Group Read, January 2017: Cranford

Our January 2017 group read is Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Please add any comments you have on this s thread.

Such a nice book to start with! I'll be happily reading along with your thoughts on it.

I read that one at uni. Don't remember much detail, but I liked it a lot and one of the critical peer reviewed articles we read had something to do about an elastic band fetish. This is something I completely missed in my reading, but saw on further reflection. Enjoy!

I really loved Cranford, which I did a few years ago on audio. Such a feel-good book. Optimism about human nature, something we could all use at the moment.

I gave this very short shrift when I reviewed it 6 years ago.

http://arukiyomi.com/?p=1979

Don't worry, there aren't any spoilers. There's nothing to spoil!

Funnily enough, I'm now in the middle of North and South which seems to have far more substance despite suffering from too much pastiche for me.

I read this a little while ago and greatly enjoyed it as well. I liked reading about the enclosed lives they all lived and the humour and pathos that such lives represent. The forgoing of carriages but being unable to discuss poverty so talking around the subject was the first example but they were all through it.

These ladies with their little rules and laws would infuriate me one moment and then I'd feel sorry for them and the next respect their dignity under real adversity.

My favourite piece, humour wise was the section on the 'thieves'. I thought that was hilarious :-)

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1719019448?book_show_action=false&from...

I read The Cranford Chronicles four years ago as a memorial read for a dear friend who loved Elizabeth Gaskell so much that her online name was mrsgaskell. My friend succumbed to ovarian cancer about 7 years after we first met. I still miss her because we used to have a lovely time talking books and having cups of tea. These are still the only works by Mrs Gaskell that I have read. I think I will have to make one of her other works on the list a priority for this year. The book I read included Cranford, Mr. Harrison's Confessions and My Lady Ludlow but Cranford was certainly my favourite.

Just started reading the book today, and even though it's difficult to find an overarching plot I do enjoy it. It's an interesting portrait of a small society, told with lots of humour. I'm looking forward to the rest.

even though it's difficult to find an overarching plot

If you manage to find one let me know :-)

>9 Henrik_Madsen:, >10 M1nks: I thought the point of the book is the plotlessness -- it is a portrait of the fading away of a certain kind of genteel life.

I could find a point, it was the plot that I decided wasn't there.

This is on my to-read list -- been on my shelves for a few years. I watched the TV series with Judi Dench and several other well-known folks. Truly enjoyed it. They tried to give the TV version a bit more plot, I think, because the few pages I have read of Cranford are, as some have said here, plotless. But the writing is lovely. I'll try to get into it if I finish my current Jan read quickly.

A book in a similar vein, I thought, is Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson. Also very beautifully written. And also has a lovely TV series to go with it.

I read this in a couple of days. It is slight but an amusing "amuse bouche" amongst the heavier fare of the Boxall list. I think it is a little harsh to say it is plotless, and in some ways it was interesting to contrast with our previous read of The First Circle with the annoyances, gossip and forced friendships of an enclosed community.

I finished Cranford today and it was an enjoyable read from start to finish. The characters were very human but their virtues definitely outdid their vanity and their other sins.

I wouldn't call it light, though, and not really plotless either. Most of the ladies are just barely able to hold on to their way of living, and miss Maddy in particular is a both likeable and tragic character. When you think about it, her life has actually been pretty awful and marred by numerous losses: the opportunity to have a family, her sister and her brother. It's a bit like a Disney movie: Gaskell doesn't dwell much on the sad parts, but they are still there and they fuel the emotions of the reader.

"it's a bit like a Disney movie"

you got that right!

That's something I too remember, while the overall feeling is warm and cozy, it did not shy away from sad bits, beside one of the main characters there were couple of side characters whose fate I remember being shocked about...

It was a pleasant change from the constant doom and gloom of the List (or so it sometimes feels like :-)). I thought it had a great blend of the comic and the tragic in the ordinary way that we have in our own lives.

I've just started listening to the audiobook. This version is from Naxos Audiobooks, read by Clare Wille.

It came with a bit of commentary. I thought several of the points made might be interesting to the discussion.

The first is that this is best thought of as a series of related short stories, rather than an overarching novel.

The second point I found interesting is that this is satire, although as the commentary calls it, very gentle satire with lots of gentle humor.

Well, I think I am the odd one out here. I found this book to be incredibly tedious and boring and bailed at page 73 due to lack of concentration. It's definitely out of character for me to not finish a book. 19th century fiction is one of my favorite time periods to read from so I will give it a try another time.