Jessica's review
Jude the Obscure (Thrift Edition)
by Thomas Hardy
Oh crap, I have to read the Chicken Soup for the Soul books before this. Sorry Hardy, not likely...
Have you read any other Hardy? I actually loved Tess of the D'Urbervilles so I'm just curious to get a gauge on your Hardy feelings.
I devoured Hardy as a teenager... this was one of my favorites, as was Tess, and 'The Return of the Native.' I'm afraid his thick novels fed my poor tragic-romantic-fantasy life, but I also loved his description of landscape, the heath, in 'Return' especially.
This is the only one I've read! I guess I should toss Tess on my "who'm-i-kidding" aka "to-read" pile. Is Tess also a fun, inspirational date-movie kind of story?
SPOILER ALERT!
i don't believe the man wrote a happy ending in his life. my memory isn't entirely to be trusted, tho'.
that was v funny Matthew!!
it is just a love fest on bookster. thank you. perhaps you can find me a date, as well, since the other jessica's having a baby?
Whaddaya think? I'm some kind of matchmaker?! well...I'll try...this is going out to my 400-some friends, so maybe one of them...?
i jut figured that, since goodreads has become, more or less, a dating site, i'd put it out there. any help is, of course, appreciated.
has it? become a dating site? wow...have to catch up here...any research on this, anecdotal evidence? (besides these love-fest threads..don't know what got into folks today 'cept maybe it was Friday, the day before Saturday? right now of course it's the wee hours of Saturday... here in the northeast of the USA at least) so, have any figures? any successful matches? inquiring minds want to know! either way (dating site or not), I'll see what I can do here. I like to be helpful! you might need to tell me your preferences though, you know: age, reading matter, location (does it matter?), etc.
this isn't a dating site, just a safe place for story-telling
i was referring to the ongoing love-fest threads. the only figure i have is my own portly one. i was joking, more than anything. still, a site for book lovers would be my ideal dating pool. my reading matter's already listed, i should think. my preferred location is the san francisco bay area, but an internet girlfriend is beginning to look entirely acceptable, at this point... perhaps even a robot! alternately, fabulously wealthy jet setters, willing to travel, if that's not redundant, without my financial input, will not be turned away, on that basis alone. i'm flexible about age. perhaps the other jessica or rachel (or their parents) will pipe up and say what would be good for me (or warn everyone away). or even the other OTHER jessica! you're very kind, by the by.
robert, your comment confuses me, a bit. what stories have you been telling?
A Robot, my! don't get carried away Matthew! you needn't go that far, even in your thinking! and yes, something kind of love fest thing took over GR yesterday...it was palpable and strange...but v nice actually, in a way! it was circa 1960-something! So, will continue on with my investigating...will check out the bookshelves proffered, etc.
a free willed robot (i wouldn't want to force myself on anyone/anything) would be lovely, were one to exist. would a robot be capable of love, though (or free will, for that matter)? and would it/she love me? signs point to no. investigate on, though, my friend.
Nix the robot, esp. the oxymoronic variety ('free-willed robot'). Give it up! No hope at all there. The investigation continues, however...
i'm hardly filled with hope, a a rule - this might be an important fact for prospective lovers - but i'll try to keep it real, as i'm sure i'm misusing the phrase. i just don't want to rule anything out (benign selkies, dryads, peri, and cetera will be considered, as well - i'm not racist).
Matthew: stick with Hardy, he should be able to help out here...such a romantic...ever read his poetry? think he was fairly prolific in that Dept too...
um, are you kidding? while i'm not familiar with the man's poetry, and i can agree that he was a romantic, on a certain level, the novels of his with which i am familiar (tess, jude, and the return [which had a tacked on "happy" ending, due to publishing demands]) are NOT beacons of hope for terrestrial love. "wuthering heights" is more promising!
you're right of course...but I was referring to the chicks you might attract with such tragic-romantic novels featured...uumm, maybe not such a good suggestion. I'll take it back! Bronte is good..!
well, hardy probably secured me my first real girlfriend, at sixteen, and bronte has earned me the devotion of at least two girls, over the years, so the suggestion, though i misunderstood it, was not a bad one; don't beat yourself up. still, i take literature rather too seriously (and literally), so my idea of true high romance would likely end in rather high body counts, all considered. thus, perhaps, i might better focus my thoughts on lighter material. heaths and bogs are great, if you're looking to bury people. fortunately (for some, anyway - i like a bit of atmosphere, y'know?), the bay area's pretty well free of 'em.
hey there...don't worry, I don't beat myself up over anything anymore...so the bay area is free of bogs & heath...but you've got that mist & rain & lack of sun, yes! lack of sun! I lived in SF for one year (81-82) and have never gotten sick so often (colds, flu) as back then...(course swimming in the Bay near the GG Bridge w/a friend in March could not have helped things). Also, I'm a regular polar bear, I mean I do not get cold, but I was bone-chilled cold nearly all the time there...all that moisture! I love the city, but it did not agree with me. But maybe you are not in SF proper?
Sorry 'bout that Matthew, I see you're in Berkeley, not S.F....worlds apart, right?
no, not in SF, itself - i live in berkeley, with its nauseatingly abundant sunshine, warmth, and people-who-believe-hugging-near-total-strangers-is-allowable-social-behaviour. i'd much prefer san francisco's fog and chill, but i'm sort of stuck here, much as i shouldn't complain. i do not, however, go so far as to swim in the bay. yikes. i miss my ancestral east coast's varied and violent meteorological manifestations, deeply, but i suppose i can always hope for an earthquake or tsunami.
Earthquakes are well...earth-shattering. I was in Mexico City for the BIG (1985) one...so don't speak too lightly of such things (my family, not having any word from me for 24 hrs--I neglected to call the US Embassy enseguida--considered me dead...)
but umm...happier thoughts, are in order! Did you grow up in the unhappy northeast? I like it here, all the seasons...the long winters...does a soul good, me thinks!
i did, in fact, grow up on america's northeastern seaboard, or, more prosaically, in new jersey. though my time there was largely unhappy (i'm an unhappy person; i got doctors 'n' stuff), i don't consider it an unhappy place. i even believe my much maligned home state is rightly termed the garden. i truly do miss hurricanes, thunderstorms, and blizzards, to say nothing of milder weather (though i do NOT miss three digit temperatures and humidity - i'm about autumn). the first earthquake i ever experienced (though i only heard it) was with the other jessica, actually. i speak rather lightly about a number of subjects, being a bit morbid, among other things. pay it no mind, if you would.
Jessica's review
Jude the Obscure (Thrift Edition) by Thomas Hardy
Jessica's review
rating:
bookshelves:
kind-of-depressing
recommended for: YOU, if you've finished all the chicken soup for the soul books already
If I remember correctly, this book is a real laff riot, with a touchingly sweet and uplifting message. I think I read somewhere that Hardy was feted in the streets of his hometown Christminster and given the Feelgood Author of 1895 Award for this baby, and rightly so! What a heartwarming gift for someone who's feeling down, such as a student who's just lost his financial aid, or someone you know who's trying to make an unconventional relationship work despite social strictures. Okay, full disclosure, I read Jude the Obscure in college and honestly remember little about this book, except for the warm fuzzy sensation I got when I finished it: a wonderful, comforting feeling that wrapped all around me, like the soft yellow blanket my grandma knitted for me when I was a baby. A special, safe feeling like I knew no matter what happened in anyone's life, things would eventually work themselves out just fine.
And isn't that truly why we read literature? For such comfort and solace i...more
And isn't that truly why we read literature? For such comfort and solace i...more
Oh crap, I have to read the Chicken Soup for the Soul books before this. Sorry Hardy, not likely...Have you read any other Hardy? I actually loved Tess of the D'Urbervilles so I'm just curious to get a gauge on your Hardy feelings.
I devoured Hardy as a teenager... this was one of my favorites, as was Tess, and 'The Return of the Native.' I'm afraid his thick novels fed my poor tragic-romantic-fantasy life, but I also loved his description of landscape, the heath, in 'Return' especially.
This is the only one I've read! I guess I should toss Tess on my "who'm-i-kidding" aka "to-read" pile. Is Tess also a fun, inspirational date-movie kind of story?
SPOILER ALERT!i don't believe the man wrote a happy ending in his life. my memory isn't entirely to be trusted, tho'.
that was v funny Matthew!!
it is just a love fest on bookster. thank you. perhaps you can find me a date, as well, since the other jessica's having a baby?
Whaddaya think? I'm some kind of matchmaker?! well...I'll try...this is going out to my 400-some friends, so maybe one of them...?
i jut figured that, since goodreads has become, more or less, a dating site, i'd put it out there. any help is, of course, appreciated.
has it? become a dating site? wow...have to catch up here...any research on this, anecdotal evidence? (besides these love-fest threads..don't know what got into folks today 'cept maybe it was Friday, the day before Saturday? right now of course it's the wee hours of Saturday... here in the northeast of the USA at least) so, have any figures? any successful matches? inquiring minds want to know! either way (dating site or not), I'll see what I can do here. I like to be helpful! you might need to tell me your preferences though, you know: age, reading matter, location (does it matter?), etc.
this isn't a dating site, just a safe place for story-telling
i was referring to the ongoing love-fest threads. the only figure i have is my own portly one. i was joking, more than anything. still, a site for book lovers would be my ideal dating pool. my reading matter's already listed, i should think. my preferred location is the san francisco bay area, but an internet girlfriend is beginning to look entirely acceptable, at this point... perhaps even a robot! alternately, fabulously wealthy jet setters, willing to travel, if that's not redundant, without my financial input, will not be turned away, on that basis alone. i'm flexible about age. perhaps the other jessica or rachel (or their parents) will pipe up and say what would be good for me (or warn everyone away). or even the other OTHER jessica! you're very kind, by the by.
robert, your comment confuses me, a bit. what stories have you been telling?
A Robot, my! don't get carried away Matthew! you needn't go that far, even in your thinking! and yes, something kind of love fest thing took over GR yesterday...it was palpable and strange...but v nice actually, in a way! it was circa 1960-something! So, will continue on with my investigating...will check out the bookshelves proffered, etc.
a free willed robot (i wouldn't want to force myself on anyone/anything) would be lovely, were one to exist. would a robot be capable of love, though (or free will, for that matter)? and would it/she love me? signs point to no. investigate on, though, my friend.
Nix the robot, esp. the oxymoronic variety ('free-willed robot'). Give it up! No hope at all there. The investigation continues, however...
i'm hardly filled with hope, a a rule - this might be an important fact for prospective lovers - but i'll try to keep it real, as i'm sure i'm misusing the phrase. i just don't want to rule anything out (benign selkies, dryads, peri, and cetera will be considered, as well - i'm not racist).
Matthew: stick with Hardy, he should be able to help out here...such a romantic...ever read his poetry? think he was fairly prolific in that Dept too...
um, are you kidding? while i'm not familiar with the man's poetry, and i can agree that he was a romantic, on a certain level, the novels of his with which i am familiar (tess, jude, and the return [which had a tacked on "happy" ending, due to publishing demands]) are NOT beacons of hope for terrestrial love. "wuthering heights" is more promising!
you're right of course...but I was referring to the chicks you might attract with such tragic-romantic novels featured...uumm, maybe not such a good suggestion. I'll take it back! Bronte is good..!
well, hardy probably secured me my first real girlfriend, at sixteen, and bronte has earned me the devotion of at least two girls, over the years, so the suggestion, though i misunderstood it, was not a bad one; don't beat yourself up. still, i take literature rather too seriously (and literally), so my idea of true high romance would likely end in rather high body counts, all considered. thus, perhaps, i might better focus my thoughts on lighter material. heaths and bogs are great, if you're looking to bury people. fortunately (for some, anyway - i like a bit of atmosphere, y'know?), the bay area's pretty well free of 'em.
hey there...don't worry, I don't beat myself up over anything anymore...so the bay area is free of bogs & heath...but you've got that mist & rain & lack of sun, yes! lack of sun! I lived in SF for one year (81-82) and have never gotten sick so often (colds, flu) as back then...(course swimming in the Bay near the GG Bridge w/a friend in March could not have helped things). Also, I'm a regular polar bear, I mean I do not get cold, but I was bone-chilled cold nearly all the time there...all that moisture! I love the city, but it did not agree with me. But maybe you are not in SF proper?
Sorry 'bout that Matthew, I see you're in Berkeley, not S.F....worlds apart, right?
no, not in SF, itself - i live in berkeley, with its nauseatingly abundant sunshine, warmth, and people-who-believe-hugging-near-total-strangers-is-allowable-social-behaviour. i'd much prefer san francisco's fog and chill, but i'm sort of stuck here, much as i shouldn't complain. i do not, however, go so far as to swim in the bay. yikes. i miss my ancestral east coast's varied and violent meteorological manifestations, deeply, but i suppose i can always hope for an earthquake or tsunami.
Earthquakes are well...earth-shattering. I was in Mexico City for the BIG (1985) one...so don't speak too lightly of such things (my family, not having any word from me for 24 hrs--I neglected to call the US Embassy enseguida--considered me dead...)but umm...happier thoughts, are in order! Did you grow up in the unhappy northeast? I like it here, all the seasons...the long winters...does a soul good, me thinks!
i did, in fact, grow up on america's northeastern seaboard, or, more prosaically, in new jersey. though my time there was largely unhappy (i'm an unhappy person; i got doctors 'n' stuff), i don't consider it an unhappy place. i even believe my much maligned home state is rightly termed the garden. i truly do miss hurricanes, thunderstorms, and blizzards, to say nothing of milder weather (though i do NOT miss three digit temperatures and humidity - i'm about autumn). the first earthquake i ever experienced (though i only heard it) was with the other jessica, actually. i speak rather lightly about a number of subjects, being a bit morbid, among other things. pay it no mind, if you would.