Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice was my sixth, and final, item for The Everything Austen Challenge. I was not planning to re-read this book during the challenge but on a recent trip to a favourite Sydney bookshop I came across the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of the book with these stunning cover drawings by Ruben Toledo - it just had to come home with me and then it just had to be read.

Pride and Prejudice has never been my favourite Austen novel - don't get me wrong, I still love it, I have just never connected with Lizzy Bennet and Mr Darcy the way so many other readers have. Having said that though, I really enjoyed reading the book this time around (not sure if it had anything to do with the gorgeous cover attached to it!). I think it is the case that whenever we re-read our favourite authors work we gain something different from the reading depending upon the time in our life when we are reading it and what is happening in our own world at that particular time - what do others think about this?

I have really enjoyed this challenge - it has given me a chance to re-connect with some Austen favourites as well as discovering some of the new and ever growing Austen spin-offs - thank you so much to Stephanie for organising such a fun challenge.

Persuasion

As my fifth item (only one to go!) for the Everything Austen Challenge I chose to re-watch one of my favourite movie adaptations of Austen's novel Persuasion (my absolute favourite Austen novel). The version is the 2007 ITV production starring Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot and Rupert Penry -Jones as Captain Frederick Wentworth (how handsome is this man??!!).

Apart from liking this movie in its own right it also has a special connection for me as when we were in Bath in 2007 I was able to see an exhibition of costumes and other items from the movie at The Jane Austen Centre.

I agree with some other reviewers in various locations around the web that this movie is not without its flaws - it certainly strays from Austen's original novel in many ways but even though this is my favourite book of hers I really don't have a problem with this movie changing some things around a little. I think the movie remains true to the essence of the story and the relationship of Anne and Captain Wentworth. I think Sally Hawkins is a delightful Anne - even if she does sob and gasp a little too much for my liking in places! She is delicate and strong at the same time (I particularly like the scene in Bath towards the end when she stands up to her snobby father!)and she captures and portrays the history of her relationship with Captain Wentworth in her mannerisms and words perfectly for me.

Pride & Prejudice - Marvel Graphic Novel

It was my partner who discovered Pride and Prejudice - Marvel Graphic Novel on a recent trip to one of our favourite bookshops in Sydney - I thought he was pointing it out for me but he actually wanted to buy it for himself. I know I am getting close to him reading an original Jane Austen novel!

I still "borrowed" the book from his collection to make up my fourth selection for the Everything Austen Challenge. I found this version of Pride and Prejudice delightful - if a little slimmed down and cut back to fit into the graphic novel genre. I found the visual representations of the characters pretty close to how I might imagine a slightly more modern version of Austen's creations (although I felt Mrs Bennet got a bit of a bad deal!).

I wouldn't have wanted this to be my introduction to the Pride and Prejudice story - so much has had to be tightened up or left out that even though the essence of the story is still in tact something is lost. All in all though a beautiful, if different, trip down Austen lane.

Miss Austen Regrets

The BBC production of Miss Austen Regrets which showed last night in Australia was my third selection for the Everything Austen Challenge.

This movie focuses on the latter parts of Jane Austen's life - she is approaching the age of 40, is living with her elderly mother and adored sister, Cassandra and is in the process of finishing Emma and searching for a publisher for it when the movie begins. Jane's 20 year old niece, Fanny, is looking for the perfect husband and so enlists the support and assistance of "Aunt Jane" in her endeavours. As Jane and Fanny go over prospective husbands for the younger woman Jane reminisces on the past loves, flirtations and proposals of her own life and meets one or two possible suitors in the present time.

The script writer has said that she based her story on the surviving letters Jane sent to Cassandra and Fanny during this period and I thought she did a wonderful job of interpreting these letters into fiction.

The actress who played Jane, Olivia Williams (where have I seen her before??), was beautiful - she created an edgy, funny, moody and spirited Jane who I really enjoyed watching. I found a lot of her mannerisms and language to probably be a bit too modern for the moment she is meant to be living in but I still enjoyed watching.

The regrets of the title focus on Jane's thoughts about never having married - although I feel she may have had regrets about this at times (isn't it only human to have regrets about our choices in life at times?) I truly feel that her books and writing were her family and her passion and her true regret may only have really lay in having missed an opportunity to make her beloved family more comfortable which may have happened if she had chosen to marry. I thought the movie really captured the difficult situation Jane was forced into because of the time period in which she lived - her only "real" choice was to marry and become a wife and mother - a way of life that would have most probably ended her writing career which she so loved.

I spent a totally enjoyable hour and a half watching this show! Beautiful sets, costumes and photography added to the magic of the script for me. Do I think this is actually how things happened? No, but I enjoyed thinking it might have...

I now have 3 more selections left to read/watch in this challenge - do any of you have any selections that you think I should definitely add to my list?

Prada and Prejudice - Mandy Hubbard

I have to admit I was a little hesitant about picking up Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard after my last Jane Austen spin off reading experience but I have to say that this was a very different experience - and one that I actually enjoyed!

Prada and Prejudice was my second read for the Everything Austen Challenge and after my disappointing first read I was intending to go back to the real thing for my second book to restore my faith but when this book arrived in the mail yesterday I thought I would give it a go.

The main character in the book is 15 year old Callie - an American girl on a school trip to London. When the book starts Callie is not having the best of times and she takes us through a little bit of her history as the "not so cool girl in school" - a time I am sure many of us can remember. Callie decides to do her best to fit in with the "in" crowd - which of course means using her mother's credit card to buy a brand new and authentic pair of Prada heels. Callie, being Callie, is not used to walking in such high heels and she ends up doing a nose dive into the London pavement causing her to black out and wake up in the English countryside - in the year 1815. Now, I'm not usually one who is able to get on board with the whole time travel thing but I was able to do it for Lost in Austen and I was able to do it for this book too - it's just a matter of suspending belief for that little while and getting caught up in the story.

The two things that I felt really made this book work were 1) Hubbard's strong and clear writing style and 2) The character of Callie - you believed this girl and you wanted her to come out on top.

This is clearly a book meant for adolescents but the adolescent in me really enjoyed it - a great light and fun read.

Austenland - Shannon Hale

Austenland by Shannon Hale was my first read for the Everything Austen Challenge and I have to say that I was very disappointed with this book. I was so looking forward to reading it after hearing and reading such great things about it but I have to say - I don't think there is even one thing I can say that I liked or enjoyed in this book. I feel so awful saying that about a book that clearly so many people have enjoyed but I guess that's the way things go - not everyone is going to like the same things - and the world would be a very boring place if we did!

Austenland is the story of Jane Hayes - an American woman in her early 30's obsessed (as many of us are) with Pride and Prejudice - especially the BBC film version with Colin Firth playing the role of Mr Darcy. Jane has apparently been comparing every man she has ever dated with Darcy - with of course the only result being that every man has come up short. Jane has realised that this really isn't the most sensible way to live her life so in order to get over this compulsion to find her own Mr Darcy she takes a trip to Austenland - an English country estate set up to deliver its guests with an authentic taste of the Jane Austen period - complete with dashing suitors and possible offers of marriage.

I was just never able to get into this book or the storyline it presented. I wasn't ever really convinced of the character of Jane Hayes or what it was she was actually looking for - if anything. Her character, to me, seemed shallow and poorly developed - and I'm not sure how spending time in a Jane Austen theme park was actually going to "cure" her obsession with Darcy! I think this book highlighted my reading style - I like characters with substance and Jane Hayes did not deliver this for me. So, Austenland was not for me - maybe I need to go back to some authentic Austen for the time being...