Emma

Next on our Jane Austen fesitval of blogs is her work entitled Emma. It is the story of a young woman [yes, Emma IS her name, way to pay attention] and her crazy urge to match people up. It's not so much out of an ideal of bringing people happiness, but just so she'll have something to do and be able to point out her good work. She's arrogant, snobby, stuck-up, and....yeah, that's about it. Oh, and she's very rich. And yet, we kinda like her...

Anyway, she meets this girl Harriet Smith who is a poor orphan with no idea who her parents are or what her situation is. Emma decides Harriet needs a man and so she sets out to find one for her, persuading Harriet to turn against the only guy who has ever treated her well because he's "not good enough" for her. Things get WAAAAAY messed up when Mr. Elton the clergyman makes his true feelings known, and then Frank Churchill shows up and everything goes bonkers again as people make assumptions and judgements, and then there's the insulting thing at BVox Hill with Jane Fairfax....

Did I mention there IS a good guy here? His name is Mr. Knightly and he is basically perfect. He's known Emma since she was a baby and he is kinda like an older brother to her, complete with scoldings and blunt opionions. His brother married her sister, but other than that there is no connection... Anywho, he's great....

I really can't say much about this one, guys. It's one of those every surprise just makes it better, and if you know the surprise, it just ruins it. But I do love this book and if you can get around Jane's funny way of saying things, you'll see that it's actually quite witty and sometimes downright hilarious.

If Hollywood is more your style, go with the Gwenyth Paltrow version. Knightly is good looking.

If you prefer the BBC, go with the Kate Beckinsale version. Knightly is mysterious and bold.

Or if your tastes run musical, try and catch Emma the Musical if it comes your way! Knightly...can sing.....

BREAKING NEWS!!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogpost to announce Becky's discovery of an amazing singing group that has officially taken over her life. Il Divo. It's a boy band but it's OPERA! Well, sort of, but it's definately classical! They are AMAZING, not to mention pretty good looking, and they were organized by Simon Cowell, so you KNOW they're good. Their harmonies are amazing, and the notes on perfect pitch, and it just gives you chills.

Amazing amazing amazing, you all should investigate and become converted.

That's all.

Cue heavenly angels.

Northanger Abbey

Today we are going to approach--but not really go into--the subject of Jane Austen's least popular book, Northanger Abbey. Why it is the least popular is a subject for huge debate which I shall not attempt to address, except that I think it's a lack of true character development except for our heroine. But that's just me.

This story is the "dark and mysterious" of Jane's novels, which may be another reason it isn't as popular, as she should stick to semi-realistic sensible romatics, but anyway. Our heroine is Catherine Morland, who, like so many of us, has more romantic imaginations than she knows what to do with. She's very innocent, but thinks she knows much as far as romanticism goes. She goes with some friends to Bath and meets a sister of her brother's friend, who, it turns out, is engaged to her brother, go figure. They become friends, and this friend (I think her name is Isabella) is someone that you don't like right from the getgo and you have no idea why our lovely and likeable Catherine is friends with. She's shallow, base, and utterly irritating. Her brother tries to make some moves on Catherine, causes her to lose the opportunity to go out with the handsome and charming (and all-around good guy) Mr. Tilney. Somehow she discourages the jerk and Mr. Tileny and his sister end up inviting her to their home, Northanger Abbey. Dark and mysterious is the place, haunted by the ghost of the late Mrs. Tilney, whose demise is a subject for further investigation, in Catherine's mind. The fact that their father is a crazy miserly creepy old dude doesn't help matters either.

Catherine's imagination goes wild, and that's what leads to the rift between our potential lovers. That and the fact that Mr. Tileny's dad found out she';s poor and basically had her cast from the house...

If you really care all that much, read the book. It's not so bad, really.

This is a decent version...if you like creepy 80's adaptations.

This one is REALLY good. I enjoyed it very much. It made me just about like the story. Oh, who am I kidding, this version MADE the story for me. Watch it! It's the BBC.

Sense and Sensibility

This one is one of my favorite Jane Austen books. It's also one of the most popular. They made a major movie out of it and it won an Oscar, for cryin' out loud! But you really can't go wrong with the cast they chose. I mean, Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Greg Wise, Hugh Grant, AND Alan Rickman? Can we SAY score? Yes, we can.

Anyway, the story: two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, are at the center of the book. Thier father has just died, leaving his estate and most of the fortune to his only son, as was the way of things back then. So they, their mother, and their youngest sister Margaret are left virtually penniless and at the mercy of their half-brother and his shrew of a wife. But the shrew's brother comes to stay with them, and Elinor and Edward form a wonderful friendship with hints and definite undertones of something more. But both are reserved, which ticks Marianne off as she is impulsive and emotional, and so nothing is ever actually official. Then the Dashwood girls and their mom go to her cousin's cottage in Devonshire to live, leaving Edward (and Elinor's heart?) behind. They meet some real characters, who are determined to figure out Elinor's secret, but they have a friend, Colonel Brandon, a handsome, but very reserved and somber older man, who is enchanted by Marianne immediately. But naturally, she doesn't see it, dreaming of some high acventuring love. Her chance comes when she sprains her ankle one rainy day and is rescued by the dashing and mysterious Mr. Willoughby. Sparks of romance, interest, and even passion flare as the two set the countryside up in rumors about their behaviors. But nothing is simple, is it? Marianne flies with her heart to guide her, while Elinor's head keeps her heart in closed quarters. Elinor's wisdom comes in handy when someone confides in her certain secrets that destroy her hopes of any happiness beyond her present, and Marianne's blissful ignorance of the world brings about her painful downfall as her life crumbles. How will they recover from their troubles? How can this possibly end happy?

Don't be a goose, of course it does, but I'm not telling. But there are lessons in this book to apply to life, as there are in all. Read it. Watch it. Love it.

The new BBC version, which is good, but really, after this one:

nothing else will ever be able to do. Love love love love. Ideal. Perfect. Just what Jane had in mind, I have no doubts at all.

Mansfield Park

Next on our Jane Austen special, we'll be talking about Mansfield Park, one of the less well known books. Our heroine is a poor, plain girl named Fanny Price, who is sent to her rich aunt and uncle, the Bertrams, because her family has too many kids and not enough money to feed them all. Fanny becomes a sort of servant, but recieves no wages, merely a room and meals. She is treated with some form of civility by most of the family, but her cousin Edmund becomes a true friend and, as so many young girls do, she fell in love with him as they grew up. [Marrying cousins was ok then, don't worry]. But like so many men, Edmund is entirely blind to her feelings. He loves her as his best friend, but that's where it ends. When some new neighbors come a-calling, interesting things begin to happen. Miss Crawford catches Edmund's eye, and who does he confess his growing admiration and affection to? Why, his best friend Fanny, who else? Poor girl has to suffer through that, plus seeing what Mr. Crawford is doing to Edmund's sisters, one of whom is engaged to be married, though you couldn't tell from her behavior. Then she gets married, and Mr. Crawford turns his attentions to Fanny! Poor child, she's the only one who has any sense in the whole family. Everybody encourages her to accept him, but she knows what he is really like, and...ugh! I won't tell you what happens there, but a lot of family catastrophes go on and people begin to realize what we already knew: that Fanny is the only one with any sort of sense or brains, and they can rely on her to keep things calm and settled. She's treated better FINALLY. The end.

Oh, of COURSE that's not all, but you didn't really think I'd tell you details did you? Get up and get the book for yourself! It's fantastic!

The original movie version from the 80s. Quite good, but VERY 80s.

A more recent version, which might be my favorite. Isn't Fanny cute?

An even mroe recent version from the BBC. I like it, but Edmund isn't as cool as I wished.

Ode to Jane

My dear friend Andrea gave me a shout out in her blog a few days ago, for which I thank her, but she also happened to mention in her description of me, that I was a Jane Austen woman, though my blog did not talk about Jane Austen or her works. Just for that, Andrea, and for the rest of you who are still reading my blog, I vow to post a series of blogs on Jane Austen and her works. Tonight we start with the woman herself.

I'm not going to do a full on biography, though. If you are that interested, look at Wikipedia.

Jane Austen wrote six major novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. There are a number of other works that she never finished, and probably even more that we'll never really know about. Her family was not wealthy and there were many children, which led to more trouble financially. Jane and her sister, the one and only, Cassandra were very close, which brings us to the next and most famous point about our fabulous writer: neither she nor Cassandra ever married. They were single their entire lives, owning the term "spinster" completely.

Now, you may ask, how can a woman who never married write such thrilling tales of the heart and become so famous for her romantic characters? Well, that is what the imagination is for! For her works are brilliant and capture human nature so well. They are entertaining and witty [and downright hilarious at times] and we all love them! She was an amazing and talented woman, and thank God she lived and did what she dreamed of!

A portrait of the woman herself.

Jane Austen as portrayed by Anne Hathaway in "Becoming Jane"

Jane Austen as portrayed by Olivia Williams in "Miss Austen Regrets"

Realizations

I was reflective tonight. An odd thing, to be sure, but I tend to reflect a lot more now than I used to. I see things about myself and various things that I seem to have missed before. I'll share some with you.
1. I have a very hard time saying no. If someone asks me to do something, I'll usually do it. It doesn't take much to talk me into doing something unless I REALLY don't want to do it. But if I feel that someone actually does need me to do something, then 99.9% of the time, I will do it. People know this and sometimes they take advantage of it. It makes me feel used.
2. I am not very brave. If there is the slightest potential of embarrassment or any chance that I might not be good at whatever it is, I will not do it. I have a fear of embarrassment, of being laughed at, of having people talk about me when I am not there. It makes me a coward, I know, and I'm ashamed of it. I cannot get over that fear.
3. I don't let go very well. I worry, I over-think, I analyze, and I always find things that I could have done better or done differently or not at all. I hold on to memories because I am afraid there won't be others. I hold on to feelings because I don't know what will happen when they're gone.
4. I don't like being alone. It makes me think too much. It's depressing.

Happy December

Why does returning home from a vacation stink so much? Seriously, the day after vaca is automatically the worst day ever, unless it happens to be a birthday or a day off. But as it was neither for me, today was just plain icky. Not to mention that it tried to snow. Tried. No success. Plenty of frigid coldness and unless my workplace decides to actually heat the building and thereby free my poor fingers from their hypothermic coma, that will not change with the coming days. Plus I go back to school tomorrow, huzzah for boredom. I start clinic hours during my lunchbreak, which is bad as I very rarely let anything interfere with my lunch break, so I will probably not be in a good mood anyway, which makes for a bad massage. But hey! I'm not getting paid, so...

My bright spot: It is now Decemeber. Officially. It is now the month of my birthday and Christmas and Christmas vacation and Santa and Chicago Christmas and cinnamon rolls and presents and lights and carols and many many delicious levels of treats. When I am bored, mad, frustrated, grumpy, ticked, irritated, or just plain apathetic to anything else, I will remember that.

And this: "And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about him. And they were sore afraid, and the angel said unto them, "Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.' And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.