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If you enjoyed 'Jude the Obscure' then read 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'....your heart will melt.

His wife made him...:D

Talk to me - I love it! Not much of an English professor then I'd say :D

It was the comment about my wife that seemed sarcastic. Maybe you didn't intend it to be. I still think all you 'listers' and 'TBR' types are nuts. But obviously I am the odd one out here. I can't help but think that time spent listing or sorting or thinking (agonising?) about what to read...

But look at some of the replies to this thread - it's like being in class at school, when the teacher asks a question to which everyone knows the answer - all the hands go up, "me, me, pick me!" Folks can't wait to list how many of the books they have read/plan to read. If that doesn't have some...

Oh I don't know...I think there may be a few who do. "Competitive reading" I like to call it! Still, each to his/her own.

Tess (from Tess of the D'Urbervilles)...if you don't fall in love with her you have no soul. Or the grown-up Eppie from 'Silas Marner'.

I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but... 1001 books to read before I die? Based on what - or whose - criteria? I really don't see the point of these lists and 'TBR piles'. And I rarely take anyone's recommendation for a book, except for my wife's and she knows me and my taste in literature...

Maybe. I deliberately used a lower-case 'r' for romantic - too many people seem to have expectations of 'Wuthering Heights' based on a film version, all of which (IMO) make it out to be some sort of romantic story.

Can't agree at all. His characters are anything BUT flat or uninteresting. I think I may be in love with Tess already... Where did this come from? If Hardy wrote prose merely to 'fund' his poetry, why then write works that were challenging and unconventional - controversial even, in his age...

Simple - take the acronym HMRC - pronounced 'aitch, emm, arr, see'. NOT 'haitch, emm, arr, see' 'aitch' pronounced as a single letter is not aspirated, even though the 'aitch' at the beginning of (for example) 'hotel' IS aspirated.

Ah, 'Wuthering Heights'. One of my favourite novels. For the benefit of those who have yet to experience it: 1. It is not a 'romantic' novel; nor is it a 'love story' or (ye gods) 'chic lit'. 2. Do not compare it with 'Jane Eyre'. In fact, do not compare it with anything - it is a unique...

I had never read any Hardy until recently, but have read and enjoyed 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and 'Jude the Obscure'. 'Jude...' is a strange work, and I can understand why it may not be to everyone's taste. I have 'Tess...' to start on next. I would put Hardy in my list of favourite British...

Indeed. Add to that people who do not know the difference between 'fewer' and 'less'. I may have less food on my plate than you, but you have fewer chips. And people who do not realise that the letter 'H' is not aspirated when used in acronyms. I could go on. I often do...:)

I know how you feel. But you can always take comfort from the fact that, like all of us genuine readers with taste and distinction, you can enjoy the view from the 'high ground'!

Possibly quite literally - it is STEEP! But to help answer the OP's original question, please, please don't go to London, Edinburgh and Stratford-upon-Avon and think you have 'done' Britain.

I'd suggest reading Pride & Prejudice, but (a) you may already have done so and (b) it's not a romantic novel. But if (a) does not apply and you don't want a romantic novel as such, then go for it!

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I don't understand the question! To quote Midge Ure, "...it means nothing to me..."

No, it's not. Vide supra