I have enjoyed reading Pride & Prejudice so far. I saw the movie first, however. -Same with Sense & Sensibility. I saw the movie first, & while it was good, it wans't anything to write home about.
The movie Pride & Prejudice, however... Wow... I saw both the old & new versions, & loved them both for different reasons. I thought Keira Knightley & her co-star did a fanstastic job, as Liz & Mr. Darcy. They were thoroughly convincing. I'm onlty about 8 chatpers in to Pride & Prejudice, & already, I can see where Hollywood sliced & diced the book. Inthe movie, Mr. Bingley has one sister accompanying him, who is not engaged. In the book, he has two sisters with him- one engaged, one married, if I remember correctly.
I absolutely LOVE the conversations that go on between Mr. & Mrs. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet is entirely ridiculous, & Mr. Bennet just puts up with her in the best way possible- but trying his hardest not to entertain her madness...
What I also enjoy is the conversations that goes on between Lizzy & Jane, regarding Mr. Bingley. The conversation between them in Chapter 4, reminds me of the conversations that I had with my sister while she was visiting me @ home....
"When Jane & Elizabeth were alone, the former who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired him.
'He is just what a young man ought to be,' said she, 'sensible, good humoured, lively; & I never saw such happy manners-so much at ease, with such perfect good breeding!'
'He is also handomse,' replied Elizabeth 'which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.'
'I was very flattered by his asking me to dance a second time. I did not expect such a compliment.'
'Did not you?I did for you. But that is one difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never. What could be more natural than his asking you again? He could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room. No thanks to his gallantry for that. Well, certainly he is agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person..'
'Dear Lizzy!'
'Oh! you are a great deal too apt you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good & agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.'
'I would wish not to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.'
'I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough-one meets it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design-to take the good of everybody's character and mae it still better, and say nothing of the bad-belongs to you alone...."
The sentences highlighted in blue, are what remind me most of the conversations had between my sister & I. I have come to adore someone very miuch, since the summer, & have given the run-down on just how amazing he is to my sister-telling her that he is just what a young man ought to be- & her response was that he sounded absolutely wonderful, & that I have indeed liked "stupider a person".
-Bless her heart, she's honest, I'll give her that.& she was giving her permission & blessing on me liking this young man. HA... Something I will not understand, is people who claim Jane Austen's novels are just useless & irrelevant, about nothing more than romance. For those of you who hold such an opinion, I challenge you to read some of Jane Austen, & acknowledge the fact that perhaps there is a bit of Jane or Mr. Darcy inside of you. Perhaps you have a Jane for a sister, who thinks everyone is so agreeable, so slow to see their genuine faults. -Or perhaps you have an Elizabeth for a sister, like I do, who insists that I need to get my head out of the clouds, & acknowledge the fact that I need to be with someone who is good enough for me...
Or perhaps, you know a Mrs. Bennet. - I am SURE you do.. The woman who is married, & hasn't got anything else to do, but set everyone else up. That same attribute comes out in Austen's creation of Mrs. Jennings, in Sense & Sensibilty. -An absolutely jolly busy-body, who wants to play match-maker to the whole world. However, there is a difference between her & Mrs. Bennet. -Mrs. Bennet is whining constantly about her nerves.... I am sure there's a ton of men out there who can connect with that one... -A wife who is whining constantly... *Smiles wickedly*
For those of you who stand stubbornly on the opposite side of Jane Austen fans, & believe her works ridiculous & irrelevant-I ask you this- Are you being prideful & prejudiced....?
Something HUGE that I discovered was that Hollywood totally villainized Willoughby. I mean, yeah, he was a definite idiot, but Hollywood made him look a lot more so. the way Jane Austen wrote it, when Marianne got sick, Willoughby actually came, & explained himself to Elinor, explaining all of his erratic & ridiculous behaviour. That NEVER happened in the movie!!!! Sooo, I think that was a cheap shot against Willoughby. Even though he wasn't wholly dedicated to Marianne.
Marianne did get her heart back, & loved Colonel Brandon. Loved reading that. That was amazing
Makes me think there's hope for me. Deep down I don't really believe it's possible, but.... you know... It could happen. I am not going to start ranting about that.... not on here.... I thoroughly enjoyed the ridiculousness of Mrs. Jennings. She was such a silly lady
I was rather surprised @ Marianne's & Elinor's speedy forgiveness of Edward Ferrars!! I mean, the guy was ENGAGED to someone else, was acting all cutesy with Elinor. Yet, when they find out he's engaged to the most brainless woman on the planet, suddently all is forgiven...
Men may be stupid, but sometimes I think that women are even WORSE...
Oohhh brother....
jane austenSo, here I am again.... doing another blog... at first I only created one to be able to read my friend Kassiopia's- yes, thats how much I love you Kassio...
Anyway, so... I had a blog @ blospot.com many moons ago, & perhaps it's still in existence... who knows.... It feels weird to be checking out Kass's blog again. Feel like I did a time warp....
On to other things... my dear sister is in Taiwan, & we decided to have our own little Jane Austen book club. I was inspired by the movie the Jane Austen Book Club. It was hilarious, I loved it. If anyone can find a cheap soundtrack for that movie, let me know. -Or where to download it, OTHER than itunes, that'd be great.
I wanted to read the books in order, cause that's the O.C.D. coming out in me... Soo, we are reading Sense & Sensibility first. My friend Laura just joined us, so it looks like we're expanding
My favorite characters so far have been Colonel Brandon-yes, SINCERE- notice, I didn't say CHARMING. I hate charming men... they are TROUBLE.- Willoughby is a charmer, & look how THAT turned out. Colonel Brandon is down to earth, no pretense, nothing. I have a certain preference for Marriane, since she is very much like myself. -Full of emotion & exclamation & passion, & always focusing on how I FEEL, instead of the reality of a situation. Elinor very muich reminds me of my sister Adelle. While Adelle is as crazy and passionate (if not more) as I am, she is more down to earth, and... reserved, in certain way She's the Sense & Sensibility of the novel, whereas I am.... well, a little bannanas @ times. there'a part of Adelle that I will never know, that she keeps to herself, very private. -& we see that quality in Elinor. Although, my being the reader has the advantage of reading Elinor's thoughts.
I like how, even though the novel is set back in time, the characters can still remind me of the pople in my own life. -Like, Mrs. Jennings. The woman who wants to get everybody paired up, because she's got nothing better to do.
Then there's Willoughby, the charmer, who appears like he's got it all together, & then turns out to be a total.... well, *prick*
Then there's the Ms. Steele's, & Lady Middleton. Ei-yi-yi.... The snobs of society.... the people who think they are all that & 17 bags of chips because they've got $$, or status in some way.
& then Edward Ferrars..... the blundering confused guy who cannot get it together to save his soul, does not even know what it is that he wants, & has gotten himself into an engagement with Ms. Lucy Steele, who deserves someone hoity-toity like Edwards' brother, Robert Ferrars.
I quite like Jane Austen so far, I'm just not a huge fan of Marriane's spouting sonnets about the dead leaves.... Adelle says Marianne drives her absolutely bonkers, because she's so "Airy-Fairy" Yes, believe it.- She said "Airy-Fairy" I try my best to defend Marianne, because I can really sympathize and relate to her.
Back to Colonel Brandon- he's quite the favorite with me, because he listens more than he talks, and although he APPEARS somber, grave, & resolute, there's alot more to him then meets the eye.
It became abundantly clear to me that I had begun to read too much Jane Austen when I was mentioning to one of my co-workers, Sarah, about another co-worker being miffed about something, & I had said "Yes, I believe she was 'sorely displeased'.- & then thought after, "SORELY DISPLEASED??" Where in the world did THAT come from???
Weeelll,I guess that is all. I will up-date you on the adventures of Sense & Sesnibility in awhile, when I have read some more....
-Jane Austen Chica
