Pride and Prejudice

Getting Rid of Matthew is awful - badly written, clunky, stupid plot. I hated it.
Infact in a recent decluttering I took it to the charity shop, and I never get rid of any books. I seriously thought about just recycling it so that no-one else wastes the time needed to read it!

P&P on the other hand is a work of sheer genius, I love it.

I Love Pride and Prejudice, but I do find I start to lose concentration because of the language....try reading it with a 'period drama' style voice in your head! Honestly it works, all makes sense then!

Oh that's such a good suggestion Dilys. She is deffo the closest you can get but you're right - easier to 'translate' if you're finding it difficult.

I'm going to make the weird suggestion that if you want to read Austen (who is very funny and brilliant once you're tuned to her voice) but can't get your head round the language, you could always start with Georgette Heyer, which is written in Regency English filtered through a mid 20th century ear (also very funny). After a few Heyers you'd be warmed up for the harder stuff.

It's an easy read, but definitely not chick lit. Like most JA's it can be enjoyed on a variety of levels, I think. Can read as a bit of a romp, or as incisive social commentary (as a contemporary record) or i.s.c. (as a timeless account of class division/aspiration) or as a cri de coeur for a broader landscape for women or as fundamentally reactionary morality tale which confirms that conservatism works best, in the end, for everyone (except the exceptional Lizzie) - or quite the opposite.

It is wonderful, though, whichever way you read it. I find Charlotte Lucas' pragmatism almost unbearably painful.

sorry hocus! have done as directed! [bubblefilledmouthsmiley] Vanitypair, Keira Knightly was dire!!

Brilliant read and is a don't miss. I thought the recent film was absolutely wonderful with some great performances. The BBC version is sorely dated now, although the wet shirt scene is still marvellous!
If you want more, read some more Austen!

Brillaint book - was watching the BBC adaptation the other night - Colin Firth just smoulders as Mr Darcy.

at chick-lit! Wash your mouth out!!

The best Jane Austen. The language I remember took a bit of getting used to (I read Mansfield park first) but after a while you don't notice it.

The reason Pride and Prejudice has stood the test of time is, in addition to all those qualities Janeite so accurately lists, because it carries universal truths about the human condition, and the worries and concerns of the main characters are as true today as they were when it was written.

You need to look beyond the language used to see what Austen is saying. As for relating to it, transport it to modern day in your mind. To give just one example, balls are massively important throughout the novel ? they may be formal occasions but the gossip, rumour-mongering, flirtations, insults and slights are really not that different from what we experienced at discos/parties at a similar age?

P and P is amazing, one of the best stories ever! If you want more, try Mr Darcy's Diary.

I liked Alison Steadman as Mrs Bennett and in the later film adaptation, I liked Brenda Blethyn even more.

You need to know a bit about the social mores and expectations of the time to make sense of it.

Lydia, for example is portrayed as a complete slapper Bad Girl, whereas these days she would be seen as a victim of child sex abuse, as she is under 16.

However, Mr Darcy's sister is shown as more sinned against than sinning for almost doing the same thing as Lydia.

Lizzie's prejudice against Mr Darcy is contrasted with her sister Jane's extreme good humour and refusal to see evil in any one, in which she is equally as misguided as Lizzie.

I could go on

and on

.....

I agree with HerBeatidude. It is a wonderful book. I love all her books except Mansfield Park - Fanny Price is unbearable.

Mrs Bennett was right to worry about who her daughters would marry. They would be out of their home when their father died.

I also love Vanity Fair.

yes- she was like a parody of bonnetwomanhood.....

Pmsl at ' Bonnets with bastards'

Alison Steadman is enough to put one off both books and breathing. She is soooooo wrong as Mrs Bennet and was grossly miscast/directed.

Vanity Fair good too.

It is not just chick lit, it is incredibly well-written, well observed social comedy and it deals with what were absolutely crucial issues for women in Jane Austen's time. Not getting married was an absolute disaster for most women - being an Old Maid was a humiliating, infantilised state and usually a very poor one as well, so the issue of how one chooses one's husband was incredibly important, much more so than now.

I keep thinking I must try harder with these bonnety things, but I can't really cope with books, literature or otherwise, unless there's a telephone in them.

(although I do like Lady Chatterley and Wuthering Heights aka Bonnets with shagging/bonnets with bastards respectively)

Alison Steadman playing ubiquitous BonnetMother puts me off as well.

If you enjoyed P and P you might also enjoy Vanity Fair. It is one of my favourites and read every year or so.

It's basically Cinderella, but great

Lovely book. Funny too.
It's a comfort read. I read it about once a year and i always see something different in it

Janeite unsurprisingly sums it up well! One of my favourite books ever. Re-read it every couple of years.

You need to read P&P before P&P and Zombies, otherwise the latter is just nonsense: with the knowledge of P&P it is hilarious, especially Charlotte Lucas.

P&P is really pithy and witty, with the most outrageously funny characterisation and depth and style and romance and simmering passions and a really feisty heroine. It is deffo not chick lit.

How can you say it's not proper literature?!

P&P and Zombies also very funny, but much better when you've read P&P.