Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge 2011 Wrap-up

2011 marked the celebration of 200 years since Jane Austen first became a published author with her wonderful novel, Sense and Sensibility. One of my favorite blogs, Austenprose, hosted a year long celebration in the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge.  I love Austen challenges and was happy to join.  I aimed for the "Disciple" level with 5-8 Sense and Sensibility inspired entries.  I landed squarely in this level after reviewing seven Sense and Sensibility items in 2011.  These items were as follows:

1.  I Have Found It
2.  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson
3.  Sense and Sensibility (2008)
4.  Sense and Sensibility (1995)
5.  The Sense and Sensibility Screenplays and Diaries by Emma Thompson
6.  From Prada to Nada (2011)
7.  Expectations of Happiness:  A Companion Volume to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility by Rebecca Ann Collins

Overall, I ended up watching many more of my items than reading.  I somewhat disappointed myself in this regard, but there is only so much time in the day!  It was fun to watch the different versions of Sense and Sensibility and compare (I had also watched the 1981 version in the fall of 2010 right before this challenge).  The 1995 version starring Emma Thompson is still my overall favorite version.  It was enhanced by reading the screenplay and diaries for the first time.

Expectations of Happiness was an excellent follow-up to Sense and Sensibility.  I need to check out more novels by Rebecca Ann Collins in future years.  While I love Pride and Prejudice, I feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Mr. Darcy spin-offs.  It was nice to revisit other favorite characters with this Sense and Sensibility challenge.

With that being said, I can't wait until 2013, the two-hundred year anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice.  I can only hope that Austenprose will host another great challenge to celebrate.

Expectations of Happiness: A Companion Volume to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility by Rebecca Ann Collins

Expectations of Happiness was a perfect continuation of Jane Austen’s classic, Sense and Sensibility. Marianne Dashwood is not-so-happily married to Colonel Brandon. They are happy when they are together, but Colonel Brandon is often away for long stretches of time tending his estates in Ireland or helping his ward Eliza out of another scrape. His still young and beautiful wife finds herself bored and lonely, and more than a little susceptible to the charms of the still dashing Mr. Willoughby when he helps her and her friends after an accident. Will Marianne find her happy ending in the arms of her husband, or in the arms of Mr. Willoughby?


Elinor and Edward are happily married with two children, but Elinor constantly worries about Marianne. Margaret has become a young woman and a bluestocking. She has a love of learning and is a great teacher at a school near Oxford. During a trip to France with her friend Claire, Margaret finds herself infatuated with a smart, handsome Oxford scholar with a devastating secret of his own. Mrs. Dashwood has found a new occupation and perhaps a new love of her own, but to say more would ruin the plot!

This is my first reading of a Rebecca Ann Collins novel, but I have heard great things about her Pemberly Chronicles. I really enjoyed her style of writing. It was written in the same style as a Jane Austen novel, with traditional language (without our modern slang) and traditional sensibilities (no sex or violence). It was a novel to read slowly and savor. It was also a novel that emphasized romance over sex, which is a type of novel that I really enjoy reading.

I also enjoyed her treatment of the characters. The characters were all treated with respect and in a way that was very faithful to all of Jane Austen’s creations. It was very fun to have old favorites such as Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Jennings, and Sir John Middleton popping back into the story in the same spirit as in Sense and Sensibility. I love seeing Willoughby again, and I also loved the new characters such as Margaret’s love, Daniel. I only had a slight pause with some of the circumstances with Margaret’s independence as a young woman in the later part of the novel. It didn’t seem in tune with the time as much as the rest of the novel, but it could have happened!

I had a couple of favorite quotes in this novel that I really enjoyed as follows:

“Margaret had enjoyed their conversations, not because he agreed with every idea or applauded every proposition she made, but because he listened with interest and responded as though he understood her meaning.” I thought this described the perfect man!

“Were it not for dedicated men and women in the church, who would care for the poor and the sick, the frail and the elderly? Certainly not the government.” I’ve been pondering this quote all week and think it applies even to our current world.

Overall, I thought that Expectations of Happiness was an impeccable and delightful continuation of Sense and Sensibility with fair treatment of the characters, and language and sensibilities that fit the time. I highly recommend it to all lovers of Sense and Sensibility.

For an interesting guest blog by Rebecca Ann Collins on why she thought Sense and Sensibility was ripe for a sequel and a chance to win a copy of this book, check out this link.

Book Source:  Review Copy from Sourcebooks - Thank-you!

From Prada to Nada (2011)

Nora and Mary have grown up living the good life in Beverly Hills. After the death of their beloved father, they discover that the financial crisis has hit their family more than they knew and there is nothing left of the family fortune. They also discover a secret half-brother, Gabe Jr., that their father neglected to tell them about. Gabe takes over the family home in order to renovate it up and put it up for sale. His evil wife Olivia does have an attractive brother, Edward. Nora and Mary move to the East side of Los Angeles to live with their Aunt Aurelia and try to figure out a way to make their fortune.


Nora is a law student who has a slight flirtation with Edward, but doesn’t seem to recognize the fact that he is enamored with her. She stops going to school to take a part time job in a law firm to help support the family. Mary continues on in college and falls in love with her suave TA, Rodrigo Fuentes, while not noticing homeboy Bruno has a crush on her. Will the girls find true love?

I thought From Prada to Nada was adequate, but wasn’t that great of a movie or as a Sense and Sensibility adaptation. To me the bar for a straightforward Austen movie was set by the Sense and Sensibility movie of 1995 starring Emma Thompson, and an adaptation bar was set by Clueless (1995) and Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001). From Prada to Nada could not touch these movies even remotely.

First of all, the movie wavered on its theme, was it a Sense and Sensibility remake or a getting in touch with your Latina roots movie? It seemed to go back and forth between the two. Secondly, there was zero chemistry between any of the romantic couples. I loved Edward, but he did not have any chemistry with Nora. The love stories were all cute, but didn’t carry any emotional impact with me. I didn’t feel for Nora or Mary ever in the movie. I think overall, a poor script and poor acting contributed to make this a rather sad Austen modernization.

Am I being too harsh? Did anyone love From Prada to Nada?

From Prada to Nada is my sixth item for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge.

DVD Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries by Emma Thompson

Sense and Sensibility is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think it is the most perfect Austen adaptation that has been put to film. It was therefore with much interest that I read The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries.

The introduction is written by Lindsay Doran, the producer of the film. The introduction was very interesting and told a great story of how Ms. Doran came to love Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility in particular. She really wanted to put it to film and had the genius idea of having Emma Thompson write the screenplay. While Emma Thompson thought other Austen novels such as Emma and Persuasion would perhaps make better movies, Lindsay Doran was set on Sense and Sensibility.

It took many years, but Thompson wrote a great script that perfectly captured Austen’s wit in a screenplay format. The screenplay reads just like the film with no surprises. Great pictures are shown throughout.

Thompson’s diary has the day-to-day adventure of putting together the film. The most surprising fact was that the studio wanted to put out a novelization of the movie . . . which seems ludicrous when you have Jane Austen’s original masterpiece. Emma Thompson agreed and luckily that travesty never happened. It’s also amusing reading about how the movie was put together. It’s always funny to me that movie scenes are filmed completely out of sequence. So much depended on the weather and although it looked romantic, sounded horrible for Kate Winslet.

The Appendix also included a prize-winning letter written by Imogen Stubbs in the character of Lucy (Steele) Ferrars to Elinor some years after Sense and Sensibility. It was quite hilarious. I wish she would write a S&S spin-off about the later-day adventures of Lucy.

Overall, The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries is a wonderful read for a lover of the movie and film.

This is my fifth item item in the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library (although I think I need to buy a copy for myself!)

Sense and Sensibility 1995

The 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility is one of my all-time favorite movies. It ranks as my favorite Austen adaptation and as overall one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched it numerous times and I love it every single time. I watched it again a couple of weeks ago for my fourth item for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge.

As the movie started, I realized once again that the opening of the movie is so clever. After the death of Mr. Dashwood, I love Fanny and John’s back and forth about giving money to the Dashwood sisters. Fanny’s overbearing strength of character is apparent as she is able to whittle John’s resolve to help his half-sisters down to nothing. The scene is not only funny, but really gives the dynamic of Fanny and John’s marriage and overall characters.

The perfect little moments that appear in the movie that are not in the novel sometimes completely capture the nature of the characters without a word. One of my favorite such moments is after Willoughby leaves the Dashwoods abruptly and Marianne runs up to her room crying. All of the ladies end up in their rooms crying, while Elinor calmly sips Marianne’s tea. It is telling of Elinor’s calm during a crisis and a build-up for what will finally make her break down at the end of the movie.

While the 1995 movie had to cut out some minor characters to preserve time, the minor characters they did keep were written to perfection. Two of my favorite minor characters are Hugh Laurie as Mr. Palmer and Imelda Staunton as Charlotte Palmer. They are hilarious and make me laugh out loud as several scenes.

I think overall there are many things that come together perfectly that make this one of my favorite movies of all time. First of all, the wonderful story by Jane Austen and the perfect screenplay adaptation (that won an Oscar!) by Emma Thompson. Thompsons’ screenplay was able to perfectly keep the key story, wit and themes of Austen’s novel (I’m reading the screenplay and diaries right now and will have a review of that in a couple of weeks). Secondly, the wonderful performances by many actors also make the movie. My three favorite are Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood, Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, and Greg Wise as Willoughby. Greg Wise is the perfect Willoughby, handsome, dashing, and it completely takes you by surprise when you discover what a rake his is. The third element that makes this a perfect movie is actually a compellation of moments – the music, cinematography, and direction make this a beautiful movie.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it for all lovers of film. If you have seen the movie, what do you love or dislike about it? I’ll admit that Hugh Grant as Edward always looks a bit funny to me in his period outfit (looks constipated) and that I always am a bit creeped out by Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon (I always imagine him saying, “ I’m going to carve your heart out with a spoon” from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves).

For my previous review of Sense and Sensibility 1995, check out this link.

Sense and Sensibility (2008)

I recently re-watched the 2008 Sense and Sensibility for my third item for Austenprose’s Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge. I watched it when it first aired on Masterpiece Theatre in 2008, but I thought watching it again might give me some second insights into the program. And who am I kidding – do I need a reason to watch a Jane Austen mini-series?

Andrew Davies wrote the screenplay for this version, and made an attempt to sexualize the story. I didn’t approve of these attempts. I thought the new Willoughby/Eliza scene of passion at the beginning didn’t really work. It was rather confusing when I first watched it and thought for a bit that I had the wrong channel.

Davies also tried to sex up Edward by having him chop wood. I could have done without this scene - it was not the Mr. Darcy wet shirt moment that Davies hoped it would be. I did like how Colonel Brandon was spiced up with his duel with Willoughby, rescuing Marianne in the rain, taking care of Eliza, and hawking. One could definitely see how Marianne could transfer her affections to Colonel Brandon, something I couldn’t always see when he was played by Alan Rickman in the 1995 version. It didn’t hurt that David Morrissey was cast as Colonel Brandon. He is an excellent actor and very attractive.

I like how the 2008 version fills in the gaps with several scenes not in the book. While I don’t think Austen needs improvement, it did tend to set this version apart and make it different from other versions of the story. In particular, I love a good dual and was pleased to see Colonel Brandon and Willoughby take their animosity to the next level. I also loved the scene with Colonel Brandon and Eliza; it was heartbreaking when she hoped to see Willoughby one last time. It really made me think about how Colonel Brandon must have felt about Willoughby seeing how he hurt two of the most important women in his life. I also enjoyed seeing Mrs. Ferrars disowning Edward and Lucy. I thought it was funny after Marianne’s accident when Colonel Brandon shows up for a visit and Mr. Willoughby is hiding behind Mrs. Dashwood. It was different then described in the novel, but funny and showed that Willoughby might not be all that he seemed.

I thought the cast was good in this mini-series, in particular I liked David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon and Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars. I didn’t really like Dominic Cooper as Willoughby. I don’t quite believe in him with the hiding behind Mrs. Dashwood, smirks, and general ill-humor throughout. I’m not that surprised when he turns out to be deceitful. I think overall he can’t compare to Greg Wise’s superb performance in the 1995 version. I also enjoyed the music in this production.

I thought the last scene was rather strange. Is Edward chasing chickens with Elinor laughing? It was not nearly as romantic as Colonel Brandon carrying Marianne into the house.

Overall, this mini-series tried to spice up the classic Sense and Sensibility, but I don’t think it needed to be spiced up as shown in the excellent 1995 version of the story. It was an interesting version to watch, but definitely not the definitive version.

Have you watched this version? What is your overall impression?

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson

Over the past two years, I listened to all of Jane Austen’s novels on audiobook and vastly enjoyed them. I discovered that Austen’s books were meant to be listened to aloud, as Austen must have once read them aloud to her family. While I’ll still always enjoy reading them in their original print editions, I also want to explore more audio editions and enjoy listening to them as well. As readers of this blog know, I really can’t get enough of Austen in any type of media.

As part of Austenprose’s Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, I decided to listen to a different audiobook version of Sense and Sensibility than the one I listened to two years ago. I chose the Naxos Audiobook version as read by Juliet Stevenson. I listened to Persuasion as read by Juliet Stevenson last fall and enjoyed it greatly.

Juliet Stevenson played Mrs. Elton in the 1996 Emma movie starting Gwyneth Paltrow. I enjoyed listening to this novel read with her great British accent, but more importantly she is able to give a unique voice to all of the characters and bring them to life. It was a pleasure to listen to this novel once again.

This audiobook version is an unabridged edition with eleven CDs for approximately 12 hours and 43 minutes worth of playing time. It was very soothing to me when I listened to it three weeks ago while driving to and from Milwaukee during a nasty sleet storm. It’s also a nice book to listen to when the kids are around as I know that it will contain no “naughty bits.”

For more of my review of Sense and Sensibility in general, please see my 2009 review of the Sense and Sensibility audiobook as read by Wanda McCaddon.

Sense and Sensibility is my second item for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge and my fifth item for the 2011 Audiobook Challenge.

Audiobook Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

I Have Found It

I watched I Have Found It for my first item for the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge hosted by Austenprose. I Have Found It is a Kollywood (Tamil speaking cousin of Bollywood) film loosely based on Sense and Sensibility.

Two sisters, Sowmya and Meenakshi help their mother care for their ailing grandfather. Sowmya would love to get married, but it is rumored that she is “cursed” as her former fiancé came back from America dead. Sowmya places duty and family above love, but Meenakshi dreams of finding a romantic “white knight” to marry. Sowmya finds herself falling n love with Manohar, an aspiring filmmaker who returns her love. Manohar is an engineer, but he doesn’t want to go into the family business or marry Sowmya until he has made his first film.

Major Bala is a drunken flower grower who falls in love with Meenakshi. Meenakshi inspires Major Bala to stop drinking and to pursue her through music. His hopes are dashed when businessman Srikanth rescues Meenakshi after a fall and they fall in love over poetry.
After the death of their grandfather, Sowmya and Meenakshi find that their mother was disowned because their grandfather did not approve of her marriage, and their uncle who has not visited in ten years is left with everything. The family moves from their estate and tries to find means to support themselves. Sowmya initially finds work as a secretary, but soon puts her computer programming skills to use to get a better job.

Love also runs into trouble when Manohar appears to be in love with his leading lady and Srikanth disappears after business woes. Will Sowmya and Meenakshi be able to find true love?

While I Have Found It is set in a different place and time, I thought it did a great job of updating Sense and Sensibility to modern day India. In fact India with its arranged marriages and family obligations, allows the story to be more like the source material then if it were set in modern day England. I’m going to break it down and compare the I Have Found It characters to their Sense and Sensibility counterparts.

Major Bala as the “Colonel Brandon” of the story is given more of a back story showing his military experience. He also is missing a leg, unlike Colonel Brandon. He doesn’t have the tragic past love story of Colonel Brandon, but he does try to inspire Meenakshi, Marianne, through music just like his counterpart.

Manohar is the “Edward Ferrars” of the story. I thought he was livelier than Edward Ferrars and he definitely was more able to express his feelings to Sowmya than Edward was to Elinor. There is no Lucy Ferrars subplot in this movie, although Manohar and Sowmya has difficulties because of Sowmya’s perceived bad luck and also the rumors that Manohar is involved with his leading lady.

Srikanth is as mysterious as Mr. Willoughby in the original novel. He rescues Meenakshi in a rain storm after she has twisted her ankle and carries her home, a scene reminiscent of the 1995 Sense and Sensibility movie. Srikanth and Meenakshi fall in love over poetry, but then Srikanth mysteriously disappears because of business troubles. There is a meeting again later with a marriage that must take place to save the business all very reminiscent of the original novel. I didn’t think that Srikanth and Meenakshi had enough time falling in love in this movie.

Sowmya is the responsible Elinor that will marry for family obligations and also tries to keep her family afloat during financial hard times. I loved that Sowmya was a computer programmer (yeah women in science!), but I thought she was a little too emotional about her bad luck. The bad luck was not in the original novel.

Meenakshi is a very romantic Marianne and is able to sing her way through the movie. She has tragic love, and much sadness. The actress, who played Meenakshi, Aishwarya Rai, was also in Bride and Prejudice. She has a beautiful singing voice.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was an interesting twist on the original classic, complete with great songs and scenery. It does not replace my beloved 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, but it was something different to watch!

Movie Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

2011 Reading Challenges

I'm still running consistently behind on my blog postings due to the holidays, having three kids, and actually wanting to sleep at some point. I have a couple of book reviews to post and my 2010 list of top ten books, but I thought instead I would at least get signed up for the challenges I would like to participate in this year!

Historical Fiction Challenge 2011 hosted by Historical Tapestry

Historical Fiction is my favorite genre of books to read. I decided this year I should keep track of what historical fiction books I read and participate in a challenge so I can read other's reviews and share my love of historical fiction.

Historical Tapestry is hosting the challenge this year and has the following guidelines:

• everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)
  
• 
  add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)


• 
  any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,...)
  you can overlap this challenge with others kind of challenges
  
• 
  During these following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:
  Severe Bookaholism: 20 books
  Undoubtedly Obsessed: 15 books
  Struggling the Addiction: 10 books
  Daring & Curious: 5 books
  Out of My Comfort Zone: 2 books
  
• 
  The challenge will run from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011.

I am aiming for severe bookaholism!

The second challenge I would like to participate in is an online Book Club at Dreams and Speculations that explores "the Women of Science Fiction." Science Fiction is another of my favorite genres that I enjoy reading, but unfortunately, I haven't been reading as much sci-fi the last few years as I would like. I think the concept of this challenge and how there is a book for each month. I haven't read any of the chosen books, and I haven't read many sci-fi books written by women in general. I'm excited to learn about new authors!

As described by Dreams and Speculations, the book club works like this:

"It’s simple. Anyone is invited to participate for one month or all twelve months. And what are we reading? A month ago I posted polls to 40+ possible books. The twelve are our 2011 selections. Each month will get a different book. Any participant has the entire month to read that book and prepare for a review/discussion on the last day of the month here at Dreams & Speculation. It’s that easy. "

The third challenge I want to participate in is the The Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge 2011 hosted by Laurel Ann at Austenprose. It has been two-hundred years since Sense and Sensibility was first published and Laurel Ann is spending the year celebrating. I am aiming for the "Disciple" level with 5-8 Sense and Sensibility inspired entries. Knowing myself and Jane Austen challenges, I may exceed this!

I plan to review the following items for this challenge:

1. I have Found it (Kandukondain Kandukondain) 2000

2. Sense and Sensibility 1995

3. Brightsea, by Jane Gillespie

4. Reason and Romance, by Debra White-Smith

5. Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay and Diaries, by Emma Thompson and Lindsay Doran

6. The Three Weismanns of Westport, Cathleen Schine

My fourth and final challenge I would like to join at this time is The Audiobook Challenge 2011 hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner. The 2011 Audio Book Challenge will run from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. I am aiming for the Addicted level of 12 Audio Books through the year. I may surpase this!

I look forward to all of these challenges throughout this year. For those of you wondering about the All About the Brontes Challenge, I'll have a post up in the next few weeks about it!