In My Books

Friday the 16th being Jane Austen’s birthday, I dedicated the day to her by starting on her most famous novel — the unabridged Pride and Prejudice.

Ended the evening watching the BBC/A&E production of P&P starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I should mention that the previous weekend, I took off to the cinema to watch P&P2005, the movie starring KK and MM (as the ladies over at Austen Blog would write). Watching the latter after reading all those reviews I mentioned in my post on the movie, I went in with an open mind and found myself quite enjoying it. Just turn a blind eye to the liberties taken with plot, characterisation and the period costumes and you may do just fine. Although I must say that the last bit where KK and MM shared a kiss at the end is totally the imagination of the director’s, and doesn’t sit well with a lot of Janeites and book purists.

Time magazine did a wonderful comparison in their article on Books vs Movies if you’d like a low-down on other movie adaptations of famous novels now showing.

It took me quite a while but I finally finished reading Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ just before I flew off for that family vacation.

Emma Woodhouse may be witty and imaginative, but she’s spoilt and snobbish to a certain extent, and so wasn’t easy to warm up to. There were quite a number of occasions when I felt like smacking her on the head for being so blind, self-centred and impetuous. I was quite disappointed with her for deliberately hurting the garrulous Miss Bates who, although she really annoys with her endless chatter and appears quite without any opinions of her own, is quite a harmless but kind-hearted spinster, with barbed comments about Bates’ talkativeness in a display of wits. Emma redeemed herself in my eyes when she expressed regrets over that uncalled-for attack and tried to make amends for it.

It wasn’t easy trying to guess Emma’s heart too. She’s so busy trying to match her new-found friend, Harriet Smith, with the available local gentry that she hardly knew what was in her heart. She never stopped to examine her feelings for her dear Mr Knightley until Harriet professed her love and admiration for him. Only then did she realise that she had been in love with him for quite a while and that he was the only man she’d marry.

Throughout the book, I couldn’t help marveling at the lengths women of her time go to, just to hide their emotions. The other love affair in the novel, that between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax, was never discovered until almost the end of the story. The diversion tactics Churchill used threw their Highbury society off the trail, causing one and all to suspect that he favoured Emma and created quite a bit of misunderstanding. It’s no wonder Knightley was hesitant about telling the self-deluded Emma his feelings towards her. I shudder to think what this comedy of errors would have led to, if both pairs didn’t come clean in the end. It would have been the greatest tragedy to see Emma stuck in a disastrous marriage of her own making.

Austen wrote this book at the height of her powers, and you could easily see why this book is regarded as one of her finest achievements by the delicate irony, the sharp yet elegant prose and engaging characterisation that has become hallmarks of her works. Reading her novels is akin to reading an entertaining social commentary. Her vivid description leaves you with a very fascinating knowledge of Georgian England and her masterful portrayal of the men and women of that era overturns any notions that they are a suppressed, cold people devoid of emotions.

If anything, I find their impassioned declarations, when they do make them, much more eloquent and touching. Mr Knightley’s, for example, leaves you in no doubt of his sincerity:

“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me.”

If you have the time, hop over to the Austen Blog for more little known facts about the author and her novels, as well as reviews of her books and other Austen related works.

Barely 3 days after the glorious two-week vacation, first in the gorgeous Gold Coast of Australia, then in idyllic Bintan island, and I’m already suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Took off with the family on the 29th last month to serene Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island and beautiful Surfers’ Paradise for a much anticipated holiday. We had a lovely time sand tobogganing and getting close to the marine life before heading back to mainland on the evening of the 1st. Of course, we had to visit Movie World, the kids and the overgrown kid in me wouldn’t miss it for the world!! My daughter went twice on the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster ride and the boy loved the Road Runner Roller Coaster although he admitted that it was a lil’ scary.

Our last two days were spent on the magnificent main beach, where I finally got the chance to catch up on some reading and finished ‘Shopaholic & Sister’ while admiring the sun imparting the sky with a purplish pink blush as it sank below the horizon.

Back from Australia, we left the kids in the good hands of their grandma and escaped to Bintan for a de-stress retreat. It was there that I read ‘Wait Until Midnight’ by Amanda Quick over meals and out on the quiet beach. But more on the books later …

It’s amazing how the setting really helps one to absorb the stories better. It was absolute bliss to be able to read uninterrupted until you’re ready to take a vision break.

I’d recommend reading on the beach anytime. I may be back on earth now, but my heart is still on that silky soft beach sighing at the perfect sunset over the coast and hugging another happy ending to myself. So it’s only fitting that I leave you with this verse about the therapeutic beauty of nature, which expresses how I felt just relaxing and reading on that beach:

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
~John Muir