Preen for the External Fuel Tank

Gives new meaning to blast off!

and give the comments a lookie...I loved this one:

"women in science always seem to get the shaft"

Made of Awesome

6 of 6, or Austen Again

And Elinor gets her bumbling Mr. Ferrars in the end. Sigh.

My delicious treat of an Austen marathon is complete. Delights, they abound.

And because I apparently have turned my blog into a plug for Keith Law's blog I am going to offer a counter-point to his number 3. Now, any Austen is better than no Austen at all but I think we all remember that Emma is my least favorite. Obviously KLaw and I disagree but my point of contention is not with our varying book tastes. But I'm not so sure on that character development thing. I would agree that Emma is the most changed of any Austen character by the end of her novel but I don't see character development as only being reflected in how the character itself develops. I think the author developing a character with whom the Reader can empathize is an equally impressive and useful skill. This I think Austen has in spades.

If you've read any Austen then you probably already know that any character is pretty much established within a couple pages of meeting them. Often there are misunderstandings that lead to the Reader being in the dark about some aspect of a character (behold the mighty power of the romance formula) but that's about as subtle as it gets. But each character is fully developed in her/his self. By this I mean that in all situations presented the character is always the character. They don't go off willy-nilly in some direction you would never expect of them. They are entire, complete and ready to face any situation as themselves.

And let's face it, most of the action of Austen's novels occurs over a very short period of time and involves a bunch of people without real jobs that are only looking to get married.

"Who Has?"

When an interviewer told Mr. [Joseph] Heller that he had never written anything as good as ''Catch-22,'' the author shot back, ''Who has?''


In point of fact, it is an excellent book!

Emma, finally I have the Like

I never found the Emma Love but this recent reading of Jane Austen's Emma has been my favorite so far. Which is to say I did not find it a chore. It's always been my least favorite of her novels because Emma drives me nuts. And not in a fun, lovable way but in a when-is-someone-going-to-gag-Emma kind of way. And Harriett, ugh, get a spine! Mr. Knightley is darling, of course, but Austen knows how to do a hero.

So what made this reading better?

I tried very hard not to check out. I'm not the sort of person that finishes every book she starts, and I can speed read so if a book is only mildly interesting I usually start to speed read. In fact, the highest compliment I can give a book is to read every word. There are books I love and have read over, but have probably not read every word. Only if a book scores tops on all the important components will I read every word.

So for this reading of Emma I didn't check out when she started driving me nuts. In fact, I was still checked in halfway through the book and that's when it began to pick up for me. Emma was actually pretty funny when she started to gain a sense of humor about herself.

I've not been able to form any kind of theory as to why this Austen seems to be so popular with male critics especially so if anyone would like to propose one I'm all ears! I suppose the 'humbling of the pretty girl' plot is quite popular but using that as a reason seems incredibly insulting to male readers, and all readers really.

I've already mentioned that I like the movie Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam) and I distinctly remember describing it as quiet and slow, but lacking nothing in essentials. I stand by this but if you watch the movie directly after finishing the book it zips right by! It pretty accurately depicts many scenes from the book but since it's only 2hrs long those scenes come rapid fire if you've just finished the book. One thing I do think the movie lacks is more boning-on-Emma scenes courtesy of Frank Churchill. In the book I can really get a sense of his bad behavior but in the movie not so much.

I'm now on Sense and Sensibility (6 of 6 in my reading order) and I might even peruse Lady Susan (finally!). But no need to wait on my batting order of Austen novels:

1/2. Persuasion
Pride & Prejudice
3. Northanger Abbey
4. Sense and Sensibility
5. Mansfield Park
6. Emma

My 1/2 is cheating a bit but I go back and forth on those two as my favorites. I do know why they are my favorites and why N. Abbey comes in a solid third: H and H scenes! Romances are fun because we see the heroine and hero together. Of course they need to be separated for most of the story because that's the formula but they should only be separated in love not in actuality. I want to see why they love each other, if they're never around each other I never get any sense of their need to be with each other. I want the interaction, I want to see them seeing each other. I want to fall in love with them too and I can't do that if one or the other is never around to fall in love with.

Austenland

As they say at Pemberley, I blame Jane! But I can hardly be angry. :) I'm marathoning through her six novels. I've read them all but never in a row. I can eat these up like candy because they always make me laugh. Except for Emma...I always stumble on Emma.

This time, though, I decided to give her a fair chance. I'm trying to really pay attention and find the Emma love. I've been inspired to give her more of a chance due to the critical acclaim Emma often gets and, very interestingly to me, especially with men. Northanger Abbey almost always gets the shaft but I'd rather read it three times over before Emma. And here I am again stuttering over Emma. In my haphazard order Emma is 5 out of 6. I read the first 4 in less than two weeks and I've been on Emma for almost a week now. It's so hard for me to stick with it. I'm going to wait until I've completed it before I go into what it is I dislike...maybe my mind will be changed by the time I finish this reading.

As a movie, I adore Emma. Jeremy Northam kicks some major ass as Mr. Knightley (so dreamy and sexy) and Gwyneth Paltrow makes me feel that Emma love I'm always looking for. Her portrayal is perfect, her Emma is equal parts ridiculous, naive, and genuine. You want to gently wring her neck in the beginning and then it's all smiles when she finally steps a bit outside of herself by the end. It's a gorgeous movie. It's slow and quiet but missing nothing in essentials.

And if you're in the mood for some Austen but you don't have the time to read all the novels I suggest this and this to get your fix!

Nice Cover!

I'm all about the videos lately...and here's another great one!




And they're famous!

Lovely

Birds! Birds!