Austenathon 2011: Main Thread

We are proposing to read Jane Austen's six major novels in 2011, in publication order, beginning with Sense and Sensibility, then continuing on with Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and the two posthumous novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

We'll cover one novel every 2 months throughout the year, beginning on the 15th of the month (see proposed schedule bellow), allowing everyone plenty of time to get the book read at whatever pace is most comfortable for each person.

Proposed Schedule
Sense and Sensibility: January 15 - Non-Spoiler / Spoiler
Pride and Prejudice: March 15 - Non-Spoiler / Spoiler
Mansfield Park: May 15 - Non-Spoiler / Spoiler
Emma: July 15 - Non-Spoiler / Spoiler
Northanger Abbey: September 15 Non-Spoiler / Spoiler
Persuasion: November 15

Non-Spoiler and Spoiler Threads for each of the books will also be posted on the group wiki page for easy reference.

I am surprised that I don't find it presumptuous of myself to think that I am in for them all.

Robert

Thank you, Ilana! This is perfect : ).

No problem. I don't know that I'll be participating in all of them myself. S&S was my first time reading Jane Austen and I'm finding that I have a love/hate relationship with her right now. Could be because of where my head is at, but portions of her prose are almost like Chinese to me; very frustrating, but I already know I'll re-read both books eventually. I'll be happy to update here and give links to future threads whatever I chose to read or not.

Thanks so much for setting this up! The first two are the only Austen books that I have ever read, so all new stuff for me from here on out! :)
--BJ

I read them all when I was a teenager, but I'm getting so much more out of them this time! Looking forward to it. :)
I recall that I really enjoyed Persuasion - and the movie version as well. I could summarize the basic plot of that book from memory. I remember a lot about Emma too, but I had a love/hate relationship with Emma the entire time. I don't remember much about Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park though. It will be interesting to see how much comes back to me when I start re-reading them this time.
This was such a good idea!

We have Stasia to thank for initially setting up the Austenathon and I actually copy/pasted what she had written in the first S&S thread for the top post here.

I've just posted the Mansfield Park non-spoiler thread for those interested. Group read starting May 15th. http://www.librarything.com/topic/115689

With my enjoying Mansfield Park against the advice of, say, all of the world's Austen aficionados and now having read three of her novels I have come to realize that I like best the novel that is closest to me. Has anybody else got some sort of appreciation metric that might better inform my preference?

Robert

Robert, I'm not sure I understand your question. Care to rephrase it?

I read a Jane Austen novel. I like it. For the moment it is my favorite of her novels. Among people who have other preferences, as so many frequent readers of Austen seem to prefer Pride and Prejudice, I wonder how they have come to their preference, that is what is there criterion (no matter which they prefer)?

Robert

Interesting question, Robert. I tend to like all of Austen's work, so I don't have much to contribute to that end. I, too, am really enjoying Mansfield Park. Will follow it up with a re-watch of the movie; it's wonderfully done if you haven't already viewed:

>12 lit_chick:: I love that version too. Have you seen the early '80s BBC version? I especially love the realistic casting in that one - nobody looks all glammed-out and Hollywood (like the sex-kitteny Fanny Price from the more recent Masterpiece version. Ugh.) I also really like the strange, drugged-out portrayal of Lady Bertram, and that Mrs Norris! Very convincing. Good performances all around.
Some people don't like the look (it's mostly shot on video) but I don't mind that at all.

(The two Fannys I'm referring to above, in case you haven't seen those versions):


Seriously??


Now that's a Fanny Price.

Indeed, THAT is a Fanny face; would love to see this BBC version. Will look for it locally.

To me the Fanny in #12 seems more like it, the top one in #14 looks mean and the second one doesn't really has an intelligent face, not to mention, Fanny is supposed to be lean and a fragile

#11 Robert, I've only started reading Jane Austen this year with the Austenathon. Some years ago I would not have been caught dead reading one of her books, or watching the movies. All seemed much too quaint for my cynical self. But I decided to approach her now that I've considerably mellowed out with middle age. All this to say that so far, I've only read Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and out of the three, Mansfield Park is definitely my favourite so far. Hard to explain why in just a few words, but I'd say it may be because this one felt to me like it had more depth maybe, though I know that's probably highly debatable.

#14 Isn't that Billie Piper the top image? The same actress who now stars in Secret Diary of a Call Girl? Enough said. ;-)

#16 Much agreed.

#17 "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"! Seriously! What all kind of shows do you watch! Having made you feel bad about yourself, I must confess I have watched the first couple of episodes too *hangs head in shame*

Having made you feel bad about yourself

Nah, I have a wide range, nobody can make me feel bad about that. :-)
That said, I watched one season and got tired of it after.

Billie Piper-version is terrible! Couldn't watch it till the end.

I recommend the 1999-version (#12). It makes no claim to be a faithful adaptation - and has chosen Austens own journals and letters and adapted them to Fanny Price - interesting approach. Not as fragile a Fanny as the novel but with Austen's own values to be sure.

#19 nobody can make me feel bad about that

Hmm, we will see about that, guess I will have to work a little harder ;)

If you're interested in an actual adaptation of Mansfield Park rather than a "reinvention", the BBC production with Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell is definitely the one to go for.

From Huffington Post: Jane Austen Books You May Not Have Discovered Yet. I'm not sure that I will want to look at any after I have read the six big ones, but it is interesting to contemplate what else she has put on paper.

Robert

#23 - Thanks for that link, Robert. Very interesting.

#23 Yes, very interesting link, Robert. Like you, I am not certain how much more Austen I'll have an appetite for after the big six. However, recently a colleague was reading Lady Susan, which she thought was very enjoyable.

#25 I finished Lady Susan last week, it is quite an amusing read really, she wrote it long before she wrote the big.

I've just posted the Emma Non-Spoiler Thread.

For those participating in TIOLI this month, Emma is listed under challenge #1.

I won't be joining for Emma, read it just 2 years back and I remember it all too well to read it again so soon.

#20 You've just said what I was about to re the Mansfield Park adaptations, almost word for word!

I don't blame Billie Piper for the terribleness though - it was such a bad adaptation in general - I think she's a pretty good actor most of the time - although I can't imagine she can have read the book...

Re the oldest BBC one (the bottom pic), I saw that years ago and even then it felt a bit dated, although I also seem to remember that it was easily the most faithful. I don't care, I prefer the top one that's completely unfaithful ;o)

#23 I've read pretty much everything Jane Austen has written (although most of the non-novels only once) and I think I'd actually recommend reading her selected letters next - wonderfully catty some of them... Also, Lady Susan and Love and Friendship are very funny. The latter is the book that Fanny is writing to her sister Susan in the TV adaptation of Mansfield Park in #12. Sanditon and (particularly) The Watsons are frustrating as they're so unfinished.

#27 Aha! I've been looking for that ;o)

The Spoiler Thread for Emma is up! http://www.librarything.com/topic/120628

I have now read almost all of The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen; I'll finish it as we finish Persuasion. I can recommend this book; it brings in elements from Austen's life and culture. It reviews important aspects of each novel. There is a reading list as the last chapter that made me think I could become an expert in a few decades. The discussion of movies made is not just a recounting of those known about but is also about the difficulties of going from a novelistic vision with little concern for optical detail to one that demands optical detail. Everything in this book is readable, and there is little nonsense.

Robert

The Los Angeles Review of Books has reviewed two books on the value of reading Jane Austen. http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/9827382304/just-like-a-woman

I am reading Wolf Hall and have Magic Mountain to read for discussion in Le Salon, but I expect before too long to dive into Northanger Abbey.

Robert

Hello everyone, as I will not be continuing with the Austenathon this year, I would like to invite someone else to start the threads for these last two books. Once the threads are up, I will happily update the first message here to include the links to those threads. I hope this is not a problem.

If no one else is up to it, Ilana, I'd be willing to take that on.

Sounds good Micky, thanks!

I've posted the Non-Spoiler and Spoiler threads for Northanger Abbey.

Does anyone else think (reluctantly, I emphasise) that Jane Austen's heroines get their hero in an abrupt turnaround?
- In S&S, Marianne marries Colonel Brandon having ignored him for the whole novel, and I'm not quite sure how she discovered his worthiness.
- Elizabeth, in P&P, tells Jane that she believes she must date her falling in love with Darcy from the time she saw Pemberly. Much as I would hate to believe my favourite heroine to be mercenary, it does have a slight ring of truth.
- I was quite disappointed that Henry Crawford didn't win Fanny in Mansfield Park. Until everything changed in London, right at the end, it was looking promising for him.
- It was a surprise, but a pleasant one, to find that Emma and Mr Knightly had been in love with each other for a while (though I wonder when they actually fell in love); but I remember it being completely unexpected the first time I read it (which must have been about 20 years ago)

I love Jane Austen, but those parts don't quite flow with the first parts of their stories, for me.

I'd agree that the resolution of the main romantic conflict in each book seems very sudden. This idea has carried on in modern lit., which makes it seem ordinary now, although it was perhaps new(er) and fresh(er) when Miss Austen used it.

How soon is the Persuasion thread going up? Will we be waiting until Nov. 15? I'm itching to start!

I'll probably post the non-spoiler thread November 1 and the spoiler thread about a week after. But you're always more than welcome to read ahead and then just join us for the discussion later. :)

I have finished Persuasion and with that all six of Austen's major works and one of her novellas, Lady Susan too, which is quite an interesting read in itself.

>40 MickyFine: @MickeyFine Sounds good. I've started The Annotated Persuasion and it will no doubt take me a while. I came to the Austenathon late, and have been enjoying the other threads - and looking forward to the new one. This is my favorite of hers next to P & P.

The NON-SPOILER THREAD for Persuasion is now up!

The SPOILER THREAD for Persuasion is now up!

When this began I was already reading Emma for my R/L B/C group so I just carried on from there. Thus far I have read:
Emma (3 1/2 stars),
Sense and Sensibility (5 stars), and
Pride and Prejudice (5 stars).
Then somehow I railroaded myself & got carried away with my other reading wants/needs/desires and now must read:
Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey & Persuasion all three in December. Lucky me. ;-)
~belva

Yes! Lucky you.

Robert