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.