Where the hell is Mansfield Park?

[kaffy_r]

This Had Better Be Good.
     Failing that, I had better be patient. Or perhaps we can have both "good" and "patient" in the same place - good literature and a patient reader..
     I hasten to explain myself by informing you, my friends, of a precipitous and most unsensible purchase which I made lately of a local bookseller. I've picked up a rather hefty (but exceedingly well appointed, I again hasten to inform you) volume, entitled "Jane Austen: The Complete Novels."
   Just why have I done this thing, you ask? Because in my more than five decades of life I have never - no, not once - read an Austen novel. Not one. Not one chapter of one, nor one paragraph of one chapter, nor even the slightest, slenderest, most trifling of sentences in one paragraph.
   I have, however, watched a couple of BBC Austen adaptations, snickered my way through Lost in Austen, (ITV, right?) and decided that I should take a running jump at the lot of 'em.
   Because if I am anything, it is precipitous. I am, it seems, more of a hasty Marianne than a level-headed Elinor. The entire collection of novels in one shopping bag. Foolish. Simply foolish - particularly when I remember that I cut my reading eye-teeth on fairytales, Sturgeon and Edgar Rice Burroughs. No, I don't read him now. But my literary palette still seems to overflow with the very bright colors. Purple amongst them.
   I may retreat to my bedroom now, and read a chapter or two of something Austenish.

Comments

[mack-the-spoon.livejournal.com]

First of all, your icon is hilarious.

Second of all, YAY! I hope you enjoy them.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have a difficult, and difficult to describe, relationship with Jane Austen. I'll be interested in your perceptions, if you decide to publish them.

K.

[kerravonsen]

My two favourite Austens are Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion. But I expect it will be rather odd to come to Austen having seen adaptions first; you might find the prose a bit stilted or slow-moving, I'm not sure.

[namarie24.livejournal.com]

Aw yay! Glad you're reading 'em. So much goodness to look forward to!

I saw the BBC P&P before I ever read any Austen, and it only increased my enjoyment of the book.

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

One of my better all-time $/pound used book finds was the Modern Library Giant Complete Jane Austin for $6.
I've read a couple, but don't really see the lure. Personally, it's a little creepy that the ribbons on a new hat are so consequential that there's no internal evidence whatsoever that this is the middle of the Napoleonic wars, with the Luddites for lagniappe.

[heatherbelles.livejournal.com]

Oooh enjoy. I have a complete set, some of which I've read, others I've still not got round to reading, but the ones I have read, I've enjoyed.

And Pride and Prejudice I re-read most years - I had it as a separate (old) book before I got the set, and the texture of paper, the wovenish cover, all add to the experience.

Under a duvet, with a hot drink is a great way to read it.

I've come to the conclusion I need more Austenish icons - both of the ones I have loaded are Hugh Laurie. But I shall use one of them in tribute to the subject...