Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Which Jane Austen?

I've been on a Jane Austen kick lately. It all started when I saw the new version of Emma. Absolutely fantastic! We all loved it!
I wanted to watch Sense & Sensibility again, so I decided to read it first. Then I read Pride & Prejudice again before watching the A&E version. Now, I'm halfway through Persuasion, which I had never read before. When I'm finished, I'll watch the A&E version of Persuasion. Then I'll read Mansfield Park again-- my favorite.

What's your favorite Jane Austen book? What's your favorite Jane Austen movie?

And if you love Northanger Abbey, I'd love to know why. It's the only JA novel I don't like.

7 comments:

Huskerbabe said...

I think a lot of people don't like Northanger Abbey because it's darker than most of her books. It took me awhile to get used to the difference but I did enjoy it.

My favorite book is Perssuasion.

Ginger said...

Hmmmm. Perhaps I didn't get to the dark part. I read 1/3 of it and I thought it was just silly.

Sonya Day said...

My favs are Persuasion and P & P. I've read all of them more than once, but they are the only two I read yearly. Not a big fan of Northanger either.

Anonymous said...

My hands down favourite is Pride and Prejudice. I had to read it for school and the first time I read it, I HATED it. When I read it the whole way through for revision without having to stop and underline every 'important' sentence, I discovered I loved it! My next favourite would be Sense and Sensibility, but I love them all, even Northanger Abbey!

Ginger said...

Schools have a way of ruining good literature by making it into a test, don't they? I want my kids to enjoy literature, so I have them narrate afterwards. Focuses on what they know, not what they don't.

MamaMahnken said...

"New Emma?" The one with Romola Garai? I LOVED it. I never saw Persuasion or Mansfield Park but I loved the books. I actually listened to Persuasion and that was cool. Tell me how you like the movies. I think Northanger Abbey was supposed t be silly - it was like mocking all those gothic novels that were so popular in JA's day. I finished it, but it wasn't my fave. Right now I think my fave is tied between P&P and Persuasion....

Ginger said...

Wasn't that an awesome version of Emma? Soooooo much better than the Gweneth Paltrow one.
I tried listening to Persuasion on Librivox too! But I prefer reading it.
As far as the movies, I prefer the older P&P (Colin Firth) altho the mom annoys the heck out of me. I think that was the point tho. I like the older Persuasion too. The Anne is so sweet in it. I like the newer Mansfield Park and the Emma Thomson Sense & Sensibility. She played it perfectly!
I know you're right about Northanger Abbey, but I think it was overdone. That Catherine just made me nuts!
JA said Emma is the one heroine that no one will like but her. I think Catherine would have been a better fit for that description.