I want to tell you about a wonderful database the library has to offer you-it's called NoveList Plus. The program can give you lots of information about popular fiction and non-fiction, from lists of suggested "read-alikes" which can come in handy when deciding which book to read next, to lists of award-winning titles, to background information on an author. One of the best features is the series feature, which allows you to find all the books in a series and sort them by date, which is sometimes easier said than done otherwise. You can then connect directly to the library catalog and put the books you want on hold. It's as easy as that.

You can access the site from our website at www.georgehail.org and follow the links to our electronic databases -- or directly here. Start by looking up your favorite author and seeing the information available about them. Try it, and let me know if you find is useful!

For example, the opening screen for my favorite book, Jane Eyre, looks like this:

Title:

Jane Eyre

1. 
2. Author Information
3. Find Similar Books
4. Related Features

Author:

Charlotte Bronte

Summary:

In early nineteenth-century England, an orphaned young woman accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer who has a terrible secret.

Related Information:

Book Discussion Guides ; Author Biographies ; Recommended Reads

Publication Information:

New York: Modern Library 1997, c1847. 682 p.

Notes:

Originally published 1847.

Reading Level:

Adults

Lexile:

780 [view chart]

ISBN:

9780679602699
0679602690

Fiction/Nonfiction:

Fiction

Author Information:

All books by: Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855
Author Biographies

TopicsFind Similar Books

Subject Headings:

Governesses, English
Rochester, Edward Fairfax
Secrets
Men/women relations
Social classes
Nineteenth century
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Gothic fiction, English
Love stories, English

Related Features

Related Features:

Book Discussion Guides - Jane Eyre
Author Biographies - Charlotte Brontë
Recommended Reads - If You Like . . . A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author Read-alikes - Jane Austen
Book Discussion Guides - Falling Slowly
Book Discussion Guides - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Book Discussion Guides - Rebecca
Book Discussion Guides - We Were the Mulvaneys
Book Discussion Guides - Angle of Repose
Book Discussion Guides - Fair and Tender Ladies
Book Discussion Guides - The Awakening
BookTalks - The Eyre Affair
BookTalks - Crossing Jordan
Feature Articles - Gothic Fiction, Part I
Feature Articles - Sun, Surf and Sand? Bombs, Bullets and Blood!

ISBNs Associated With This Work

ISBNs Associated With This Work:

9780679602699

Credits

Credits:

Hennepin County Public Library
MetaMetrics, Inc.
Baker & Taylor
Magill Book Reviews, published by Salem Press
Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Added to Novelist: 20010101
TID: 017377

Database and Persistent link

Persistent link to this record (Permalink):

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=neh&tg=UI&an=017377&site=novp-live

Database:

Novelist Plus

View Links:

Check the Library Catalog

Magill Book Review: One of the most striking characteristics of this novel is the voice of Jane Eyre herself, who tells her own story. Without that voice and the intimacy it provides for the reader, credulity would be strained, for the action of the novel is at times inadvertently ridiculous or far-fetched, and the characterizations are often simplistic.

Problems with credibility, however, recede into the background as Jane speaks directly to the reader, commenting on past actions or announcing events to come. On other occasions, she allows a scene to speak for itself but shifts from past to present tense to underline the force of the narrative and its emotional content. One of the most famous lines in all literature is the sentence, "Reader, I married him," which occurs after Jane returns to Thornfield to find the chastened, blinded, and maimed Edward Rochester, who becomes her husband. The overall linear structure of the novel is quite straightforward: The first ten chapters treat Jane's childhood and education; the next seventeen chapters bring Jane to Thornfield Hall and introduce her to Rochester, carrying their relationship to the point of the collapse of their initial marriage plan; the next eight chapters detail Jane's flight and the developments that ensue with regard to the Rivers family, culminating in St. John Rivers' proposal of marriage to Jane; and the last three chapters detail Jane's return to Thornfield, including her marriage to Rochester and the beginning of their life together.

The second and third sections of the novel are dominated by male figures who symbolize opposing forms of love: Rochester, who stands for physical passion, and St. John, who stands for spiritual passion. At the end of the novel, Rochester, having passed through redemptive fires and having repented of his hubris, can embody the fully integrated masculine self, capable of both physical and spiritual passion.

Jane, too, must pay for her pride. Her flight from Thornfield Hall after the collapse of the marriage plans, her deprivations, her illness--these are the means by which Jane passes from youthful rebellion to a mature acceptance of the conditions of her life and an understanding of her own emotional and physical needs.

Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */ This need not be limited to a juvenile sale. It is a beautiful gift book edition of the famous novel, a favorite of this gifted artist who has been working on it for years. A fine piece of bookmaking.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1937)

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Added
Happy Reading (and Happy Thanksgiving yesterday)

Carol