Cranford

Strangely enough, brought to mind Nick Jenkins's sometimes-ironic sometimes-breathlessly-enthusiastic observations in Dance to the Music of Time (especially since the narrator isn't directly involved in the action or even given a name until quite late in the book), but this was a little gentler and more compassionate. I loved the opening image of Cranford as a village of Amazons – not ultimately entirely accurate but it gives the place a funny mythical quality which sets off the narrator's tone. It's actually quite funny for most of the book before it gets all sentimental by the end. Also some interesting Johnson-Dickens arguments and juxtapositions about which certainly several articles have been written.