Old Favorite or New Discovery?

[Bill_T]

One opportunity that a new edition of a great book provides is an excuse for re-reading. But of course, it's also a spur for many readers to try out a famed work for the first time.

Because we bring these various perspectives to the conversation, we can have the best of both worlds. Those new to Austen's sparkling, sophisticated comedy can remind those of us for whom it's become familiar how wonderful it can be to discover this fictional world. And those of us who are returning to the text after many re-readings may be able -- like our guest David Shapard -- to illuminate some of the places where Regency attitudes, practices, and sometimes its use of English can throw modern readers for a loop.

Tell us about your past with Pride and Prejudice -- is this an old favorite, or are you meeting the Bennets for the first time? Or, perhaps, did you read Austen long ago and are just now coming back?

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Old favorite. Old, old favorite And I just re-read it this spring.

[katknit]

Old favorite. Read and reread and watched various film/video versions. Timeless!

[Everyman]

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Bill_T wrote:
Tell us about your past with Pride and Prejudice -- is this an old favorite, or are you meeting the Bennets for the first time? Or, perhaps, did you read Austen long ago and are just now coming back?

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Very old favorite. I don't know how many times I've read it, but like David Shapard I keep finding new things in it. I already own four editions of it, which will be five as soon as the Annotated arrives, which may indicate my love for it.

But I must also say that it's not my favorite Austen. That palm goes to Emma, which I find to be more complex with somewhat less contrived scenes than P&P. So I also await Shapard's Annotated Emma, which I trust will be out within the next two years -- right, DS?

[Gepard]

Old favorite, I cannot help but pick up a copy when I see it or any book that is related to it. I enjoy so much being captured into the story again and waiting all over for everything to fall into place, no matter how well I know the ending I find myself tensing and worried about what will happen next.

[sethsma05]

My first time reading P&P. Glad to be here.

[Everyman]

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sethsma05 wrote:
My first time reading P&P. Glad to be here.

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You have a great voyage of discovery ahead of you!

[JDourg]

First time for me!

[Laurel]

It's an old favorite with me, but certainly not old. Jane Austen packs so many hints of character and feeling into each paragraph that her book seems new with every reading.

[msbackhus]

This is an old favorite - so much so that I teach it every year to my sophomore Honors English class. My female students inevitably love the story, but I have a hard time tapping enthusiasm into teenage boys for P&P. I would love suggestions from our male readers about what it was that drew you and kept you in the book.

[Everyman]

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msbackhus wrote:
I would love suggestions from our male readers about what it was that drew you and kept you in the book.

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The delicious wit. The subtle skewering of pomposity.

[misslizzie]

"I don't know how many times I've read it, but like David Shapard I keep finding new things in it. I already own four editions of it, which will be five as soon as the Annotated arrives, which may indicate my love for it."

I'm with you - have several versions and have read it quite a few times now and keep finding new bits that I am amazed to have missed in earlier readings. I like to order British books from a bookseller in the UK so I get the original translation, so to speak, (if you've not read Harry that way give it a try!) which adds to the experience.

"But I must also say that it's not my favorite Austen. That palm goes to Emma, which I find to be more complex with somewhat less contrived scenes than P&P. So I also await Shapard's Annotated Emma, which I trust will be out within the next two years -- right, DS? "

I own Emma but haven't yet read it. Have been working through Mansfield Park which I've found slow. Renting the VHS of it from the library recently has helped a great deal with that one - gotta love hating Mrs Norris! Thanks for the thumbs-up on Emma - will get right to it! :-)

[KristyR]

Old favorite, I even named 2 of my daughters after characters in the book - Elizabeth Katherine and Charlotte Jane (ages 5 and 2). When I have the movie on Lizzy will point to the characters and ask "is that me?". When Charlotte hears her name on the tv she turns and says "She's talking to me!?". Her expression is priceless!

[DavidShapard]

"So I also await Shapard's Annotated Emma, which I trust will be out within the next two years -- right, DS?"



I am afraid to disappoint you, but there is not an Annotated Emma currently in the works - which means that it will certainly not come out within two years. I have seriously considered doing annotated versions of all the remaining novels, but have not decided yet whether to attempt that.

Message Edited by DavidShapard on 06-02-200704:49 PM

[Laurel]

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DavidShapard wrote:
"So I also await Shapard's Annotated Emma, which I trust will be out within the next two years -- right, DS?"



I am afraid to disappoint you, but there is not an Annotated Emma currently in the works - which means that it will certainly not come out within two years. I have seriously considered doing annotated versions of all the remaining novels, but have not decided yet whether to attempt that.

Message Edited by DavidShapard on 06-02-200704:49 PM

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What a treasure that would be!

[drclawgirl]

This is an old favorite for me. I have read it many times and even watched the different movies that have been made. But I am excited to be reading this version because it has all the little details to really bring out the heart of the story.

[Librarian]

My original meeting with Pride and Prejudice was not a good one. As a ninth grade high school student, I had to read it and do a book report. For some reason, I couldn't get the book finished on time because I didn't like it. I was a real "straight arrow" kind of student so my mother let me stay home "sick" to finish the book and give me an extra day. I still didn't finish it. I skipped around to parts including the end and fudged the report as best as I could. Needless to say, I didn't get the grade I would normally get . Years later as an adult, I enrolled in 50 classics from the Franklin Mint---one came each month. I then read Pride and Prejudice for pleasure not being constrained to read for a report. I found that now the book was no longer confusing. It was interesting and entertaining and I loved it!
Librarian

Message Edited by Librarian on 06-02-200709:33 PM

[JesseBC]

I'm only a few chapters into it (first-time reader), but, so far, it doesn't strike me as the kind of Emoto-Porn-for-Women that's usually filed under the romance genre.

Romances figure prominently in the Bronte novels too, but lots of men read those.

With teenagers, expressed opinions may reflect more on group preferences than on genuine personal tastes. In high school, I CLAIMED to think Ethan Frome was boring because that's what everyone else was saying. Secretly, I cried my eyes out and loved it, but I'd never have admitted that publicly.

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msbackhus wrote:
This is an old favorite - so much so that I teach it every year to my sophomore Honors English class. My female students inevitably love the story, but I have a hard time tapping enthusiasm into teenage boys for P&P. I would love suggestions from our male readers about what it was that drew you and kept you in the book.

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[CallMeLeo]

I first read Pride and Prejudice in high school. I appreciate it so much more now, twenty years later, than I did then.

[LizzieAnn]

Old Favorite!!! One of my top favorites! I've read and re-read this book (at least once a year) since I was 12. I love the humor, the irony, the wit, the situations, and especially the characters. The characters are so real - even today. I know people who are many of these characters. Reading it is like snuggling into a warm blanket on a cold winter day.