While studying Austen for A Levels it seemed adaptations of her work were everyewhere. There was the wonderful BBC production of P&P, and Emma Thompson's glorious film of this novel, which served to emphasise how funny, how canny, how perceptive Austen was to me (I was struggling with Mansfield Park at the time, the only one of her novels I've not gelled with instantly and permanently).
I'm always torn between which sister to identify with. People who know me will know I'm as impetuous, as unable to hold back from a whole-hearted declaration of whatever happens to be uppermost in my mind that day as Marianne. But I'd like to think that I have something of the tortured constancy of Elinor about me, the hoping and gazing and praying that he comes to his senses before it's too late. Then again, maybe I'm just too happy flicking through roadmaps and planning my next attempt to get lost in the roads around London in my car to be anyone other than Margaret.

I have read the first two chapters of this book online and I'm really enjoying it - so I made a mad dash to the Post Office to pick up my loverly parcel from Minx so that I could read the rest at leisure......

Maybe 'at leisure' isn't the right term as this is the next book our bookclub is going to discuss, and more often than not it's a race to finish it in time.

Anyway, many thanks Minx, you is a star!!!

So this is the first 'proper' Austen I've read (I did read Northanger Abbey back when studying A levels - as a comparison to Frankenstein as a gothic novel). I enjoyed Northanger Abbey as far as I recall and wanted to write about my friends' unseemly behaviour in the same style. That time has passed.

Reading this brought to my mind many facets of Georgian life which I'd not really considered before. For instance, how reliant women were on marrying the right man and the paradox of apparent freedom to read or do needlecraft and not have to work and the total lack of freedom to pursue a career and freedom of movement. I was also suprised by the discussions about taking on a second spouse when the first one dies and the backlash against it. Seems very harsh to me.

At first I dispaired of the banter associated with matchmaking and it made me really contemptuous of the young Dashwoods. Then Lucy was introduced to us as an uneducated girl who couldn't read. This made me think about Austen's contemporary audience who (I imagine) would have been ladies like Marianne and Elinor, well-to-do ladies who needed to think about 'connexions' - ie those who had leisure and money to be able to read. I then began to appreciate the author's situation as writing about topics her audience can relate to. Elinor comes out with some suprisingly 'modern' comments which do partially redeem her in my eyes. These rays of enlightenment seemt to reflect the author's opinions which also redeems Austen a little!

Austen's writing is easy to read and gave me a few smiles along the way, but I really didn't enjoy the plot. I won't spoil it for anyone not in the know, just let me say that by the end of the book the 300 or so pages things seemed to have changed very little. It made for a neat ending and a lesson about human behaviour (we all do shocking things, but hey-ho we get to live another day) but wasn't monstrous meaty enough for me!

Off to read 'Man and Superman' by Bernard-Shaw!

Controlled release to BlueBolero 1/4/04

Read for a Book Club meeting which proved very successful - we have never actually spent so much time discussing the novel in question rather that our own holiday plans, love-lives, decorating ideas etc! Maybe this is because, although it is set centuries away from our reality, Austen reflected very accurately and amusingly so many human traits yet intriguingly within a lost-world that seems so alien to our own. Oh dear, that love-struck teenager interrogating her intended pray so she knew him inside out rang so many bells. And the plot? I was so lulled into reading what seemed like a straight-forward smooth running love story that I was at one point shocked by various turns of events. Eventually I found the real interest lay in Austen's descriptions of a different social and economic world and her sharp critique of it. I enjoyed this book and even laughed out loud at times!

As BlueBolero has already said, this was perhaps the first book to hold our attention during BookClub discussion which was at Moragrug's beautiful wee house.(I also think it helped having a table to sit round and graze at). Kept the thoughts flowing.

Unfortunately MarianneF was unable to join us this time as she was being held at the library till late. 1,2,3 Aaah.

That left CoastalHebe (who has just finished S&S!), BlueBolero, EuphemiaFluff, Spirant, Moragrug, MargeryK and the special appearance of Fiance. (Who's never read an Austen book in his life!)

We had a lovely buffet meal of scrummy veggies and exciting cakes (I took a beautiful piccie of the cakes which I will load up later......) and plenty of red wine and even a dog-and-cat face-off! Poor old Sam (Euphemia's lively dog) was always anxious after we dragged him away from the spitting cat. Maybe he wanted to sort out that George once and for all!

Back at the ranch - It was agreed by most of us (MargeryK wasn't a fan) that this was a great work of social commentary and was pretty funny. We discussed Sense and Sensibility in comparison to other Austen novels and decided that very few of her main characters were similar.

We discussed Austen's awareness of embarrassing relations and how well the film by Emma Thompson reflected the book.

At the end of the evening we decided to have a themed author read and everyone is to read a Terry Pratchett book for next time.

I wonder what you will make of this book?!

This one is being bundled off to Holland to share at a mini-meetup in Nijmegen.

I got this book from MargeryK at the First International Nijmegen Mini-meetup, which had all a good meetup needs: good food and good company. Of the food, there was plenty.
Okay, so this really was a tiny little meetup; we had a good time anyway.

I don't think I feel up to reading this book, but since it has travelled so far, I will not send it back to the UK with MargeryK and TrippinYak; instead, I will release it in a nice spot, so that it may find the reader it deserves.

Took this book with me on the Dutch BC meeting of June 13th!

Funny to take a book that crossed paths with MargeryK, since our planned meetup in Amsterdam fell through, when she was here not long ago.

I though a classic like this one... I should have read it once, probably...
Though my Mount-TBR (otherwise known as Tui) is so large, I'll put it at available, in case anyone wants to ask me for it.

The weight of this one kept pulling it down on my mount-tbr, so today I released it in the care of Flambard, when meeting them on their visit to Amsterdam. It's on it's way back to England then, but I thought it suitable since this is getting to be a bit of a 'handover at meetings' book anyway!

It was great to see you guys, had a fab afternoon with a beer in the sun!
Hope you enjoyed your stay, and will be back some time.

And again! Received from the lovely Erbie while on holiday in Amsterdam!

This is the first Jane Austen book I've read, and I'm afraid is likely to be the last. It was a turgid story of uninteresting characters whose parasitic lifestyle and overwhelming pre-occupation with trivia was stultifying. There were a few witty ideas, but the author really hammered them home so that any novelty they might have had when first introduced was spoilt progressively at the first, second, third, etc repetition.

Released on Friday, November 12, 2004 at about 6:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Jurys Hotel Kensington, Queens Gate in London - Kensington, England United Kingdom.

RELEASE NOTES:

On a sofa near the cocktail bar