Jude The Obscure– Thomas Hardy (1896)  
Jude the Obscure is a novel about a common man. The intro says it was the first novel with a lower-class lead character. I don’t buy that, but anyway, his lack of standing is the reason why the character, Jude Fawley, is called Jude the Obscure- he’s a nobody.  

The novel traces his life from boyhood dreams of making something of himself to a rather tragic ending.  

Wives and Daughters– Elizabeth Gaskell (1866) 
This is a nearly 600-page novel that was never completed by the author, for a forgivable excuse; she died. But she got close… and there is a final chapter added that gives some closure to the story.  

The novel concerns Molly Gibson, a young girl, grown to a woman during the story. As she is 17, one of her father’s interns falls in love with her and wants to declare his love. Dad, a widower, heads this off at the pass but vows to take some steps to make sure Molly is properly instructed. He takes a wife who, while pretty and graceful, turns out to be rather vapid. The new wife, Clare, brings a daughter, Cynthia, (about Molly’s age) to the house as well. Molly and Cynthia become friends. But the story is centered around their relationships. It is filled with humorous observations, and insights into what life was like at that time.   

Wide Sargasso Sea– Jean Rhys (1966)  
This is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, describing the background to Mr Rochester’s first marriage to the mad woman, Bertha. Wikipedia calls the book a post-colonial and feminist outlook. I can’t say I loved the book; it has a different feel, kind of dreamy in a way, that I didn’t really relate to. But all in all, I thought it was an interesting endeavor. Part of me thought that the author took a lot of liberties in assigning traits to Rochester and the Englishmen, but on the other hand, Jane Eyre was a fictional story itself, so it’s not like one could claim that these assignments were based in reality. All the traits of all the characters were made up, so why couldn’t Rhys assign motives that would explain Bertha in a more sympathetic light?   

Rhys does seem to portray Bertha in a sort of madness, but given the background Rhys paints, one can be sympathetic to Bertha rather than dismissive. I suppose one could, if one were so inclined, take this prequel and add it to the original story to make up a sort of canonical understanding. I can’t bring myself to do that. I think it’s an interesting take on Bertha, but I can’t bring myself to think about it as anything more than that. Perhaps because I’ve come to love Jane Eyre, I’m reluctant to add these details to my understanding… I dunno. But I just read it for what it is: someone else’s take on possibilities. I don’t know if anyone else takes it as a more realistic version of Bertha. That would be an interesting thing to know.  

A Christmas Carol– Charles Dickens (1843) 
A story we all know, but which I’d never actually read. Like all Dickens’ books I’ve read so far, this one doesn’t disappoint.  

I also started into Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo, but won’t finish it until January. I’ll confess I’ve had a hard time getting into this one, despite the fact that it is about Sicily at the time of the Risorgimento (Italian Unification).