I read the book, expecting to join the masses of women in the Austen craze. Didn't fancy it much. I'll just watch the movie, I said.
Then this past August, I started taking piano lessons (again), and by September I bought the songbook from the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack by Dario Marianelli, and am learning my third song from it. It's challenging, but I'm in love with it.
Then this past October, I read Austenland by Shannon Hale. Have any of you read it? I've seen quite a few bad reviews for it, but I absolutely FLIPPED over this book. I gobbled it up in just a couple of evenings. I never saw the twists coming! (By the way, Hale is writing a sequel!!)
Then around November, my mom introduced me to one of the most creative and hilarious takes on Pride and Prejudice yet. Lost in Austen. Yes, I've discussed this 3 hour BBC mini-s
eries before, but it needs repeating because it's just THAT GOOD. Rent it, buy it, just WATCH IT, so Kristi and I aren't the only ones emailing each other back and forth, quoting it until all hours of the night. (Pictured is Darcy on the left, and Bingley on the right) -- We first meet Amanda Price in modern day London, reading her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. She loves the language, the manners... it's given her standards that simply cannot be filled in her time. One night, she hears a noise in her bathroom of all places, and finds Elizabeth Bennett!! Amanda walks through the door and into Elizabeth's house, and Netherfield has just been let (at last!). She gets to live through the whole thing, but her presence has caused things to change. People start falling in love with the wrong people, marrying the wrong people... Amanda tries to make things follow the book (even though Elizabeth is still stuck in modern day London), but Darcy believes that everyone has become her instruments and that she is "quite possibly the instrument of Satan." This is not for the Jane Austen purist, because they do expand on a few storylines, but it's just that much more interseting. And HILARIOUS. --
Then I watched Colin Firth as Darcy in the 90's BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, and finally understood the scene in Lost in Austen where Darcy takes a dip in the pond. The whole thing seemed to drag a bit until the last segment, but it was good.
Then I watched Persuasion because a good friend of mine made me. I'm tempted to think she watches it almost daily. It was frustrating through most of it, but I enjoyed it by the end. Not sure if I'm interested in tackling the book, which as I understand, was published by Jane Austen's brother after she died. She probably didn't intend for it to get out (along with Northanger Abby).
Then I happened to catch the new Masterpiece version of Emma on PBS last month, and Oh My Gosh. Forget Darcy, bring on the Knightley! At first, I watched this show cringing, because as you all can see on my sidebar, according to the Jane Austen quiz, I am Emma Woodhouse. It's a scary thing, but I totally am. Not that I've gotten into the matchmaking bit, but I have definitely been known to speak out of turn (Badly done, Kristin! Badly done!), and having earned a degree in Sociology, I have this interest in learning about social classes and blocked opportunities and what not. It's fascinating to me. And this Emma, wheeeeew. "A young farmer, whether on horseback or on foot, is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do....But a farmer can need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it." Ouch! Quite the snob!! Hopefully this was not the trait that pegged me as Emma!! (Though I have been guilty of snobbery in the past, and sometimes may come across as such since I sometimes prefer to be alone as opposed to being social. Misconception, I say! - I should strive to be more like Melanie Hamilton Wilkes from Gone With the Wind... no one ever said "Badly done, Melanie! And yet, I identify with Scarlett so much more... eeeks!)
Last Sunday, Masterpiece played its 2007 version of Northanger Abby, which I'm still a bit miffed about. The ending was so abrupt... I find it hard to say if I liked it or not.
Now I'm reading Emma. The Masterpiece tie-in edition with this lovely cover:
So far, I am following it surprisingly well. I don't read literary type fiction, ever, mostly because I can't understand it. It's too... beyond my abilities. I don't usually like to think too hard when I read. Just give me mainstream fiction please, or young adult paranormals!! But I find Emma much easier to digest than Pride and Prejudice. My next Austen plan is to tackle Sense and Sensibility.
Tune in to Masterpiece on PBS, Sunday nights! I think this Sunday is Persuasion!
What about you? Are you addicted to Austen? Are you out of that phase? Are you avoiding the craze? Any Darcy lovers? Mr. Knightley? Mr. Tilney?
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