Tag: thomas hardy

4 stars, Book reviews

Far From the Madding Crowd

Pragya

by  Thomas Hardy

Genre: Classics

Date Published: 1874

Synopsis:

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in the fictional county of Wessex, Hardy’s novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.

Buy it here – Amazon India | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Add on Goodreads | Flipkart | Audible

My View: I am doing #TheGreatThomasHardyReadalong2022 along with @annathebooksiread and @pezzasclassicbooks on IG. Here’s my second read after A pair of blue eyes last month.

Hardy has a knack of keeping you hooked and although sometimes I am tempted to skim the description paragraphs, his plots keep you on your toes. It’s almost like if you blinked, someone could die, or you know, a major plot twist might happen. There’s no giving warning with him. Here you were thinking, ah finally, there seems to be some stability, and then boom. I love how Hardy managed to make a romance feel like a thriller and it was. Oh, I really did enjoy reading this book.

Before you think the plot is all there is, oh no, not at all. Hardy got his charcters etched to a tee. A strong female character as the one whom the story line revolves around and I am half way there already, patting the author on the back.

Unabashed, not to be bullied and the one who stands up for herself. You got me swooning right there. I am going to gloss over a few not so good decisions coming up. “Oh, Bathsheba, what in the world were you thinking?” But when you have been driven to the brink of emotion, you know you got a winner in your hands.

This book takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and reminds me of Hardy’s ‘The Mayor of Castorbridge’ which I loved so much, precisely because of all the drama. It’s just life on a farm and a couple of suitors, you say, who’s creating all this drama? Well, humans, as usual. Who else?

Here’s how it’s with Hardy, “A-turn-at-every-corner plot, beautifully etched characters so that you can know them intimately, and absolutely emotionally inhibited personalities of the characters, some side characters to produce humor”, and tada, you got a winner in your hands.

Have you read the book? What did you think of it?

4/5 stars – I really liked it.

About the Author

Thomas Hardy, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy’s poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy’s serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal — and literal — cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.

Month TBR Pile, Month Update

Month Wrap-Up: January & February 2019 and March TBR

Pragya
The year has begun on a slow note but I am definitely getting out of the reading rut.
January 2019

February 2019

March TBR

2019 Challenge Updates

  1. Read at least 50 books (Goodreads goal) – 4
  2. Read more classics (at least 10)
  3. Read more owned books (at least 20) – 1
  4. Read huge books (at least 3) – Shantaram, Jane Eyre, A suitable boy, 100 years of solitude
  5. Re-read- Anna Karenina, Thirteenth Tale, To the Lighthouse
  6. Read more non-fiction/ memoir/ autobiography (at least 20)
  7. YLTO Challenge

2019 Popsugar Challenge

Regular
1. A book becoming a movie in 2019
2. A book that makes you nostalgic
3. A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)
4. A book you think should be turned into a movie
5. A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads
6. A book with a plant in the title or on the cover
7. A reread of a favorite book
8. A book about a hobby
9. A book you meant to read in 2018 – The Japanese Lover
10. A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title
11. A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
12. A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore
13. A book published posthumously
14. A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie
15. A retelling of a classic
16. A book with a question in the title
17. A book set on college or university campus
18. A book about someone with a superpower
19. A book told from multiple POVs
20. A book set in space
21. A book by two female authors
22. A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title
23. A book set in Scandinavia
24. A book that takes place in a single day
25. A debut novel
26. A book that’s published in 2019
27. A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature
28. A book recommended by a celebrity you admire
29. A book with LOVE in the title
30. A book featuring an amateur detective
31. A book about a family
32. A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America
33. A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title
34. A book that includes a wedding – Today will be different
35. A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter
36. A ghost story
37. A book with a two-word title – Spider’s Web
38. A novel based on a true story
39. A book revolving around a puzzle or game
40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge

Advanced
41. A “cli-fi” (climate fiction) book
42. A “choose-your-own-adventure” book
43. An “own voices” book
44. Read a book during the season it is set in
45. A LitRPG book
46. A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters
47. Two books that share the same title
48. Two books that share the same title
49. A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom
50. A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent

3/ 50 Done

How was your February reading-wise? Leave a link to your wrap-up post and I’ll come visit.

Month TBR Pile, Month Update

Month Wrap-Up: August 2018 and September TBR

Pragya
Read in August 2018: 13

Book of the month
4 stars
September 2018 TBR

2018 Challenge Updates

  1. Read at least 40 books (Goodreads goal) – Goal completed – 80
  2. Read more classics (at least 15) – 8
  3. Read more owned books (at least 20) – 16
  4. Read huge books (at least 3) – Shantaram, Gone with the wind and one more – 0
  5. Re-read  books – 0
  6. Read more non-fiction/ memoir/ autobiography (at least 10) – Goal Completed – 15

Total number of Pages read this year: 17078

2018 ultimate reading challenge

  1. A book you read in school
  2. A book from your childhood
  3. A book published over 100 years ago – Heart of Darkness
  4. A book published in the last year – Genuine Fraud
  5. A non-fic book You can do it
  6. A book written by a male author – The Gift of Therapy
  7. A book written by a female author – Sunbathing in the rain
  8. A book by someone who isn’t a writer – When breath becomes air
  9. A book that became a film – The painted veil
  10. A book published in the 20th century – Changing Planes
  11. A book set in your hometown/ region – How I Became a Farmer’s Wife
  12. A book with a name in the title – A Man called Ove
  13. A book with a number in the title – Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
  14. A book based on a true story – Dying Well
  15. A book someone else recommended – 1984
  16. A book with over 500 pages
  17. A book you can finish in a day – Ghachar Ghochar
  18. A previously banned book
  19. A book with one-word title – Malice
  20. A book translated from another language – Moonrise From the Green Grass Roof
  21. A personal growth book – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
  22. A memoir or a journal – Tiger tiger
  23. A book by someone from another country – The Notebook
  24. A book set somewhere you’ll visit this year – The Blue Castle
  25. An award-winning book – Pulitzer Prize – Angela’s Ashes
  26. A book you read in school
  27. A book with a character with your first name
  28. A book with a place in the title – The Mayor of Casterbridge
  29. A book set in the future – Cinder
  30. A play – The live Corpse
  31. A scary book – Dracula
  32. A funny book – Where did you go, Bernadette
  33. A book of short stories – Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
  34. A trilogy or series Me Before You
  35. A bestseller – The Hate U Give
  36. A book you own but haven’t read – Haroun and the sea of stories
  37. A book about philosophy
  38. An epic poem
  39. A Victorian novel
  40. A book of poetry
  41. A book with a colour in the title
  42. A book with an appealing cover – Everything everything
  43. A book about psychology – Love’s executioner and other tales of psychotherapy
  44. A book about science – The Mind’s Eye
  45. A graphic novel – Asterix the gaul
  46. A self-published book
  47. A book from a different culture– Shanghai Girls
  48. A young adult book – This sky
  49. A book of non-fiction essays – At the same time
  50. A book by an author you haven’t read before – Gifts
  51. A book set in a country you’ve never been to – Into the water
  52. A book set in the place you live today

39/ 52 Done

How was your August reading-wise? Leave a link to your wrap-up post and I’ll come visit.

 

Month TBR Pile, Month Update

Month Wrap-Up: April 2018 and May TBR

Pragya
Read in April 2018: 6

The Verger

Reviews:
Book of the month
4.5 stars
May 2018 TBR
 

2018 Challenge Updates

  1. Read at least 40 books (Goodreads goal) – 37
  2. Read more classics (at least 15) – 5
  3. Read more owned books (at least 20) – 8
  4. Read huge books (at least 3) – Shantaram, Gone with the wind and one more – 0
  5. Re-read  books – 0
  6. Read more non-fiction/ memoir/ autobiography (at least 10) – 9

Total number of Pages read this year: 8802

2018 ultimate reading challenge

  1. A book you read in school
  2. A book from your childhood
  3. A book published over 100 years ago – Heart of Darkness
  4. A book published in the last year – Genuine Fraud
  5. A non-fic book You can do it
  6. A book written by a male author
  7. A book written by a female author – Sunbathing in the rain
  8. A book by someone who isn’t a writer – When breath becomes air
  9. A book that became a film – The painted veil
  10. A book published in the 20th century – Changing Planes
  11. A book set in your hometown/ region
  12. A book with a name in the title – A Man called Ove
  13. A book with a number in the title – Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
  14. A book based on a true story – Dying Well
  15. A book someone else recommended – 1984
  16. A book with over 500 pages
  17. A book you can finish in a day – Ghachar Ghochar
  18. A previously banned book
  19. A book with one-word title
  20. A book translated from another language – Moonrise From the Green Grass Roof
  21. A personal growth book
  22. A memoir or a journal – Tiger tiger
  23. A book by someone from another country – The Notebook
  24. A book set somewhere you’ll visit this year – The Blue Castle
  25. An award-winning book
  26. A book you read in school
  27. A book with a character with your first name
  28. A book with a place in the title – The Mayor of Casterbridge
  29. A book set in the future – Cinder
  30. A play
  31. A scary book
  32. A funny book
  33. A book of short stories
  34. A trilogy or series Me Before You
  35. A bestseller
  36. A book you own but haven’t read – Haroun and the sea of stories
  37. A book about philosophy
  38. An epic poem
  39. A Victorian novel
  40. A book of poetry
  41. A book with a colour in the title
  42. A book with an appealing cover – Everything everything
  43. A book about psychology – Love’s executioner and other tales of psychotherapy
  44. A book about science – The Mind’s Eye
  45. A graphic novel
  46. A self-published book
  47. A book from a different culture– Shanghai Girls
  48. A young adult book – This sky
  49. A book of non-fiction essays – At the same time
  50. A book by an author you haven’t read before – Gifts
  51. A book set in a country you’ve never been to – Into the water
  52. A book set in the place you live today

28/ 52 Done

How was your April reading-wise? Leave a link to your wrap-up post and I’ll come visit.