Favorite books (from 2-22-97)
Topic 174 · 40 responses · archived october 2000
~Amy
Sat, Mar 1, 1997 (22:29)
seed
Older messages are in the AustenArchive conference. Here are the last few messages:
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 147 of 156: Lynn Lamy (LynnMarie) * Sat, Feb 22, 1997 (16:31) * 9 lines
I've been writing all these books and authors down furiously!!!!! So much to read, so little time!
I love Rosamond Pilcher. Her novels always seem so...quiet. I like Maeve Binchy, too. Has anyone read Charms for the Easy Life? (Kate Chopin?). I enjoyed that.
I took a JA course last semester for fun, and we read Evelina, which I really enjoyed the first time around. The second time, I liked the story, but got tired of Madame Duval and Captain Minivar (is that his name?). Lord Orville and Evelina I liked very much. We also read Cranford, which I really enjoyed (haven't quite finished it yet) -the little scenes of this little village are great.
I am in agreement with those that said they loved Jane Eyre. I think I shall ahve to reread Wuthering Heights, as I haven't read it in almost 10 years. I have started Barchester Towers, and think it is very funny, but had to stop when the JA class started, and haven't had a chance to pick it up again.
has anyone read Maria Edgeworth's The Absentee? I am in the middle of it now, and like it pretty well. Good description of those Irish nobility that lived in England and were (some of them) ashamed to be Irish.
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 148 of 156: The Mysterious H.C. (churchh) * Sat, Feb 22, 1997 (18:46) * 2 lines
I didn't like Evelina all that much, especially in comparison with Austen, and Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent didn't to very much for me, but I did think that Edgeworth's Belinda was nice (until it got heavily involved in the ridiculious "Virginia" sub-plot right at the end)...
Read The Warden and could take it or leave it; may read Barchester Towers some day....
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 149 of 156: Margaret Howard (Meggin) * Sat, Feb 22, 1997 (23:17) * 5 lines
] I love Rosamond Pilcher.
So do I, especially her collection of short stories The Blue Bedroom. I also loved The Shell Seekers. Her shorter novels aren't as good, but are pleasant enough in their own way. She's a comfortable read.
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 150 of 156: Susan Christie (Susan) * Sat, Feb 22, 1997 (23:42) * 3 lines
I love Rosamond Pilcher.
I recently finished September, the first novel by her I've ever read, and liked it a great deal. She's one of those writers who can make even mundane details seem interesting. She really made me get involved with the characters.
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 151 of 156: Susan Christie (Susan) * Sun, Feb 23, 1997 (23:10) * 1 lines
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but has anybody read Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen? It's a very entertaining novel about an aunt who's a writer trying to get her sister's daughter to enjoy reading Jane Austen, told entirely through letters to her. Lots of JA info and trivia and an interesting read in its own right.
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 152 of 156: Rebecca Davey (Becks) * Tue, Feb 25, 1997 (22:00) * 1 lines
I just found an adorable little book called "JA's Little Advice Book." Gives advice on everything from men, and "Jane, at her very bitchiest!" Really cute--uses quotations from her novels.
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 153 of 156: SusanC (Susan) * Tue, Feb 25, 1997 (23:40) * 2 lines
I bought that book for my only Jane-Austen-loving friend for her birthday last November (after reading it myself). I agree; it's great!
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 154 of 156: Jessica Dillenburg (Anne) * Fri, Feb 28, 1997 (14:54) * 1 lines
Did any of you Wuthering Heights fans read Heathcliff? I forgot who it is by but it tells about Heathcliff's life for the time he was away. I found it one of the better sequels I have read. What do you think?
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 155 of 156: Hilary Talbot (Hilary) * Sat, Mar 1, 1997 (13:56) * 1 lines
Susan, Yes I read Fay Weldon's book at the end of last year. It is an interesting read, but rather odd, don't you think? A bit too contrived, or too 'you'll understand when you're older', or somethimg like that?
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Topic 60 of 206 [austen]: Favorite Books
Response 156 of 156: SusanC (Susan) * Sat, Mar 1, 1997 (18:00) * 1 lines
I agree with your comments about Fay Weldon's book, Hilary. I actually skipped through all the parts where she isn't talking about Jane Austen -- that was the part I found interesting. That and the comments about how the author's sister's husband (Alice's father) didn't like her -- those were great! The rest I would call pretentious.
~bernhard
Sat, Mar 1, 1997 (22:36)
#1
LynnMarie, reading the old messages - I read quite a bit of Kate Chopin several years ago. There were several of the short stories which I liked very much! Can't remember names or faces, but you've inspired me to get that one back out.
My lit. guru wants me to read "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver. Anybody's impressions?
~cassandra
Sat, Mar 1, 1997 (23:05)
#2
Anyone like James Joyce's Araby? That has to be my favorite short story: "My body was like a harp and her every word and expression were like fingers playing along the strings...." That's how I feel about Jeremy KNightley!
Also: Scott Fitzgerald's Winter Dreams, Bernice Bobs her Hair, and especially Babylon Revisited. HEmingways' Hills like White Elephants, Faulkner's Rose for Emily, the Open Window, DE Maupassant's the Necklace, Poe's Ligeia and the Black CAt....
~ValGal17
Tue, Mar 4, 1997 (17:28)
#3
I love to read - and have made a vow to read one book per week. So far I have not kept this vow. I am trying though, and that's a start. I have the feeling that there are so many good books out there, I'llnever find the time to read them all. My favorite authors are Jane Austen, of course, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Louisa Mae Alcott (she wrote a lot more than just children's books that many people don't know about), etc. I just read Jane Ere a couple of weeks ago, and loved it. I am now determined to re
d other works by all of the Bronte sisters. Another good author is Catherine Marshall. I loved her novel Christy.
By the way, I bought Jane's Little Advise Book - and loved it.
~Susan
Tue, Mar 4, 1997 (23:45)
#4
I am now determined to read other works by all of the Bronte sisters.
I recently finished Tenant of Wildfell Hall and liked it a great deal -- much better than Wuthering Heights, but not quite (never!) as much as Jane Eyre.
~LauraMM
Wed, Mar 5, 1997 (15:50)
#5
I tried to read Wuthering Heights, but the characters are so self-deprecating, they hate everyone and everything. I read about 150 pages and gave up. I have been searching hi & lo for the Tenant of Wildfell Hall but to no avail.
I have been lately on a Maeve Binchy thingy. She's very good, I also could not get into Rosamunde Pilcher, but I did see the movie September when it aired in September. I thought it very good, indeed.
~Carolyn
Wed, Mar 5, 1997 (15:58)
#6
Has anybody read Dorothy Cannell's "Thin Woman" Mystery series. Not very mysterious but a good laugh.
~kate
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (07:03)
#7
Here some good escapist vacation reading: Diana Gabaldon, who is an American, has written a series of four (so far) books set in the forties and sixties and ALSO in the mid 1700s. They're about this young woman who accidentally(!) travels back through time and then can't get back set (initially) in Scotland, so lots of men in kilts...
It sounds totally implausible on paper, but I can assure you that I have rarely been more engrossed in a book. I read the whole series ( and they are about 700 pages each) in about a week. The first one is called "outlander" in the US and "Cross Stich" in the UK and Aus.
I think the reason I like them ( apart from the escapism) is that the herione is really strong and has a great sense of humour.
If you wnat to read a bit of her books, she has a home page, which has excerpts posted. She was actually "discovered" by posting some of her writing on the internet, so there is hope for all you writers yet.
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~gatti/gabaldon/gabaldon.html
~Mari
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (13:24)
#8
Oh, PS, thanks for the link; I didn't know about it.
~Becks
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (13:33)
#9
Laura, I love Mauve Binchy too. Read almost all of her books. I guess it's the Irish girl in me that loves her lively characters.
~LauraMM
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (13:55)
#10
She's an amazing writer. I feel like one of her characters. Yeah, it must be the Irish in me too. With a name like McCarthy:)
~lisaC
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (17:45)
#11
I agree with you Laura. I finished reading Wuthering Heights about two weeks ago and I've never been so disgusted with a fictional character as I was with Heathcliff. He drove me nuts. He was so cruel and took his anger out on the wrong people. If he were a real person I would have slapped him, that's how much I despise him.
On a brighter note, I just finished The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton and absolutely adored it. It's about American girls who go off to England to find husbands, but more particularly about one girl, Nan St.George, who the youngest of the lot, marries a Duke and discovers that her marriage is not what she thought it would be. It kind of reminded me of Princess Diana and Prince Charles' marriage.
~cassandra
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (19:45)
#12
I agree-Lisa. I love Nan and Guy-the "beyondness of things.." One of Wharton's finest works-too bad she didn't live to finish it.
~lisaC
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (20:58)
#13
Cassandra, PBS will be airing The Buccanneers in April or May. I'm not sure of the exact date but I know that Mira Sorvino stars in it.
~Susan
Thu, Mar 6, 1997 (21:28)
#14
I have been searching hi & lo for the Tenant of Wildfell Hall but to no avail.
Laura, it's here on the Net. I think I ran across it by searching for Charlotte Bronte.
~JohanneD
Fri, Mar 7, 1997 (16:41)
#15
Looking for Tenant from Ann Bront� on the net : http://www.bibliomania.com/Fiction/Bronte/Tenant/
~cassandra
Sat, Mar 8, 1997 (12:12)
#16
Great-Lisa. Greg Wise, Willoughby, is in it too,as Guy.
~lisaC
Sat, Mar 8, 1997 (13:49)
#17
Ooh, can't wait to watch it. He's so handsome. He's exactly who I want to see play Guy. Greg Wise was wonderful as Willoughby but I'm sure I'll prefer him more as Guy. Does Mira Sorvino play Nan? I remember seeing a clip after watching Nostromo and it looks like a great production.
I think that after P&P, this is my second favorite novel. I just fell in love with Nan and Guy. Maybe after it airs we can discuss the production and compare the differences to the book.
~cassandra
Sat, Mar 8, 1997 (16:57)
#18
I know! It's impossible not to fall in love with Nan and Guy! It is one of my all-time favorite books, better and more engrossing than a lot of finished novels. I can't remember who Miro Sorvino plays-I think Nan's older sister. But, Nan is played by Carla Gugino-I think she played opposite Michael J Fox in his new series.
I would love to review/discuss it,compare/contrast the book with the film! I saw the movie when it first aired and it's not completely faithful, but definitely worth watching!
~Ann2
Sun, Mar 9, 1997 (12:15)
#19
I am glad I have got it on tape, rather fascinating from what I remember. That old Duchess devoting her whole life to just being Duchess. Scary. Will have to read the book then...
~Quarky
Mon, Mar 10, 1997 (07:51)
#20
Hello all,
Here is a repost of the 'Pride and Prejudice' summary, complete with minor
corrections, and the 'Emma' synopsis I promised:
Pride and Prejudice
'Marry well', is Bennet tenet: Bingley singly must remain
Since classy Darcy (Lizzy-dizzy) thinks he's far too good for Jane.
Rummy mummy, jaunty aunty, these would drag both gallants down -
Plus the younger siblings' dribblings over officers in town.
See the specious Wicham trick'em with his tales of birthright gloom,
See how hideous Lydia's ruin looms before she gets her groom;
Glassy Darcy saves the bacon, shaken out of former pride:
Is he Lizzy's destined love, to shove her prejudice aside?
Has she clout to flout that matron, patroness of priestly coz
(He whose ludicrous proposing Rosings rules - like all he does)?
Darcy oughter court her daughter, destined his through two decades ...
'Mulish, foolish girl, remember Pemberley's polluted shades!'
Dare she share his great estate, or can't Aunt Catherine be defied?
Yes! and ere the bells ring jingly, Bingley too shall claim his bride.
by Mary Holtby
Emma
Miss Bates has a visitor:
'My dear Mrs Cole, how very kind - yes, quite well, I thank you - do
pray take a seat. We have such news! Have you heard - No? Well, I think it
is all a secret, so perhaps I should not say but no one had any idea -
except Jane and Mr Churchill, of course, and all the time we thought he
was only calling about my mother's spectacles. Dear Jane is much better
already - we are so thankful. Do oblige us by taking some refreshment -
one of Mr Knightley's baked apples - some cake? Miss Woodhouse called
yesterday and was so good as to taste a small slice and pronounce it
delicious - such kindness. She is now out with Jane - she takes the news
extremely well, considering - no sign of disappointment - Box Hill, yes,
delightful - but I am afraid my silly chatter sometimes - however, Mr
Churchill did seem so very attentive - but then we are all so fond of the
excellent Miss Woodhouse - but to think all this time - one can hardly
credit - it was poor Mrs Churchill dying, you know, that let it all out.
We have surprises indeed in Highbury, do we not, Mrs Cole? First, Mr Elton
suddenly brings back a bride - charming - but some thought he showed a
marked preference for Miss Smith, some thought for another - I never
notice such things - and now on top of Jane being engaged to Mr Churhill
we hear Miss Smith is to marry the good Mr Martin of Abbey Mill Farm - oh,
must you be going? So sorry you will not take a baked apple, one of Mr
Knightley's - he will be marrying next, I should not be surprised - so
much talk of marrying going on - and there's our dear Miss Woodhouse -
what could be more suitable?'
by Joyce Johnson
from: 'How to Become Ridiculously Well-Read in One Evening'
compiled by E. O. Parrott
Viking, Penguiun Books, 1985
~Kali
Tue, Mar 11, 1997 (04:04)
#21
Mira sorvino played Nan's friend, not her sister, Virginia. Most people don't agree with me, but the film, was a bit of massacre of the novel...the version I read was NOT finished by a PBS lacky...
Imuch preferred house of Mirth and Age of Innocence...still trying to finish Fast and Loose...theI want to read The Reef and Glimpses of the Moon...
~cassandra
Tue, Mar 11, 1997 (12:33)
#22
I do agree. The film is fun, but its not the novel. THey turned the Nan and Guy romance into soap opera. I really missed the key scene when he finds her crying in the cave. He has to confront his feelings-she's not a little girl anymore. Then, he silently kisses her hand-very NA. And towards the very end when she looks back at him-her one friend, beside Miss Testvalley. I also thought they brushed over the "beyondness" scene. Maybe it was the way CG read the line.
~Yeago
Wed, Mar 12, 1997 (10:23)
#23
Has anyone read Villette by Charlotte Bronte, its worth a read. Couldn't finish The Professor though. Also if you can find it EM Delafield is great. She wrote several diary like books set in England in the mid to late 1930s. (Plus some others I havent read) BTW her real name was Dashwood.
~LauraMM
Wed, Mar 12, 1997 (10:29)
#24
Thanks guys for helping me find Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I finally found it at the library and took it out. Along with 5 other books. I am currently reading A.S. Byatt's Possession, difficult read, but I'm definitely up to it.
Beck's I just finished the Glass Lake and I cried and cried like a baby. And the worst thing about it was I finished it on my lunch break in the cafeteria wailing like a baby. People always thought me a strange bird, but now they know I am a strange bird. I cannot wait to see the Buccaneers on PBS it looks so good. But now I feel I will have to read another book. It's a vicious cycle these made for tv movies. I mean good ones with books. This is what I tell my daughter and I try to follow it myself
If there is a movie that is playing that she wants to see we will see, BUT if there is a book that goes with it, we read the book first then see the film.
I did it with Matilda and was very happy I did, because she asked a lot of questions as to why they didn't include this part or that. Quite ingenous if I may add. Oh, and I'm talking good books, not the Space jam books that come out because of the movie.
~churchh
Wed, Mar 12, 1997 (15:17)
#25
I've read both All of Charlotte Bronte's novels, including Villette and The Professor, but for some reason stopped reading Tennant of Wildfell Hall after a few chapters. I did like Villette...
~Becks
Wed, Mar 12, 1997 (23:45)
#26
You too Laura!!! That's my fave book of hers! If you loved that one, you should read "Beach Music" by Pat Conroy. I cried a river.......
~Kali
Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (04:47)
#27
Laura, have you read Byatt's Of Angels and Insects ? It's in two parts...two separate novellas, actually...Morpho Eugenia is the first...and it's bewitchingly disturbing!
~LauraMM
Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (07:57)
#28
Kali that was one of the books I was going to take out of the library but I have way too much now to read. I will get to it next month definitely. And just to let you know I did see the movie which was incredible!!!
~kate
Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (10:36)
#29
Possession, now that's a great book. The first time I read it I was visiting someone and I didn't have time to read it all, so I just read the Christabel and Ashford bits (is that their names - I don't have my copy with me). Then I read the modern bits. Then I read the poetry. Then I read it all in one piece. Not the orthodox approach I'm sure, but it worked for me. I love how there are so many layers to the story - you can just keep reading it and find something new each time.
~bernhard
Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (18:15)
#30
Kali, my guru just added Of Angels and Insects to my reading list yesterday. Should I try them in order?
~Kali
Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (23:56)
#31
Yes, Cindy...
It doesn't take long to finish, Laura...Morpho Eugenia is only 150 pages, if I remember right...
~bernhard
Fri, Mar 14, 1997 (00:22)
#32
you have a loaner, mebbe?
~Kali
Fri, Mar 14, 1997 (00:27)
#33
I do...but it's at home...e-mail me your address and I'll send it out asap...
~ValGal17
Mon, Mar 17, 1997 (18:59)
#34
I just finished Louisa May Alcott's WORK. It was sooooo good! I just had to tell someone about it. It's about a woman making her way in the world on her own. It is very feminist for the time period in which it was written. Another good Alcott novel is Moods. She wrote a lot of short stories also - Behind a Mask, for example. Anyways I just wanted to say that there a lot of great works to read by Alcott besides Little Women.
~Tracey
Tue, Mar 18, 1997 (09:18)
#35
I've been an Alcott fan since I was 8, and I also appreciate her "adult" fiction as well. I haven't read Work or Moods, though. Guess I'll have to check them out!
~Belinda
Sun, Mar 30, 1997 (01:02)
#36
I just finished watching the Buccaneers again ... I'm not sure that I liked it that much, to be honest. It's quite depressing in many ways. They have such desperate lives. By the way, Mira Sorvino's character was Conchita (married to Lord Richard, son of Lord ?Brightingsley or something like that). She was probably the best thing in that production. By the way, I noticed that lots of folk like Maeve Binchy's books - i've just been labouring through "Firefly Summer" and not enjoying it at all. Nearly finis
ed. Tell me the others are better - I bought an anthology!
~terry
Sun, Mar 30, 1997 (01:30)
#37
I'm looking in my satellite guide, is this it?
The Buccaneer (Adventure, 1938) Fredric March.
~Luba
Sat, Jun 7, 1997 (08:29)
#38
Well, I guess I�m to late here, but talking about favourite things always cheers
me up, so here goes: Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice, Mandala (Pearl Buck�s novels are always wonderful), Victory (Joseph Conrad), Jane Eyre (ALWAYS!...), Vilette (moved me immensely) Exodus and Sense and Sensibility. The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall is very good as well. Washington Square by Henry James breaks one`s heart.
Well, I know many more that I like, but since this is about favourites... Maeve Binchy is a helluva a good writer (Circle of Friends, Light a Penny Candle, short stories)!
~terry
Sat, Jun 7, 1997 (08:51)
#39
It's never too late, Luisa!
~Ann
Sun, Jun 8, 1997 (20:38)
#40
I've never though I'd see Joseph Conrad and the words "cheers me up" used in the same sentence!