You Must Allow Me To Tell You How Ardently I Admire And Love You

Hola Readers!  Time for some more Jane Austen and today I get to ramble about my favorite of her books, Pride and Prejudice.  This was the first Austen book I read and to this day it is still my favorite, especially when I remember the era it was written in.  It is the most retold of all the Austen novels and I'm just gonna jump right in.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

I'm gonna try and keep this brief as there are a zillion sources for really cohesive synopsis...or of course you could just read it.  We open with the news that the Netherfield Manor has been rented by a man of considerable fortune, a Mr. Bingley.  This news allows us to get acquainted with all the Bennet family, who are the main players in the family.  Jane, the eldest daughter is all sweetness and kindness with a beauty to match.  Our girl Elizabeth is smart, fiery and not unattractive.  Mary, moral and scholarly, Kitty a kind of petty and bland follower.  The youngest is Lydia, spoiled, selfish and clueless.  The five girls live with their mother, the over the top, yet very loving Mrs. Bennet, and their father, the calm and detached Mr. Bennet.  The girls are introduced to Mr. Bingley, his two sisters and his friend the soon to be infamous Mr. Darcy at a local ball.  Mr. Bingley is charming and already half in love with Jane, but Mr. Darcy is proud, arrogant and makes the mistake of snubbing Elizabeth, leading the family and the town in general to dislike him.  Jane continues to be a favorite of Mr. Bingley and is invited by his sisters for dinner.  At Netherfield, Jane catches a bad cold and is forced to stay. Elizabeth goes to stay with her and consequently spends time with the family.   Mr. Darcy finds himself intrigued by the spirited Elizabeth, while Mr. Bingley's sisters...especially Caroline...the single one are not as thrilled to find themselves in competition with her fine eyes.  Meanwhile the militia has come to reside in town, bringing with it the dashing and charming Mr. Wickham.  Wickham has the prior acquaintance of Mr. Darcy and regales Elizabeth with the details of his abuse at the hands of said gentleman.  This further colors Elizabeth's bad opinion of Mr. Darcy.  Bingley holds a ball at Netherfield where it is evident that he is very much in love with Jane, and that Jane feels the same.  Unfortunately the rest of the Bennet family (excepting Elizabeth) acts in a very un mannerly way.  A few days later word comes that the family has left Netherfield for London and has no idea when...or if they will come back.  Amidst this chaos, Mr. Collins, a nephew of Mr. Bennet comes to stay with the family. Mr. Collins is ridiculous, simpering and completely unaware.  He is also the fortunate clergyman of the formidable Lady de Bourgh...who takes an undue interest in him and his house.  He comes with the intention of marrying one of the girls, as when Mr. Bennet dies the whole of Longbourn estated (the Bennet family home) will go to him due to an entail.  He chooses Elizabeth, who wisely refuses him based on so many factors.  He does not take the rejection well and ends up at Lucas Lodge, the home of Charlotte Lucas, a friend of Elizabeth's.  He "falls in love" with Charlotte and the two are married.  Jane goes to London to try and recover her spirits at the loss of Mr. Bingley.  Elizabeth travels to visit with Charlotte after her marriage.  While there Elizabeth meets the Lady de Bourgh, who turns out not only to be Mr. Darcy's aunt, but hints that her sickly daughter is intended as his bride.  At some point during her stay, Mr. Darcy and his cousin come to stay with Lady de Bourgh and Elizabeth and he once again are thrown together.  Mr. Darcy comes to Elizabeth and his famous proposal was made.  Elizabeth's equally famous rejection is given.  Mr. Darcy
delivers a letter or Elizabeth addressing her accusations of him separating Mr. Bingley and Jane, and the bad stuff he did to Mr. Wickham.   He cops to separating the couple based on his being convinced that she did not really love him, also on the complete and utter lack of propriety shown by most of her family.  As far as Mr. Wickham goes...well let's just say he was a very bad boy and is lucky that Mr. Darcy didn't do more to utterly destroy him.   Ok moving on (we are only halfway through...)  Elizabeth returns home to the news that the militia....including Mr. Wickham are to be moved to the sea town of Brighton.  Lydia is desperate to go, as they are essentially her whole source of entertainment.  For once Mr. Bennet denies his wife and daughter and staunchly opposes the deal.  Lydia however is given another chance when she is invited specifically by one of the officers wives.  Though Elizabeth begs her father not to let her go, he gives his consent.  Elizabeth's aunt and uncle take her on a trip to visit the county of Derbyshire...which just happens to contain the famous Pemberly, of which Mr. Darcy is master.  After learning that the family is gone for the summer, the trio decide to visit it.  Of course since this is a book....Mr. Darcy comes home early much to the embarrassment of Elizabeth.  Mr. Darcy surprises everybody by acting the perfect gentleman.  He comes and visits Elizabeth, bringing with him his sister and Mr. Bingley.  A couple of visits shows us that Mr. Darcy still has feelings for Elizabeth, and she finds herself warming to this improved Mr. Darcy.  Of course we need some sort of drama so Elizabeth receives a couple of letters from Jane.  They detail the saga of Lydia and her potential elopement with Mr. Wickham...then further news comes that they are somewhere in London most definitely not married.  Elizabeth tells Mr. Darcy the news then goes home with her aunt and uncle to deal with the crisis.  After much ado word comes that Lydia and Wickham are finally married and to be sent up North.  The pair stop by Longbourn on their way North and Lydia lets it slip that Mr. Darcy was the reason for their marriage. This of course just adds to Elizabeth's growing love.  The Bennet family is surprised to receive a visit from the Lady de Bourgh.  She pulls Elizabeth aside with the intent of securing a promise from her to never marry Mr. Darcy...to which Elizabeth pretty much just laughs.  Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley come back to Netherfield.  Mr. Bingley immediately renews his attentions to Jane, resulting in an engagement.  Shortly after, Mr. Darcy feels out Elizabeth and finding her own feelings changed to a much more loving tone also proposes.  The girls get married to their men, continue to take care of their families and live ever after.   Whew...sorry....that was really long.

World Building - This story is set in 17th century England, mostly in the countryside.  It is what most people consider historical fiction...except it wasn't written as historical fiction...so it's just fiction.  Anyways.  Mereton, Longbourn, Kent, Rosing Park, Pemberly, Netherfield, all of these places have been created so well that many people think that they are real.  I find it interesting that the author mixes real places (England, London, various counties) and places of complete and utter fiction (see above).  The seamlessness of these two types of places just adds to the overall completeness off the world.  Not bad for world building.

Story - As always, Ms. Austen likes to have multiple threads of story, usually all culminating together.  I like how at first glance there seems to be several disparate story lines, but by the end of the book we see how they are all connected.  While there are several slightly overly convenient moments, overall the story actually makes some sort of sense.  The various storylines keep it from being to simple or boring and it is markedly different from the authors previous work.  Also...I have just always really loved this story...so yeah...awesome.

Character - Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are by far the most dynamic of characters, with both of them going through legit changes in opinion and belief.  The rest of the characters are a bit one note.  A few of them show some growth or layers, but for the most part any non Elizabeth/Darcy character seems written to illustrate a certain point or characteristic.  The other four sisters embody either a virtue (Jane - beauty and goodness) or a flaw (Lydia wild and reckless).  Mr. Collins is the foolish suck up, Caroline is petty and jealous...so on and so forth.  The two saving graces of characterization for me is a) the two main characters do go through significant change and b) with the plethora of characters in this book the one noteness is not as apparent as we do not spend an inordinate amount of time with anybody but our main duo. So Ok on Character.

Editing - For as huge (apx 375 pages depending on the edition) as this book is, it flows really well and even the first time through I read it pretty quickly.  This tells me that I did not need to spend time going back and forth or trying to remember who or what was going on.  It also helps that all the story and character threads are being continually tied together to make a tapestry of a book.  Good job.

Love Stories - I love the variety of ways to "fall in love" that are shown in this book. We have "prudent love" in which Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins in a bid to make a comfortable home for herself in a very practical manner.  "Puppy love" in which Lydia throws herself in the arms of Wickham deciding it to be true love in a moment.  Jane and Bingley give us pure and innocent romantic love that just makes us smile.  "Uneven love" in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is a warning against a mismatched pairing.  Of course we have the piece de resistance in Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.  This is my kind of love story, they start of with a dislike of each other and both form an opinion on very little information.  Over the course of the book they learn to communicate and accept new information about each other.  The biggest part of this developing relationship is the ability of both parties to admit where they are wrong and grow from it without losing who they are.  I think this is why I love this book so much.

Upper Class - This book is most defiantly about the upper class.  I think the militia and maybe Mr. Collins are the lowest "class" of citizens in this book and none of them are suffering.  The vast majority of the characters have no actual occupation other then some vague business having to do with their estates.  The few who do work are intellectuals or sermon givers, and none of them do any real sort of manual labor.  I guess it could be said that the militia could potentially go to war, but the general feeling was of men at leisure for the most part.  This is all and well and works for the story, but probably leaves a dimension out.

Adaptability - One of my favorite things about this book i the adaptability of it.  I have seen and read a bunch of versions of this story and have loved many of them (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies anybody?).  The movies are hit or miss with of course the BBC version being the best (and also 6 hours long), but I have to admit I'm a bit in love with Bride and Prejudice a Bollywood version of the book that just makes me happy.  I love a story that can be set in many times and places and I am open to any suggestions.

Overall Impression - I think it's pretty clear that I very much love this book.  It is one that goes on my favorites shelf and has such great readability I don't think I will ever get tired of it.  I give it 10 out of 10 pianofortes and recommend it to anybody who wants a solid classic story, characters to fall in love and hate with and a world to become completely immersed.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Heaving Bosoms And The Undead

My friend L called this weekend wanting to see the new Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie "based" (note the quotes) on the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame - Smith and Jane Austen which is an undead take on Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...did you catch all that?  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Pride and Prejudice, and was actually quit pleased with the book Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, so I agreed to go.  After bribing him with Vanilla Caramel Bourbon Milkshakes (seriously Heaven in a chilled glass) Hubbin agreed to come with.  The movie was actually a lot of fun.  It did not really follow either book, but it did pay homage to it many times along with the original Colin Firth BBC version of the movie (seriously at one point the new Darcy does the whole white shirt into the water scene).

Where the book did it's best to essentially BE Pride and Prejudice as written just now with zombies, the movie decided to take on a bit of a different story line, adding in many battles and a four horse men/redeemable zombies sub-plot that was a bit confusing but did make for some great gothic battle scenes.  The casting was pretty spot on, with all the right people being young, beautiful and spunky.  My favorite casting was Lena Headey as Lady Catherine de Bourgh...even if they totally changed the character.  Over all the movie felt like a cheeky modern take on the Jane Austen era as a whole, with a loose arc of Pride and Prejudice laid over the top. There were tons of heaving bosoms barely restrained by corsets, dashing soldiers chopping at zombies and enough high class snark to please any Austenite.  I probably should not have enjoyed it as much as I did as it completely butchered both books...yet I had to give mad props to the pluck and fun of it all.  I have to think that if Jane Austen were alive today, these prim, proper and crazy characters would land within her scope and she too would enjoy the film.  I am not ashamed to say that I really had a good time watching this movie and will probably watch it again, just for the fun of it.  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Games Afoot

The holidays are a time to get together with friends and family...and annihilate them at card and board games!!!  What...is that just my family?  Is making your baby sis cry over a game of Life not what you are supposed to do when you all finally get together?  Oh...oops...sorry baby sis.  Well maybe we can play some of these literary themed games and talk about books instead :-)

Bookopoly

I LOVE books and I LOVE Monopoly...so who is getting this for me for Christmas?

Pride and Prejudice: The Game

Pick a couple, race to the church, who knew P&P would provide so much action!

The Little Prince: Make Me A Planet

I would love to play this nostalgic game with my FIL

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

This game lets you actually use clues to solve the cases, sounds like my kind of game

Clue: World of Harry Potter

This is something my whole family could have fights...I mean fun with :-)

In all honesty, playing games with my family and friends is one of the things I look forward to most during our rare get togethers.  As insanely competitive as we are, we always have such an amazing time, laughing, fighting, cheating and discussing our favorite board games.  Who knows maybe one these games will be this years memory.  Happy Reading Everybody!

No Complaints...No Really

Spring is here!  I know I know, spring has been here for a while, but it actually feels like spring, not to hot, not to cold, everything is green and you know what that means...time for JANE AUSTEN!!!!! Along with reading all of the books, I have discovered the holy grail of book to movie adaption.  Yep the BBC mini series adaption of Pride and Prejudice.  This gem is really less of an adaption and more of a translation of page to screen.  I love everything about this movie starting with the opening strains of the music that always sets the mood for me.  We then move on to the perfect Colin Firth who will forever be Mr. Darcy to me.  The rest of the casting is also sublime from Jennifer Ehle as the sassy and smart Elizabeth Bennet, to my personal favorite Alsion Steadman who played the over the top Mrs. Bennet to perfection.  The simpering Mr. Collins is perfectly portrayed by David Bamber and I'm pretty sure that Barbara Leigh-Hunt is Lady Catherine.  One of my favorite parts of the movie is the settings, we get to see Longbourn, Pemberly, Netherfields Park, London, Lambton, Kent, Rosings Park, Brighton, Ramsgate, and a plethora of just really pretty English countryside vistas.

The costuming is spot on, with attention paid to the differences between classes, town vs country, age and seasons.  Of course the absolute best part of this show is that it follows the book exactly.  Now to be fair it takes 6 hours to accomplish this...which I guess is a tad long for a single sitting...so I've heard, but the result is finally a faithful, nothing cut, full dialogue, all the characters, all the situations, the whole story being played out in front of you.  This my friends is why the mini-series rules.  I wish more books were adapted in this style as it gives you time and space to actually get the whole story on screen, and not just the parts that particular director/producer feels are necessary.  I also appreciated that they left the story alone, they did not feel the need to add a duel, or a love triangle or anything to "jazz it up", it is a wonderful story and they let it shine.  Now that I have talked about it I am going to go and watch it.  Happy Reading Everybody!
What movie do you think does the best job adapting a book?  Do you think that you can actually adapt a whole book in less then four hours?  Do you think I can watch the whole mini-series in one sitting?

Pride (POW!) and Prejudice (BAM)

The other night I spent absolutely exhausted, stumbling through the stacks at one of my bookstores.  I am sure the people working there either thought I was drunk, or the zombie apocalypse had finally happened.  I had a gift card just begging to be used, and I was going to use it come hell or high water or zombies.  Did I mention I was really really tired.  So here I was stumbling through the stacks and just running my fingers along the books, hoping to suck a little energy from then when all of a sudden I just had to sit down and rest (seriously tired folks).  As I was sitting there I looked to the shelf across from me and lo and behold I was in the Jane Austen section.  With all the places I could randomly collapse in, this was a pretty good one.  I started scanning the shelves to see what other things I could add to my already extensive Austen collection, when I saw a thin book covered in plastic.  Hmmm, I picked it up and lo and behold it was Pride and Prejudice in comic book/graphic novel form!  Yep somebody had taken my beloved book and turned it into a series of five comic books, the collection of which I held in my hand.  Of course I had to buy it (along with a Zombie Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for the Hubbin) and so I did.

Last night me, my bubble bath and my glass of wine decided to have a go at this little concoction that was essentially a 50 page Pride and Prejudice.  Are you ready?  If you haven't read the orginial (shame on you) then beware 'cause SPOILERS AHEAD!

The book itself kept the story line of the original book.  Bingley arrives. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett tease/annoy each other. the ball where Bingley falls in love with Jane and Darcy scorns Elizabeth.  Jane gets sick, Elizabeth staying to comfort her...while Darcy unscorns her. Elizabeth meets Wickham and hears his tale of woe. Darcy dances with Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball, rest of Bennet family makes fools of themselves (except Jane). Mr. Collins proposes and is refused by Elizabeth. Mr. Collins proposes and is accepted by Charlotte Lucas.  Bingley and co move back to London. Jane goes to London, Elizabeth visits Charlotte in Kent. Elizabeth meets the formidable Lady de Bourgh. Darcy and cousin visit Lady de Bourgh and spend time with Elizabeth. Darcy proposes against his very character and Elizabeth obviously refuses and throws his meanness back in his face. Darcy writes letter explaining everything. Elizabeth is confused. Jane is rejected by Caroline and decides that Bingley is never coming back (aw sad). Elizabeth goes with her aunt and uncle to where Darcy lives, she runs in to him at Pemberley (think life styles of the rich and famous times 100) his family estate. Elizabeth is introduced to his sister and they all seem to be having a grand old time. Elizabeth gets a letter informing her that her youngest sister Lydia has run away with Wickham (back when this was the worst thing EVER!). Elizabeth tells Darcy everything, Darcy says goodbye.  Elizabeth goes home while her father and uncle search London for the naughty lovers.  Lovers found and married.
Lydia and Wickham come to the Bennets house and flaunt there stupidity.  Lydia lets slip that Darcy arranged everything.  Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield.  Darcy, Bingley, Jane and Elizabeth take many walks.  Bingley proposes to Jane and of course Jane says yes.  Lady de Bourgh comes to forbid Elizabeth to marry Darcy (which is hard considering Elizabeth said no in the first place) to which Elizabeth says she will do whatever she wants.  Darcy proposes again, Elizabeth of course says yes.  Elizabeth moves and becomes the Real Housewife of Pemberley, with favorite sis Jane near by.  Everybody lives mostly happily ever after. The End.
Yep that is pretty much how the comic book went, technicaly all of the story line was in there, but in a very abrupt on to the next thing sort of way. It was strange because for each of the points mentioned above, there is specific
quotes that fans of the original book will identify and remember and that was pretty much all the dialog consisted of, if you had never read the book you would probably be a little lost.  The art work was pretty good, with only a couple things that did not appeal to me.  For some reason all the smiles looked like deranged clown which was a bit disturbing.  The sisters were all drawn gorgeous super model style, and Darcy...well lets just say I might have a crush on another cartoon man now (don't judge me :-) ).  All of the other characters are drawn in a fairly stereotypical buffoonish way, even characters like Charlotte (who looks like a shrew-witch) or FitzWilliam (who looks like a fat bank owner) get treated badly by the artist.  This is not to say he is not talented, the art work is very well done, I just don't like the portrayal of most of the characters.  There were several characters and side story lines left out (which makes sense considering how short it was) so overall it felt like I was watching Keira Knightly's movie version of the book compared to the Collin Firth mini-series version of the book.  The first one again gets the basic idea across, but loses most of the richness and depth of the full blown six hour mini series.  Overall I am glad I own it, it is one more unique piece to the collection, and it is fun to read the whole thing in like an hour.  I give it 6 out of 10 accomplished ladies.

What do you think of adapting classics to other mediums?  How do different peoples interpretations of classics change there specific adaptions? Should I probably stay away from Etsy with my Austen obsession?

Time To Read

Ran at the station all weekend, got in some engine time, some medic time, some ambulance time, some class time and some training time, now I just need some reading time

Alice In Wonderland Backwards Clock

Lord of the Rings Clock-In the Shire

Pride and Prejudice Clock-Proposal Rejection

Harry Potter Plate Clock

Time to Read Clock

Hope everybody had a great and book filled weekend, Happy Reading Everybody!

Halloween Classics

With Halloween happening this month, I thought I would share my favorite "It was a dark and scary night" books.  I love Halloween, I love costumes, Fall, candy, horror flicks, and reading scary stories.  One of my favorite books to read is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Now the original Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books, so I was a little leery to see somebody mess with it, but I thought I would give it a go.  It was surprisingly really good, it kept Jane Austen's original story and language, but Seth Grahame-Smith did a really good job of seamlessly bringing zombies into the mix. I love the opening paragraph:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.  Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead."  It was kind of weird reading such a familiar story (he keeps EVERYTHING in it) yet it totally has zombies in it with out distracting from the story.

Here some other horrific adaptions of classics, some are better then others, but they all put a unique spin on things.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Android Karenina
Alice in Zombieland
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Let me know if you think these are genius, or a twisted mess of a classic you hold dear.