The Mayor of Casterbridge - any Hardy fans out there?

[ipanemagirl]

What can I say? Am adoring this book so much. I haven't read it for years and had forgotten how beautifully Hardy writes, am i a swoon with it and don't want to do anything but read it til the probably tragic end.
Can't even remember the end! No spoilers though please!

... the feeling of dread you get when he meets the old 'furmity' lady.

oh Franny you make me feel normal. Not many people understand the way depressing stuff really cheers me up!
I'll go paint a nice thread room black and light the candles, you bring the quinoa snacks and a big box of tissues! Nothing like a good weep to make you feel on top of the world....

Anyone esle joining us?

fmv--could we add Joni M and The Smiths and maybe a smattering of Beckett?

I'd love to come along too.

ahhhhh joni mitchell, hissing of summer lawns
bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuub

!

I love Joni.

God I think Joni Mitchell and the Smiths are really happy and uplifting. I don't get it when people find them depressing.

I don't really find them depressing. They are more in the jolly depressing rather than depressing depressing camp.

I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows ...

oh they are SUPER HAPPY and fab

am inspired to start a new thread

Oh I love Jude. It's just wonderful. Depressing Is Good

Yes Franny you are right. I don't think people who go on about the Smiths being depressing have really been listening properly.

YES YES YES

you are always right Tatties

Does that mean they are not allowed in the dark room then?

But lionheart here you are happily singing the Smiths. You are not one of the barbarians

Mind you, I did get a bit depressed when I saw a student wearing a Smiths t-shirt the other day and realised that:

a. said boy wasn't even born when I saw the Smiths play

b. I'm old enough to be the little darling's mother.

Surely someone must like his poetry? Did anyone hear Rick Stein doing his fave books on R4 ( )a few weeks ago?. He had some actor or other reading one of Hardy's best and it just stopped me. I was gazing out the window for an age afterwords.

No no lionheart that is GOOD isn't it? The legacy lives on

I suppose so.

And if a double decker bus
Killed the both of us
To die by your side
The pleasure
The privilege is mine!

Dp still sings that when we cross the road. He has taught it to DS1.

LOL Lionheart!

Some girls mothers
Are bigger than
other
girls
mothers!

He's a romantic! And the legacy does indeed live on.

Hardy's poetry is fab. But I really remember being caught up by his short story 'The Withered Arm' at school. Can't for the life of me remember now, 30 yrs later, what it was all about. Anyone enlighten me?

We had a great school trip to Hardy Country when we were in the Lwr 6th form. We went to see 'Grease' at the cinema in Bridport and the teachers took us to the pub afterwards. Then we skinny dipped off the beach. I remember his cottage was very small. (Hardy's I mean)

Lol at singing it when you cross the road. If anybody in our house says, "I didn't realise" we all join in with a loud "that you wrote poetry I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry" but dd2 goes all coy and says "flipping" instead!

Back to Hardy - loved, loved him as a teenager but can't abide him now. Re-read Tess and Jude last year and they just seemed so WET. Still get a little tear at "because we were too many" though.