It has been a week since I have forced challenged myself to read Jane Eyre. On the original post you will see I clearly called out my past grievances attempts to read this and my fail after fail… due to:
1. boring
2. the language (not bad language) but old school language… which I guess really… is bad language. 😛
3. Something shiny distracted me
4. I dont want to!
My self challenge was to read 10 pages a day average, and then weekly report back as to how it is going.
Currently on page 70, I am now seeing Jane at school after her harsh treatment of her so-called Aunt. Just a few pages ago she had dropped the slate in front of Mr. Brucklehurst and been punished by standing on top of a stool in front of the whole class. Now she has been swept away along with her one friend (?) Helen Burns to Miss Temple’s chambers where they are currently sharing tea and cake.
At this point the story has my interest and I have no idea why it does this time when at no other time have I made it this far. I am curious about the cruel and strict head master Mr. Brucklehurst. I am also curious about Jane’s large language for a ten-year old girl. To me she speaks as some one much older.
I confess that I know nothing of where this story is going as I have not watched a movie about this either. I am guessing we are going to watch Jane grow up into if not a beautiful woman on the outside, perhaps on the inside.
I probably would have read more this past week but honestly have been wiped out every night and fell asleep after reading only a few pages nightly.
My rating at this point in the book:
I know a couple of my readers mentioned reading this along with me. I would love to hear how you are doing on this.
Book Journey 
I am glad to see you have gotten this far. As Jane grows into adulthood, she will encounter more trying situations that are quite an interesting read. Hang in there. The further you get into the story, the more fascinating it becomes.
Thanks Shirley….I think I will make it this time 😉
Boooo Mr Brucklehurst!
I love that rating meter! So glad it’s going well for you so far.
LOL Alita…. yes.. he is kind of a big jerk!
I’m glad to hear that you are more interested this time around. Maybe the 10 pages a day thing helps? My nemesis book was Ada by Nabokov. I spent a decade trying to read that thing! Eventually I said I was going to read one chapter (about 10-15 pages) per day, and that worked. I made it through. You can do this!
Thanks Amanda! Glad you made it through yours as well!
I’m glad you’re enjoying Eyre so far! 🙂 I love Jane Eyre so much! I’ve read it many times over and even went so far to buy a pretty new hardcover edition! 🙂 I’ve been trying to read Pride and Prejudice. I even joined a challenge to try to get through it too! I’ve tried reading P&P so many times but got bored…. 10 pages into it. I hope you finish Jane Eyre loving it! 🙂
We did read Pride and Prejudice last year for book club. That is the first time I had read it.
I think Jane and I are going to be ok.
i never reached the contentment stage…and i watched the most recent movie version and missed what made her at all attractive. good luck!
LOL Thank you Diana! I never reached it before either.. this is new territory for me 🙂
I haven’t read this one since high school…I remember loving it, but don’t recall any details.
I think I would be more easily distracted and/or bored at this point in my life.
I also think about how I read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in college and loved them; I highly doubt I would feel the same now.
What does this mean? I have no idea….
Hang in there.
I think I have had the reverse experience Laurel… I was never made to read any of the classics in school and in some ways feel I missed out… I try to embrace a few each year just so I can talk about them… 😀
I’m glad to here the reading is going well for you so far. I vaguely recall reading this title as required reading back in High School.
I don’t remember liking it, which is no surprise given my gender 😉
I can understand that… its not an easy read – but it is going more smoothly than in the past attempts 🙂
Yay! I’m glad you’re liking it so far! It only gets better from here (in my opinion).
Thanks Jen… yup. I am even going to read a bit tonight and I already have my ten in for today….. CRAZY!
I’m one who was pretty much pulled in from the start of Jane Eyre the first time I read it in high school. I agree that Jane talks above her age level, but (I think) the story is told from a looking back on it from her adulthood. She also did a reasonable amount of reading as a child, so I attribute her vocabulary to that. Glad you’ve made it this far!!!
I am picking up on that Crystal, the talking about the past part… good point!
I just finished this book at the end of last year! It took me awhile to finish it mainly because I had it on my kindle app and read it in snippets. But I still decently enjoyed it! Note: the new movie is horrible and butchers the story! I’m partway through a mini-series that was done in 2006 and it is MUCH better!
Thanks Abbi…. maybe the 2006 one will be the one I will watch 😀
I’m here, I’m here! I picked up a cool English copy of “Jane” and I’m on page 215 out of 643. So far, so good! Had a tough time while Jane was at that school – wanted to punch that ol’ Brucklehurst in the nose for starving those girls!!! I’m going to post my progress over at my blog this morning. This is fun reading along!
Wow!! Look at you go! My book only has (only – ha ha) 400 and some pages… yours is BIGGER! 😯
You are also flying through it! Brucklehurst was a big loser!
I was amused too by her vocabulary, but that’s just the way authors wrote at that time. It was only a little off-putting to me and didn’t ruin the story. We can’t expect these old gems to be written like current novels.
I am getting into the flow Barbara… it took a while but I am getting there 🙂
I do hope you enjoy this in the end Carol. 🙂
Its getting better – my fear now is that it will not remain interesting for the entire book since the school years have ended by page 90 and she is not on her way away from the school.
Well… I’m glad you’re content with it momentarily!! Love your meter!! jajajajaja This is a good sign, definitely.
LOL thank you… thank you 😛
Hang in there! You must get past this first part and I promise you things will start to get verrrry interesting. Can’t wait to read your posts as you get further into the story.
Thanks Joanne 😉
I thought this got MUCH better when she left school. It’s all about after she gets to Thornfield Hall and meets Mr. Rochester. 🙂
OOH I am not there yet! Hopefully I will have some time tonight!
Can I claim the title of your official Jane Eyre cheerleader? Or is that already taken. I love love love Jane Eyre. It is my favorite book ever. And you haven’t even gotten to the interesting stuff yet!
Okay here goes my cheerleading: Go, Shiela, go! You can do it!
Yes please!!!! Join me every Sunday for the update “ra ra!!!” 😀