Cranford Read-Along

Monday, May 24, 2010


I've decided to participate in a read-along hosted by Allie at A Literary Odyssey. I've been wanting to read this for awhile, especially since I bought a beautiful copy, part of the new Penguin cloth-covered classics series.

(Cranford is the green one in the front)

Here's Amazon's summary of the book: A novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, published serially in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words from 1851 to 1853 and in book form in 1853. Basing her tales on the village in which she was reared, Gaskell produced a gently comic picture of life and manners in an English country village during the 1830s. The novel's narrator (a young woman who periodically visits Cranford) describes the small adventures in the lives of two middle-aged sisters in reduced circumstances who do their best to maintain their standards of propriety, decency, and kindness. Using an intimate, gossipy voice that never turns sentimental, Gaskell conveys the old-fashioned habits, subtle class distinctions, and genteel poverty of the townspeople. Cranford quickly became one of the author's best-loved works.

Allie has set the following reading schedule:
Since Cranford is a relatively short book, I decided to have two days for posting. There are 16 chapters, so a post on chapters 1-8 can be made on June 15th (a Tuesday). The second and final posting can be done on June 30th (a Wednesday).

To join in on the fun, sign up here.

3 comments:

Hannah Stoneham said...

I am rushed off my feet and so sadly cannot join - but I look forward to reading your reviews. Happy reading!

Hannah

Allie said...

Thanks for posting! We'll be reading from the same edition. I just love these hardcovers. They are so beautiful and I am slowly collecting all of them (the only one from the first set you have pictured I don't have is Great Expectations).

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

I've been slowly collecting them too. From that first set I don't have the Austen novels or Wuthering Heights. I love the second set too. The Odyssey has been calling my name for awhile.