I wanted to share this link with everyone:

It's full of quotes from letters that Jae Austen wrote. I find many of them quite amusing - it shows her sense of humor.

"I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal."

I think, had we been around at the same time, Miss Austen and myself would have gotten along very well, yes, very well indeed.

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/brablets.html

Enjoy!

Also, I'm almost done watching the '95 P&P, it's very VERY good! But Mr. Darcy is the most miserable character I have ever has the displeasure of encountering, be it fiction or film. I'm more than halfway through the film, and he's only now behaving like a gentleman...he's SO MISERABLE!

Also, I'm almost done watching the '95 P&P, it's very VERY good! But Mr. Darcy is the most miserable character I have ever has the displeasure of encountering, be it fiction or film. I'm more than halfway through the film, and he's only now behaving like a gentleman...he's SO MISERABLE!

Of course he is. He owns the miserable half of Derbyshire.

Is this the first time you've gotten to know the character of Mr. Darcy? Or have you seen him from other movies/the book? What did you think of him in those? Does he just seem miserable to you in this adaptation?

~Riella

Well, I think I can boast of having a Jane Austen birthday, I got the 1995 P&P film from De (I had watched it before, but off the internet) and then my friend gave me P&P, Emma and Persuasion (books). I have read all of these before, in e-book format, but there is nothing like getting the books that you can hold in your hands. And she gave them to me in English, which was a nice treat, I shouldn't care to read the books in Russian I've reread Persuasion and enjoyed it very much indeed, it's a great book, probably my second favorite of Jane Austen's. I shall read P&P next, I've only read it once and am looking forward to reading it again.
I do love the 1995 P&P, I really dislike the 2005 one, except for Mr. Darcy and Lydia there are really few things I enjoy about that 2005 movie. They cut most of the story out and it came out a little (forgive me for saying this) Hollywoodish. The ending was the worst, I hated it. Also I didn't like Keira Knightly's performance as Elizabeth Bennet. I do love the 1995 version though, there's not one thing I would change, goes exactly by the book and the dialog and characters are very believable

Also, I'm almost done watching the '95 P&P, it's very VERY good! But Mr. Darcy is the most miserable character I have ever has the displeasure of encountering, be it fiction or film. I'm more than halfway through the film, and he's only now behaving like a gentleman...he's SO MISERABLE!

Of course he is. He owns the miserable half of Derbyshire.

Is this the first time you've gotten to know the character of Mr. Darcy? Or have you seen him from other movies/the book? What did you think of him in those? Does he just seem miserable to you in this adaptation?

~Riella

Um, pardon my ignorance, but remind me again what Derbyshire is? (I thought his family owned Pemberely...)

It is my first time I've "met" Mr. Darcy. I have to say though, having finished the movie: Colin Firth is SO MISERABLE!!!!! And on their wedding day, he gives a little smirk, and when he finally does smile at the end, it seems unnatural because he spent every other moment frowning!

This is the only time he looked semi-normal.

Any other time it's this:

LoL, I don't know, maybe it's just me...

However, I think the new Mr. Darcy looks much more, emotional/human. That's just my opinion. He doesn't look so much miserable as he does sad or vulnerable.

I can easily see him portraying the change in Darcy's heart.

BUT, to be fair, I'm now reading P&P, to see what Austen actual said of Darcy. If her description matches Colin Firth, I'll accept that.

And just to clarify, I DO like the '95 film and while having never seen any other, I do think it'll be the best in my eyes.

Of course he is. He owns the miserable half of Derbyshire.

Um, pardon my ignorance, but remind me again what Derbyshire is? (I thought his family owned Pemberely...)

That was a joke/reference to the 2005 P&P adaptation where two of the characters mention Darcy as being so miserable that he must own "the miserable half" of Derbyshire. I think Pemberley is the name of the estate, and Derbyshire is where the estate is located.

~Riella

I think Pemberley is the name of the estate, and Derbyshire is where the estate is located.

Correct. Pemberley is the estate, and Derbyshire is the county in which Pemberley is situated in the story. Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England.

Of course he is. He owns the miserable half of Derbyshire.

Um, pardon my ignorance, but remind me again what Derbyshire is? (I thought his family owned Pemberely...)

That was a joke/reference to the 2005 P&P adaptation where two of the characters mention Darcy as being so miserable that he must own "the miserable half" of Derbyshire. I think Pemberley is the name of the estate, and Derbyshire is where the estate is located.

~Riella

Ah, rather I understand. Thanks.

So, I'm decently far into P&P, and I've come to this consclusion: Colin Firth did a very good job as Mr. Darcy. He fits Jane Austen's decsription very well. I guess I'll have to get over his miserbale-ness. Also, i had another thought: Mr. Collins was NOT adapted well.

He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of five-and-twenty. His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal.

LOL, Um, no.

Thought this was awesome though:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/thejaneaustenc ... 34.c0.m322

Just when Emma is beginning to grow on me, she does something annoying. I do like the book as much as I did before.

I've almost finished Emma. I'm liking her a lot more. She seems to be learning from her mistakes.
I figured out very early that

I keep thinking that it would be fun if there were still balls like in those days. Then I remember that I'm not good at dancing and I would probably end up sitting by myself with no one to dance with.

I've almost finished Emma.
I keep thinking that it would be fun if there were still balls like in those days. Then I remember that I'm not good at dancing and I would probably end up sitting by myself with no one to dance with.

Cool, I just bought that book! It's sooo long but it looked good and I can't wait until I have time to read it! I TOTALLY wish they had balls now like that!! Sooo bad. Balls are glorious. But yeah, I'm not that good at dancing either. I learned how to do it a bit though and it's easy if you practice a tiny bit.

I've never seen the Colin Firth version of P&P. For shame, I know, but I just loved the 2005 one so much I'm not really interested in any other versions. I know it wasn't historically accurate, but it was so gorgeous and artistic. I'm shallow that way.

I've never read Emma, although I have read P&P, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northhanger Abby. (That last one easily wins the snark category.) It's really a shame because I LOVED the Kate Beckinsale version. What did you think of the book Pattertwig's Pal?

StarAsterisk, just how much practicing is "a tiny bit" because I'd love to be able to dance in a ball.

Anyways, I was directed to a very interesting take on P&P on YouTube. That's right, an adaption done exclusively through video blogs set in modern day. So far it's interesting, but not exactly the most clean thing you can watch. I wouldn't recommend it to people under 13. It really is a clever concept though, and Charlotte cracks me up! (The actresses are great so far.)

StarAsterisk, just how much practicing is "a tiny bit" because I'd love to be able to dance in a ball.

Anyways, I was directed to a very interesting take on P&P on YouTube. That's right, an adaption done exclusively through video blogs set in modern day. So far it's interesting, but not exactly the most clean thing you can watch. I wouldn't recommend it to people under 13. It really is a clever concept though, and Charlotte cracks me up! (The actresses are great so far.)

Haha! That video looks totally cool! Gonna watch more of it
Well, I took some dancing lessons with my homeschool group, it wasn't more than 10 hours of learning all together, and I got pretty good at some of the dances, even the more complicated ones. The best thing to do is learn the basic Waltz (plenty of YouTube vids), and everything else seems so be based mostly on that. Also, If you know a little bit of what to do, but everyone else is real good at the dance, it makes it WAY easier. So if you could find some YouTube videos and maybe a couple of hours instruction from someone you should be good to go, at least somewhat.

Lately, I've been considering doing an extensive read/re-read of all the Jane Austen novels. Then I was hoping to write reviews and essays on them all on my new blog.

I've read P&P, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion, and half of S&S; but it'll be my first read of Mansfield Park and the lesser novels. I look forward to re-reading my favorites, and forming opinions on the ones I haven't read yet.

~Riella

AH HA!!!! It worked!!!! Finally figured out how to use the YouTube button!!!

Anyway, thought this was nice, songs a little weird, but the maker of the video did a really nice job, makes me want to make a video...

By the way Aravanna...thanks so much for posting that video, it cracked me up. For a 24 year old grad student who is about to take off in her career; whatever that may be, she has way too much time on her hands. Shame the second episode wasn't so...clean.

Off topic: What version of S&S do you all like best? As far as I'm aware of, there's only 2 versions: a) Emma Thompsons & b) BBC's. I've only seen a) before, and I have know complaints, but I would like to see b) at some point.

There are three versions of S&S that I know of: a mini-series from the '80s, which is pretty good; the '95 Emma Thompson movie (my favourite); and the '07 which I can't speak to.