The Homeliness Factor

There is some literature I love, because of the ordinariness it focuses on, the everyday grittiness, and gentle normality of it's content. When it also is combined with poetic and lyrical language, books like these are a real delight.

The books that I love the most and reread over and over again often fall into this category.
One example of this is A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. But I want to write about this another time.

Jane Eyre is the book I was thinking of today. I love the way it begins:

"There was no possibility of going for a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
I was glad of it:I never liked long walks,especially on chilly afternoons:...."

Jane Eyre Ch1 pg1 Charlotte Bronte (1847)

You will have to read it if you want to know what happens next!