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In my world, Joanne from The Book Zombie broke the news. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
will be released in September. (Thanks, Joanne!)I have a question for all of you Jane Austen fans out there. I have never read a Jane Austen book. You read that right. Never. Not on purpose. It just has turned out that way. So, am I ruining it for myself if I read these fun versions without ever having read the "real thing"? Or can I just jump right into the fun with this one and the ever popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
?
33 comments:
I think you'll be fine if you read these spinoff versions and not the originals first. However, classics have a different tone, so be aware of that when reading them after reading these faster-paced fun novels.
Serena ~ I will definitely have to keep that in mind. As much as I love reading classics, they can be slloooooww at times. :-)
Lezlie
I keep running into Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's like the book is stalking me! I guess I'd better read it.
I've got P&P & Zombies in the house. The cover alone has convinced me! :)
I don't know...I bought P&P&Z for my daughter last weekend. She's loving it and insists that I will, too. So, I may break down and read it...but I draw the line at sea monsters!! I'm thinking they might be funnier if you knew the original. Austen is so enjoyable, you might just want to read P&P first.
Are all of Austen's books going to be written monster-style?
Terri ~ Me, too! I can't go into a bookstore without seeing it, so I'm starting to think it's a not-so-subliminal message. :-)
Matt ~ I *love* the cover of P&P&Z! This new one is very Pirates of the Caribbean with the Davy Jones-looing tentacles.
JoAnn ~ I was thinking the same thing about it being funnier if I knew the original. It might be kind of fun to read the original first and try to figure out where he'll put the Zombies in and see if I'm right. Now that I mention it, I can see that my first reading of Pride & Prejudice will be tainted to matter what I do! :-)
Lezlie
Charley ~ The jaded side of me thinks that as long as the gimmick keeps churning out money, it will continue.
Lezlie
Having not read the spin-offs it is hard to say. I tend to agree with JoAnn though. You would probably catch things you wouldn't if you didn't read the originals first.
I keep seeing the Zombie one everywhere and I avoid it. I've never read any Jane Austen either (can you believe there's two of us??) and I thought I should probably read the original before adding zombies in. I think you should read it right away though so I can see what you thought. ;-)
I've never read any of the Zombie versions. I love Jane Austen and can't bring myself to even look at those other books - I have read reviews of them but they don't attract me at all. One woman's book is another woman's nightmare, maybe.
I haven't read the zombies version and I never will. But I LOVE Pride and Prejudice and I think it would be very sad if you judge the original by a spoof! Go read the original. It's so good.
Literary Feline ~ The more I think about it, the more I agree.
Joanna ~ I was hoping I wasn't the only one. :-) Maybe I'll use the original for the 1% Well Read Challenge. That gives me a good excuse to read it soon, as I stated in my goals that I want to finish eight Challenges by the end of Sept. Stay tuned!
Books Please ~ You're right on. I'd be willing to bet there are more than a few Austen fans who are horrified by these books.
Rebecca ~ I would never judge the original by a book with a cover featuring a woman missing half her face or a man with tentacles for a beard. I promise. :-) But I'm now convinced I should read the original first anyway.
Lezlie
I am with you - up until the Austen Challenge I had never read here either.
I am still rather torn about the new books with the Austen twist. I look at them as taking a piece of our history and shaking it up a bit... first Austen, then what others classics will fall victim to this?
Then on the other side I think: "Fun!" How cool to read a different version!
Ok... I see I am no help here at all... lol
I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice. I think I will get a couple of the originals done first and then maybe venture out to see what was changed up in the newer ones.
My copy of PP&Z just came in the mail. It sounds like such a fun take on Austen. If I enjoy it, I'll have to check out the sea monsters. I don't know what to expect, so we'll see...
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Sheila ~ You're helping a lot! It's fun to see other people's takes on things like this. I am definitely of the "Fun!" persuasion. But I'm not known for my respect for authority. :-) I think spoofing classics will be great amusement for a while, but will probably get old quickly. They might as well cash in while they can. Whoever "they" are. :-)
Anna ~ I haven't purchased it yet, but it's been in my hand to do so more than once. I'll be waiting to see what you think!
Lezlie
I haven't read the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but they can't be as bad as a Jane Austen book. I say, read away!
Just my opinion but I think you need to have an idea about the original Pride & Prejudice to really get the whole feel from the spin-offs. I've got a few of the spin-offs to read and I'm looking forward to them but even for me I might refresh myself on P&P first. YOu're a fast reader - you could zip through P&P in a heartbeat.
Damnedconjuror ~ Not an Austen fan, eh? :-) I think I'm a bit of a literary tomboy and, right or wrong, I think of Austen as "girl" books. Because of that, I'm a little afraid of reading her because my brain is wired funny and I'm not sure I'll see in it what other women love. After all, look at my reactions to Wuthering Heights and Madame Bovary! Maybe that's why it took the addition of zombies and sea monsters before I started seriously considering reading Austen's work sooner than later. Is that weird? :-)
Lezlie
Dar ~ I see those spin-offs all over the place and I'm constantly wondering, "Is it really that good?" Some of the spin-offs look kind of interesting though, so I am going to have to work P&P in very, very soon.
Lezlie
I've only read two Austen novels so I've sort stayed away from the spin-offs because of that. I feel like I should read the real stuff first you know.... But given that I'm joining the Austen challenge I'm finally going to try one or two. Although I don't know that I'll be reading the monster spin-offs anytime soon. Those do seem just so out there.
I totally agree with what Serena said in the first comment. Reading these without reading the original first in no problem. PP&Z had a very swift, fun feel to it, so reading P&P afterward might feel draggy.
Iliana ~ They do seem really out there. I think that's why they appeal to me. :-)
Joanne ~ I'm actually now considering reading P&P and PP&Z back-to-back and writing about the direct comparison, because I know it's going to be in my head. I need to get my Reading Challenges done so I can do some of this off the wall reading that's been piling up!
Lezlie
I had to study P&P (postage and packaging? ha ha...um anyway) for uni and it was the most mind-numbingly boring experience.
I don't think it's specifically a female book, do books have genders? I suppose that women are more inclined to enjoy an Austen book but I don't think that dictates whether it's for women or men. I don't know really, I'm just thinking that we do assign genders to books albeit being arbitrary e.g. a wartime action novel would be for males and a book about horses would be for females. Hmmm.
Damnedconjuror ~ I meant the "'girl' book" comment only as a generalization. No, I don't think books are really "girl" or "boy" books specifically, but there are some that seem to my mind to be more appealing or marketed to one gender than the other. For me, P&P falls into that catagory. And I understand that I'm making this judgment totally arbitrarily. :-) Weirdly, I would be surprised to see a guy reading P&P, but not a woman reading, for example, Patrick O'Brien's "Master & Commander". I think that just speaks to my own prejudice of believing that women are more open minded about crossing those imaginary lines than men are. But that's a different discussion. Maybe I'll have to post that one for fun! :-)
Lezlie
I suppose males are more inclined to read "boys own adventures" rather than a romantic one. I don't think it's your prejudice, because, speaking from my own experience, there are far more females on my course then males.
Is reading seen as being a more "womanly" thing to do? I don't know. I'm getting widely off topic here.
Damnedconjuror ~ I have to admit I don't know too many men who are avid readers. Another good question. I like your off-topic comments. They keep things interesting!
Lezlie
I think you should write a post about the whole gender topic, Lezlie! It think it would make for an interesting discussion.
Like damnedconjuror, I'm not sure I'd call you prejudice. I think there is some fact based in many of the preconceptions about who reads what. If you look at the advertising and those targeted for particular books (which is based in part on research), it's no wonder we jump to those conclusions as well.
I read a review a couple of months ago where the blogger mentioned a book would attract more of a male audience than a female--and I immediately thought to myself, "Hey! I loved this book!" I'm one of those female readers who would rather read a thriller or adventure story than a lot of romance-focused novels. Although, it's fair to say, I do read both.
I think that there are a lot of men out there who read. Many of them are just aren't likely to feel the need to talk about it quite as much. ;-) Hence why you see so many more blogs by women out there.
My husband enjoyed the Jane Austen book he read, by the way. And my dad loves J.D. Robb's In Death series, which I would have thought was more girlish in attraction (I don't care for it myself, actually).
Literary Feline ~ The post is up! Great minds and all that. . . :-) I think you're right about men not feeling the need to chat about what they're reading. My husband reads quite a bit, but he doesn't go much beyond, "Wow! This guys a great writer!" if he mentions his books at all.
Lezlie
Hmm, I haven't read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies yet, but being an avid P&P fan, I would recommend reading the real thing first. It's AWESOMENESS! Can't wait to get my hands on these wonderfully weird knockoffs, though!
Andi ~ That is quickly becoming the plan. I'll be waiting to see your thoughts on the monsters!
Lezlie
I've never read one either so don't feel bad. I tried Persuasion but I got really impatient with it really fast.
Ladytink ~ It looks like I'll be getting a copy of S&S&Sea Monsters to review, so I may find out sooner than later what I think of them. I'll keep you posted!
Lezlie
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