Forrest Gump. Two "r"s. Named for the Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

I disagree. Jane started out being a little pagan and became deeply Christian.

And Rochester also ended up following a Christian path.

>“Jane! you think me, I daresay, an irreligious dog: but my heart swells with gratitude to the beneficent God of this earth just now. He sees not as man sees, but far clearer: judges not as man judges, but far more wisely. I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower—breathed guilt on its purity: the Omnipotent snatched it from me. I, in my stiff-necked rebellion, almost cursed the dispensation: instead of bending to the decree, I defied it. Divine justice pursued its course; disasters came thick on me: I was forced to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. His chastisements are mighty; and one smote me which has humbled me for ever. You know I was proud of my strength: but what is it now, when I must give it over to foreign guidance, as a child does its weakness? Of late, Jane—only—only of late—I began to see and acknowledge the hand of God in my doom. I began to experience remorse, repentance; the wish for reconcilement to my Maker. I began sometimes to pray: very brief prayers they were, but very sincere.

...

> He put me off his knee, rose, and reverently lifting his hat from his brow, and bending his sightless eyes to the earth, he stood in mute devotion. Only the last words of the worship were audible.

>“I thank my Maker, that, in the midst of judgment, he has remembered mercy. I humbly entreat my Redeemer to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto!”

I learned that from 1984's Airwolf TV show where the brother of the main character was named St. John. (The main character was named Stringfellow.)

I wasn't crazy about the first one. So, no, I didn't read the second one. But since you liked the first one, I thought you might like the second one.

You know that he wrote a sequel?

And you never have to worry about it being made into a movie. Winston Groom never wants to be associated with a financial failure again. FG wasn't a financial failure, but the studio claimed it never made money in order to cheat Groom. It's called Hollywood bookkeeping and they've used it to cheat many people. (Poor David Prowse [Darth Vadar] would regularly get letters telling him how The Return of the Jedi still hadn't made any money.) In this case, they screwed themselves out of the sequel because Groom won't license the book because of how they cheated him with the first movie.

Phrase this as you will, but I'll say this...

Jane Eyre is primarily thought of as a romance, but I disagree with that idea. I think it's primary theme is about religion. Christianity permeates the book. Jane starts out almost as a pagan character who through the exposure to Helen Burns and Miss Temple (and with Brocklehurst as a counter-example) Jane develops a deep sense of Christian right and wrong which she carries with her through the rest of the story.

Edward's redemption comes through pain & suffering and his acceptance of the sinner he is. With his acceptance of God, he gets a Godly marriage with Jane, a son and partial restoration of his eyesight.

The story is bookended with two Christian martyrs: Helen and St. John. Just look at what the book closes with.

Yet, when you look at the adaptations, even the closest of them (the one with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton) strips out most of the religious theme.

That it's an instance of the movie being better than the book. For all its comedic moments, the movie had a lot of heart. While the book was comedy and the moments got unbelievably ridiculous when it hit the space scene.

The softness of your painting reminds me of the cat paintings of Ronner Knip.

You should think about reading the 6 Frank Herbert Dune books.

Watching that tail wag, I'm sitting here thinking, "Thank god, I gave up pork back in the 1980s."

Of the 5 main books, it's my favorite. It didn't used to be. But the more I read it, the more I appreciate it.

Though, the more frustrated I am with the glossing over of the War of Wrath. A 40 year war so destructive that it sunk a good portion of a continent. Why is it that the three houses of the Edain fought with the newly arrived Elves, but the remaining Noldor of ME did not? Were there any Valar in the fighting? Surely the Elves couldn't have destroyed Beleriand. That's Valar level power.

Keep going. There are a lot more keys across the top.

I've read books that were so emotionally devastating that I refused to ever reread them again.

I like fair play whodunnits. Meaning all the clues are presented in the text before we're told the solution.

It is strange when you first encounter it. But read enough from that time period and you come to accept it as a bizarre eccentricity of the period.

This caused me to Google Lovecraft playing cards.

If this is any example, yours are better.

Sounds cute.

A sloth. Well, that makes an interesting character. Especially since the depiction goes against the stereotype of sloths -- what with them being very slow movers.

So is this a different sloth from the rest? Or are all sloths different from how they are in this world?

I'm not sure if that's supposed to based on a real animal or is a fantasy creature, but it sure is cute.

And I'll bet it has an interesting story to go along with it.

Odds of finding a specific used book like that are very low.

I always use online sites. ABEbooks is my go-to. And they have it

I love the internet for used books. I remember when I could only look locally. Now I can check the inventory of stores across the country.

Did your sister enjoy the squashed fairy book for her birthday?

The point of the Holmes stories was that he did take a forensics approach when the police really hadn't.

Because, as you said, Victorian England didn't have forensics. And they hanged people convicted of murder. In order to shoot Sir Henry, Stapleton would have to be there.

With a gun, there's suspicion. While a death by dog would, at worst, be put down to death by dog and, at best, down to the local legend. While Stapleton could definitely be elsewhere in front of witnesses when Sir Henry is killed.

I've learned the hard way to just read them afterward.

Why they can't just print them at the end of the book is beyond me.

Intelligence doesn't equal happiness.

You want a TV example of that, there's an episode of House, MD where a super-genius dumbs himself down because he's happier when he's like the people around him and not constantly being aware of how much stupider they are.

But if intelligence equals happiness, really smart people wouldn't be depressed and commit suicide.

If Charlie were happy, but dumb, I would take that as a win. Because he's going to live the rest of his life happy.

>Wasn’t feeling a lot of warm fuzzies at the end of the movie Pi.

Don't remember it.