Wuthering Heights?

[wicked_lovely4…]

im reading it for fun but its really confusing, i got more confused in the 4th chapter. i  have no idea what happens there.

can anyone also say what is the plot of this confusing book ?

and what did you think of this book, is it worth reading?

[harleyhoney]

Hi Wicked Lovely,

Check out the Lit by Women board.  We did Wuthering Heights in August 2007.  Lots of great comments.  Good Luck.  I still need to finish reading the book myself so I can finish up all the discussion..  Can't believe that I'm almost 59 and have never read it.

Nancy 

[Everyman]

Yes, it can be confusing. It helped me to make a little chart of the relationships and who lives where. I normally don't advise using guides, but if you still can't keep track of things and are tempted to give the book up, instead of that you might try checking out the synopsis, character map, genealogy, and chapter 4 summary in the free online Cliff Notes helpful. But don't use those as a substitute for reading the book and working at it for its meaning. And don't automatically assume that their interpretations are the only right ones.

Is the book worth reading? In my opinion, definitely. I don't rank it among the fifty best or most important novels written, but it's certainly in the list of the top 200.

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wicked_lovely414 wrote:

im reading it for fun but its really confusing, i got more confused in the 4th chapter. i have no idea what happens there.

can anyone also say what is the plot of this confusing book ?

and what did you think of this book, is it worth reading?

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[dulcinea3]

Wuthering Heights is one of my very favorite novels, so I definitely think it's worth reading!  I first read it when I was 12 or 13, after I had seen the movie (the one with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon).  I loved the movie so much, I went right out the next day and bought the book!

You don't seem to be very far into the book, so I don't want to give anything away in the plot.  Maybe what is confusing you is the layers of narration.  The story is really about Catherine and Heathcliff; at least the first half is.  Nelly, who grew up with them as a servant at Wuthering Heights, is telling their story to Mr. Lockwood, who has rented a nearby house, and then Lockwood is telling us.  The first few chapters set up for this.  I don't know if that helps any.

[lone_star_state]

this may be hard to believe but i've read Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Sense and Senseability, and Pride and Prejudice in the last 2 and a half months and im only a 12 year old girl. im not even in my 2nd year of jr.high.

im not trying to brag if it sounds that way its just most adults dont nesseraly believe me when i tell them this but it is true. Forgive me if i sound like im bragging.

[Laurel]

I believe you, Lone Star. Those are all really great books--so much better than most "chapter books" and "young adult books." Was there one that you liked better than all the others? If so, why? What are you planning to read next? Jane Eyre, perhaps?

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lone_star_state wrote:

this may be hard to believe but i've read Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Sense and Senseability, and Pride and Prejudice in the last 2 and a half months and im only a 12 year old girl. im not even in my 2nd year of jr.high.

im not trying to brag if it sounds that way its just most adults dont nesseraly believe me when i tell them this but it is true. Forgive me if i sound like im bragging.

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[lone_star_state]

actually im planning to read a different book next thats coming out on Aug. 2. but after that i will probably be reading A Midsummer Night's Dream or i really like more Jane Austen. i really love Jane Austen's books but i've only read two. i may search for new ones.

my favorite that i have read so far would most likely be Jane Austen's Sense and Senseability. the reason behind this is because of the complexity and pretty much i like how she writes her books. if that makes any sense.

[lone_star_state]

also i was thinking about buying Great Expectations but i may not. i heard it was a good book but all i ever do is read. oh who cares but seriously i was thinking about it. i actually may if i can get more people to tell me its good.

also i really like Tess of the D'Ubervilles.

[Laurel]

I like Sense and Sensibility, too. Persuasion is perhaps my favorite. But then there's Emma. And Mansfield Park. And....

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lone_star_state wrote:

actually im planning to read a different book next thats coming out on Aug. 2. but after that i will probably be reading A Midsummer Night's Dream or i really like more Jane Austen. i really love Jane Austen's books but i've only read two. i may search for new ones.

my favorite that i have read so far would most likely be Jane Austen's Sense and Senseability. the reason behind this is because of the complexity and pretty much i like how she writes her books. if that makes any sense.

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[Laurel]

Great Expectations is a really good place to begin reading Dickens. I used to read David Copperfield every December. Perhaps I should read it again this year.

Midsummer Night's Dream is wonderful. I saw it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival two weeks ago, but it was not a very good production.

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lone_star_state wrote:

also i was thinking about buying Great Expectations but i may not. i heard it was a good book but all i ever do is read. oh who cares but seriously i was thinking about it. i actually may if i can get more people to tell me its good.

also i really like Tess of the D'Ubervilles.

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[lone_star_state]

thank you so very much for the tips on these books. i will definetly look into it.

[Everyman]

That's a nice bit of reading!  Reminds me of my summers when I had plenty of time to sit in comfortable crook of the big Maple tree out back and read for hours. 

Those are all wonderful books.  Since you liked Tess of the D'Urbervilles, you might like some other Thomas Hardy books -- I enjoy most of them, and you might too.  Try The Return of the Native.

Also, you might enjoy Anthony Trollope. 

Jane Austen is indeed wonderful; there are people here who have read and enjoyed her books many times over.

You're certainly on the right track in your reading life; however, don't sit reading so long that you forget to get outside and run around in the woods, too! (Or whatever nature provides wherever it is that you live.)  

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lone_star_state wrote:

this may be hard to believe but i've read Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Sense and Senseability, and Pride and Prejudice in the last 2 and a half months and im only a 12 year old girl. im not even in my 2nd year of jr.high.

im not trying to brag if it sounds that way its just most adults dont nesseraly believe me when i tell them this but it is true. Forgive me if i sound like im bragging.

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[Everyman]

Great Expectations is a bit longer (a lot longer!) and a bit of a more challenging read than the books you've mentioned so far.  It's a wonderful book, but don't plan on speeding through it as you can with Austen or Hardy.  Dickens requires more time, and in return offers a richer reading experience.  If you don't like him at 12, don't give up on him, but come back to him in a few years. 

My mother in law, who was 12 years old back in the -- well, let's just say many, many years ago -- was paid 25 cents for each Dickens books she read.  I think it was her mother's way of keeping her out of the way.  She really was too young to appreciate them at the time, but she dutifully read them all to earn the money, but because it was a chore and something forced rather than chosesn she disliked -- even hated --  them, and the experience spoiled Dickens for her for the rest of her life. Which is a great shame.

So keep on reading what you enjoy, and try new authors, but if you don't like them now put them aside for a few years and you may well find that they speak to your older self better than they do to you now.  

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lone_star_state wrote:

also i was thinking about buying Great Expectations but i may not. i heard it was a good book but all i ever do is read. oh who cares but seriously i was thinking about it. i actually may if i can get more people to tell me its good.

also i really like Tess of the D'Ubervilles.

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[lone_star_state]

thank you for sharing you knowledge on Great Expectations im pretty sure i will like it though. i mean im going to start my 2nd year of junior high and im already in a high school reading level. i like pretty much eveything.

from Stephenie Meyer, Dean Koontz, British Classics, to James Patterson to Philosophy books. im fasicnated by The American War history books.

[Everyman]

I like pretty much eveything.from Stephenie Meyer, Dean Koontz, British Classics, to James Patterson to Philosophy books.

What philosophy have you read, and what have you enjoyed most?

[lone_star_state]

the only philosophy that i have read that i actually liked was The Revolution: A Manifesto.

[dulcinea3]

lone_star_state, you remind me of myself at that age.  That was about when I really got into reading the classics of literature.  I used to go to that section in the book store and find an author who looked interesting and choose one of their books to read.  I even read some Dostoevsky at that age (Crime and Punishment)!  Dickens was one of my favorite authors, too, along with Charlotte and Emily Bronte.  I didn't read Jane Austen until a few years later, so you're lucky to be discovering her works so early.  I liked Great Expectations.  Also, Oliver Twist.  For another Austen, you might enjoy Northanger Abbey a lot.  It's fairly short, and very funny.  George Elliot is another author you might like.

Happy reading!

[Everyman]

Ah, yes.  He isn't writing pure philosophy, rather he is writing political theory, though certainly much of early philosophy had political roots (Plato's Republic being a prime example).  But Ron Paul doesn't really touch on philosophy so much as he says that the Constitution has as philosophy within it that we should return to. 

Philosophy itself is quite a different thing.

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lone_star_state wrote:
the only philosophy that i have read that i actually liked was The Revolution: A Manifesto.

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[lone_star_state]

ya pretty much thats the only book i have read thats a philosophy book.

[ABookWormsPara…]

Oh man, I read this for fun and then for school and it was amazing!

 Now I don't have the book in front of me, so bare with me.

Okay basic run down, the beginning starts with a completely irrelevant narrator that is interviewing a present day Heathcliff and his son and his son's wife. Then this narrator (can't remember his name!) has to stay over and finds a ghost by the name of Catherine..which is where the story begins. Then we flashback to when Heathcliff was adopted by Catherine's father, and his childhood, and his love for Cathy and vice versa. But class differences keep them apart, turning Heathcliff vicious and Cathy a brat. Then the story continues with Heathcliff's son, and Cathy's daughter, and how they manage to fix what their parents screwed up in their lifetime! Basically. Lol.

This is one of the most amazing classics I have ever read. The text is a little confusing but once you get into the flow of it its super easy to understand. I hope you stick with it because its totally worth it!