Pride and Prejudice (1940)

I need to catch up on my reviews!  I’m participating in the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary challenge hosted by Laurel Ann at Austenprose.  I still have a couple more books I want to finish this month for the challenge – so we’ll see how it goes.

As part of the challenge, I rewatched Pride and Prejudice 1940.  I must admit that although this was the first film version of Pride and Prejudice and also stars one of my favorite actors, Laurence Olivier, as Mr. Darcy, this version has always fallen flat for me.

 

The pros:

• Laurence Oliver is a wonderfully handsome Mr. Darcy with a great haughty attitude
• Edmund Gwenn and Mary Boland make a wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Bennet respectively.
• I do like the change at the end that hints of a happy ending for Mary Bennet.

The cons:

• Although Laurence Oliver is wonderful, he doesn’t capture Mr. Darcy as perfectly as Colin Firth.  Olivier is actually too likeable too early!
• Greer Garson is way too old to be Elizabeth Bennet.
• A feature length movie is just too short and it misses many of the major storylines.
• The carriage race at the beginning between the Bennets and Lucas's over who will get to meet the new single men in town is ridiculous and makes me cringe every time.
•  The costumes are all wrong - totally not the right time period at all.  I felt like I was watching Gone with the Wind rather than Pride & Prejudice.
• Lady Catherine de Bourgh is totally changed.  She actually has her confrontation with Elizabeth to make sure she is good enough for Mr. Darcy and totally approves of the marriage.
• The overall tone of the movie is to make it into a madcap farce of desperate women husband hunting.  It is not the real Pride and Prejudice.

Overall, I like to watch this version of Pride and Prejudice as I like old movies; I just wish it wasn’t called Pride and Prejudice as it strays far from the source material. 

Inherit the Dead by Mary Higgins Clark, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Carter, etc. all

Title: Inherit the Dead
Author: Mary Higgins Clark, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Carter, etc. all
Read by: Christopher Evan Welch

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: 7 CDs, approximately 8.5 hours
Source: Review Copy from Simon and Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Author Linda Fairstein got together a great group of mystery writers for a wonderful cause.  All royalties in excess of editor and contributor compensation for this novel will be donated to Safe Horizon, the leading victim assistance agency in the country.  Each author wrote a chapter of this book and made it a great and compelling story.

Perry Christo is a Private Investigator.  He was once a detective on the police force, but lost his badge when he was framed for corruption after discovering more than he should have on a case.  His marriage broke apart after that and he has been trying to make a go of it as a PI.

Julia Drusilla is a wealthy divorcee that is looking for her missing daughter, Angelina, nicknamed Angel.  Angel is a young woman (20 years old) that was raised by her father after the divorce.  On her 21^st birthday, she will inherit a large trust fund if she is there to sign the papers.  Julia is searching for her to make sure this transfer takes place.  As Christo digs into the story, he learns there is much more to Angel than meets the eye.  

I found the novel to be fast paced and interesting.  I loved the twists and turns and how Perry also used the time to introspectively think about his own life.  Christopher Evan Welch was a good narrator and was the voice of Christo to me.

Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Jill Mansell

Jill Mansell has become one of my favorite women’s fiction authors.  I look forward to each of her new books. The worst part of her books is that they have to end.  Mansell is a master at creating an entire interwoven cast of characters I feel I know and care about by the end of each novel.  

In Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, Dexter Yates is thrilled when his big sister Laura finally has the baby she’s always wanted, Delphi.  Dexter isn’t ready to settle down yet with his high rolling job and life in London.  After the tragic death of Laura, Dex finds out he has been named baby Delphi’s guardian.  He moves to his cottage in a small village and gives up his former life to learn how to be a father.  Along the way he meets many great new people, including his neighbor Molly.  Molly is a cartoonist and genuinely nice woman, but she does not want to be another notch on Dex’s bed post.  As she struggles to find Mr. Right, she has to wonder if he has not been next door all along.

Overall, I loved Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.  I enjoyed the great characters, great story, and great setting.  I also loved how all of the storylines were tied up at the end.  I look forward to whatever book Jill Mansell has next!

Book Source:  Review Copy from Sourcebooks – Thanks!

The Final Sacrament by James Forrester

The Final Sacrament is the third and final book of the excellent trilogy that began with Sacred Treason.  It is Elizabethan London and those following the Catholic religion are not safe.  William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms and herald to Queen Elizabeth is a secret Catholic and holder of a document that could bring Queen Elizabeth down.    Catholic rebels want the document to put their own Catholic ruler on the thrown and will stop at nothing to make it happen, including kidnapping Clarenceux’s wife and daughter.  Clarenceux knows the stakes are high and will stop at nothing to get his family back together.

I enjoyed this action packed novel, although I did find it rather sad.  But it would have been a sad time to live in.  I enjoyed the entire trilogy.  It really got me thinking about what it would have been like to have been a common person living during such perilous time, and how lucky I am to live in a time and place where I can practice my religion without fear of persecution.  

Overall, The Final Sacrament was a thought provoking action-packed historical fiction novel.  I highly recommend it and the entire trilogy.

Source:  Review Copy from Sourcebooks  -Thanks!

Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick

Title: Bunker Hill
Author: Nathaniel Philbrick
Read by: Chris Sorensen
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: 11 CDs, approximately 13 hours
Source: Review Copy from Penguin Audio.  Thank-you!

Nathaniel Philbrick is a wonderful writer of history.  I greatly enjoyed his non-fiction book, Mayflower, and was more than a little excited to receive the audiobook of Bunker Hill to review from Penguin Audio.

Bunker Hill is a battle that every American school child is taught as a major battle of the Revolutionary War, but besides the fact that it was fought near Boston I didn’t know much about it.  I did know that America lost the battle, but that the colonists lost far few men than the British had to lose to make the victory possible.

Bunker Hill tells of the events leading up to the battle that actually took place on Breed’s Hill, not Bunker Hill.  From the fiery personalities involved on both sides, to the aftermath and its place in helping to secure the overall American victory, I found this book to be riveting.  I especially loved learning about General Joseph Warren.  He was a fascinating part of our history and it is interesting to wonder what would have happened if he would have lived.  I also loved learning that like most of our early heroes, he had his strengths and his weaknesses.

The most surreal moment of the book for me was when British General Howe was leading his troops up to the colonists’ fortifications on Breed’s Hill and he had a servant with him carrying champagne.  All I can say is, “wow.”  That is a totally different view of battle than I can ever imagine happening.  Also when Howe actually made it to the fort and realized he was the only officer that had made it there alive; it was a fantastic moment of the book.

I also loved how the story was bookended by John Quincy Adams.  Joseph Warren was a doctor and had repaired young Quincy Adams’s hand.  He and his mother Abigail had watched the battle from his home and it was a moment that deeply disturbed him.  At the end of the story as an old man, he still would not participate in any commemorations for the battle.

Chris Sorensen was a fantastic narrator.  His voice truthfully reminded me of Tom Hanks.  It was a great voice to listen to and was quite expressive while reading this book.

Overall, Bunker Hill is a fascinating look into our history and is not to be missed!