Wuthering Heights Wednesday: Week 2, Chapters 4-6

It's week two of the Wuthering Heights Wednesday read-along sponsored by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts. We've just reached the 50 page mark, so if you're thinking of joining us, it's not too late!

Chapter 4 - 6 Summary:

After a disturbing night at Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood has returned home to Thrushcross Grange. That evening, before the roaring fire, he draws Mrs. Dean (the housekeeper) into conversation. Through her, we begin to learn the background of the Earnshaw and Linton families.

It turns out that Heathcliff was an orphan "found" by Mr. Earnshaw on a trip to Liverpool and brought home to be part of the family. Hindley Earnshaw took an instant and strong dislike to the dark, "gypsy-looking" boy, while young Catherine (Cathy) grew "too fond" of him. Hindley is sent away to college.

Upon Mr. Earnshaw's death, Hindly returns (with a wife). Catherine and Heathcliff, not closely supervised, are allowed to grow up wild on the moors. One Sunday, as they are peering in the windows at the wealthy Linton family of nearby Thrushcross Grange, Cathy is attacked by the family's bulldog and must remain there to heal. Heathcliff is sent back to Wuthering Heights.

Quotes:

Mrs. Dean on Heathcliff:

Rough as a saw-edge, and hard as a whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better.

Mrs. Dean on Catherine:

Certainly she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day: from the hour she came down-stairs till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minutes security that she wouldn't be in mischief. Her spirits were always at the high-water mark, her tongue always going - singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was - but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish: and, after all, I believe she meant no harm...

My thoughts:

What a surprise - another narrator! I love multiple narrators and the opportunities they provide to see characters and events from different viewpoints. Mrs. Dean is in the perfect position to furnish Lockwood (and the reader) with background information on members of the Earnshaw and Linton families. She was in the household when Catherine and Heathcliff were growing up, then went to Thrushcross Grange to be with Catherine following her marriage to Edgar Linton.

"Finding" an orphan and bringing him home is a little strange. I wonder if there will be more revealed about Heathcliff's origin.

The relationships between the two families are still confusing, but the genealogical table in my new Penguin Classics edition really helps. I mentioned on twitter that I was considering purchasing a new copy (the old paperback my daughter had wasn't cutting it) and several bloggers jumped at the chance to enable the purchase! Aren't these editions gorgeous?

I'm looking forward to learning more of the family's history and wonder how long we'll be treated to Mrs. Dean's voice.

Wuthering Heights Wednesday Participants:

• Jill (Fizzy Thoughts)
• Literate Housewife
• Vivienne( Serendipidy)
• Messy Karen
• Victoria
• Jenny (Take Me Away)
• Ti (Book Chatter)
• Lisa – Lit And Life
• Dar@ Peeking Between the Pages
• J.C. Montgomery (The Biblio Blogazine)
• Whitney
• JoAnn (Lakeside Musing)
• Gentle Reader (Shelf Life)
• Amy at New Century Reading
• Geri at One More Foggy Notion
• Rob at Book are Like Candy Corn

The Sunday Salon: The Day After...

It's the day after... Read-a-thon appears to have been a huge success and, once again, I missed it. My plan is to block out the fall date as soon as it's announced. We had a full schedule of family events yesterday - from ACT testing (involving a half hour drive each way for both drop-off and pick-up) to two family confirmations and parties.

This Sunday Salon post will be a quick wrap-up of the week, and then I'll start reading. The Classics Circuit visits on Saturday and I'm just beyond the half-way point of The Ladies' Paradise. Emile Zola is becoming a new favorite!

Wuthering Heights Wednesday read-along, hosted by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts has begun. Quite a few participants (like me) are first-time readers. The book's darkness took me by surprise - not at all what I was expecting! I'm really enjoying it, but don't foresee much happiness for these characters. The next post is coming on Wednesday.

A new author discovery last week... My Short Story Monday post, Frank O'Connor's "First Confession", had everything I expected from an Irish author. Are you familiar with O'Connor? Any suggestions for further reading?

My review of Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef was posted Friday. This provided just the right amount of background information for A Moveable Feast (which I hope to start by the end of the week).

It may be quiet at Lakeside Musing for a few days as I continue with Wuthering Heights and finish The Ladies' Paradise. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is still on my iPod. It's an excellent audio and drew me in right away, but I haven't been very good about walking this week.

Hope all the read-a-thon participants catch up on sleep. I need to catch up on reading! Which will you be doing?

Is Anybody Cooking?

Today is read-a-thon, so I'm not sure if any book bloggers are cooking.

I do have a Weekend Cooking post to share... it's at Lakeside Kitchen today.

Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef

There are times when I love to lose myself in a big, fat literary biography, but then there are others that call for a more concise, compact volume. I was recently seeking the latter and Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef filled the need perfectly.

My April reading plans include A Moveable Feast, and Molly's review planted the idea that a better understanding of Hemingway's life might increase my appreciation of the book. A few days later, I came across Diane's review of Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life, and then happily discovered the library had an available copy.

Prior to reading this biography, my knowledge of Hemigway's life consisted of these key facts:

• He was an avid hunter/fisherman
• He fought in the Spanish civil war
• He had several wives
• He drank heavily
• He shot himself in the head

While aimed at 9-12 year-olds (I think that range is a little too young), Reef's 150-page book was exactly what I needed to fill in the gaps. I learned more about Hemingway's childhood, time in Paris, hunting and fishing expeditions, war experience, writing career, marital turmoil, and the mental illness that eventually lead to taking his own life.

Some favorite passages:

... Grace [Hemingway's mother] handed Ernest a cold, careful, cruel letter that compared a mother's love to money in a bank, which could be counted and spent. A mother draws from a limited amount of love as she cares for her son through childhood, Grace explained. It was up to the son, as he grew older, to make deposits in the account through good behavior and tokens of affection, to prevent her love from running out. (page 41)

Ernest admitted he would go on loving Hadley [his first wife] "for a little while at least." He had begun to foresee the changes that marriage would bring and to mourn the loss of fishing trips with his pals. A "guy loves a couple or three streams all his life and loves 'em better than anything in the world - falls in love with a girl and the goddam streams can dry up for all he cares," he lamented to Bill Smith. "Only the hell of it is that country has as bad a hold on me as ever." (pages 45 - 46)

He practiced his art in the most basic way he knew, telling himself, "all you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." ... He crafted paragraphs from these honest statements, making every word count. He believed that if he did his job right, then readers would understand the emotions that lay beneath the actions he described. (pages 48-49)

"There is no flesh whatever to his writing, no softness, no roundness, no color, no flow of muscle under the skin," observed Fanny Butcher, a leading literary critic, in 1929. "There is nothing but uncompromising bone." (page 6)

My husband's grandmother, author of two novels published in the 1930's, was acquainted with Hemingway and, according to family lore, "didn't think much of him". He may not have been a particularly likable person, but this book provided an interesting look at the man behind the classic novels.

Bottom line: Highly recommended, even if you're not planning to read A Moveable Feast anytime soon.

Wuthering Heights Wednesday: Week 1

"Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed; one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of sun." (page 4)

Welcome to the Wuthering Heights Wednesday read-along hosted by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts. Our plan is to read three chapters of Emily Bronte's novel per week and post our thoughts each Wednesday. If you'd like to join us, it's not too late!

CHAPTERS 1 - 3

Synopsis:

Our narrator Lockwood, a man who seems to consider himself highly civilized, has just rented the remote Thrushcross Grange and arrives at Wuthering Heights to call on his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff. The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights appear unfriendly and standoffish (or just downright rude), but Lockwood in undaunted and vows to return for a second visit.

When Lockwood next visits, a snowstorm strands him overnight at Wuthering Heights. The housekeeper, Zillah, puts him in a little-used room that may be haunted. Lockwood has horrible nightmares that awaken the household.

"... knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' 'Who are you?' I asked... 'Catherine Linton'... As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!'..." (page 25)

Lockwood returns home the next day. His servants, presuming he died on the moors overnight and preparing a search for his remains, are thrilled to see him.

Other characters at Wuthering Heights:

Catherine - Heathcliff's daughter-in-law

Hareton Earnshaw - not quite sure of this relationship

Joseph - the old servant

My thoughts:

From the very first paragraph, the setting is described as "completely removed from the stir of society" and "a perfect misanthropist's heaven". I doubt anything good is going to happen here!

Next, the characters at Wuthering Heights (even the dogs) seem incredibly rude. Lockwood appears to be sort of a jerk - it seemed pretty obvious to me that a second visit would not be welcomed. Catherine, the daughter-in-law, threw me. I knew the novel focuses on the Catherine/Heathcliff relationship, but now it appears we have two Catherines! I'm also not quite sure of how the younger man, Hareton Earnshaw, is related to Catherine and Heathcliff.

The violence of the dream scene (quoted above) was startling! How could an author even come up with the idea of rubbing a child's (albeit a ghost/child) wrists back and forth over shattered glass?

After just three chapters, I'm convinced this is going to be a wild ride!

photo credit

Jill's first post with a link to other participant's blogs can be found here.

Short Story Monday: "First Confession" by Frank O'Connor

March may be over, but I'm still reading Irish authors. Frank O'Connor (1903 - 1966) is best known for his short stories and memoirs. In "First Confession", I found all the elements I've come to expect in Irish fiction - religion, family disagreements, guilt, and alcohol.

The opening sentence drew me in:

"All the trouble began when my grandfather died and my grandmother - my father's mother - came to live with us."

We learn that the grandmother, a country woman, is unsuited to life in town. She walks around the house barefoot, eats with her fingers, and drinks quite a bit of porter - straight from the jug. The narrator, a seven-year-old boy named Jackie, is mortified by this behavior, while his older sister Nora "sucked up to the old woman for the penny she got every Friday out of the old-age pension..."

In one instance, we find Jackie, who refuses to eat any meal prepared by his grandmother, hiding under the table threatening to protect himself with a butter knife as Nora tries to force the food upon him.

Jackie is preparing for his first confession and communion. The teacher, who talks mostly about hell, has scared him to death. When the day of confession arrives, Jackie's mother sends Nora to accompany him to the church.

"Now that girl had ways of tormenting me that Mother never knew of. She held my hand as we went down the hill, smiling sadly and saying how sorry she was for me, as if she were bringing me to the hospital for an operation.

"Oh, God help us!" she moaned. "Isn't it a terrible pity you weren't a good boy? Oh, Jackie, my heart bleeds for you! How will you ever think of all your sins? Don't forget you have to tell him about the time you kicked Gran on the shin."

Nora goes to confession first.

"Nora's turn came, and I heard the sound of something slamming, and then her voice as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, and then another slam, and out she came. God, the hypocrisy of women! Her eyes were lowered, her head was bowed, and her hands were joined very low down on her stomach, and she walked up the aisle to the side alter looking like a saint. You never saw such an exhibition of devotion; and I remember the devilish malice with which she had tormented me all the way from our door, and wondered were all religious people like that, really."

Jackie's turn follows. The description of the confession is quite comical and well worth reading. The entire piece is about five pages long and can be found here. I loved this story and will look for others by Frank O'Connor.

Short Story Monday is hosted by John Mutford at The Book Mine Set.

TSS: Easter Sunday Edition

Happy Easter! The coffee is brewing, the Easter Baskets are on the table waiting for the girls to wake up, and Nan's Baked French Toast is in the oven. Before our day starts, I'd like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers following my Aunt's death last week. Although it was a sad time, the funeral was truly beautiful and it was a blessing to have all the family together.

Needless to say, not much reading happened last week. I only managed a single chapter in The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola. The review for The Classics Circuit is scheduled for the 17th, so it will be my primary focus this week.

Also starting this week, Jill at Fizzy Thoughts is hosting a Wuthering Heights Read-along. The pace will be a slow and leisurely three chapters per week, and we'll be posting our thoughts on Wednesdays. I was surprised to learn that a few other people have not read the book - I truly thought I was the only one!

Blogger reaction to Wuthering Heights seems to be mixed, although I'll admit to seeing more "I hated it" comments. In any event, you'll be seeing Wuthering Heights Wednesday posts here for the next couple of months. If you haven't read this classic or are in the mood for a reread, grab the button (isn't it fantastic?) and join us!

My April reading plans also include A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (a follow-up to the biography I recently finished) and The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter (for Paperback Reader's Angela Carter Month).

Have a Happy Easter, and I hope you can fit in at least a little reading time today. Do you have any April reading projects planned?