I'm so pleased you're enjoying the book more this time around, Rebecca. ;-)

Catherine can be annoying, I think, but in looking at the Catherine we meet in these first eight chapters, I find I do like her a lot.

She's plain and ordinary, a typical girl, but with plenty of character, though lacking in the usual accomplishments. Just like every girl in the world. I like the supposition that you don't have to be extraordinary in order to be the heroine of your own story. And though we know at the end of Ch. 1 that Catherine is Miss Everygirl, we are left with a sense of anticipation about her adventures to come.

I like her enthusiasm for reading, the way she throws herself into it whole-heartedly. She's an affectionate friend and sister. She is quite willing to be happy and so usually is. I like that she is happy with a small compliment:

two gentlemen pronounced her to be a pretty girl. Such words had their due effect; she immediately thought the evening pleasanter than she had found it before