Feature & Follow Friday #4: Required Book That You Actually Loved

Welcome to Feature & Follow Friday!!

This weekly hop is hosted by  

Rachel @ Parajunkee's View, and 

Alison @ Alison Can Read!!

You can find the rules at the links above.

Join in the fun and make new blogging friends!

Every week, 1 or 2 new blogs 
are featured!

Today's Featured Blogs!!

Hazy Reads
&
The Boundless Booklist

Here is this week's question:

Is there a book that you were
required to read in
school that you actually loved?


Contributed by

Natalie Hearts Books

I was required to read several literary classics in high school. Among them were Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte  Brontë, and Billy Budd, by Herman Melville. But only one really stands out as my favorite. That book is most definitely Jane Eyre.

I loved everything about this book! Jane, the main female character, is a very strong-willed young woman. She's had to make her own way in the world, for the most part. Orphaned as a baby, she is then 'raised' by a very cruel aunt until the age of 10, when she is sent to a charity school for orphans. She leaves the school at 18, and is hired as the governess (nanny/tutor) to a little girl at the mysterious mansion known as Thornfield Hall.

What happens to Jane at the mansion is one of the great stories of classic literary fiction. This novel is not only a coming-of-age tale, but also a passionate love story, full of drama, mystery, and the clash of wills between Jane and her employer, Edward Rochester. Their relationship, though stormy, is also beautiful and romantic. 

Jane is the narrator, so we get to know her personality very well. She is a feminist, which means that the author was well ahead of her time in writing this book.

Jane Eyre is also a great Gothic novel, full of brooding tension and symbolism. Brontë handles the suspense masterfully, as well, and the prose style is beautiful and lyrical.

We were assigned to do book reports on this novel  in high school, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing so! 

I love this book so much that I hosted a read-along, together with my blogger friend Brian @ Babbling Books, from September to November of last year. You can access the first post of the read-along HERE. My review can be found HERE. 

If any of you out there decide to read this great novel, you won't regret it!  I loved it from the very first time I read it.

 What book did you enjoy reading
in school, even though it
was required reading?

Next Week's Question

What is the first book you
remember reading?

Contributed by
Bookish Findings

These are my follow preferences.
The links are in my sidebar.

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participating blogs!!