Pride in "Pride & Prejudice"

Two hundred years ago, one of my favorite stories by one of my favorite authors was published. Pride & Prejudice. If you haven't read the book, I'm betting you've seen either the movie or the series.

Most people have a preference as to favorite actors playing their favorite characters. For fun I thought I'd compare the two versions and vote on which version of the characters were my favorites.         

SERIES: Elizabeth Bennet--Jennifer Ehle.

WINNER.                     

It was was a very bright and strong portrayal.           

                           

MOVIE: Elizabeth Bennet – Keira Knightly Not enough of a presence in the movie.

SERIES: Mr.Darcy – Colin Firth WINNER 

THE Mr. Darcy. There is no other.

Ask anyone.

 

MOVIE: Mr. Darcy -- Matthew Macfadyen
Very handsome, but no one can
top Colin Firth.  Sorry abou that.

SERIES: Mr. Wickham -- Adrian Lukis
Very charming and sleazy.

MOVIE: Mr. Wickham – Rupert Friend WINNER.  I might be prejudiced, but seeing him in “Young Victoria” makes me a forever fan

SERIES: Jane Bennet -- Susannah Harker Sweet, but hated the hair so much I couldn't believe she was the "pretty one" even though she is very pretty. She seemed kind of vacant. MOVIE: Jane Bennet -- Karen Wasyloski  WINNER So lovely and sweet. Had some life in her.

SERIES: Mr. Collins -- David Bamber WINNER
Again, the hair was a factor.  So greasy
and icky.  And he was so fawning I simply
had to be disgusted by him.








MOVIE: Mr. Collins -- Tom Hollander
Just didn't buy it.




















The other sisters, the mother and father, Mr. Bingley . . . the actors in both versions did fine.
The costumes?  Although the bodices in the TV series were sometimes too stiff, the sacks that passed for everyday dresses in the movie made the Bennets look far poorer than they were.

Overall, the mini-series wins hands down.  I just don't think you can edit this wonderful story down to a 2 hour movie.  What do you think?
   
To cap off my opinion . . . here's one of my favorite pictures of Lizzie and Mr. Darcy's wedding.   True love does exist!

If you haven't read the book, there are hundreds of versions, but one I love is an annotated version that has interesting and sometimes funny comments and trivia. 

Also, if you'd like to read a biography of Jane Austen, that's factual but reads like a novel (it's Jane telling her life story), try my novel, Just Jane.  If you'd like to read an excerpt, click here.
     There's good reason that Jane's stories have lasted 200 years./Nancy

A Gift to Give Yourself

A Note from Stephanie:   

In the middle of the madness that will be December (in spite of our best efforts to control it), I hope that you will find time to give yourself a gift, too—time with a favorite book. Time with your feet propped up. Time with a cup of joe or cocoa or tea. Time. The best gift of all.

       
I thought I’d share two of the books I return to at this time of year (and why).  

Journey into Christmas by Bess Streeter Aldrich. 

Bess Streeter Aldrich is my favorite story-teller. She’s “the other Nebraska author” that few seem to know about. (Everyone knows about Willa Cather.) Aldrich is “softer.” Her stories are gentle and filled with hope. Journey into Christmas (first published in 1949) is a collection of short stories guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes and encouragement to your soul. The themes are timeless (difficult economies and tough times) but hope reigns eternal. And hope wins. Aldrich’s gift with imagery resonates with me. For example:

     “Bellfield is similar to a hundred other small Midwestern towns. From the air its building look like so many dishes clustered together on a flat table. The covered soup tureen is the community hall. The red vase in the center is the courthouse. The silver-tipped salt shaker is the water tank.

     There are few changes in the ensemble from year to year. Only the tablecloth is different. There is a vivid green one for spring, a checkered green-and-tan one for  summer, a mottled yellow-red-and-brown one for autumn. Just now—the day before  Christmas—nature, the busy housekeeper, had dressed the table in a snow-white cloth for the first time …”

            In another story, where children think that Christmas has become too much work for their 81-year-old mother and decide they won’t be going home for Christmas, Aldrich writes, “…not one had understood how much less painful it is to be tired in your body than to be weary in your mind—how much less distressing it is to have an ache in your bones than to have a hurt in your heart.” Never fear, though—Aldrich always treats her readers to a happy ending.

             If I could, I’d send a copy to every blog reader. I like it that much.

The Day Christ Was Born by Jim Bishop. 

             “The road out of Bethany threw a tawny girdle around the hill they called the Mount of Olives and the little parties came up slowly out of the east leading asses with dainty dark feet toward the spendor of Jerusalem.”

            I’ve never been to the Holy Land, but with that opening and all the way to the end, I feel that I am seeing what Mary and Joseph saw as they journeyed toward Christmas. In addition, I begin to understand what Jerusalem meant (and means) to the Jewish people.

            Bishop’s Mary is a flesh-and-blood girl—not some other-worldly mythical figure I can’t relate to. In this book, Mary is faithful and aware of her heavenly Father’s care, but she’s also terrified and wondering. “God was everywhere. It gave Mary confidence to know that He was everywhere. She needed confidence. Mary was fifteen.”

            The book flap on my copy of this book says, “Bishop incorporates treasures of information … discovered by nineteen centuries of scholars in archaeology, linguistics and related disciplines, to create a tapestry woven from many threads of a gripping, ever-unfolding narrative that is biblically accurate yet filled with rich, dramatic, detail.”

            In plain language, Bishop’s account is the ultimate “you are there” experience (at least it is for me). He helps me see, hear, small, and feel what the most important event in all of human history might have been like for the real humans who lived it—Mary and Joseph, shepherds and Magi (in spite of the title, the story goes beyond that one day). Bishop provides the cultural context for the story in a way that helps me understand and appreciate “the players” far more than I ever have before. [Apparently the book is out of print, but abundant used copies are available online.]

_____________________________

            May your holidays be bright, and I hope you give yourself the gift of quiet time and reading. 

What’s your favorite holiday reading? 

A Patchwork Christmas Collection

Quilts and Christmas.
There's no better combination.

A PATCHWORK CHRISTMAS

Stephanie and I (Nancy) are happy to announce a new novella collection by the two of us and Judith Miller. Three historical novellas that revolve around Christmas—and quilts! What evokes a cozier feeling than quilts? And as a bonus, in the back of the book are recipes and directions to make a crazy-quilt ornament, a pair of knitted Amana mittens, and a patchwork doll quilt!

• THE BRIDAL QUILT by Nancy Moser: A wealthy ingénue—the toast of 1889 New York—
inadvertently causes grave injury to a poor man who protects a street urchin from a rearing horse.
Remorse forces her to bring the man home, where she discovers he is someone she once considered quite a catch. Can she give up everything to love him?

• SEAMS LIKE LOVE by Judith Miller: Jilted by a faithless fiancé, Karla Stuke of the Amana
Colonies packs away her wedding quilt in 1890, her faith in men destroyed and her hope for marriage and children shattered. Until an apprentice pharmacist arrives in town. Does Frank Lehner have the saint’s patience he’ll need to change her mind?

* A PATCHWORK LOVE by Stephanie Grace Whitson: Jane McClure, widowed too soon, is headed west in 1875 to marry a prosperous businessman she barely knows in order to give her daughter a better life. Given shelter when a show storm strands them both, Jane worries that her chance is slipping away—and so does the homesteader who rescued her. Will she see what’s
right in front of her?

Thanks for visiting, and may your holidays be bright.

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