Reader discussion: Deerbrook

Public reader discussion about Deerbrook in the WeRead Catalog by Harriet Martineau.

Book Nomination Thread - Nominate a book for our next Reading!

By field_simple

Alright, classic book club time again—nominations for the next read are open. This thread is in contest mode, so you can throw your pick in as long as it follows the rules below (please actually read them, I know it’s a lot): - The book has to be public domain and published no later than 1929. If it’s after that, it won’t be eligible. - No books from the “year of” subs with a dedicated focus (they reset Jan 1). So no War and Peace, Les Misérables, Monte Cristo, Middlemarch, Don Quixote, or Anna Karenina from those specific groups. - It also has to be a different author than the one we’re on now. Since we’re currently reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon, her other books are out for the next pick—but we can consider her stuff again after this vote. - Don’t nominate anything that’s already been done from the discussion archive sidebar. To nominate, just comment with the book + author, and if you want, add a quick rundown of what it’s about and why you want to read it. If someone already nominated a book you like, just upvote it. (Also, upvotes are only visible to mods in contest mode, so the nominees show up shuffled in random order.) We can only end up with six choices for the final poll—so the six highest-upvoted books here go into a Finalists Thread for a second vote. The winner there becomes the next book. Timeline-wise: 1 week for nominations, 1 week for the finalists vote, then 2 weeks for people to track down the winning book. Total is 4 weeks. We read 1 chapter each weekday, so that’s 5 chapters a week. If the winning book has 20 chapters or less, we’ll also read the 2nd place book right after, so we don’t have to mess with a shorter process. Anyway, that’s everything—good luck, and let’s start nominating!

Suggest a Jane Austen fan some good slow-burn fluff romance novels

By FABLEAPRON9

I just finished my first romance book, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, and I’m kind of torn—like, I loved parts of it and hated others. The slow burn was genuinely great, but the whole fanfic-y vibe in the writing makes me cringe a little. Still, it was super fun to read, so now I’m hunting for more of those messy guilty-pleasure reads, ideally with better writing. What I really want is that North and South-level yearning. This one delivered on the yearning, but I didn’t like how the female lead is kind of treated like she can’t handle herself—petite, messy, always getting “rescued,” and like anyone with feelings gets to be protected from. I’d rather have two actual adults falling for each other in a Jim-and-Pam-ish way, not Normal People levels of heavy. Also down for queer romances or graphic novels. Mostly I’m here for the slow burn. Friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, or even the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers chaos—I’m into all of it. Anyway, thanks for the recs, whoever! I’m fully in my Fluff Reading Era, okay?

Looking for book suggestions based on the books I like

By ivyReader

A few of my favorites are: - Jane Austen, *Pride and Prejudice* - Margaret Mitchell, *Gone with the Wind* - Joanne Rowling, *Harry Potter* (basically all of them) - Lyudmila Ulitskaya, *Sincerely yours, Shurik* - Lyudmila Ulitskaya, *Medea and her Children* - Jhumpa Lahiri, *The Namesake* - Mikhail Bulgakov, *The Master and Margarita* - Terry Pratchett, *Pyramids* - Boris Akunin, *The Coronation* - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, *One Hundred Years of Solitude* If you have any recommendations for what to read next based on these, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

Which are your favorite classic victorian fiction books?

By QuietStrange

I’m seriously obsessed with *Jane Eyre* and I can’t believe I’m almost finished. I’ve been forcing myself to read like 5–10 pages a day just so it doesn’t end. Do you have any recommendations for books you personally loved?

What are your Top 5 Favorite Classic Lit Books?

By Bottle66

Here’s mine: - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey - Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Books from authors of 17th to early 19th century

By BookmarkBalance1999

I really enjoy classics, but lately I’ve been wanting to branch out into books that are more underrated… as long as they fit what the title says. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should read next? For context (not sure if it helps lol), I’m about halfway through *Mayor of Casterbridge* by Thomas Hardy and I’m enjoying it.