Finished: Jane Eyre (Bronte). I loved this book! And, I love Jane Eyre, the character. :-) Finally, someone who beats the obstacles, keeps her faith, and has a happy ending. From the time Jane finally tells off her horrible aunt before being sent off to school, to her interactions with the beloved Mrs. Temple and Helen, to her falling in love with Edward ("He made me love him without looking at me.") and subsequent heartbreak, to her refusals to St. John, to her reconciliation with Edward, I love how Jane expresses herself, in thoughts and in words!

One of my favorite passages was Jane, only 10 years old, finally standing up for herself and telling off her cruel aunt (by marriage), after years of horrible treatment, and bullying by her cousins. And, the last straw...before sending her off to school, just as Jane thought she'd get a fresh start with new people, the aunt lies to the schoolmaster who has come to meet Jane, claiming she is a deceitful child and should be treated as such by other students and teachers. Once again, a mother is one of the cruelest characters in a novel, and she remains so until the bitter end. Jane says to her aunt:

     "I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty."

     "How dare you affirm that, Jane Eyre?"

     "How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back---roughly and violently thrust me back---into the red-room, and locked me up there, to my dying day, though I was in agony, though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, 'Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!' And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me---knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!"

Another favorite passage...after Jane saves Edward from the bedroom fire and she knows she loves him, and cannot sleep the rest of the night.

     "I regained my couch, but never thought of sleep. Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy. I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore, sweet as the hills of Beulah; and now and then a freshening gale, wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne: but I could not reach it, even in fancy---a counter-acting breeze blew off the land, and continually drove me back. Sense would resist delirium: judgement would warn passion. Too feverish to rest, I rose as soon as day dawned."

I could go on an on, but I might have to re-read the whole book. I think it's going on the favorites list! :-)