(I need a little sidebar banner that says "This blog is addicted to Jane Austen." Anybody care to make me one?)
So I was thinking about my first time with Jane's books. I started with Emma and loathed it and finished with Northanger Abbey and was utterly delighted. What happened in between? I'll show you.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS as well as second and third and sometimes fourth IN A NUTSHELL.
Mild spoilers inevitable.
Emma
First reading: July 2007 Reaction: OHMYGOSH WHY DOES EVERYONE CARE SO MUCH ABOUT FRANK CHURCHILL?
Second reading: February 2008 Reaction: Uh, Emma? Mr. Elton is hitting on you, darling. WAKE UP.
Third reading: May 2009 Reaction: Romance! Knightley! Wittiness and humor!
Fourth reading: April 2010 Reaction: Jane Austen is my hero.
Pride & Prejudice
First reading: August 2007 These characters talk a lot.
Second reading: January 2008 Reaction: Happy sigh.
Third reading: May 2009 Reaction: Giggle, giggle, squee, chuckle, giggle, sigh.
Fourth reading: June 2010 Reaction: (Mute adoration of Jane) Also: I HAVE TO BLOG ABOUT THIS.
Sense & Sensibility
First reading: September 2007 Reaction: Edward, what have you done!?
Second reading: January 2009 Reaction: The Colonel is how old, please?
Third reading: January 2010 Reaction: Oh, Willoughby. How could you? :( :( :(
Fourth reading: July 2010 Reaction: Every teenage girl should read this book.
Persuasion
First reading: October 2007 Reaction: Oh, look! A new baby sister! (I was reading the book in the hospital the night my little sister was born)
Second reading: December 2009 Reaction: Pretty much: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Mansfield Park
First reading: November 2007 Reaction: Everyone is stupid.
Second reading: August 2009 Reaction: Hey, I like Fanny now. Poor girl, misunderstood by family AND readers. 60 pages later: Mmk, I'm done liking Fanny.
(Clearly, I need to give this one another chance)
Northanger Abbey
First reading November 2007 Reaction: Giggle, squee, giggle!
Second reading: October 2009 Reaction: Stupid people are funny!
- all in good fun, of course,
Delaney
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
We're after the same rainbow's end...
Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style someday
Old dream-maker - you heart-breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way
Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waitin' 'round the bend...
My huckleberry friend...
Moon river...
And me....
I simply can't find words to describe how this song moves me, particularly Audrey Hepburn's lovely, wistful performance of it in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. Simply beautiful.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Finishing up Sense & Sensibility
Confession: I could read Sense & Sensibility over and over and over again. I really could. For some reason, this story pulls me in and keeps me entertained more than Jane's other books. It's not that it's my favorite (I still don't know which is my favorite. It's been Emma for a while). I just love spending time with these characters and the story they tell. It has the right mixture of sadness and joy, without leaving me with that bittersweet hollow feeling at the end. It helps that my copy (Penguin Classic's Hardbound Collection) is absolutely delicious: light blue and pink, with flowers on the cover that almost bring to mind the "art nouveau" style.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
There are lots of good lessons to be learned in Sense & Sensibility. I was just rereading Elenatintil's wonderful review of the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet Sense & Sensibility film. She writes, "Marianne and Elinor are not just dealing with the question of whether to marry for love or money, but with the question of "how does one conduct oneself when one is in love?" And that, believe it or not, is a question that every young person deals with. Do they show themselves richly enamored (as Marianne does) or remain guarded and aloof (like Elinor)? The times may be differant now, but even though our society embraces the openness of Marianne, we also see Marianne's heartbreak and embarassment repeating itself over and over again in our young people."
I don't even know what else to say. That's just so wonderfully put. :)
I'm almost finished with my re-read. Edward and Elinor are finally together. Everything is explained, everything is happy. I think Jane Austen gave Elinor the happiest possible ending. Instead of letting Edward come directly to her, tell her he couldn't think what he had ever seen in that Lucy Steele, and would Elinor pretty please marry him and make him the happiest man on earth, Jane put Elinor through a few pages of misery first and writes one of the most heartbreaking paragraphs I have ever read:
"Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event, however certain the mind may be told to consider it, and certainty itself. She now found, that in spite of herself, she had always admitted a hope, while Edward remained single, that something would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy; that some resolution of his own, some mediation of friends, or some more eligible opportunity of establishment for the lady, would arise to assist the happiness of all. But he was now married, and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery, which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence."
Even when Elinor hears that "Mr. Ferrars is married," she is calm. Amusingly, Marianne is the one who goes into hysterics.
Then, lo and behold, all misunderstandings are cleared away with the arrival of Edward. He is not married, and...
"Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease."
That sudden sharp turn from misery to joy always gets me. :)
Another thing I love about this book is the warm, happy family atmosphere. Aside from Marianne and Elinor's obvious closeness, Mrs. Dashwood is a loving mother who takes good care of her children. Marianne clearly inherited her sense of drama from her mother, but Mrs. Dashwood is still a sensible woman who raised her daughters to be intelligent, virtuous and sweet young ladies. Unlike some other Austen mothers I can think of, whose children only turned out all right by some miracle of fate. The warmth of the Dashwood women's family life is very appealing, and it's so absent from Austen's other books. Think about it: In Pride & Prejudice, Jane and Lizzy are the only sane members of their family. Lizzy can't hold a conversation with her mother without giving up in exasperation at the latter's foolishness. In Mansfield Park, Fanny Price's parents give her up to rich relatives quite readily, and when Fanny goes back to visit them years later, she is disappointed with their vulgar manners and habits. Her relationship with the aforementioned rich relatives is no better. One aunt takes advantage of her submissive disposition and the other constantly picks on her. Her girl cousins look down on her and only her cousin Edmund pays her any proper attention or kindness. In Persuasion, Anne does not have ANYone of sense to talk to in her family. Her father and sister are conceited jerks and her younger sister is just silly. Emma never knew her mother and appears to take care of her aging father instead of the other way around. Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey spends so much of the novel away from her parents that an accurate picture of her relationship with her family can never be drawn. Sense & Sensibility is the only one of Jane's novels that portrays the heroine's family in a truly positive light.
Now I am off to read the last few pages of this delightful book. :) Next on my Jane Austen reading list: Northanger Abbey.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
There are lots of good lessons to be learned in Sense & Sensibility. I was just rereading Elenatintil's wonderful review of the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet Sense & Sensibility film. She writes, "Marianne and Elinor are not just dealing with the question of whether to marry for love or money, but with the question of "how does one conduct oneself when one is in love?" And that, believe it or not, is a question that every young person deals with. Do they show themselves richly enamored (as Marianne does) or remain guarded and aloof (like Elinor)? The times may be differant now, but even though our society embraces the openness of Marianne, we also see Marianne's heartbreak and embarassment repeating itself over and over again in our young people."
I don't even know what else to say. That's just so wonderfully put. :)
I'm almost finished with my re-read. Edward and Elinor are finally together. Everything is explained, everything is happy. I think Jane Austen gave Elinor the happiest possible ending. Instead of letting Edward come directly to her, tell her he couldn't think what he had ever seen in that Lucy Steele, and would Elinor pretty please marry him and make him the happiest man on earth, Jane put Elinor through a few pages of misery first and writes one of the most heartbreaking paragraphs I have ever read:
"Elinor now found the difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event, however certain the mind may be told to consider it, and certainty itself. She now found, that in spite of herself, she had always admitted a hope, while Edward remained single, that something would occur to prevent his marrying Lucy; that some resolution of his own, some mediation of friends, or some more eligible opportunity of establishment for the lady, would arise to assist the happiness of all. But he was now married, and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery, which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence."
Even when Elinor hears that "Mr. Ferrars is married," she is calm. Amusingly, Marianne is the one who goes into hysterics.
Then, lo and behold, all misunderstandings are cleared away with the arrival of Edward. He is not married, and...
"Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease."
That sudden sharp turn from misery to joy always gets me. :)
Another thing I love about this book is the warm, happy family atmosphere. Aside from Marianne and Elinor's obvious closeness, Mrs. Dashwood is a loving mother who takes good care of her children. Marianne clearly inherited her sense of drama from her mother, but Mrs. Dashwood is still a sensible woman who raised her daughters to be intelligent, virtuous and sweet young ladies. Unlike some other Austen mothers I can think of, whose children only turned out all right by some miracle of fate. The warmth of the Dashwood women's family life is very appealing, and it's so absent from Austen's other books. Think about it: In Pride & Prejudice, Jane and Lizzy are the only sane members of their family. Lizzy can't hold a conversation with her mother without giving up in exasperation at the latter's foolishness. In Mansfield Park, Fanny Price's parents give her up to rich relatives quite readily, and when Fanny goes back to visit them years later, she is disappointed with their vulgar manners and habits. Her relationship with the aforementioned rich relatives is no better. One aunt takes advantage of her submissive disposition and the other constantly picks on her. Her girl cousins look down on her and only her cousin Edmund pays her any proper attention or kindness. In Persuasion, Anne does not have ANYone of sense to talk to in her family. Her father and sister are conceited jerks and her younger sister is just silly. Emma never knew her mother and appears to take care of her aging father instead of the other way around. Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey spends so much of the novel away from her parents that an accurate picture of her relationship with her family can never be drawn. Sense & Sensibility is the only one of Jane's novels that portrays the heroine's family in a truly positive light.
Now I am off to read the last few pages of this delightful book. :) Next on my Jane Austen reading list: Northanger Abbey.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Catch-up post
Sound of Music is over. For a while I couldn't blog about it because it made me far too sad. Oh, who am I kidding, it still makes me sad to think of it being over. :) But then I just forgot. Anyhow, it was an incredible experience! I had an amazing time and I will never forget it. It really is hard to leave it behind, though. That character became such a part of me... and I miss all my Von Trapps so much. I miss all of the cast, but especially those Von Trapps. :)
Taming of the Shrew is also over. I was a little less sad to see that one end. It was a lot of fun, and as my first real Shakespearean part (not counting servants, messengers, etc. which I have played in the past) it was a great experience. But after 8 shows, I was done. I do rather miss my costumes, though. I only had three, but they were all gorgeous.
In other news, I have had plenty of time to read this month. Currently, I'm reading Sense & Sensibility... for the second time in one year! I rarely read books twice in one year. But I make special exceptions for comfort literature, school, and really short/easy books. Jane is comfort literature. :) I might take it into my head to do a S&S-themed blog post... oh, heavens, I didn't mean for this to turn into a Jane Austen blog! Though on that note...
Take a look at this Guide to Avoid Gossip - Jane Austen Style. I was particularly tickled by "If you’re male, be poor." It reminds me of that little poem:
"Oh if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird
But if you’re a worm, sleep late."
--- Shel Silverstein
And of course that gave me a lovely image of Mr. Bingley as a poor, unsuspecting worm, with Mrs. Bennet as the ruthless early bird, trying to catch him and bring him home to feed to her children. Mwahahahaha.
Taming of the Shrew is also over. I was a little less sad to see that one end. It was a lot of fun, and as my first real Shakespearean part (not counting servants, messengers, etc. which I have played in the past) it was a great experience. But after 8 shows, I was done. I do rather miss my costumes, though. I only had three, but they were all gorgeous.
In other news, I have had plenty of time to read this month. Currently, I'm reading Sense & Sensibility... for the second time in one year! I rarely read books twice in one year. But I make special exceptions for comfort literature, school, and really short/easy books. Jane is comfort literature. :) I might take it into my head to do a S&S-themed blog post... oh, heavens, I didn't mean for this to turn into a Jane Austen blog! Though on that note...
Take a look at this Guide to Avoid Gossip - Jane Austen Style. I was particularly tickled by "If you’re male, be poor." It reminds me of that little poem:
"Oh if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird
But if you’re a worm, sleep late."
--- Shel Silverstein
And of course that gave me a lovely image of Mr. Bingley as a poor, unsuspecting worm, with Mrs. Bennet as the ruthless early bird, trying to catch him and bring him home to feed to her children. Mwahahahaha.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sound of Music - So Begins Production Week
Production week, otherwise known as "tech week," (also known as "hell week") for The Sound of Music is about to begin. I'm so excited - yet terribly, terribly sad that it will all be over soon.
The cast has become a family. There are three casts of Von Trapp kids, and they've all grown close, but the cast I get to work with for their two shows has become particularly close. I love to watch them and listen to them, because they really are a family now. I'm going to miss all of these wonderful people so much when the show is over.
But it's too soon to be thinking about the end. :)
Production week is the best part of a show in this company. For one thing, there's the theater. Most of us have already been in this theater before, but that doesn't make it any less exciting to stand outside, waiting for the doors to open and rehearsals onstage to begin. Being there makes us realize just how close we are to opening. And then, there's getting to see everyone every day for a week. Then there are the uncomfortable things like sore feet from standing for hours at a time, and the smell of hairspray, and wearing too much make-up, and being utterly weary in mind and body- all of these things are exciting during production week and performances. And there are the times when everything looks like a total disaster. But somehow it all comes together by the first show.
Say a prayer for us all.
The cast has become a family. There are three casts of Von Trapp kids, and they've all grown close, but the cast I get to work with for their two shows has become particularly close. I love to watch them and listen to them, because they really are a family now. I'm going to miss all of these wonderful people so much when the show is over.
But it's too soon to be thinking about the end. :)
Production week is the best part of a show in this company. For one thing, there's the theater. Most of us have already been in this theater before, but that doesn't make it any less exciting to stand outside, waiting for the doors to open and rehearsals onstage to begin. Being there makes us realize just how close we are to opening. And then, there's getting to see everyone every day for a week. Then there are the uncomfortable things like sore feet from standing for hours at a time, and the smell of hairspray, and wearing too much make-up, and being utterly weary in mind and body- all of these things are exciting during production week and performances. And there are the times when everything looks like a total disaster. But somehow it all comes together by the first show.
Say a prayer for us all.
Friday, June 11, 2010
One last Pride & Prejudice post, some small news and a slight digression
It always makes me so sad to leave the world of Jane Austen. You have no idea how tempted I am to pick up Pride & Prejudice and simply start reading it all over again. Now the only Jane books I haven't read this year are Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. And I'm barely halfway through the year! I'm going to have to break my rule of not reading the same books twice in one year, methinks.
But let me blog Pride & Prejudice once more before I move on. And once more, I will connect it to The Sound of Music.
There are many scary things about playing a lead role, not the least of which is: the looooove scenes. ;) (Particularly when you have younger siblings in the room) Personally, I think the relationship of Maria and Captain Von Trapp is not quite so important as Maria's relationship with the family as a whole, but it is still very important. So I was talking it over with my voice teacher. She was saying to me, "The thing about this relationship is that it really snuck up on Maria. She always thought of the Captain one way - and then suddenly, here she is, thinking of him in an entirely different way."
Oh, I couldn't help myself. I pulled my beautiful, hardbound book out of my purse and waved it around. "Pride & Prejudice!" I said.
"Oh! Yes!" said my voice teacher. "Yes, perfect example! Mr. Darcy is actually a really good correspondent for the Captain." We talked about how the specifics of the stories and the characters involved are very different of course, but there is still that common theme of being surprised by finding out who someone really is, and of being surprised by love.
And inwardly I was just saying, "Yesssssss." It was great that I could even find a way to fit Pride & Prejudice into a conversation with my teacher - even better that we could draw parallels from Lizzy & Darcy to the love story I'm portraying right now.
(And I'm going to go on a tangent right now and say this: We were watching the Cathy Rigby recording of Peter Pan the musical on YouTube, and it made me smile that the audience cheered every time Peter flew through the Darling's window. It made me think - I hear that there were a lot of screams and cheers in the theaters when Robert Pattinson showed up onscreen as Edward in Twilight. And it got me thinking - why don't we do the same for Mr. Darcy? And once I began to wonder this, I remembered that there have been several stage versions of Pride & Prejudice, some of them musicals. See this website: http://www.prideandprejudice-themusical.com/music.html and this one: http://www.prideandprejudicebroadway.com/) I think the perfect Pride & Prejudice musical would all come down to this: when Darcy enters the ballroom at Meryton, he would have to freeze for a full minute while every female in the audience clapped her hands raw and cheered her throat hoarse. Darcy has been a sort of icon long before Edward Cullen and Peter Pan were around. I think he deserves nothing less. Three cheers for Mr. Darcy! )
And on another note, take a look at the About The Musical page on the second P&P link. Are not the song names too perfect for words? It's like some kind of joke - "My Reasons For Marrying." "My Poor Nerves!" "I Can't Resist A Redcoat!")
Now that all that is out of the way, some other news of interest:
Full run-through of Sound of Music last night = much more encouraging than our last run through! The energy level was higher, and everything is just generally coming together. I'm nervous for the shows - but I'm also incredibly excited!
And rehearsals have started for Taming of the Shrew. I really don't want to talk about that right now, though. I feel like crying every time I think that I have rehearsals for both this show and Sound of Music every day (give or take a day or two) until... July? Pray for me. It's not that it's not going to be fun. It's just going to be really really hard... and exhausting... Even without "Shrew," my schedule would be pretty hectic - throw in another show that opens only a few days after the first, and it's basically insanity. Please please please don't ask how the heck I'm going to do it. I have to do it. So I'll find a way.
But let me blog Pride & Prejudice once more before I move on. And once more, I will connect it to The Sound of Music.
There are many scary things about playing a lead role, not the least of which is: the looooove scenes. ;) (Particularly when you have younger siblings in the room) Personally, I think the relationship of Maria and Captain Von Trapp is not quite so important as Maria's relationship with the family as a whole, but it is still very important. So I was talking it over with my voice teacher. She was saying to me, "The thing about this relationship is that it really snuck up on Maria. She always thought of the Captain one way - and then suddenly, here she is, thinking of him in an entirely different way."
Oh, I couldn't help myself. I pulled my beautiful, hardbound book out of my purse and waved it around. "Pride & Prejudice!" I said.
"Oh! Yes!" said my voice teacher. "Yes, perfect example! Mr. Darcy is actually a really good correspondent for the Captain." We talked about how the specifics of the stories and the characters involved are very different of course, but there is still that common theme of being surprised by finding out who someone really is, and of being surprised by love.
And inwardly I was just saying, "Yesssssss." It was great that I could even find a way to fit Pride & Prejudice into a conversation with my teacher - even better that we could draw parallels from Lizzy & Darcy to the love story I'm portraying right now.
(And I'm going to go on a tangent right now and say this: We were watching the Cathy Rigby recording of Peter Pan the musical on YouTube, and it made me smile that the audience cheered every time Peter flew through the Darling's window. It made me think - I hear that there were a lot of screams and cheers in the theaters when Robert Pattinson showed up onscreen as Edward in Twilight. And it got me thinking - why don't we do the same for Mr. Darcy? And once I began to wonder this, I remembered that there have been several stage versions of Pride & Prejudice, some of them musicals. See this website: http://www.prideandprejudice-themusical.com/music.html and this one: http://www.prideandprejudicebroadway.com/) I think the perfect Pride & Prejudice musical would all come down to this: when Darcy enters the ballroom at Meryton, he would have to freeze for a full minute while every female in the audience clapped her hands raw and cheered her throat hoarse. Darcy has been a sort of icon long before Edward Cullen and Peter Pan were around. I think he deserves nothing less. Three cheers for Mr. Darcy! )
And on another note, take a look at the About The Musical page on the second P&P link. Are not the song names too perfect for words? It's like some kind of joke - "My Reasons For Marrying." "My Poor Nerves!" "I Can't Resist A Redcoat!")
Now that all that is out of the way, some other news of interest:
Full run-through of Sound of Music last night = much more encouraging than our last run through! The energy level was higher, and everything is just generally coming together. I'm nervous for the shows - but I'm also incredibly excited!
And rehearsals have started for Taming of the Shrew. I really don't want to talk about that right now, though. I feel like crying every time I think that I have rehearsals for both this show and Sound of Music every day (give or take a day or two) until... July? Pray for me. It's not that it's not going to be fun. It's just going to be really really hard... and exhausting... Even without "Shrew," my schedule would be pretty hectic - throw in another show that opens only a few days after the first, and it's basically insanity. Please please please don't ask how the heck I'm going to do it. I have to do it. So I'll find a way.
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