"so very different to what I expected..."

6 March 2019: "'My father once made us,' she began, 'keep a diary, in two columns; on one side we were to put down in the morning what we thought would be the course and events of the coming day, and at night we were to put down on the other side what really had happened. It would be to some people rather a sad way of telling their lives...I don’t mean that mine has been sad, only so very different to what I expected.'" --Miss Matty in Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford

Working through this wonderful book with my ENGL 341 class. Every time I read it (every seven years, maybe?), I am struck all over again by how hilarious, how poignant, and how startlingly familiar so many of its moments are even to readers today.

Re-reading Cranford

"'It is very pleasant dining with a bachelor,' said Miss Matty softly, as we settled ourselves in the counting-house. 'I only hope it is not improper; so many pleasant things are!'" Cranford, Chapter 4.

We have reached our penultimate book in my Women's Studies Seminar, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford. I haven't read it since I was in grad school, although I did watch the BBC series a few years back. I remembered really enjoying it, but it's been lovely dropping back into it again. I think it's making me laugh more than in my previous reads, too. I hope the students like it, too.