Clarissa. That her real full name was Clarissa Harlowe Barton. I‘m fascinated by the long-lasting impact this book had on society. 6d

Lcsmcat @Amiable @TheBookHippie Why would any parent name a child after Clarissa Harlow!!!! That feels as bad as naming a child Mourning whose mother died in childbirth. 6d

TheBookHippie @Amiable WOE. That‘s astonishing and mind boggling… 6d

50 likes7 comments

Lcsmcat

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

We saw it coming, but still. And we have four more weeks of letters? Lovelace‘s reaction (and Mowbray‘s!) left me fuming. And the too late change of heart of her family, too. NOW you decide she‘s not lying? If I weren‘t reading this on my Kindle throwing might have been involved. 🙄 #Clarissa

Lcsmcat @hazel2019, @jerdencon, @annececilie, @tamra, @amiable, @daisey, @sarabellym, @llwheeler, @liz_m, @slategreyskies, @covertocovergirl, @librarybelle, @localtxlibrarian, @cewilf, @dd42500, @hilded, @bookwormM, @mamareading, @jewright, @lauraisntwilder, @leahbergen, @jenniferp, @rubyslippersreads, @currey, @theelliemo, @barbarajean, @thebookhippie, @arubabookwoman, @ginakbutler 6d

TheEllieMo Lovelace is making it all about him and his woes (which is standard for him, to be fair); Mowbray is the complete opposite of Belford, a rake without remorse - and blaming Clarissa for Lovelace‘s current behaviour! 6d

TheEllieMo I can‘t help agreeing to a point on one comment from Lovelace, though: “her departure will be owing rather to wilfulness, to downright female wilfulness, than to any other cause.” Clarissa had so many offers of help, but turned them all down and starved herself. 6d

See All 23 Comments

Jerdencon Everyone except Belford made me mad in this section - her family, Lovelace -all of them. I‘m curious to see how this is going to play out. 6d

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo I agree that Clarissa contributed to her own death, but I wonder if there were implications that we don‘t see with the modern eye. Like, did he give her an STD, or did she get cholera or something when she got thrown in jail? As oblique as the “announcement” of her death is, I can‘t help wondering if my modern eyes are missing something. 6d

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon This section made me angriest yet. Lovelace‘s outrage was such a necessary plot point that somehow that was less angering than his current behavior and her family‘s nonsense. 6d

BookwormM I am puzzled by what else can be going to happen given Clarissa is gone. 6d

Daisey @Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo don‘t tend to think it is a physical illness because of the doctor‘s responses. If we were meant to believe there was another underlying cause, I think he would allude to it. I also hate to think she is willfully causing her own death, but in her experience, this level of weakness is the only thing that has kept Lovelace from pursuing her. It is her only escape. (edited) 6d

Currey @Lcsmcat @Daisey I also can‘t imagine what the next 200 pages will bring but remorse on everyone‘s part. Perhaps they all catch some horrible disease and die too! That would be fitting but not likely. I agree with Daisey that it was not a physical illness. I suspect that the understanding of disease back then made dying of a broken heart something that could happen without out and out willfully starving oneself but really do not know. 6d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat As for health I was thinking the same - did she get a blood infection or the like from internal wounding. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 6d

TheBookHippie @Currey Shakespeare would kill them all off perhaps, we won‘t get that satisfaction I‘m afraid. 6d

Lcsmcat @Daisey The doctor might allude to it, but “medical” terms have changed so much. Tuberculosis used to be referred to as “wasting away” for example. So I just wonder if 21st century readers are missing something or if she really just decided that life wasn‘t worth living since she had been “dishonored.” 6d

Lcsmcat @Currey @Daisey I‘m hoping for a horrible death for L and bankruptcy and spinsterhood for Arabella. If that makes me a horrible person, then 🤷🏻‍♀️ 6d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat she could have just given up… 6d

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie She could have. I used to think dying of a broken heart was romantic nonsense, but my grandfather died less than 2 weeks after my grandmother basically because he wanted to. They‘d been married 73 years and he didn‘t want to be apart. Not that C died of love. I‘m just saying that the whole “will to live” thing is real. 6d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I‘ve seen it to many times during my geriatric nursing career. 6d

Amiable I‘m with @TheEllieMo @Currey and @Daisey in believing Clarissa withered away on her own will. A number of letters had no delicacy about speculating on her possible out-of-wedlock pregnancy, so I feel like it would have been mentioned if she had a physical injury or illness that would have resulted from the rape. 6d

Amiable Her options appeared to be marry Lovelace and “legalize” the rape, or die. The former option was not palatable to her, so she opted for the latter. Had her family forgiven her “sins” and provided a third option, I don‘t think she would have chosen death. But that would be a less interesting book, I imagine. 😀 (edited) 6d

Amiable I‘ll admit I did choke up a bit at the scene where Clarissa is nestled into Mrs. Smith‘s arms in her final moments so she could imagine she was being embraced by her mother. It made me hate the Harlowes and their too-late-and-too-insincere change of heart at the end even more. 6d

Lcsmcat @Amiable That scene really brought home just how young Clarissa was, didn‘t it! Still just a child, really. 6d

Lcsmcat So re: cause of death, the article @Amiable linked to on her post said “Clarissa” is an operatic tale of sibling rivalry, feminine virtue, prostitution, drug-induced rape, anorexia, insanity and duels to the death” Do you think Clarissa had anorexia, which is after all a disease of regaining control and often afflicts teenagers? 6d

BarbaraJean @TheEllieMo I‘m with you on Clarissa‘s refusal of help. I do think it might have been different if her family had believed her and provided their support, or if Anna or Mrs. Norton had been allowed to come to her—I think any of that would have given her the will to live. But I read this as absolutely Clarissa‘s choice to die. The doctor said as much, very early on—that it was in her own power to get better. @Daisey @TheBookHippie @Currey @Amiable 6d

BarbaraJean @BookwormM @Currey I also don‘t understand how we still have four more weeks of letters!! I am SUPER interested to read her will (although I think I‘m going to find it infuriating). And I foresee plenty of book-throwing feelings will be induced by her family‘s insufferable grief and “forgiveness” now that her death has “exonerated” her in their eyes. 6d

31 likes23 comments

mjtwo

Little Dorrit (Revised) | Charles Dickens

pick

31 Aug-13 Sep 23 (audiobook)
A new book to add to my list of favourite Dickens. I loved this. Fanny and Mr Dorritt made me laugh; the Meagles were just lovely; and I felt that all characters received a satisfying ending. And Dickens manages to convey the absurdity of the debtors‘ prison and the sheer luck of wealth.
Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful narrator. Thoroughly recommend.

10 likes

Amiable

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘ve been saving this from my “Clarissa” reading for #weirdwordswednesday : “Megrim.” An old-fashioned word for depression or migraine.

Which, come to think of it, is a perfect word to use to describe the #Clarissa reading… 🧐😀

CBee

dabbe How do you feel about this long, long novel? Well, I've got the me-grims, to be sure! 🤩🤣🤗 1w

Amiable @dabbe It feels pretty grim, to be sure! 😃 1w

CBee @Amiable the more I see posted about this book, the more I know I won‘t be reading it 😂😂 Gives me the megrims just thinking about it 😂🤓 1w

See All 7 Comments

Amiable @CBee I actually don't COMPLETELY hate it. It's kind of grown on me over the months. Like a fungus. 😃 I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad I read it. (Almost! We have about 4 more weeks and then we are DONE!) Thanks to @lcsmcat 1w

Lcsmcat An excellent word both for and from Clarissa! Having read Richardson‘s Pamela I kind of knew what I was getting into, and the bragging rights will be real. But will I ever reread it? Life‘s too short! 1w

CBee @Amiable like a fungus 😂😂😂 1w

Daisey A perfect word to go along with Clarissa! I am absolutely claiming bragging rights when we finish this and never reading it again. 1w

40 likes7 comments

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