I read The Eyre Affair in high school, before I read Jane Eyre, actually, and I always wondered if that was why I couldn't get into it, so in an odd way it's a relief to hear that you're not feeling it either. Maybe I don't need to go back and give the book another chance after all.

In Henry Williamson news, I got to the chapter in Tarka where a guy walks into a cave and charms a seal by playing the pipes and then pets it. If this was any other author in the world I'd figure it was a flight of fancy, but knowing Williamson's penchant for thinly veiled autobiography, I bet this is a 99% accurate self-insert moment and at some point in his life he really did play his flute for seals.