STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

blubirde · Chanel

Book Clubbers Week 2

halleybird · Hermes

mmmmm, Darcy....

laken1 · Hermes

I didn't read it all - I will finish tomorrow - I am a bad book clubber - I have been a knitting fool this week trying to get caught up on my first project.....so sorry since I feel like the instigator of this.....I'll be back....

lsubatgirl · Gucci

I'm still reading too. Its up to chp 15 right? I'm trying to read it more slowly so I can maybe pick up some of the undertones.

sage · Dooney & Bourke

I have read the chapters(and then some). I just wanted to quickly answer that I am still in, I just don't have time to comment. Oh, I will say I would not want to be friends with the Bingley sisters and at this point Mr Darcy is not looking like long term commitment man. It is hard not to comment on just those chapters without possibly refering to events that occur after. I don't want to ruin it for people who have not read the book already.

PS laken1, I laughed at your claiming to be a "bad bookclubber". Hope your knitting projects turned out well!!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I'm a bad bookclubber too.

I am still reading- had a busy week and I kept falling asleep when I started to read cause I was so tired! I love it so far though- much better than when I read it in HS.

halleybird · Hermes

Hey book clubbers -- I just watched Bride and Prejudice this weekend and it's kind of a cool twist on the story...worth checking out.

blubirde · Chanel

halleybird wrote:

Hey book clubbers -- I just watched Bride and Prejudice this weekend and it's kind of a cool twist on the story...worth checking out.

OMG! So did I! How weird is that? I thought it was cute, definitely, and probably a good remake but I was disappointed by the story variations and lack of detail. What about you? Oh, and they made the sister NICE. What was that about? (Or at least semi-nice.)

Ritz · Dooney & Bourke

really you guys liked bride and prejudice? from what i have read, i definitely respect your tastes (sorry i am such a lurker) but i laughed through the whole movie b/c i thought it was so ridiculous. AND, i'm indian! my mom will be validated- she liked it and was sad that i didn't. (thoroughly enjoyed it b/c i thought it was funny it was so bad, but wouldn't recommend it)

have you seen bend it like beckham? did you like that? sorry to hijack the post! i love P&P too!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

ok, I am only at about chapter 13 but I will give you my third grader review (ie. no insight because I am too tired, but at least its something).

I don't know what y'all see in Darcy. Maybe something drastic happens in the next few chapters that will change my mind, but so far I think he's an asshat. Bingley, on the other hand, seems to be cool. Although maybe a little too mushy-sensitive for my tastes. At least he seems less jerkish.

I Mr. Bennet. Everything he says is so tongue-in-cheeck and is great! "...if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness, if she should die, it would be a comfort to know it was in persuit of Mr. Bingely, and under your orders."

What is with Miss Bingley? she has a major stick up her butt. When she was going on about Elizabeth walking over and getting her skirt dirty I wanted to jump into the book and strangle her.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

Ritz wrote:

really you guys liked bride and prejudice? from what i have read, i definitely respect your tastes (sorry i am such a lurker) but i laughed through the whole movie b/c i thought it was so ridiculous. AND, i'm indian! my mom will be validated- she liked it and was sad that i didn't. (thoroughly enjoyed it b/c i thought it was funny it was so bad, but wouldn't recommend it) have you seen bend it like beckham? did you like that? sorry to hijack the post! i love P&P too!

I'll help you Hijack. Bride and Prejudice looked dumb so I didn't see it but I had to watch Bend it for a sociology class I took and I thought it was great! Especially since I knew I had to write a two page paper on how it had to do with the sociology of women in the political economy... it was really interesting to watch it from that perspective.

blubirde · Chanel

ILoveChoo wrote:

ok, I am only at about chapter 13 but I will give you my third grader review (ie. no insight because I am too tired, but at least its something). I don't know what y'all see in Darcy. Maybe something drastic happens in the next few chapters that will change my mind, but so far I think he's an asshat. Bingley, on the other hand, seems to be cool. Although maybe a little too mushy-sensitive for my tastes. At least he seems less jerkish. I Mr. Bennet. Everything he says is so tongue-in-cheeck and is great! "...if your daughter should have a dangerous fit of illness, if she should die, it would be a comfort to know it was in persuit of Mr. Bingely, and under your orders." What is with Miss Bingley? she has a major stick up her butt. When she was going on about Elizabeth walking over and getting her skirt dirty I wanted to jump into the book and strangle her.

Darcy - at this point I completely agree with you. When I first read it, I no more liked Darcy than I did Mr. Collins. (Well, maybe not that bad but you know what I mean.) I don't think you're supposed to like him yet. However, on re-reading he becomes more and more endearing and a tad misunderstood - although he brings it on himself for being, for lack of a better word, an asshat.

Bingley - hmmm. My opinion about him changes everytime I read P&P. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about him. The first time I read it, I loved him so much. I thought he was great (although hold on, he will give you pause in the future). But now I'm not so sure. We'll discuss at a later date.

Mr. B rocks! I love him. He reminds me of my dad, except more eloquent. He's sometimes the sole voice of reason, in my opinion. One wonders how he managed to marry such a ridiculous wife and have such ridiculous children. I suppose it can't be helped but I think he loves some more than others...

Miss Bingley - now you know why I called the Bingley sisters (Mrs. Hearst included) "Bitches and Whores" in the earlier post. Yeah, they suck. They suck ass. I think they represent society as a whole. But isn't it endearing of Jane that even as awful as they are, they still sincerely like her? Or at least as much as they can.

blubirde · Chanel

Ritz wrote:

really you guys liked bride and prejudice? from what i have read, i definitely respect your tastes (sorry i am such a lurker) but i laughed through the whole movie b/c i thought it was so ridiculous. AND, i'm indian! my mom will be validated- she liked it and was sad that i didn't. (thoroughly enjoyed it b/c i thought it was funny it was so bad, but wouldn't recommend it) have you seen bend it like beckham? did you like that? sorry to hijack the post! i love P&P too!

Bride and Prejudice made me a tad pissy but that's mainly because my friend (who'd already seen it) told me it was an accurate telling of P&P. It's totally not! But if not for that, I probably would have enjoyed it even more. As it was, I liked the P&P storyline and the singing and dancing. A musical Austen!! How fab is that? I didn't like how they couldn't ever kiss though. That censorship rule sucks.

Bend it Like Beckham - so awesome!!! I loved that movie. Did you ever see Monsoon Wedding? Bride and Prejudice reminded me of that a movie a bit (mainly I think all the traditional wedding stuff). I really enjoyed that movie. I could watch Monsoon over and over and over. Except I don't think I'd cry every single time.

halleybird · Hermes

blubirde wrote:

OMG! So did I! How weird is that? I thought it was cute, definitely, and probably a good remake but I was disappointed by the story variations and lack of detail. What about you? Oh, and they made the sister NICE. What was that about? (Or at least semi-nice.)

Blubirde - great minds think alike! I wish you all lived closer and then we could all do nerdy stuff together on the weekends.

Ritz - Oh, I definitely thought it was silly, and very superficial. I just thought it was an interesting context for Austen -- it's interesting that they chose an aristocratic British story to retell in modern India. Plus, I just like to watch goofy stuff sometimes.

laken1 · Hermes

Ok, here is what I have to say

#1, I think I am overthinking this to the point of not being able to enjoy it. I find myself wondering if there is meaning in every single silly thing, which there may be, but it's driving me nuts.

#2, I wonder where she got her inspiration - as we all know, most writers feed off their own experiences - is she Lizzy? does she know the people in this book? Those of you that have read this & studied it at length may know the answer - do tell

#3, movies do make a difference - I really am ticked that Keira Knightly is playing lizzy, I mean, really, who wouldn't think she was gorgeous?

I will add more insight later after i read through the thread, but that's what I have to say for now.

blubirde · Chanel

laken1 wrote:

Ok, here is what I have to say #1, I think I am overthinking this to the point of not being able to enjoy it. I find myself wondering if there is meaning in every single silly thing, which there may be, but it's driving me nuts. #2, I wonder where she got her inspiration - as we all know, most writers feed off their own experiences - is she Lizzy? does she know the people in this book? Those of you that have read this & studied it at length may know the answer - do tell #3, movies do make a difference - I really am ticked that Keira Knightly is playing lizzy, I mean, really, who wouldn't think she was gorgeous? I will add more insight later after i read through the thread, but that's what I have to say for now.

#1 - I think it's way more important to enjoy it than to pick it apart. I enjoy picking it apart at this stage because I've read it a kazillion times and it stimulates me, intellectually. But there are some books I don't like to pick apart because they lose their charm to me then. I think it's a personal preference and you should definitely just read it for entertainment because it's too good not to enjoy.

#2 - I don't think Austen is Lizzie. I think Halleybird got it right when she said Jane Austen might be Mr. Bennet (I think Halleybird said that anyway). BUT I do know she got a lot of her experiences from everyday life. I was reading a book of letters from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra the other day (just some light reading you know) and there was a section in one of the letters that described a person similar to Mr. Collins and there were insinuations that the real life person acted just as Mr. Collins acts (or will act - I don't want to give anything away).

Also, one of Jane Austen's considerable talents is recreating the world she lived in. So I think most of what we're reading is the world she lives in and the people she knows and that exist in her world. Of course it's fiction and all but I've always believed her stories were probably pretty accurate as to the times she lived in.

#3 - I know, right? Keira Knightly isn't really Lizzie material, if you ask me. I just don't see it. But I'll be fair and wait until I see the movie before I decide to give her up for dead. I just don't hold out much hope. Have you seen the BBC version? I may have already asked you this...