Jane Austen…

[CurlewKate]

Which is your favourite in 5 words or
less? Mine is Sense and Sensibility. Because Elinor.

S+S. Though I love all the books, usually at least one of the supposedly desirable men is a smug prick who really gets on my tits. Not the case in S+S. Edward is innocous but fine. Captain Brandon is completely lovely (flannel vests and all). Neither could be called smug.

All the other male heroes are smug

P & P because polluted shades.

You're not the only one! I don't mind him as an actor, but never got the "phwoarr", even with his shirt off. He grew on me eventually, though, together with Alison Steadman, whom I found way too shrieky to begin with.

I think we're in the minority though.

I preferred the Darcy in Death Comes to Pemberley (worth a watch if you haven't seen it). An angrier Darcy (played by Matthew Rhys). And better-looking, imvho.

I do hope the people who only know her though the screen give the books a go! Start with P&P I think-it’s the most straightforward plot. Then move on to the more complicated ones..

For Sotherton, I’d definitely consider it. I’ve always wanted a ha-ha.

It's kind of depressing, though.

She's widely acknowledged as one of the greatest novelists of all time, she's incredibly funny and so readable, and it comes down to some bloke in a soggy shirt thanks to stupid Andrew Davies thinking the story itself wasn't sexy enough. It is.

"I thought only of you.. "
swoon

Can I add ‘who is your favourite awful character?’ Apart from Lady Catherine….

I ‘love’ the ghastly snobbish twit-ness of Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion.

Emma. Mischief and Mr Knightley.

Mrs Elton in Emma, vulgarly nouveau riche, eternally bragging about Maple Grove and her sister’s barouche landau and anxious to make sure everyone, including her ‘cara sposo’, realises how important she is.

Or awful Aunt Norris in Mansfield Park.

Emma.

True. I suppose I could also nominate drippy Fanny Price.

I think Mr Collins is a fabulous awful character. John Thorpe is terrible. So is William Elliott. But I won’t have a word said against Fanny Price.

Oooooh

OK DD and I are rereading all of JA this year (bc why not) and I unexpectedly loved S&S much more than I thought I would. My fave is still P&P tho. Or Emma. Or maybe Persuasion....

ETA neither of us like Mansfield Park very much but on rereading we both really enjoyed the theatre section and also both felt so so sorry for Fanny – Edmund to Fanny: "Miss Crawford is the only woman I could ever marry". Ed to F a bit later: "hmmm ok maybe I will marry you then."

ETA oh DEAR I missed five words haha
OK
P&P how ardently I admire and love
<gavel>

P&P. I love her characterisation.

"If I had ever learned..." (Lady Catherine)

Aunt Norris is just so awful, I think her spitefulness might make her the worst character.

This. Persuasion all the way.
The Amanda Root version is perfection.

I prefer the David Rintoul version of Darcy than Colin Firth.

Pride and Prejudice. The best.

But I love Persuasion too.

Persuasion- you pierce my soul.

And seeing as someone got there before me

Persuasion- deep agonising 30s (?20s?) spinster love

Persuasion. Loving longest when existence or when hope is gone.

I love her comic characters and villains. But I have just read S&S and I feel like Jane Austen does Lucy Steele a dirty. She’s just a girl who is a bit of a social climber who has the misfortune to get engaged to a fella who goes off her. She’s not the villain she’s made out to be.

This still gives me goosebumps

Absolutely.

Depending on mood: Persuasion, Emma

Persuasion. You pierce my soul.

I am also very fond of Elinor & Lizzie Bennett.

I love the little bursts of feminism-like Ann saying that men have the advantage because they are in control of the writing down of history.