,
Literal Summer Reads
Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s Followers (6,988)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Add New
Videos

Far from the Madding Crowd (Official Trailer)
1 comment

More videos…

Thomas Hardy


Born
in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England
June 02, 1840

Died
January 11, 1928

Genre
Fiction, Poetry

Influences
Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, John Milton, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Bro ...more


Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chos ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.87 · 760,287 ratings · 43,600 reviews · 2,695 distinct works • Similar authors
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
3.85 avg rating — 307,571 ratings — published 1891 — 3 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Far From the Madding Crowd
3.97 avg rating — 169,772 ratings — published 1874 — 2835 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Jude the Obscure
3.84 avg rating — 77,255 ratings — published 1895 — 23 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Mayor of Casterbridge
3.87 avg rating — 67,147 ratings — published 1886 — 2028 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Return of the Native
3.89 avg rating — 41,070 ratings — published 1878 — 1872 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Woodlanders
by
3.90 avg rating — 18,263 ratings — published 1887 — 1623 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Under the Greenwood Tree
3.64 avg rating — 14,976 ratings — published 1872 — 1092 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
A Pair of Blue Eyes
by
3.79 avg rating — 9,231 ratings — published 1873 — 1032 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Two on a Tower
3.71 avg rating — 4,691 ratings — published 1882 — 1012 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Desperate Remedies
by
3.79 avg rating — 3,711 ratings — published 1871 — 951 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
More books by Thomas Hardy…

Related News

Philippa Gregory is best known for reimagining the lives of famous royal women in bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn...
Read more...
75 likes · 32 comments
Quotes by Thomas Hardy  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.”
― Thomas Hardy, The Personal Notebooks Of Thomas Hardy
1348 likes
Like

“They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends.”
― Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd
1318 likes
Like

“A strong woman who recklessly throws away her strength, she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles: Classic Collection
tags: strength, woman
1149 likes
Like

Polls

April 2015 Old School Classics Poll

Which book would you like to read for our April 2015 Old School Classics group read?

1868, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 449 pages
 
  15 votes, 31.3%

 
  15 votes, 31.3%

1868, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, 528 pages
 
  5 votes, 10.4%

 
  5 votes, 10.4%

1877, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 245 pages
 
  4 votes, 8.3%

 
  3 votes, 6.3%

1842, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, 464 pages
 
  1 vote, 2.1%

48 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Teens Read Book Club: April's Book Read 10 185 Apr 11, 2009 11:13PM  
Book Haven: TBR Pile 67 181 Dec 17, 2009 12:08PM  
The Next Best Boo...: End of the Year Summary 73 318 Dec 29, 2009 05:48PM  
Romance Readers R...: February - Pick It For Me! Challenge 355 372 Apr 01, 2010 01:44PM  
Glens Falls (NY) ...: Were you an avid reader as a child? 61 43 Apr 01, 2010 09:08PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. 30.6 (Donna Jo's Task - As Suggested By Liz Brooklyn - Character References) 115 399 May 11, 2010 02:21PM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks 2717 2519 May 31, 2010 09:00PM  
Romance Readers R...: May - Pick It For Me! Challenge 498 469 Jun 08, 2010 01:22PM  
The Life of a Boo...: Kim's TBR Challenge 21 109 Jul 02, 2010 10:58AM