The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Last week I finished The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, and we discussed it at book group on Thursday night. We rate the books out of 10 pre- and post-discussion, and this might have been our highest scoring book to date.

It was certainly a fun discussion, and heated in places. Two members in particular felt it was better than Jane Eyre, and two of us (strongly) disagreed. It was interesting that the parts of the book that appealed to us were also different - a couple found the surrounding story more compelling than the diary section, and liked the character of Gilbert. I had found him rather inconsistent - but perhaps that is the point. I had read the scholarly introduction and all the footnotes, and the critical opinion seemed to be that the diary section was the strength of the book, so I'm not sure how much that influenced me.

One of the things the group seemed to enjoy about the book was how modern it felt. Certainly there are aspects of the characters' behaviour and motivations that are not unfamiliar to a contemporary reader. I wasn't sure though, how much that counts in the book's favour - it seems to me that on reading many of the classics we are surprised at the modern feel of the characters. I was trying to argue that that is our perception that the past is different; in fact, although social rules have changed, basic human motivation has not. A modern feel per se does not then make it a better book. But I'm not sure how clearly I made my point as several bottles of wine had been consumed by that point.

Anne Bronte would not have approved.

I think I will have to read Wuthering Heights. I started it and gave up when I was a teenager, although I enjoyed Jane Eyre at that age. But I've found reading about the Brontes interesting: I read Jane Eyre (again) for my other book group a year or so ago, and also read Anges Grey a couple of years ago (and re-read the introduction in preparation for last Thursday). So I think I need to read Emily Bronte to complete the trio.

Audiobooks

I forgot a fourth category of book: audiobooks. I bought an ipod in March and have a subscription to audible.com. I had hoped that having something interesting to listen to might make me do more round the house. Hasn't really worked out that way, but it does make what I do get done more bearable.

I don't use the ipod much for music, but mainly for podcasts and audiobooks. I decided last week that I wasn't actually enjoying ficiton in audio form that much. It's harder to follow, and I miss being able to go back and check things. My first audiobooks were Lisey's Story (Stephen King) and Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman). Lisey's Story was OK, but a bit too drawn out for my taste. Plus some of the inconsistencies of the characters visiting the alternate world annoyed me. Fragile Things (short stories) is great, and I particularly enjoyed listening to stories read by the author. But now I want the book too!

The latest choice is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I was finding this really hard to get into, and in fact was on the verge of giving up. I couldn't work out what on earth was going on, or who any of the characters were. It was only when I went to order my next choice I realised I had accidentally downloaded part 2 before part 1. Doh. In my defence on the ipod it labels the chapters rather randomly starting from 1 even if it is the second part, and I had always selected it from the menu before it scrolled over to the "part" bit of the title.

Now that I have started again from the actual beginning I am enjoying it a lot more, and I didn't listen to so much that it's spoiled what's to come (I hope).

I listened to an hour or so in the car on the way from London to Cardiff on Friday night. The last time I did that journey I listened to four episodes in a row of Start the Week, a Radio 4 podcast with Andrew Marr. By the time I arrived I felt my IQ had risen by at least 3 points. I've downloaded Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain for my next audible choice - this was before I realised maybe I can do audio fiction after all.

My journey into the arts

I've started this blog for two reasons.

• First, I want to bring a bit more focus to my reading, by recording what books I have read and and any thoughts and opinions they throw up.
• Second, I want to see if my approach to books and ideas changes as I learn more about the academic study of the arts.

I started my career with a degree in Chemistry, and the years since spent mainly in business-to-business publishing haven't weaned me from a certain suspicion that "arty" subjects are somehow less rigorous and less worthwhile. But the fact remains that what I love to do more than anything else is to read and discuss books, especially fiction, and especially children's fiction.

So I've decided to find out more. I've signed up for an Open University course "The Arts Past and Present" to start in the autumn. In the meantime I've visited the library, made a resolution that I'm only going to have three books on the go at any one time (one children's, one adult and one non-fiction) and I'm going to record what I think of them here.