Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

Libby audiobook 12 hours

Read by Kate Kellgren

Published: 1813 (this version 2010)

Genre: historical fiction, romance

 

I can't believe I've never blogged this book before! It's one of my favorites. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are so delightful. I have so many favorite scenes. This audiobook was sheer pleasure to listen to (except for Mr. Collins' long-winded obnoxiousness, of course). 

 

I love Keira Knightley in the 2005 film version (and most of the rest of the cast). But Colin Firth in the 1995 television series is an amazing Mr. Darcy. Ahh. I could rewatch, relisten, and reread again and again. But I have so many other books right now! 

I just went to my old Excel spreadsheet of reading response and found this:

Pride and Prejudice

Austen, Jane

4/26/07

Love story from the 1800s. Who was more prideful - Elizabeth Bennett or Mr. Darcy? 

 I love this story! The movie version with Keira Knightley was my first experience with Jane Austen's work. The language, manners, and social conventions are so different from our age, but it's a wonderful love story nonetheless.

 

 

Wow! I didn't realize I hadn't read Austen before watching the movie back in 2007! Memory can be deceptive . . .  

<Above posted 12.23.2023. Below added 11.23.2025.>

I relistened to this story because I spend a lot of time in my car. Narrator Kate Kellgren (Libby audiobook) did a wonderful job. I love the language and the social conventions in courting at that time. I still dislike listening to Mr. Collins' speechifying. Whenever I hear Lady Catherine de Bourgh, I picture Judi Dench. Time to re-watch the movie?

CD / Carver County / unabridged / approx. 16 hours

May, Nadia - beautiful British accent, but she sounded too old for the young characters. . .

Mansfield Park

by Jane Austen
PRMS hardcover 408 pages
genre: historical fiction, romance

I forced myself to finish this book. It was the only Austen I had not read. I shall not read it again. Fanny is sent from her overcrowded home to live with her aunt and uncle at Mansfield Park. They are wealthy and egocentric. Fanny is a navel-gazer who can barely function with anyone other than her cousin Edmund. It takes these people forever and five conversations to say one sentiment.

Can you tell I hated it? I'm so glad I'm finally done reading this. It helped that it was on my iPad and I could finish on the drive home from Iowa. I have re-read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, but I do not think I will ever open this book again. Goodbye, Fanny! Goodbye Crawfords! Goodbye, most awful Aunt Norris! (Not the aunt of Mansfield Park; just an odious sister of hers.)

The Jane Austen Book Club

by Karen Joy Fowler
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs
read by Kimberly Schraf

Hmmm. I really want to see the movie, which I'd heard great things about. This book didn't connect strongly for me. The book club format was an interesting way to get to know Jocelyn, Sylvia, Allegra, Bernadette, Prudie, and Grigg. But just as I was getting to know a character well, the story switched to a different line. It was kind of disconcerting. And I thought the women were a little snotty. Anyhow, it did make me want to re-read Austen's works, though I'm definitely not in love with them the way these characters are!

From my notes:
Jocelyn - dogs
Sylvia - Daniel
Allegra - Corrine
Prudie - French
Grigg - SciFi
Bernadette - talker

Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen
Dakota County Library audioCDs 7 hours
read by Donada Peters
genre: romance

I hadn't read this Austen story before. For the most part, I liked it. Catherine Morland goes to Bath with her friends the Allens. There she meets Henry Tilney and John Thorpe, among other people. I liked this story much better than Emma and Persuasion, but not as well as P&P and S&S. The reader does a fine job of relating the story. In fact, I stayed up too late on a work night to finish it because I was enjoying it so much!

Persuasion

by Jane Austen
home, hardcover, 116 pages

Anne Elliot is not nearly as likable as Elizabeth Bennett, but I enjoyed this story anyway. Reading too much of this type of fiction makes me impatient and bored with the idle rich. Yet at the same time, the excellent manners and restrained passions are intriguing. Mrs. Russell's interference prevented me from appreciating much of anything about her.
There are two Austen works I've not yet read, but here's the order of preference so far:
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Persuasion
Emma

Emma

by Jane Austen
home copy, hard cover

This is definitely my LEAST favorite Austen story. (so far) It took me four months to slog through it. Yuk! How inane and irritating! It reminded me of "A Room with a View." If I hadn't seen a movie version of it that I liked a little, I don't think I could have finished it. I don't anticipate ever reading this again, but I am now re-reading Pride and Prejudice, one of my faves.