Angels and airforce warfare

Well. Halfway through 'Tess' I decided that Angel Clare was stupid, simpering and selfish. Then I realised that he was just ill-informed and that all those Victorian England ideas had gone to his head, although he did manage to get past them, which I thought was very insightful. In the end though, it didn't matter, because with Tess potrayed as a murderess throughout the entirety of the text, a theme deriving from the death of the family's horse, Prince, in the first chapter or so, it was inevitable that she, as a 'bad' or 'immoral woman' would die. This idea is also evident in many other Victorian texts- Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' for one, and although I'm not sure whether Gustave Flaubert's 'Madam Bovary' can be defined as Victorian as such, the character of Emma Bovary is yet another immoral woman who must be 'punished' for her adulterous ways. Anyway, it WAS a good read. Currently, I am reading Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' which is also on the '1001 Books to Read Before You Die' list, as was 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles.' (So far I have read 24 out of the potential 1001.) It's a little hard going, and although it is humourous, it's not comedic in the way that, Adrian Mole was for example. That is to say that it simply doesn't make me laugh out loud. The to-ing and fro-ing between past and present was also a little confusing at first, but I'm getting there. Slowly.