Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

So...I finally finished Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Quirk Classic's latest literary contribution to the world, last night.
I give it four out of five. It was good and funny. It did a relatively good job of holding true to the original story. But it just wasn't as good as P&P&Z. I did enjoy it and it's definitely worth a read and a laugh.
Like I said with P&P&Z, if you think it's heresy, don't read it. But if you want a good laugh, go for it.

That was quick

Last night, while on page 91 of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I announced to the world that I had started to read the book. That was about 18 hours ago.

And then...as of about 11am...
I finished it! And it was fabulous!

I loved it. It made me laugh so much. And I would recommend it to most people who wouldn't be morally offended by the idea that someone (Seth what's-his-face) would drop zombies into this classic love story. Here's the deal. If you think this is heresy, don't read it.
I've heard a lot of people say that it doesn't go far enough. But I'm not sure what "far enough" is. He didn't really change the story. He just added sentences and changed a few words. Oh, and they put pictures in.

It's definitely better than Facebook stalking Great-Aunt Geraldine. But if you really want to know, she's watching Funny Face and drinking a Long Island Iced Tea.

Well, I've given in...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. Drop whatever you are doing; it probably isn't really that important. You can facebook stalk your Great-Aunt Geraldine tomorrow; she'll still be watching Fred Astaire movies and drinking vodka shots.
Much greater news has happened upon you.
And no, it's not Barack Obama's admission that he was black BEFORE he was elected to the presidency.
It's bigger, better, and makes more people laugh.

Last Tuesday, I went to Amazon.com (shameless plug for them; they should pay me for that one) and purchased two books: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the newly released Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I also bought the soundtrack to the movie Newsies but that's irrelevant.
The books arrived over the weekend and I'm now 90-odd pages into P&P&Z.
So what do I think of it? READ IT!!!
Buy, sell, run, fly...do whatever you must...but it's a must read. It makes a great book even funnier.

And maybe someday I'll write a blog post about how the use of zombies in the novel reflects the status quo role of women in the Regency-era marriage market.
Or maybe I'll save that for my doctoral dissertation.

Pickles to Pittsburgh

1) MY VOICE IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, Donal, I really missed talking; that was why the last blog post was so long.

2) The Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and they're playing Pittsburgh. The Wings can win and the Penguins can go eat pickles. (Pickles to Pittsburgh is also the name of a(n awful) sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.)

3) I need a job. Badly.

4) Greg finished reading The Ultimate Guide to Femininity. He said it was good. But he does not understand why women love it because (in his opinion) it makes fun of women.

5) I still need a job. Maybe I'll go write Sense and Sensibility and Zombies.

Back to It...Again

MY BIG BROTHER IS READING "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE!"
He says so far it's really slow.

Ben told me, "Don't tell me he's reading P&P."
I did anyway. I'm a great friend and sister.

Alex said, "I think he told me about that."

I said, "I don't think he'll like it."

And you can quote me on that; I just did.

On Second Thought

Dear Jane Austen,

I have read all of your books-excepting Sanditon and the stories you wrote as a child. And I have a few complaints. First of all, very few guys I know enjoy your books. Now maybe you don’t mind that. But I am a bit tired of mentioning your books and immediately see eyes rolling and boys sighing and suddenly they’re all on the floor sleeping when all I said was “I just finished reading Persuasion and now I need a new book to read.” But we can’t talk about Red Wings hockey like I wanted now because all the boys are on the floor sound asleep. They won’t even give you a chance because you have this reputation as the empress of chick lit or something like that.

Now I understand that you were a good writer. And I know some men who appreciate that. I know some guys who like your books. I know men who have given you a shot and admitted that you’re a decent writer but you’ve got nothing on Patrick McManus. (Sadly, they’re right.) You also have nothing on J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis and I really prefer their writings. The movies of their books are also more fun. I’d much rather watch someone fight off Orcs in Moria and then fight the battle of Helm's Deep and then more battles after that than watch the prejudiced Lizzie Bennet marry the proud Mr. Darcy. Or is it the proud Lizzie and the prejudiced Mr. Darcy? It’s so hard to remember or decided. Although, I do need to thank you for one thing; all of your titles are clear except for Pride and Prejudice. I know who Emma is. I know who is Sense (Elinor) and who is Sensibility (Marianne). I know where the titular Persuasion comes into play. I get that Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park are the settings of their respective novels. But who is pride and who is prejudice?

Furthermore, you unwittingly inspired thousands of movies and plays and books. I’m not entirely sure that I’m comfortable with this. The famous P&P rivalry/dynamic is mimicked in Shop Around the Corner in the 1930’s. Okay, that was fine. But then there was every other chick flick made between then and then End of Time. The same dynamic is present in 1998’s You’ve Got Mail. It’s in Bride and Prejudice, which was inspired by Pride and Prejudice. You’ve got a million girls around the world in love with Fitzwilliam Darcy or Joe Fox or whoever is the latest incarnation of him-including in 2003’s Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy. It’s a bit boring.

And what is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great about Mr. Darcy anyway? Okay so he’s handsome and he owns Pemberley. Hot Fuzz! But he’s so proud and arrogant and conceited. I don’t think he ever really learns his lesson. Oh, sure, he does great things to woo Lizzie. He makes her sister marry Wickham and takes care of everything for them financially. And he does it all because he loves Lizzie and he wants to marry her-not because he’s a good and decent person. I’m just not that crazy about Darcy. I’m not really sure that he ever has a change of heart. I know that Captain Wentworth has a change of heart. And Emma matures and grows up. But Mr. Darcy just kind of sits there and says, “I’m rich. Worship me. Marry me. Have my babies. Your family is stupid.” Okay, her family is ridiculous. But come on, Jane. He needs a little maturity.

Oh and I’ve always liked Persuasion more than Pride and Prejudice. I like You’ve Got Mail. And I love Shop Around the Corner but I’ve always been a BIG James Stewart fan. Colin Firth is decent but he's no Cary Grant.

I also think you would have enjoyed Gladiator and Braveheart.

Sincerely yours,

A Concerned Fan

Maybe I'll just shut up

Ben hasn't replied. I don't really care.
Donal has commented; please see below.

And a new voice has spoken. My good (albeit French-Canadian) friend, Michel, has said that he feels that no guy should speak on this issue until he reads the book himself. Thusly, he intends to (possibly; you never really know with him) read P&P himself and then give his opinion. If/When he does, I will share it with you.

Here's a new question about which I have been thinking for a few weeks now:
Every time I'm at Target, I see the movie 13 Going on 30, which is a cute movie that I enjoy. It's also usually on sale/special for either $5 or $7.50. However, I always resist the temptation to buy it because a) the case is pink b) it has a "lipstick" heart drawn around Mark Ruffalo's face and c) it says "Fun and Flirty Edition!" in bright letters. Why does all of this bother me?
If it came in a white or black case, with no heart drawn around Mark Ruffalo's face and no "FUN AND FLIRTY EDITION!" I'd probably buy it-especially for $5. But the girly barf-stuff just really bothers me. WHY?

We just can't leave well enough alone

Maryn, this is largely in response to you.
"Ben,
So I recently told you that I didn't think that men need to read/watch Pride and Prejudice. I haven't changed my mind. But after telling you that, I posted the following (which is actually only an excerpt) on my blog:
[Go read the post entitled "Wine Glasses, Summer, Zombies, and Laughter"]
So Donal agreed with me. And then Maryn made this comment on my blog: "I disagree with the "men shouldn't read and enjoy P&P" comment. Totally."
I disagree with her. Then I asked Amy, Lynne, and Mary their opinions and they all agree with me. Men do not need to read or enjoy Jane Austen. I'm not saying that they CANNOT or SHOULD not do it. I'm just saying that I don't think they need to do so. It is a story about women and for women. I think men can learn more about women by talking to women than by reading Pride and Prejudice. I've read that book multiple times and I know guys who have read it. They generally do not enjoy it. And that's okay. I don't like watching Rocky. Why should you like Pride and Prejudice?
And this is mostly getting posted on my blog...you had no clue what you were starting when you posted that quotation on your facebook..."
So this is where I (and my intelligent and lovely colleagues Amy, Lynne, and Mary) stand on this issue:
Men do not need to read P&P. They can if they so desire. But they do not need to do so. I should not have used the word "should" in my previous post. I just don't feel that it's really a guy thing. Ben doesn't ask me to watch Rocky with him and my brother doesn't ask me to watch Family Guy with him. (I actually don't know if Ben likes Rocky but for the sake of argument, we'll say he does.) But while they don't ask me to watch Rocky or Family Guy with them, I don't ask them to watch P&P with me.
However, we will watch Gladiator and The Philadelphia Story together. And we can watch the Red Wings together.
But some things belong more to women and others belong more to men.
I'll let you know if Ben has a response.

Wine Glasses, Summer, Zombies, and Laughter

1) My twenty-first birthday is rapidly approaching-it's only 64 days away. Thusly, I have started looking for wine glasses online. I really want to have some stunningly beautiful wine glasses. I like these, these, and these.
2) Summer...yes, I finished my finals and am free for the summer. Now I need a job.
3) Zombies...A few days ago, I was on Facebook and I needed to send a message to my good friend, Ben. I was also looking at his favorite quotations because being a philosophy major and good Catholic boy, he has many good ones from JPII. And then I found this: "'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.'
-Product description on amazon.com of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." My initial response was to tell him that I didn't approve of "this Pride and Prejudice and Zombies garbage." But then I thought of Donal and his many rants about his attempts to read the book. I talked to Jenny Pink about it. And I came to this conclusion: "With regards to your quotation about "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," check this out. If you dig around on the blog, you'll find Donal's notes from when he read "Pride and Prejudice" (without zombies) and did not enjoy it.
It's okay; I don't think guys should a) read that book or b) enjoy it." And then I directed him to The People's Republic of D. Cous to read Donal's perspective on P&P&Z. I also recommended that if he had time (which I assume that he doesn't as he has two finals tomorrow) he could dig around the site to find Donal's reflections from his readings of P&P.
And in the process, I came to the previously mentioned conclusion, of which I later informed Ben. Pride and Prejudice is a girl book; men/boys do not need to read it. One of the primary attractions of that book is Colin Firth. If it weren't for this man, women, while we'd still love the proud and prejudiced Mr. D, we wouldn't adore him nearly as much.
In all honesty, Mr. Darcy isn't even my favorite Austen-Man; Mr. Knightley and Colonel Brandon both outrank him.
When informed of all of this, Ben laughed and said that he THINKS he understands now. He still doesn't know about my seven page masterpiece about how Charlotte Lucas represents the status-quo relationship between women and the marriage market in the late 1700s and early 1800s. But that's okay. He doesn't need to know about that or completely understand me; it's not like he's going to marry me or anything.
4) Laughter...I've laughed a lot lately. It's good.