@alh Love, love, love Persuasion! It should be better known than it is.
Persuasion and P and P are tied for my favorites.
I think, commenting on above, that in general when people say the BBC one, it is commonly assumed to be the Firth/Ehle version.
I really don’t want spoilers. I’m off of this thread until February 1.
Ta ta!
Anyone seen Austenland? I really liked it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985019/
@alh, no, I didn’t know of the Weldon book, Thanks!
And yes, I have seen that movie. 
@Scipio I have always thought that the Olivier/Garson version was absolutely dreadful.
I confess that I am somewhat amazed that there is such a thing as a spoiler for Pride and Prejudice! The plot has been played and replayed and cast and recast so many times…even before it was written, LOL. (See Much Ado About Nothing )
VeryHappy, Enjoy!! Can’t wait to read what you and other new readers think.
I am very envious of those reading the book for the first time as an adult. To read it with fresh eyes, without having all the movies in your head would be an amazing experience. At my house there have been long discussions of various ways the writing has been interpreted in film… what is in the book and what is made up, like that now iconic Colin Firth lake scene, the very dfferent ways that Mrs. Bennet has been depicted, etc For us, the films really impact how we remember the story and I wish I could read the books without being influenced by the movies at all.
I’m jealous @alh that you have someone in your house who read this book and would discuss it. My kids had to read it in high school and hated it, my husband would not read or watch anything related to Pride and Prejudice. When we went to Bath I was dying to go to her visitors center, but we never made it over there.
For all the Colin Firth admirers … I was watching an interview he gave in which he told a story of how his brother teased him about getting the part of Darcy. Something was said along the lines of “How did YOU get that part? Isn’t Darcy supposed to be sexy?”
I was planning to lurk on this book discussion thread but now I have to join - every year I reread all my favorite books and it was my plan to start 2018 with Pride and Prejudice.
Pride and Prejudice is tied with Persuasion as my favorite Jane Austen book and then it’s Mansfield Park for me. Sense and Sensibility was a tedious read.
The BBC series were both pretty good, with the Garvie-Rintoul version sticking to the book more. Jennifer Ehle sparkled as Lizzie but Colin Firth is Darcy! He brooded and smoldered perfectly.
Much as I like oldies, the Greer Garson/Lawrence Olivier version was an absolute disappointment. Maybe if Darcy had been played by, oh say Cary Grant? Greer Garson played Elizabeth as if she was high on something.
The modern one wasn’t true to the book but not bad. But really, to have animals wandering around the house was a bit much and Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet was…let’s just say not great. There’s a scene in the movie where he calls Mrs. B ‘blossom’(?something like it) and I just cringe.
Oh my. I might have to join in. In our family it’s the BBC movie version all the way. Even DH can stop and watch the scene where Elizabeth has it out with Lady Katherine. One of my girls watches the movie when she’s sick like some people eat chicken soup. I think I liked Mr Bennett better in the Kiera Knightley version.
I’m enjoying reading everyone’s posts. Is there another book in the world that would have generated so much commentary so quickly among this group? (If there is, let me know and I’ll suggest it for our April choice. 
)
The only ones I can think of, I would never reread - 
But there must be others.
It would seem to me that most who enjoy Austen would also very much enjoy Trollope, sinceThe Barchester Chronicles and Palliser novels are just one big well-written soap opera, but such a huge time commitment. To me they get better and better throughout the series as the characters develop over years and we get to see how all the children turn out. I like to read The Eustace Diamonds with Thackery’s Vanity Fair, but both are pretty long for a book club, at least any of the real life book clubs to which I’ve belonged.
eyemamon: My kids read Austen as homeschoolers and think she is one of the funniest authors ever. That so many folks dislike Pride and Prejudice says a lot about our schools, imho. Husband and I reread them together every few years. Like so many books, they are a very different read for us at 60ish than 20ish.
AnAsmom: Sense and Sensibility is a difficult read for me because I’m just too embarrassed for Marianne to keep turning the pages.
I am not commenting on this till the thread officially begins. No more spoilers from me.
@alh agree on Sense and Sensibility! I like Vanity Fair too but it is too long to reread every year. One of my goals for 2018 is to finish Lord Jim or Kim, both being books I gave up on the previous tries.
For the rest I’m keeping my thoughts to myself till the thread officially begins. I didn’t realize my comment could be a spoiler for those who haven’t watched the movie or read the book. My bad!
I am only throwing out Vanity Fair as a companion piece to Lady Eustace’s Diamonds, since I feel it is the same plot and, most important to me, same protagonist,just handled a bit differently by the authors. I rarely reread Thackery. I am frequently rereading Trollope, just dipping in and out various books of his sometimes these days. I have much more time to read than most people. On the other hand, I’m a very uneducated and naive reader so my reading isn’t necessarily as meaningful as it might be.
The plot to every Jane Austen novel in 23 words:
Woman: “He must never find out that I love him.”
Man: “She must never find out that I love her.”
They find out.
When I read Austen, I keep reminding myself that many of the female characters are girls, not women. Marianne’s overdramatic behavior would be ridiculous for a woman, but she was 16.
Lydia Bennett is 15 when the novel starts. Wickham is about the same age as Darcy, so late 20s. Hmm.
Not getting into the book discussion itself until Feb, but DD and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie adaptation “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, almost as much as we enjoyed the Bollywood version “Bride and Prejudice”
DD and I both like to imagine a version with Keira Knightly and Colin Firth.
I have never liked Donald Sutherland.
My S had to read P and P as part of the Core in his college and loved it. My H finally read it last year after S and I lulled him into watching the BBC version. Also liked it a lot. Weirdly, because we share a lot of book favorites, my D has never been interested in reading it. Alas.
@Scipio–when has a book worth reading ever been really about the plot?
I think the good thing about P and P is there are so many movies that I don’t really have any of them in mind when I reread the book - probably helps that they are all flawed in some way.
There is a fun adaptation set in modern Utah. The wild child drinks a coke!! Lots of subtle things like that. A couple of the characters are a hoot.