Challenge Wrap-Up!

The end of the year brought the end of two challenges in which I was participating...and I'm happy to say I finished them both, right in the nick of time.

First, the Everything Austen hosted by Stephanie @ Stephanie's Written Word. This was the first ever challenge I signed up for, and I was pleased with my choices. Originally, I had intended to split the six requirements evenly between books and movies, but I quickly learned that I enjoy Austen much more on screen than on the page. Plus, my stack of books is never-ending and movies were faster to get through.

Originally I picked:

1. The BBC's Pride & Prejudice mini-series
   
2. Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley (to compare)
   
3. Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway
4. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
5. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (because I remember nothing about it from senior year summer reading)
6. Austenland by Shannon Hale

I ended up doing these:

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (the only book I read, and it was more than enough)
2. The BBC'S Pride & Prejudice
3. Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley
4. Becoming Jane film
5. The Jane Austen Book Club film
6. Lost in Austen film/mini-series

I hadn't seen any of the films, and I ended up enjoying them all. The BBC's was just too classic to not like. The characters were perfectly cast, and I was entertained hour after hour. The other P&P was alright, as was Becoming Jane, but nothing too memorable. I looooved The Jane Austen Book Club, and I never expected to! I thought it had a great group dynamic and I loved how different all the characters were. Plus, Marc Blucas. Lost in Austen was equally as entertaining; so creative and witty! Those three hours flew by. Occasionally I've thought I should read all of Austen's novels just to do it, but I think this challenge told me it'd just be a waste of time. The books aren't going to stand out for me—it'll be the visuals of movie versions that I remember. Great challenge!

The other challenge I completed was my own: the Back To School Reading Challenge. I started this challenge mostly so I could re-read some of these great classics from high school that I remember nothing about. You know, those books you can easily discuss because most people have read them some point in their lives. I kinda rushed finishing this one with easy books I knew I had at home and could read over Christmas, so I never got around to reading anything completely new to me. I'd like to do that at some point, but with the constant influx of new books that I have, it might be hard to get around to.

For this challenge, I read:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (last read in 1999)
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (last read in 2002)
3. A Separate Peace by John Knowles (last read in 2000)
4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (last read in 1998)

I was hoping to get something new and profound out of these books reading them the second time around but for the most part, I didn't. I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the first time I read it and it quickly became my favorite book ever, and it still is, so that one has kept it's magic. I think I had a bit of a deeper understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird this time around. I enjoyed it more as a standalone novel instead of having that mentality that it's "required reading." I read The Outsiders mostly just to refresh my memory on the story, but it's a pretty simple read. And A Separate Peace was more boring this time around. I know we had to analyze the hell out of in high school and I liked it then. It wasn't bad this time, I just didn't get much out of it when I didn't have to participate in open discussion about it every few chapters. I'd still like to get around to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and a few others, but we'll see.

Be sure to read Sal's challenge picks on this blog and check out what the other participants of our Back To School Reading Challenge reviewed from the Mr. Linky on the original challenge post!

Movie Review: Lost in Austen

I was thiiiiis close to just re-watching Clueless or writing about the Sense & Sensibility that I slept through half of for my last title in the Everything Austen Challenge, but I manned up and watched the 3-hour long Lost in Austen miniseries. Three hours...so daunting. But I'm so glad I decided to discover something new!

Amanda Price is a Jane Austen addict. Her idea of an excellent evening is sitting at home in a bathrobe with a bottle of wine reading Pride & Prejudice. She's read it so many times that she puts herself in the story and can feel the setting. She's in love with the elegance, the romance, and the custom of Jane Austen's England. But in the real world, she lives with her boyfriend Michael whose idea of romance is drunkenly proposing to her after a night out with the boys. When a girl claiming to be Elizabeth Bennett mysteriously appears in Amanda's bathroom, Amanda naturally believes she's finally cracked and is headed for the nut house. But then this Elizabeth Bennett shows Amanda a portal through the bathroom-wall-turned-door that leads to the very fictional world of the Bennetts in 19th century England. And naturally they have to switch places, right?

This movie was such a romp that I barely even noticed it was three hours long. With Amanda pretending to be a friend of Lizzy's visiting from Hammersmith, she begins to meet the entire cast of Pride & Prejudice and realizes she's entered at the very beginning of the story. But when Mr. Bingley starts to make eyes at her instead of Jane Bennett, Amanda quickly realizes she has to set the story on its correct path, a task that proves to be much harder than she could have ever imagined. The fun thing about this story is seeing how all the characters and events start to change from the original plot because of Amanda's presence. She finds out that there's much more to these characters and their world. No matter how many times she's read Pride & Prejudice, she still doesn't know the full story. 

I thought this a very witty, original story. I had guessed the ending a couple of times before the end but every time, something changed and I had to question my guess. So I'll just say that the ending is somewhat predictable, but you'll go on quite a ride before you get there.

Movie Review: The Jane Austen Book Club

I wasn't really expecting much from The Jane Austen Book Club. And by that I mean I didn't really have any expectations, good or bad. I went into it without having read the book and only knowing two of the zillion person cast. One was Emily Blunt, because I remember her from the poster. The other was Marc Blucas, because I have a long-standing game with a friend in which we call each other immediately when we spot him in a movie or show since our friendship developed from a mutual crush back in his days as Riley Finn on Buffy. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised with this movie of which I had no expectations.

The story is this: two women—Jocelyn (Maria Bello) and Bernadette (Kathy Baker)—decide to form a book club centered around Jane Austen to distract their friend Sylvia (Amy Brennemen) whose husband has just left her. They recruit Sylvia's daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace), and two outsiders: Prudie (Emily Blunt), a high school French teacher that feels trapped in her marriage, and Grigg (Hugh Dancy), the only male of the group and an Austen virgin. They decide to read each of Austen's six novels and each member has to lead discussion on one specific title. Working through the novels, they begin to see how their own lives resemble a modern-day Jane Austen novel as they grapple with their own relationships or their lack thereof. 

The ensemble cast really worked in this movie. The dialogue seemed a little weak at first, but then it got into a flow and the characters had a chance to shine, both together and individually. That was the great thing about it—I knew them as a group and I knew them as individuals, because the script spent a little bit of time developing each character's own story. And it was just enough time, not too much that it took away from the group dynamic and not too little that these scenes focusing on one character seemed choppy and unnecessary. 

I really enjoyed this movie. I wish I knew Austen's works well enough to recognize which of the characters in the movie represented which of her characters, but that's a project for another time.

Movie Review: Pride and Prejudice (2005)

So, I believe I have officially decided to watch Austen-based movies for the rest of the Everything Austen Challenge. I have waaaaay too many books in queue that I just don't know if I'll get around to reading anything else, and with my handy new Netflix subscription, it makes the movie-viewing so much easier. Technically, this is my 5th item in the challenge; I watched Emma Thompson's Sense & Sensibility while drugged on Theraflu, and wow, I don't think I have ever been so groggy. I say that I remember it all, but really I probably just pieced together the segments I did see in between dozing off with the story I know from recently reading the book. Needless to say, I will not be writing a review of it unless I try watching it again.

Anyway...normally I don't really like to compare things [ie: an author's books, versions of a movie], because I feel that any work should be able to stand on its own. However, I viewed 2005's Pride & Prejudice mostly to compare to the 1995 BBC version I watched a couple of months ago. At this point I am very familiar with the storyline, so I was able to make some observations and comparisons outside of the basic plot.

• I thought this movie was cast very well. The ages of the characters made more sense to me. Keira Knightley was 19 when she made this movie, the age Elizabeth is in the book (I believe). Plus, Knightley is my age, so it just made sense to me and seemed more like a peer in the role. While Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth were both excellent in the BBC version, the fact that they are a generation older than me just automatically put their characters as older in my mind. Also in terms of age, I liked this version of Mr. Collins. Because he seemed closer to the Bennett girls in age, his personality was the biggest turn-off about it.
• The first half seemed rushed. I understand that was necessary to make it a studio movie rather than a miniseries, but I thought it took away from the full effect of story's development. I never got the same feeling of disdain that Lizzy had for Darcy.
• One of my favorite characters in the BBC version was Mr. Bennett. He was fantastic with his subtle, sarcastic remarks. I don't think Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennett had as large of a role and he was nowhere near as funny with his sarcastic, under the breath remarks. Not his fault...the production just cut back on that character. I did like him in the end as he showed fatherly emotion.
• I thought Keira Knightley did an excellent job. She created (to me) a more realistic Elizabeth. Her emotion and cadence seem more believable and relatable, instead of trying to be 19th century proper.
• The ending! Completely different! No wedding was shown, but I enjoyed the brief scene of Elizabeth and Darcy post-wedding. Nice little romantic bow to tie up that two hour-long package.

While I thought this was an excellent movie, I think I prefer the BBC version for the sole reason that because it was longer, I was more involved and engrossed in the story. Plus, Colin Firth.

Movie Review: Becoming Jane

I decided to watch Becoming Jane as part of the Everything Austen challenge, but I'm kind of struggling in deciding what to say about it. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. It just gave me a bit of amusement for a couple hours.

For those of you that haven't seen it, Becoming Jane stars Anne Hathaway as a young, pre-fame Jane Austen. She lives in the English countryside (surprise surprise!) with her parents and sister, and she's working on the manuscript for First Impressions, the novel that will later be known as Pride & Prejudice. She strikes up a very Elizabeth/Darcy-esque affair with a young Irish man named Tom (James McAvoy), who is a bit rough around the edges and nothing like Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Having just watched the BBC's 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice, I couldn't help but see the similarities between Becoming Jane and any other Austen work. But, of course, that is the point. You're supposed to see how this way of life and these events served as inspiration for Austen's characters, settings, and plots. 

My favorite part, by far, was the cinematography. It was the first thing I noticed and the aspect of the film that really stood out to me. I think it's almost safe to say that most Austen fans dream of the simplicity, tranquility, and beauty of 19th century English countryside, and Eigil Bryld (the Director of Photography) did a fantastic job of highlighting the setting. It reminded me occasionally of Terrence Malick films—long segments of one scenic shot after another. The film opened with such a montage, and I think it did a great job of setting the scene.

While Austen's writing has a great grasp on human emotion, I can't say the endings to her novels are always realistic. She writes the ending you want to read; things work out and people end up happy, almost a fairy tale ending. I like that this movie, because it was a bio-pic of sorts, stayed realistic, yet it points out that this is the point of books and stories—to escape reality.

Movie Review: Pride & Prejudice

The New York Public Library did not want me to finish this movie. I watched half; the library wouldn't let me renew; it took three weeks to get the DVD again, but I finally did it. Ha, library. I win!

I've always heard that the BBC miniseries is the version to watch of Pride & Prejudice. Colin Firth, and particularly his white shirt scene, seems to have become a part of Austenite pop culture. Anyone who swoons over fictional 19th century English men sings praises of this movie, particularly Bridget Jones (I'll save my commentary on the intentionally ironic casting of Colin Firth as Mark Darcy for another time). 

In high school, I was capable of watching all three CBC Anne of Green Gables movies in a row. And I did...a few times. That's about 10 hours. My attention span has drastically decreased since then. Somewhere in the transition to college and the real world, I gained the ability to fall asleep whenever I sit still, and watching movies, particularly 5-hour-long miniseries, got a bit harder. I thought it would take me days to finish this, but I got so into it that I finished it after only two viewing sessions. Thoughts:

• Jennifer Ehle (Lizzy) looks eerily like Meryl Streep in this movie. Also, she is apparently an American. Kudos!
• Whoever played Mrs. Bennett was fantastic, because she annoyed the hell out of me.
• I loved how Mr. Bennett had perfect comedic timing. He is the reason I believe Austen's wit is much better illustrated on screen than on the page.
• The angry daughter (Mary) was hilarious. She just looked so miserable!
• I was so excited to see Saffy from AbFab fame as the youngest Bennett daughter, Lydia. She cracked me up in the first half, and then her character got really obnoxious.
• I definitely already knew how Wickham and Darcy's relationship would pan out. Gee thanks Bridget Jones, for ripping off that plot line!
• Like in Sense & Sensibility, the openness of personal income astounds me.
• I enjoy Austen's strong female leads that rebel against society's norms.
• I need to visit English countryside.

I think I could watch this again and again. Especially on cold winter days or the rainy spring ones when you don't feel guilty about staying inside.  Call me crazy, but I don't see how the newer Keira Knightley version could compare.

Everything Austen: Sense and Sensibility

I decided to read Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility for the Everything Austen challenge because I haven't read it since high school and remembered very little about it. I'm always glad I created this book blog, but this is one time I'm really glad I created it; once I finish writing about Sense and Sensibility, I'll actually remember the book's premise rather than forget it in a week or two.

Sense and Sensibility was Austen's first work, published in 1811. She tells the story of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, two of the three daughters of Mr. Dashwood who has passed away and left them with little money [the rules of inheritance were so strange back then]. The story begins when Mrs. Dashwood and her three girls move to the cottage of a distant relative where they begin a whole new life. Elinor and Marianne are pressured to marry a wealthy man for financial support, but their low economic status does not make them very desirable to many men [marrying for money was common...and desired!]. But the girls, like all of Austen's female leads, care more about love than money. Their quest to find romance is hindered by heartbreaking men, scheming young women, and meddlesome neighbors.

I have been reading this at the same time I've been watching the BBC's Pride and Prejudice, which may have not been the smartest thing to do. I'm sure an Austen-ite would fight me on this, but in my first experience with them, they seem pretty similar—females rebelling against society's norms and all that. Other observations:

• I know Austen is praised for her wit, but in my experience, it's better illustrated on screen. Maybe that's just me.
• I also think the characters would come to life better on screen. She was very wordy in this one.
• I've always thought the setting was later 1800s. Guess I was wrong.
• Salaries seem to be public knowledge and subject of frequent conversation. It's weird.
• Her characters and their relationships are realistic with flaws. I appreciate the detail she pays to basic human emotion. Even the men have character.
• Poor Margaret...she barely exists. I forgot there was a third Miss Dashwood.
• I'm curious about an analysis or comparison of her novels. What makes them different? What makes one more enjoyable than the other? [comment here with input!]
• I also like Austen's sarcasm.

I can see why some people are big fans of the Austen world; everything is just so classy. The setting and lifestyle is a big draw for many, like a fantasy world where people were polite and society had rules and expectations [which could be fun...but also sadistic]. While I would like to read all her novels just because they are classics and I should, I think I'd prefer them on screen.

What's the draw of Austen for you?

Everything Austen Challenge

Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word has started a reading challenge with the simple theme of Jane Austen. Between July 1st and January 1st, all you need to do is complete six Austen-themed pieces. They can be Jane Austen books, books based on Jane Austen books, Austen movies, Austen-based movies. There are so many options depending how much you want to read or watch. This gives me a great chance to read/watch some things I always say I've been meaning to read/watch.

My picks for the next six months are as follows:

1. The BBC's Pride & Prejudice mini-series
2. Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley (to compare)
   
3. Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway
   
4. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
   
5. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (because I remember nothing about it from senior year summer reading)
   
6. Austenland by Shannon Hale
   

I also want to watch Emma and Clueless to compare, but I've already seen both of them, so they're not making the official cut. My picks are subject to change if I read a review by another participant that just seems to good to miss!