Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

I am not really super fond of Hardy, but this book is entertaining.  It does have the occasional appallingly bad piece of prose that is usual for Hardy, but it also has some words that are wonderfully inevitable as is also common for him.  The plot line is very structured and fairly obvious, but it wouldn't be right for it go any other way.  The main female character is rather pointless and not very well-developed.  And I will never understand the appeal of the "bad boy" character!  The male characters are all developed much better and greatly add to the story.  There are some very nice descriptions of nature and the world around us.  It is worth the time, but I wouldn't put it at the very top of my list!