ffthemaddingcrowd

Bookclub-In-a-Box Discusses the Help, by Kathryn Stockett: The Complete Guide for Readers and Leaders | Marilyn Herbert, Rona Arato

My Bookclub on the way to see one of our Ladies in a play last night. The same lady played a dotty excellent character.. at one point she couldn‘t find her book. Her stage husband asked “ what‘s it called ? “ she replied
“ Far From The Madding Crowd... “ ( our book this month) we seriously cracked up in the audience 😂 the rest of the audience thought we were mad ! Great craic of a night. We travelled in one members camper van Girls on tour 🍷

batsy Fun! That's cute about the #FFTheMaddingCrowd mention 😉 6y

Cathythoughts @batsy it was so funny ... we were hysterical with laughter. And our actress kept a straight face & remained totally in character... it was a really funny play about robbing a bank. 👍🏻❤️ 6y

Tanisha_A What a fun ladies day out! 😄♥ 6y

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Sophoclessweetheart Looks so fun! 6y

Eggs How fun 6y

GripLitGrl Sounds like a fun time💕 6y

Cathythoughts @Wanderingwithwords it was great fun 👍🏻❤️ 6y

Cathythoughts @Eggs @Tanisha_A @GripLitGrl it was a great night out 💕 6y

TrishB Sounds fab 👍🏻❤️ 6y

Cathythoughts @TrishB thanks, it was really fun. 👍🏻 6y

GatheringBooks gorgeous ladies!! 6y

Cathythoughts @GatheringBooks ❤️❤️❤️ 6y

51 likes12 comments

batsy

Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy

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My first proper read of Hardy & I am surprised by how much I loved his writing. Symphonic, intricate sentences. Hardy's "Wessex" area is described with affection & love; reading this is as close to being transported to another place. I feel Hardy depicts "benevolent patriarchy" through his male characters who still think of women as property, but what a fierce, complex creation is Bathsheba! Her character resists lazy, sexist interpretations.

batsy Thanks for a great buddy read @CarolynM @Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm @LeeRHarry @River_Voice @sisilia @youneverarrived #FFTheMaddingCrowd 💙
6y

CarolynM Great review! Glad you enjoyed the experience to. I think Hardy was a lot more sympathetic to the position of women than a lot of his contemporaries, but didn't see the possibility of much improvement. 6y

RohitSawant Great review! Looking forward to pick this up soon. And love the picture! 6y

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saresmoore Nice photo! I really appreciate your interpretation. I think it is a unique gift of yours to read with such an open mind that you can readily draw out the good, bad, and ugly in any story and connect it with the author and their context. You‘ve got fresh eyes. And you write blurbs & reviews like a BOSS. I‘m surprised a publishing house hasn‘t hounded you to work for them yet! 6y

Cathythoughts Great review, I also felt his great love of his countryside... and I love you picture. It‘s very interesting & yet looks so simple ❤️👍🏻 6y

LauraBeth I completely agree with @saresmoore! 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Agree with what @saresmoore said. Your reviews are insightful and your interpretations are eye-openers for me! I wish Litsy has some sort of recognition for the best reviewers among Littens.🎖Great review 👍 6y

Redwritinghood 👏👏 Nice review. I‘ve always loved Hardy, but I admit that I haven‘t read any of his work in a few years. This makes me want to do that again soon. 6y

batsy @CarolynM Thank you! Excellent point, it does make me want to learn more about his life. 6y

batsy @rohit-sawant @Cathythoughts Thank you 😊 6y

batsy @saresmoore @LauraBeth @erzascarletbookgasm Aww stop 😘😘😘 You are all very kind, thank you so much ❤️ 6y

batsy @Redwritinghood Thank you! I'm very keen to discover more of his work :) 6y

youneverarrived Brilliant review! 🙌 6y

batsy @youneverarrived Thank you! 6y

CaitlinR Isn‘t it great to find that a classic is so satisfying? Anyone interested is a discussion group — we wouldn‘t have to only focus on dead whit guys. 😀 6y

batsy Forgot to add: Letter F for #litsyclassics 6y

LeeRHarry Fab review 😊 Hardy's love of the countryside was very clear to see I thought too 💕 6y

batsy @LeeRHarry Thank you! I'm still ambling about somewhere in "Hardy's Wessex" ? 6y

Caroline2 Ohhhh 😯 what a lovely edition! 💕 6y

batsy @Caroline2 Thanks! Was pleased to find it at a remainders store :) 6y

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erzascarletbookgasm

Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy

Catching up on my reading for #FFTheMaddingCrowd read along. Just came upon this scene. Poor Bathsheba.

sisilia, CarolynM, youneverarrived, batsy, quietlycuriouskate, Cathythoughts

Cathythoughts Oh dear ! Poor Bathsheba ❤️ 6y

batsy Right? I was so affected by this scene. 💔 And in a strange case of book serendipity, I was reading a crime novel ARC at the same time that had a similar coffin scene for different reasons 😲 6y

sisilia Happy belated birthday @erzascarletbookgasm !!! 🎉🎉🎉 This scene caused me super high stress level I had to stop reading 😅 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Thank you @sisilia ! 6y

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quietlycuriouskate

Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy

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#FFtheMaddingCrowd
Didn't like: Hardy's gentlemanly misogynistic remarks; his verbosity; the male characters' habit of wearing Bathsheba down, as if she were obliged to hand herself over as a prize for their dashing manner or refusal to take no for an answer; how this foregrounded B's less than admirable qualities.
Liked: Gabriel Oak; less bludgeoning with bathos than in other Hardies
Loved: the evocative descriptions of place (I miss Dorset!)
3*

quietlycuriouskate @Cathythoughts @batsy @sisilia @youneverarrived @CarolynM @erzascarletbookgasm 6y

Cathythoughts Great review... I liked Gabriel Oak too. You make good points about Bathsheba 👍🏻. I‘ve never been to Wessex ... I want to explore the english countryside now .. I imagine it‘s not too unlike our own ❤️ 6y

quietlycuriouskate @Cathythoughts Thank you! It's a beautiful part of the world, for sure, though increasingly bricked and tarmacked, as everywhere. Of Ireland, I've only been to Dublin and County Wicklow: loved it so much! 💚 6y

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CarolynM Excellent review, you have summed up Bathsheba and her situation very well. I liked Gabriel but found him a little too willing to be noble and self sacrificing. For me it's the ambiance and the wit and wisdom in the writing that make it pleasurable. 6y

quietlycuriouskate @CarolynM Thank you! That's a fair point about Gabriel. I didn't have space to say I enjoyed the scenes with the 'ordinary' folk, not least because their speech and outlook reminded me so of my Nan and Grandad. 6y

sisilia I love your copy 6y

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Cathythoughts

Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy

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I loved Hardy‘s writing, and I was pleased with the ending. I‘ll keep an image of Gabriel ( yes Archetypal ) on the hills & in the fields & the sheep , as he meditates on the Stars & heavens , he is as solid as an oak and yet a “wild abandon fills his soul “ he holds the universe within. I‘ll be seeing nature through Hardy‘s eyes for awhile , I hope for a long while. Such a pleasure to share this book with my #FFTheMaddingCrowd buddies. Thankyou

erzascarletbookgasm, sisilia, CarolynM, LeeRHarry, youneverarrived, batsy, quietlycuriouskate

DeborahSmall Great book. Lovely review 💜 6y

TrishB My daughter loves Hardy. He‘s just not for me though.... 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks @DeborahSmall It really is a great book , Im going to hold onto the feeling ... the after glow ❤️ 6y

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Cathythoughts @TrishB I‘m with your daughter, I love him too 6y

DeborahSmall @TrishB I fell in love with his writing when I was 15.... 6y

TrishB @Cathythoughts @DeborahSmall I think there are just some authors you don‘t click with! Every so often I have another go with one (in case it changes with age) and still no. My daughter was 15 too when she started reading them- she said I‘d put her off!! I told her that‘s more reason for trying them. 6y

DeborahSmall @TrishB she has great taste ❤️ 6y

youneverarrived Lovely review 💙 6y

Cathythoughts @youneverarrived thankyou ❤️👍🏻 6y

LeeRHarry Lovely review - still about halfway through, been there for a while, hoping to knuckle down a bit today 😊 6y

Cathythoughts @LeeRHarry thankyou & good luck with the rest of it. Look forward to your review ❤️ 6y

CarolynM Excellent review, Cathy. In some ways the natural world is another character in the novel, don't you think? Thank you so much for suggesting this readalong, I doubt that I would have read this without it and I'm very glad I did. @TrishB I said when we started that I have a love/hate relationship with Hardy and I would still describe it like that (well maybe the hate only applies to Jude the Obscure) but there was plenty to love in this one. 6y

RohitSawant Wonderful review! 💜 6y

batsy Beautiful review! 💚 Seeing nature through his eyes, yes indeed. In fact I want to take a trip to see this particular form of British nature through his eyes... Someday... Great point @CarolynM about the natural world being another character. 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks 🙏🏻 @CarolynM , excellent point, & I definitely agree that nature is another character... the main character? And the story is more a tale told in the background of this great natural setting. Gabriel Oak is huge for me. Is he the embodiment of man & nature. ? .. he seems so one with the natural world. So good , so solid. It was lovely to read this together 👍🏻❤️ #FFTheMaddingCrowd (edited) 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks @batsy yes on the train to Dublin the other day , I could see the green mossy rolling hills & thought of Hardy‘s rural Wessex. Ireland & England are very alike in nature... sure we are two islands so close together, we are bound to be. #FFTheMaddingCrowd 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks @rohit-sawant 👍🏻❤️ 6y

batsy Lovely description, Cathy. I'm dreaming again... ⛅Then a trip to Ireland it is for a few things rolled into one: you, Joyce's Dublin, Cillian, and the natural world 💚💚 #bucketlist 6y

Cathythoughts Dream on @batsy we will all be hear waiting. I‘ll invite Cillian‘s dad to dinner 😉... you never know what dreams may come .... 6y

Cathythoughts Oh & @CarolynM ... credit goes to @batsy for instigating this buddy read ... I was reading this for my bookclub & @batsy jumped on board & the rest is history.... 6y

CarolynM Thank you @batsy. It's been a really good experience.😘❤️ 6y

batsy @Cathythoughts @CarolynM Oh, not at all... The idea just grew Inception-like 😁 Lovely reading it with you all ❤️ 6y

CarolynM Lovely picture for this post, by the way😍 6y

Cathythoughts Thankyou @CarolynM 👍🏻❤️ 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Lovely review, Cathy. Hardy certainly has a cinematic writing style. I‘m still not done with it. 🙄 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks @erzascarletbookgasm it‘s so good. Good luck 👍🏻 you will be there in no time ❤️ 6y

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Cathythoughts

Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy

#Aprella #doomed today is the day to finish this book ( or my schedule is #doomed) ... not really doomed , but I would like to finish this beautiful Thomas Hardy today .... ❤️🤞🏻#FFTheMaddingCrowd

Cinfhen, Reviewsbylola, emilyhaldi, Mdargusch

CarolynM Looking forward to your review 6y

Cathythoughts @CarolynM thanks 😬... this is the day 👍🏻 6y

TrishB Good luck 👍🏻 6y

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Cathythoughts @CarolynM if you like Christy Moore .. he has a lovely song called SO DO I ........🎼This is the day the fisherman likes and so do I , When the rain puts a shine on the chestnut spikes and the curlews cry .. the nightingale sings her best .. we‘ll drink a pint in Hamilton‘s rest .. the girl I love wore a muslin dress .... ( based on a Thomas Hardy poem , lovely soft melody ❤️👍🏻 #FFTheMaddingCrowd (edited) 6y

Cathythoughts Thanks @TrishB 👍🏻❤️ 6y

CarolynM That's lovely. I'll look for the song 6y

batsy To the finish line! Whooo 😊 I've got a ways to go... But I'm enjoying the scenery 😉 6y

Cathythoughts Well put @batsy there is some lovely scenery ❤️ 6y

Mdargusch Hopefully today is the day! 6y

emilyhaldi Good luck!! 🤞🏻 6y

Reviewsbylola I‘m starting to feel pressure with all the unread books I have piling up around me. 😰 So I can relate! 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Hope you‘re able to, good luck! I‘ve not been reading yesterday, need to play catch up with Bathsheba! 6y

Cathythoughts @Mdargusch @emilyhaldi @reviewsbylola thankyou all ... I‘m hard at it at the moment! Read On ..... 6y

Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm yes I‘m reading it now , hopefully 🤞🏻. I‘d like to finish today if I can ❤️ Bathsheba, hmmmmm I wonder how it all pans out ... I‘ll say nothing 🤐🤫 6y

Cinfhen I‘ve been missing you...my Litsy is still not 💯😩😩😩but it‘s working right now so I‘m stalking your feed 👀 6y

Cathythoughts Hi @Cinfhen I miss connecting with you too , hoping All is well with you ❤️❤️❤️ 6y

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