Thomas Hardy wrote Far From the Madding Crowd. I had heard of this book before and I thought it was far from the maddening crowd which turns out to be pretty much the same definition. I loved every minute of this book. And I loved the names the author gave to the characters. Gabriel Oak (manly angel and a sturdy tree) is one of the main characters. He's a hardworking shepherd who is as dependable as the day is long. Bathsheba Everdene is the independent young woman who seems to drive all the men around her to madness. Bathsheba - what a name. Can you just picture a baby named Bathsheba? I can't. I also can't imagine Bathsheba passing my personal naming test - how it would sound when you opened the door and yelled for her to come in from outside. "Bathsheba! Come home!" No, it just doesn't work. Farmer Boldwood is a neighboring farmer who falls for Bathsheba. Boldwood is a mentally unbalanced, moody fella who insists that Bathsheba agree to marry him even when he knows she doesn't like him. Sargent Troy is the two timing, duplicitous villain of the story. And Fanny Robin (thank you my dear parents for not naming me Fanny) is the long suffering victim of the tale. This is a great classic story. I already put the BBC version of the movie on my netflix queue.
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