false <![CDATA[Cranford (Read Red)]]> 182381 104 <B>Gaskell's witty and poignant comedy of country town life</B> <BR><BR> A gently comic picture of life in an English country town in the mid-nineteenth century, <I>Cranford</I> describes the small adventures of Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two middle- aged spinster sisters striving to live with dignity in reduced circumstances. Rich with humor and filled with vividly memorable characters&#151;including the dignified Lady Glenmire and the duplicitous showman Signor Brunoni&#151;<I>Cranford</I> is a portrait of kindness, compassion, and hope. 1016559 1853 Cranford (Penguin Classics) total:1147|5:205|4:417|3:352|2:81|1:17| 1147 4202 2222 258 5 3 false false Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 10:59:33 -0700 2008 Wed May 14 11:17:28 -0700 2008 loved this. It's really a series of vignettes, and, if there is a plot at all, it doesn't show up until halfway through. But it's so funny! And sad! And it's all about women! I laughed aloud a few times, and almost cried a few other times.

Sigh. I'm such a sucker for...more...]]> 3 4 false false Tue Mar 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 14:23:33 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 14:35:15 -0800 2009 Cranford is less a novel than it is a series of vignettes, drawn from the lives of a small group of genteelly impoverished older women in a small town in mid-nineteenth century England. Gaskell is quite gentle with her characters, I think perhaps because she wa...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 06:37:52 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 10:13:19 -0700 2009
Mr Harrison's Confessions (the shortest)
Cranford
My Lady Ludlow

They are all separate stories but set in the same sort of place - mainly a small northern town where the population happens to be many unmarried w...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 01 01:14:02 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 08:32:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 19 21:01:54 -0800 2007 Tue May 13 07:14:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 12:46:31 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 09:45:33 -0700 2008 I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first two. The stories of these small town people are alternately amusing and heartbreaking, a...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 20 23:20:45 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 28 07:19:46 -0700 2008
A charming book, easily read and discussing much the needs and efforts at gentility of a g...more...]]> 0 1 false false Tue Apr 15 17:14:02 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 15 16:57:53 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 15 17:11:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 05 19:13:10 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 16:02:33 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 19:13:10 -0700 2009 5 0 true true Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 08:42:55 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 08:49:12 -0700 2009 2 more...]]> 4 0 false true Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 10:14:01 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 07:17:48 -0700 2009
Cast:
* Francesca Annis — Lady Ludlow
* Eileen Atkins — Miss Deborah Jenkyns, Miss Matty\\\'s elder sister
* Claudie Blakley — Martha
* John Bowe — Dr Morgan
* Andrew Buchan — Jem Hearne
* Rosy Byrne - Lizzie Hut...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 09:55:59 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 09:22:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 16:27:18 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 17:56:40 -0700 2009
The introduction states "In the case of Thackeray, or Dickens, or George Eliot, or Charlotte Bronte, there is reasonable doubt as to which work should be placed first; and though each reader has his preference, nearly all would admit that t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 16:40:24 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 16:33:06 -0700 2009 1
This is the first of Elizabeth Gaskell's works that I have read, and I was very favorabl...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 09:55:54 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 08:26:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 17 19:08:06 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 19:43:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 16:17:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 16:29:34 -0700 2009 North and South but the story is much lighter with the same conversational sparkle. There isn't really an overarching story that connects the vignettes in the book, but that's surprisingly unimportant as you smile y...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 13:01:03 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 13:20:34 -0700 2009 the holders of houses above a certain rent are women."

And the book follows this due course beautifully, of course the Amazons are mild mannered and fussy English women who are afraid to get into bed at nig...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Sep 22 13:08:48 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 22 09:18:30 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 10:47:34 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 05:55:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6481957