Madame Bovary

                       
I am reminded of when I read Voss by Patrick White, because that was the last time that I had disliked a character so much (excluding Nabokov's Lolita because that book was abhorrent for entirely different reasons).  I won't be watching the BBC versions of this awful story.
What also caused me to recollect Voss is the writing itself, how Flaubert brought to life an entire village, little histories and side plots, and the absolute insidiousness of Madame herself.  Look up the synonyms for insidious and you will find at least twenty-six  words that describe her very well... all of them.
Naturally I cared for Monsieur Charles Bovary and was concerned for his welfare and for all those that were affected by Madame (including a daughter).  "It is the fault of fatality" which is said by Monsieur Charles at the end, I believe actually captures the essence of the story quite accurately. 
The contrast between husband and wife is remarkable, and sadly typical  (or at least I have read this theme so many times already), a selfless man married to a selfish woman, and because he is so selfless, he will always endure her selfishness.  It is fatalistic because, no matter what happens, no matter what or who Madame could have, she would inherently be unhappy, because she was severely lacking in compassion for anyone but herself.  There was only one way that this story could go.   It doesn't end well.

Castle Rackrent

                  
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did.  I even downloaded it at work so that I could read it on my lunch break.  I love these female authors who were brave enough to write their stories in the eighteen hundreds, and I am grateful that they did (Edgeworth is up there with the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen).  I look forward to reading some more of what this particular author wrote, and I should mention that it is a requisite to read it (in your mind of course) with an Irish accent.

Oliver Twist

"The honest gentlemen held the curtain in his hand, and looked on for a minute or so, in silence.  Whilst he was watching the patient thus, the younger lady glided softly past, and seating herself in a chair by the bedside, gathered Oliver's hair from his face.  As she stooped over him, her tears fell upon his forehead.  The boy stirred and smiled in his sleep, as though these marks of pity and compassion had awakened some pleasant dream of a love and affection he had never known.  Thus, a strain of gentle music, or the rippling of water in a silent place, or the odour of a flower, or the mention of a familiar word, will call up sudden dim remembrances of  scenes that never were, in this life; which vanish like a breath; which some brief memory of a happier existence, long gone by, would seem to have awakened; which no voluntary exertion of the mind can ever recall."
                                                               Charles Dickens (Chapter 30 in Oliver Twist).

Does that make you want to cry?  I did.  Of course, I had twenty nine chapters to build up to this beautiful scene, so when Rose laid eyes on Oliver for the first time her compassion for him was powerfully overwhelming.
I have heard it said that Dickens was an angry man, who strafed the world with his satirical novels,  poking and parodying those he felt the greatest contempt for.  I disagree (partly).   I think that Charles Dickens was a great student of human nature, with a quick and brilliant intelligence that was elaborate, prolific and that his novels are a wonderful gift from a great man who could see, not only the most ugliest of human nature but the purest beauty of it as well.   I can appreciate the goodness more because the badness has been thoroughly shown to me beforehand.  Not only is the language beautiful,  the characters are unique as well, and every feeling while reading this novel is felt fully, humour, horror, fear, compassion, relief, you will have your full measure (with a heart filled to bursting!), and get to have the genuine Dickens experience. 

Cranford

Loving 18th century literature as I do I had high hopes for Cranford... while not packed with humour, action, or scandal it was actually very sweet.  I liked the characters and I liked the presentation of a chronicle rather than just a single storyline.  The community dynamic was very touching, and of course it was concluded in a very pleasant way (I wonder if this was a style of the time?).  Of course Hardy puts that speculation to death...I don't think I will ever forgive him for Jude The Obscure.   I just don't know enough yet.  I thought the pokes at 'Boz' were quite funny, and I appreciated that this was another era that I don't have too much familiarity with (Hardy and Dickens do not a Victorian era make...with so many books to still be read from this time period I feel like Scrooge McDuck about to go for a swim in his money bin!).  On an unrelated note,  I won't buy a Dover edition again.  While inexpensive, they are not the easiest to read, the words are too close to the binding which is distracting.