05-21-2003, 01:59 PM | #1 |
Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England
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Jane Austen
I was surprised to see there isn't a thread dedicated to Jane Austen, because normally wherever you find well-read, intelligent people, you find Austen fans
So, what's your favourite novel and why (first person to say something other than Pride and Prejudice gets a prize... I mean, is very clever indeed)? Has anyone read her juvenalia? It's very funny
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
05-21-2003, 05:31 PM | #2 |
Fowl Administrator
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I've only read Pride and Prejudice, but I enjoyed it immensely.
There's just something about Austen's writing that's so warm and cozy.
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05-21-2003, 07:32 PM | #3 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Aug 2002
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I love Jane Austen, though it's been years since I read any of her books. The only one I own, by the way, is Northanger Abbey -- definitely my favorite. It's a glorious spoof of late 18th c. Gothic, complete with fainting heroines and a haunted medieval abbey!
does this mean I'm very clever? always wanted to be clever....
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05-21-2003, 07:44 PM | #4 |
Mirthful Maiden
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Yes, I read Pride and Prejudice. Didn't Jane Austen also write Sense and Sensiblity? I didn't read that though.
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05-21-2003, 10:33 PM | #5 |
The Fleet-Footed
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Yes, Jane Austen also wrote Sense and Sensibility.
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05-22-2003, 02:46 PM | #6 |
Enting
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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I love Jane Austen! So far I've read Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Masfield Park.
I liked Pride & Prejudice especially- I loved the irony in it. (And I also loved Darcy, of course!)
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"...So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horse-lords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure." ~ J. R. R. Tolkien |
05-22-2003, 09:50 PM | #7 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: May 2003
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I have read "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", "Emma", and "Persuasion". I have yet to read "Mansfield Park" or "Northanger Abbey". My favorite is "Persuasion". The characters are mature but flawed people. Sometimes when I read it there was just sadness at the situation, but the pay-off at the end was worth it.
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05-23-2003, 02:53 PM | #8 |
'Sober' Mullet Frosh
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I read Emma for my English lit class. Quite good actually. A feel good book.
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05-24-2003, 02:25 PM | #9 |
Long lost mooter
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I'm a Jane Austen fan as well. I've read Pride and Prejudice at least twice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey. I own a nice hardcover of Sense and Sensibility, but I don't think I've read it yet (I've been reading a long time, so I sometimes forget if I've read something or not! Sometimes I'll start reading something I don't think I've read before, and I realize that I have). Emma is a work of genius, but sorry, I can't honestly say that I like it better than P&P, one of the best books ever written, IMO.
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06-12-2003, 09:56 PM | #10 |
Elf Lord
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Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. A few years back I bought "The Complete Works" in paperback and I have several of the novels in hardback. I have a lovely little pocket-size hardback edition of Persuasion. Pride and Prejudice would be on my list of books to take to a desert island. I reread it at least once a year as well as Persuasion.
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07-20-2003, 01:45 PM | #11 |
Elven Warrior
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I've only ever read Pride and Prejudice but I really liked it and kept meaning to read other books by the author. It says something about the quality of her books that they are still read by people of all ages and from all over the world nearly 200 years after she wrote them (P&P was writen in 1813!)
Because she got to the heart of the characters (and human nature hasn't changed all that much for thousands of years), despite society being totally different, we can still recognise the power of her work. So, which of her books should I read next? Any suggestions of which one and why from those who have read them all? |
07-21-2003, 03:09 PM | #12 |
Sapling
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: USA
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My favorite Jane Austen novel is "Sense and Sensibility". The story and characters are delightful. The story contains drama, but a lot of laughs as well. I think it is her best work!
So, there is my recommendation
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07-23-2003, 12:55 PM | #13 |
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emma. that was my first austen book. i will read P&P very soon, if i can help it and if fortune's my way...i will read all the books by austen. all
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07-27-2003, 12:20 PM | #14 |
Elf Lord
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I love most of Jane Austen, but I HATE "Mansfield Park".
Fanny... totally insipid and a snob. Mary Crawford ...Yeah! Glad she didn't end up with that dolt Edmund- he and Fanny deserve each other.
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07-29-2003, 02:56 PM | #15 | |
Enting
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Quote:
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"...So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horse-lords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure." ~ J. R. R. Tolkien |
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10-17-2003, 10:45 PM | #16 |
Enting
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Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. Very few are able to create such biting commentary on social norms in such an innocuous manner, but she does it with such ease and brilliance that it certainly sets her apart from authors such as the Brontes.
I have read all of Austen's works, and I must say that my favorites are Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. I have read several comments in this thread against Mansfield Park, but I appreciate it as it is likely one of the darker and least romantic books that Austen wrote. Crawford, instead of being a quintessential Austen hero is a human being who could have lived, and who represents the flaws in each of us. Fanny is the same way - weak, naive, silly... I think in Mansfield Park Austen delves further into the human psyche than she does in all of her other books combined. Peace to all, ~Percy
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10-20-2003, 02:21 PM | #17 | |
Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Quote:
Great name, btw
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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11-19-2003, 07:13 PM | #18 |
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Can we revive the Jane Austen thread? I especially liked P & P and Emma; I have read them both numerous times (as with all her other books which are very good) and watched the A&E P&P with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth at least twice. I've heard that "Jane Austen's Emma" is the best Emma movie but I have yet to watch it. Anybody care to discuss any of her books? Do a "everybody read this much of this book" and talk about it?
Mercutio "In vain have I stuggled..."
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11-19-2003, 07:17 PM | #19 | |
Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Quote:
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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11-19-2003, 07:30 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Emma
I'm pretty sure the one I thought was better was with Kate Beckinsale. Knightley was a lot better in that one then in Paltrow's. Her's (I forgot who the actor was) was way to young.
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Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from Moscow, eh?". Interested in C.S. Lewis? Visit the forum dedicated to one of Tolkien's greatest contemporaries. |
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