Welcome to Litsy!

My last #victober read is pretty underwhelming, unfortunately.

This book felt a bit too drawn out for the amount of plot it contained. It opens up an interesting conversation about abuse and abused women and their reasoning for going back to their abusers. Although I can sympathize with Helen, I also think she shouldn't have gone back to take care of her abuser and still be abused by him because “maybe he'll redeem himself in the end“

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧How to Sell a Haunted House
🎧The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Progress:
I have mostly been focusing on my #victober read, and thus I did not finish anything last week. Will definitely finish the tagged book this upcoming week and resume HTSAHH

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

🎧How to Sell a Haunted House
🎧The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Progress:
I finished two books last week. Will continue onto my 3rd #victober pick, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it before the month ends. I have also been making my way through HTSAHH and I'm having mixed feelings about it, definitely not what I expected it to be.

#WondrousWednesday
@Eggs (thanks for the tag! 😘)

1. aloof, humorous, loyal
2. introverted (that would explain the appearance of aloofness), a warm fuzzy (once you get to know me), always seeking knowledge
3. An obscure one, but I relate to Helen in THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL in quite a few ways.

Play? @Sleepswithbooks @TheBookgeekFrau @RaeLovesToRead

Just seen a fab play called Underdogs at the National it‘s all about the Brontë sisters, sibling rivalry, being a woman in a man‘s world alongside a heavy dose of who gets to tell the story type vibe. Also really funny. I suspect a rereading of the collected works of the collected Brontes is in my future. London accessible Litsy folk this finishes Saturday but I suspect will be back and I would recommend SO SO much. Playwright is Sarah Gordon ?

#april good month
#bookspin The Tenant of wild fell Hall
#doublespin Jane and Prudence
#bookspinbingo 2

#SpringSkies
#2ndChanceRomance
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

MELODRAMA 😂

Over the top and painfully drawn out finale. Today this likely would have been edited down for the better, but that‘s 21st C me!

This was a reread after many years & was still delicious for all of the poking & prodding at 19th C conventions about love, marriage, and expectations for women. I could quibble with Helen cast as martyr, but it is what it is…….Abused women sometimes stay or go back to their abusers, no matter the era.

Battered Woman Syndrome. Lack of autonomy for women (gender inequality). Social isolation and class distinctions. The effect of alcoholism, not just on the alcoholic, but the ripple effect as well. This is a relevant work of fiction and I think Anne was more in tune with the world than she gets credit. (Read up on their brother Branwell.) This is worth the read. 235/1,001 #1001Books November #BookSpin Litsy/GR TBR #TBRTarot Person on the Cover

Just a quick post about a day trip I took yesterday. This is myself and my youngest daughter outside Haworth parsonage. It was an excellent experience that evoked the feeling of life for these amazing sisters. So tonight we watched the BBC production 'to walk invisible ' filmed in haworth + captures time + place so well. Nancy, as youngest of 3 girls, was team Anne, I was Branwell, + his pillow looked like he had just got out of bed. Great day.

A slow read but enjoyable.

"I am not sure the loneliness of the place was not of its chief recommendations - I take no pleasure in watching people pass the windows; and I like to be quiet."

Finally read this classic. Personally, I rank this in the middle between Wuthering Heights (1) & Jane Eyre (3) for the Brontë sisters. I got into this more than I thought I would, but it dragged for me by the end. It‘s been on my tbr for years, & I read it for my library‘s book challenge—an epistolary novel.
Your opinions on the Brontë sisters are welcomed.

This is a spectacularly written novel, with wonderfully fleshed out characters. It is, at its heart, a story of abuse, dashed hopes and the birth of new love against all odds.

While this work isn‘t very atmospheric, it is very compelling in its humanness. Many themes of this book are eternal and readers today and into the future will be able to resonate with it.

Both the narrators were fabulous and have done a tremendous job. Must listen!

#Movie2BookRecs @klou
Prompt: Rebecca

I hadn‘t realized this was a temperance novel. As such I found it a bit more moralistic than my usual taste and many of the characters seemed painted too severely. But even with all that, the writing was completely absorbing and I really enjoyed reading it.

Any Brontë fans know if this is a typo or a turn of phrase I don‘t know?

#AlphabetGame #LetterT

#AlphabetGame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Letter T

This book took me by surprise by its fierce, uncompromising feminism. I love Helen's righteous anger. Anne's often the sidelined Brontë sister but this novel shows her to be worthy of as much adulation as Charlotte and Emily.

I was going to pick Woolf's To the Lighthouse, another T book that I love a lot, but I've mentioned Woolf once already so I wanted to show Anne some love 💜

If you have not read this gem, I highly recommend you do so!! Published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell, Anne Brontë invites the reader into a realistic (not romanticized) fiction in which she sheds light on alcoholism and abusive conduct through a woman‘s fight to gain freedom from her oppressive husband. Beautiful sensory details depicts the landscapes and emotions found within the story. It reads as if it were poetry.

This may be my favorite Brontë. It‘s the first from Anne I‘ve read. The struggle of a woman in the throes of an abusive marriage is so well captured. I was especially struck by the depiction of emotional abuse. “You may think it all very fine, Mr. Huntingdon, to amuse yourself with rousing my jealousy; but take care you don't rouse my hate instead. And when you have once extinguished my love, you will find it no easy matter to kindle it again.”

Listening to this gem while taking in a gorgeous Maine lakeside view.

Second day of vacation, first time reading as a strong headache seems finally gone.
Not liking this Arthur character... He is up to no good.

Dear mysterious Helen. Trapped in a marriage that was not at all what she anticipated, she eventually takes flight. Her new life begins in seclusion with her young son, Arthur. The locals discover her and want to know more, particularly, Gilbert. Atmospheric. A brave, stoic woman protecting her son at all costs.
This was a favorite of the #Pemberlittens reads.
Thank you @BarkingMadRun for leading the way. Loved your posts!

June Reads!! Cruel Prince was my fave. There were none I didn‘t like.

When you‘re reading a book about “the last Brontë” and she talks about Tenant…. So accurately lol (The Madwoman Upstairs)

When an author writes a novel as if it was a letter to an unnecessary character, and introduces another story written within the story (the diary,which cuts the story) I feel it's lazy or clumsy narrative,not knowing how to set the tone. Despite that error the story keeps you hooked, this was a reread for me and I couldn't put it down.Also a woman, leaving her husband to make an independent life must have shook society ⬇️⬇️

I have now read all 3 of the Bronte's novels. Wildfell Hall edges out Jane Eyre as the one I liked best. Simply because there wasn't a crazy woman in the attic. #WanderingThroughWutheringHeights is definitely the worst IMHO.

None of these will be going on my #forevershelf. Took 📸 at B & N and then put them back on shelf and bought 3 other books.

#Pemberlittens
@BarkingMadRun
@sprainedbrain

Not sure if she is part of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, but I know you can never be too young to join the fight for equality. First Pride Festival for this little one 🥰

I don't have the heart today for reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I'm too full of love to share my day with Hargrave...yes, I'm that late with chapter a day 😅 and yes, I hate him more than I hate Huntington...

#Pemberlittens

Finished earlier this week with the #PemberLittens. I am going to give it a pick even though I despised most of the characters. Was there a good man in the book? In all of Victorian England? I read a plot summary somewhere that stated Gilbert matures, redeems himself & becomes a better man in the end. I disagree-it was still all about “me, me, me” & it‘s not saying much that he was a better choice than Mr. Huntington. Ah Helen, I wanted you to↕️

@Crinoline_Laphroaig I thought I remembered yet another H name, but I wasn‘t sure! But there it is, he was writing to his BIL

And we are done🥳 ‼️
This was so much better than #WanderingThroughWutheringHeights.
@BarkingMadRun #PemberLittens

This had the most frustrating characters ever and I was constantly screaming at the audiobook for their stupidity 😅🤦🏼‍♀️
Despite the unlikeable characters, I was invested in the story. I thought the framing of Gilbert's letter and Helen's diary entries was interesting.
I'm glad to have read this along with the #Pemberlittens - I think more than one chapter a day would have been too frustrating lol @BarkingMadRun

I find it difficult to rate/review this book. I didn't like any of the characters. I pitied Helen, she was so naive, also very brave, but I couldn't identify with her value system at all, which made it difficult to empathize with her. Gilbert was a jerk, and I wish Helen had kept her distance from him. Huntingdon was of course despicable, but I was fascinated by how well Brontë had captured his nature on the page. ⬇️

Final post: what a whirlwind! Anne sure kept us on our toes with this one! Ups and downs, jumping to conclusions, making assumptions, and so much more! This was my first time reading it, and it drove me nuts, but I did enjoy it. I still think Helen deserves better, but was there actually anyone in her life who was better? Men just sucked back then 🤣 Drop your final thoughts below! #andtheylivedhappilyeverafter #pemberlittens #chapteraday

Oh man, what the heck, Helen. Have you no taste? ? #PemberLittens

Here‘s a great article about Anne Brontë and this book! https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/22/21070888/anne-bronte-200th-birthday-tenant...

Brontë writes a dramatic tale of a mysterious new occupant at Wildfell Hall and Gilbert‘s obsession with said tenant. Gilbert, the almost comically naive narrator, bumbles along on his journey of discovery - I‘ve yet to recall such a blindsided male character in classic literature. But, I think this, along with the mysterious female tenant, points to the feminism attributes to this novel. Brontë, the lesser known of the 3 Brontë sisters…⬇️⬇️⬇️

Chapter 52: Gil travels to find Helen, only to discover that now she‘s loaded….. she he doesn‘t think he is good enough for her anymore. #honeyyouneverwere #shedeservesbetter #soselfish #pemberlittens #chapteraday

Chapter 51: Eliza tells Gil that Helen is going to marry Hargrave, so he heads out to stop the wedding. But does he arrive in time? #pemberlittens #chapteraday #yasnoozeyalose #runGilrun

Audio really captures Eliza's Mean Girl spirit.

And with less than an hour to go I was tempted to finish. But I'm determined to stay the Chapter a Day Distance. 🚶🏻‍♀️🎧📖

@BarkingMadRun #PemberLittens

Chapter 50: Gil is waiting for 6 months to go by, so he can write to Helen. But her uncle dies, so he waits, and then she keeps traveling, so he waits, and then ……. #justwritethedamnletter #meanwhile #MrsLowbroughdies #goodriddance #grimsbydies #peaceout #hattersleyeandLowbroughlivetheirbestlives #andGilsstillwaiting #pemberlittens #chapteraday

Wow, I had some mixed feelings about this one!! A GR review I saw said something like "I respected this novel more than I enjoyed it" and I think that really captures my sentiments as well. The story Anne has written here is powerful and engaging, and thinking about how daring it was to publish a story about a woman standing up for herself and bailing on her husband (/owner) in 1848 makes it all the more powerful. I also appreciated Helen's ⬇️

Chapter 49: Huntington goes back to his old ways with some pretty disastrous results. #helencanstoprunning #ihopeshesaiditoldyouso #peaceouthuntington #pemberlittens #chapteraday

Chapter 48: Helen stay to tend Huntington and Gil gets permission to tell the neighbors that they were wrong about her…. #nogoodhashtagstoday #pemberlittens #chapteraday #ifinisheditallyesterday #couldnotstop

I couldn‘t stick with #chapteraday so I finished in fits and starts. Pick- for this one, though it‘s my favorite Brontë novel I‘ve read. The diary portion was the best, I found Gilbert annoying and unattractive but Helen‘s preachiness wasn‘t winning me over either. It was believable in its characters, at least. Thanks #PemberLittens for pushing this one off my shelf and into my hands!

I read ahead of the #pemberlittens (sorry!) but no spoilers. I enjoyed the ride, but could have done with less preaching from the author. 😀 That, and Gil saying he didn‘t notice the scenery around him and then going into great poetic detail, pulled me out of the story a bit. Minor complaints though, for a good story.

Chapter 47, and all I wanna say is 🤬🤬🤬🤬 that‘s it. That‘s all I got. #IYKYK #runhelenrun #notthatway #turnaround #atleastshemadeacontractthistime #pemberlittens #chapteraday

Chapter 46: Helen is preparing to leave and Gil and Freddy are…. Friends? I‘m not sure Freddy is too thrilled about it, though…. #imsurehemeanswell #pemberlittens #chapteraday

I spent several more hours in a tractor the last few days and couldn‘t resist finishing this book. I didn‘t like any of the men, except possibly Frederick. This led me to wish that it had been told strictly from Helen‘s perspective. I truly appreciated the message about careful consideration of marriage vs. singleness (so sharing this quote again) and Helen as a strong, determined mother.

#PemberLittens #audiobook #BooksOnTheFarm #1001books