NOTICE: (Updated March 5, 2010)

Beginning December 19, 2009, Books 'N Border Collies will be posting but only intermittently while I pursue personal goals. I plan to share some reading I'm doing, but there will be no reviews. I will, however, be sharing my exploration of vegetarian cooking and the cookbooks and websites I use to educate myself. I hope you enjoy it!

Lezlie



Friday, October 23, 2009

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

by Jane Austen



"Pride and Prejudice -- Austen's own 'darling child' -- tells the story of fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters who must marry rich, as she confounds the arrogant, wealthy Mr. Darcy. What ensues is one of the most delightful and engrossingly readable courtships known to literature, written by a precocious Austen when she was just twenty-one years old." (From the back of the Barnes & Noble Classics edition.)

I surrender! I wanted to be cool and ambivalent, to declare it a "good 'girl' book", but I just can't. I am a believer. Pride and Prejudice is just plain fabulous! I loved it! I'm joining the ranks of women who want to be Elizabeth Bennet when they grow up, and, unlike Heathcliff, I completely understand Mr. Darcy sending legions of hearts aflutter. I don't even remember that last time I developed a crush on a fictional character. It may have been Nicholas Nickleby. But I think his position has now been usurped.

Aside from the obvious suspects, my favorite character was Elizabeth's father, Mr. Bennet. He had me giggling every time he bothered to put in his two cents. But Austen breathes life into every single character she creates here, and it is no longer any wonder to me why we are witnessing the recent deluge of sequels and adaptations based on them and this marvelous story. It is very difficult to let them go once they have entered your life. I must have one of those silly sequels around here somewhere, don't I??



32 comments:

JoAnn said...

Welcome to the club!! This has got to be my all-time favorite book. The character of Mr. Bennet is such fun, too!

Lezlie said...

Thanks, JoAnn! I don't know if I can declare it my all-time favorite, but I'll bet if you asked me a year from now it will make the top five. I was completely taken by it!

Lezlie

Paperback Reader said...

This is in my top five. I adore this book and Mr Darcy was also my first (and one of the few) literary crushes. Mr Bennett is wonderful and Mrs Bennett dements me. I really need a reread of this.

A Bookshelf Monstrosity said...

Ahhh....P&P. One of my favorites. And I'm glad you liked Mr. Bennet so much. He's so snarky!

Lezlie said...

Paperback Reader ~ Mrs. Bennet made me laugh, too, for altogether different reasons. :-) She gives a girl a headache!

Bookshelf Monstrosity ~ That is exactly what I loved about him. His little comparison/analysis of his three daughters' husbands at the end of the book is hilarious!

Lezlie

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Yay! I KNEW it would win you over if you just gave it a try. :) The humor in this book is wonderful, especially in the form of Mr. Bennet - he makes me laugh every time.

I must admit that I've never wanted to read a sequel to it. I'm afraid it would ruin the story for me ...

Lezlie said...

Heather ~ In reality I'm not sure how serious I am about reading a sequel. I've looked at a few of them, but there's a part of me that wants to always remember the characters just like I do now. So I completely understand what you mean.

Lezlie

Meghan said...

I adore Pride and Prejudice! I'm so glad you enjoyed it too. I have only read one sequel, I think, and to be honest I've avoided them since. It was okay and I didn't mind reading it, but it was not the original.

Lezlie said...

Meghan ~ That is what I fear. Austen is just so good, I'm not sure how another author could maintain that level of expertise in characterization.

Lezlie

Andi said...

Yay! I'm so glad you liked it. Darcy set my heart all aflutter, too. I really need to re-read this one. And I have several of Austen's other books on my shelves, too.

Lezlie said...

Andi ~ I'm glad I gave in! I can't believe I may have gone through my life without bothering with this one. Yikes!

Lezlie

Amy said...

Yay! I agree. . .Mr. Bennet is great. I love how he handles his wife's fluttery personality.

bermudaonion said...

You are so lucky to have just experienced this book for the first time!

Lezlie said...

Amy ~ I still chuckle when I think about some of his lines!

Bermudaonion ~ Isn't that part a bummer? Knowing you can never experience a great book for the first time ever again? That feeling is what keeps us searching for the next one, that literary high.

Lezlie

Jackie said...

I tend to read this book one per year; I just love it! I've recently picked up P&P & Zombies, so we'll see :-)

I'm so glad you liked it!

Lezlie said...

Jackie ~ I've got the audiobook of P&P&Z on request at the library. I'm almost finished with Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters and it's terribly amusing, but I think P&P is a superior and therefore I'm thinking the monster version will be better, too. Like you said, we'll see. :-)

Lezlie

Jackie said...

I had read on Quirk's website that Sea Monsters was a 60/40 split, original content vs mash up whereas Zombies has more of the original in it. We can compare notes when we're done, lol.

Lezlie said...

Jackie ~ I'm so glad you told me that!! S&S&S definitely keeps the essential elements of the original, but it does wander off in some strange directions, aside from the sea monsters, I mean. :-) I wondered if P&P&Z would do the same thing. We will most definitely have to compare when we're done!

Lezlie

Rebecca Reid said...

yeay! I'm so glad you loved it!! I'm listening to a bio of Austen right now and craving a reread. But since I haven't read any other Austen novels, I feel I should give one of them a try next.

Laura's Reviews said...

Welcome to the club! P&P is one of my favorite books of all time! Mr. and Mrs. Bennet both are quite hilarious in their own ways.

Sequels are hit and miss. After having read all of the Austen novels, I found myself wanting more so I read a lot of them. Some are pretty good, some are terrible, but none are the original.

portlandia said...

Don't bother with the P&P sequels. Instead, turn your attention to the "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" trilogy by Pamela Aidan. Instead of a sequel, it is a retelling / reimagining of the events of P&P with Darcy as the central character. Just delicious.

As for the rest of Austen, Persuasion and Emma are my favorites.

Anna said...

I've been waiting for this review! I'm so glad you loved it as much as I did. Now you know why the sequels are a guilty pleasure of mine. :)

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Tasha said...

That Darcy - he was such a grumpy gus! I suppose he had reason to be, but still, he said some pretty silly things. He did not set my heart aflutter, but I did think he and Elizabeth were meant for each other.

Anonymous said...

We had a collie when I was a kid, so I'm sentimental toward anything collie.

Stephen Tremp

Anonymous said...

Another Mr. Darcy fanclub. I don't know anything about Mr. Darcy, but a lot of fe,ale bloggers sure do love the guy.

Stephen Tremp

Lezlie said...

Rebecca ~ I've been eyeing up her others also. I'm thinking maybe Emma next.

Laura ~ Yes, Mrs. Bennet made me chuckle, too, but for vastly different reasons, equally entertaining. Austen is a comic characterization master! Do you have any recommendations for the sequels if I were to try one?

Portlandia ~ Thank you so much for the suggestions! I've seen the Aidan books and thought they looked like they had potential.

Anna ~ Yes, I do see the attraction of the sequels. Which ones have you enjoyed the most?

Charley ~ Darcy was a grump, no doubt. But he redeemed himself so well in the end that I was able to forgive him. :-)

Stephen ~ Yay! A collie person! You are very welcome here. :-) No one was more stunned at my loving this book or Mr. Darcy than I was. I'm not a "girl book" kind of girl for the most part, so it took me completely by surprise!

Lezlie

Enid Wilson said...

Lezlie, P&P is my favourite. Great that you like Mr. Bennet. He's the stand up comedian in the book. Of course, Mr. Darcy doesn't just look brooding. He's one guy who loves deeply, under no matter what circumstances.

Steamy Darcy

Lezlie said...

Enid ~ I agree. It's what makes Darcy so unforgettable to so many.

Lezlie

Anna said...

My favorite so far is "A Match for Mary Bennet" by Eucharista Ward. "Lydia Bennet's Story" by Jane Odiwe was pretty good, too. I can't wait to see which ones you choose.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Lezlie said...

Anna ~ Thanks! I'll keep those in mind!

Lezlie

Serena said...

Welcome to the club of Darcy and Eliza Bennet! Its a great novel. I adore it so much I reread it at least once a year...perhaps I'm a bit obsessed.

Ok, I think you should read A Match for Mary Bennet, because it is the truest to Austen's style and the period. I adored that as well.

Lezlie said...

Serena ~ Thanks! You and Anna have both recommended A Match for Mary Bennet, so when I decide to go for a sequel that will be the first one I look for. I totally trust you two!

Lezlie