by Thomas Hardy

He should have remained obscure. No, seriously, as a story, it was pretty horrid. a young man’s hopes and dreams are stymied one by one. As a statement on matrimony and contemporary mores, I get it.

“And so… the two swore that at every other time of their lives till death took them, they would assuredly believe, feel, and desire precisely as they had believed, felt, and desired during the preceding few weeks. What was remarkable as the undertaking itself was the fact that nobody seemed at all surprised at what they swore.”

In various ways, the story aimed to show the ludicrousness of this entire situation.

by Cass R. Sunstein

Not what I thought it would be…. It seemed mostly about nudges. He’s covered nudges elsewhere.

by Willa Cather

A little tragedy about a gay-hearted young woman in the early 20th century Great Plains. It really brought a feel for the times and the location. I liked it as a story; it kept me reading; though sometimes it risked getting a little too talky-feely. And I wish things could have gone better for Lucy.

Part of it reminded me of THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin, particularly this: “Since then she had changed so much in her thoughts, in her ways, even in her looks, that she might wonder she knew herself – except that the changes were all in the direction of becoming more and more herself.”

Why she had to lie to her old beau, implying something had happened that hadn’t – and really why she couldn’t marry him in the first place: “She had tried to tell him the truth about a feeling; but a feeling meant nothing to him, he had to be clubbed by a situation.” I love that, “clubbed by a situation.”

by Madeleine L’Engle

Actually had never read this. It was a little wacky. But it all kind of made sense and had a good ending.

by Anne Bronte

I wish the middle had been much, much shorter. Very repetitive, and the protagonists were each over-the-top good or over-the-top bad. I was drawn in by the beginning section; it felt like it was going to be a slightly humorous family light comic novel. Bait & switch! It’s PAMELA/CLARISSA all over again. But I’d try another Bronte.