Forums » Reading Corner » Read Thread

So, I’ve been reading Sense and Sensibility and jotting down my thoughts. I’m not really one for romances, but this one isn’t too insufferable yet. Marianne’s sass is carrying the entire story.

Without further ado, here’s what I’ve written so far!

• Come on, Jane, literally everyone named has the same last name—just give us first names like you did with the girls!

• Ah yes, the 1700s tradition of explaining the personalities at the beginning of the story

• Title explained in the first chapter. Nice!

• So I guess:
  Elinor has common sense and uses it
  Marianne has common sense but chooses to ignore it
  Margaret is the youngest sibling, and thus has 0 brain cells

• Mrs. John Dashwood is stingy

• Issues with the in-laws

• Elinor is the only sensible one in the household

• Observes the “annuity immortality” law

• Without Elinor this family would fall apart in roughly 30 seconds

• More in-law problems

• “In this household, we only marry for love.”

• Edward is an introvert’s best friend—doesn’t try to talk to you

• Mrs. Dashwood is a shipper

• “They looked at each other? I’d better start baking the wedding cake.”

• Elinor and Marianne talk boys

• “Oh no! My expectations are too high! What should I do?”

• Going through a move

• Mrs. John Dashwood is an entitled brat

• Children make excellent conversation starters

• Well, at least you didn’t talk while she was playing like some people (looking at you, Sir John)

• Mrs. Jenning is another shipper

• Maribrandon anyone?

• *flashbacks to elementary school*

• (Love is an Open Door playing in the background)

• “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I was supposed to be open and sincere. My mistake.”

• Little bit too candid there, Willoughby

• Elinor has sass of her own

• Though Marianne is still the reigning Sass Queen

Reading Corner is a lonely place, but thank you for trying.

Do love me a bit of classic literature, but sadly never got around to reading this one... I should attempt a new book club. (Not that the last one went well, considering I ended up not reading anything because I'm too fucking lazy.) :p

Sense and Sensibility is a good one; if you end up liking it, I recommend trying Mansfield Park.  I am, I'm aware, the only person in the universe who would recommend that one next.  It is weird and offputting, and the heroine feels wholly out of place as the protagonist of an Austen novel.  I think she would be the first to tell you so.

Mansfield Park has some of Austen's best prose and interesting plot design.  I look forward to the bulleted list that comes from your perusal of it.

Never read that one, but with a Gower recommendation I may have to check it out now.


Maybe we could even try doing the book of the month thing again. We could aim for a record of one book this time.

While I will probably never pick up the actual story, I found your light critique genuinely interesting to read. I feel .04% more cultured even now, thanks~ ^v^

Cupka is now tasked with doing these on enough books that you get up there to that 1%

Challenge accepted!

Also join our book club. There will be cake. ^_^

 

Another bullet-point review of Sense and Sensibility! 

• Elinor isn’t dealing with the new move well

• “A series of unfortunate circumstances,” hmm?
  New book idea: take a random snippet of Jane Austen and change one of the words to make your title

  • Grief of Disappointed Love

  • Charms of Eagerness and Ignorance

• “...all that she knew of Marianne’s imprudence and want of thought…”
  As a sibling I can attest to the accuracy of this

• “I have not known him long indeed, but I am much better acquainted with him, than I am with any other creature in the world…” Me, when referring to any cat

• Notice the difference:
  Marianne and Mrs. Dashwood: “She talked to a boy? Prepare the pews!”
  Elinor: “It would be like Marianne to get engaged to a man she met literally a week ago.”

• *Love is an Open Door intensifies*

• Marianne: “I love him!
  Marianne, 2 seconds later: “What are you talking about? I don’t have a crush on anyone, no sirree.

• Willoughby, roll to seduce.

• Mrs. Dashwood: “But it’s true love!”
  Elinor: “They have literally never even told you they’re engaged.”

• Elinor with the sass!

• “I am your girlfriend, why are you not talking to me?”

• Marianne: “Money can’t buy happiness!”
  Elinor: “Well, it certainly won’t make me sad.”

• So the guy just cuts a lock of Elinor’s hair while she’s sleeping or something? If someone did that to me, I would smack them.

• “(My children) will be brought up to be as unlike myself as possible”
  Mood

• “ ‘I could look at them forever!’ She soon forgot there were any such things in the room.”

• Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are like the TV couple who always fights because drama and everyone else is just “I think something is wrong with your relationship.”

• John, this is the seventh week in a row you’ve shown the “Sweetest Girls in the World” in class.

• Can’t believe I just noticed that instead of saying things like “awfully pretty” they say “monstrous pretty”
  (It gives me a sort of Bride of Frankenstein’s monster vibe)

• Elinor, halfway to sobbing: Finally, someone else with common sense.

• Also, if Elinor replaced any YA protagonist, the series would be over by the first book.
  The Hunger Games:
  Elinor: I...don’t volunteer as tribute. I already know Margaret’s going to kill them all anyway.
  END OF SERIES

• “Of course my children are perfect, what else are you expecting?” -Lady Middleton, 1781

• Marianne, silently repeating in her head: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it. If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it.

• Lucy is like,
  “Dear Sister,
  By the time you read this, you will have embarrassed me. Here’s how I think it’s going to go…”

• OH MY!

• The plot twist! 

• Four years!

• Elinor on the outside: Go on, tell me more.

• Elinor on the inside: what the frick what the frick what the frick what the frick what the

• Elinor would make an amazing spy

• Lady Middleton is the 18th century soccer mom

• Elinor: paragon of rationality
  Also Elinor: Poor Edward couldn't possibly love Lucy more than me

Is this all from one book? Or is it the second book in a series? How many pages are we talking here?

All one book.

There's 50 chapters, and the first list looks at chapters 1-10.

The second one looks at chapters 11-23.

(There are 50 chapters in total, though some of them aren't very long.)

My copy only has around 200 pages (however, the font is ridiculously small)

Now I will do a bullet-point review of William Blake's poetry collection Songs of Innocence and Experience in the same style.

 

• What are those merry bells ringing about????
• Lamb time, meek and mild?  Stay tuned! 
• Jesus, angel, white soul...poor kid.
• OH NO YOU DIDN'T, WORM THAT FLIES IN THE NIGHT
• hahaha, awesome
• Poet is all, "lark in the sky, merrily" and I'm like "I hate when poets make merrily rhyme with sky."
• come and lick my white neck?
• oh my god oh my god what is he going to rhyme "symmetry" with
• !!!!!!
• groaning infants--sounds legit
• ampersands much? 
• Blake is all, how do you spell that?  Tigre?  tyger?  Eh, close enough.
• I think that rose-tree may have some double meaning.  Those are sexy roses!
• What the devil!
• Woah!  Awesome!
• Now that's what I call enjambment
• I wonder what the youthful harlot's curse was?  It's 1789, so I bet it was "D______ you!"
• Romanticism burn!

I haven't read much poetry, but I have to agree with you on the "sky and merrily" front.

Also, though a bit more acceptable, "rain" and "again" always bugs me.

I finally managed to track down a copy of The Name of the Rose, so expect my bulleted hot takes when I have time to read it 

You should do this for the book of Numbers.

 It's been a while, but I'm back at it with another review!

This one goes from chapters 26-38, in case anyone's curious. (I didn't happen to find anything of note in chapters 24 or 25.)

• Overprotective older sister

• “If you break her heart, I will break your arm.”

• Elinor is surprisingly empathetic. Though maybe that’s just Sibling EnergyTM.

• Marianne is going through some mood swings (some might be a bit of an understatement)

• What is Willoughby up to?

• Oh no.

• If this was a Stephen King novel, Elinor and Marianne would have blood on their hands tonight (Heck, even if this was a Roald Dahl novel, Willoughby would be getting clubbed by a leg of lamb.)

• Accurate crying mood—you can keep the tears in as long as
  1. You don’t speak
  2. Someone doesn’t ask if you’re okay

• Colonel Brandon would be terrible on phone calls

• Aww, they’re staying for each other! (would siblings really behave like this is the real question)

• Interesting quotation mark paraphrasing there

• The awkward family reunions continue!

• “Great. These people.”

• “Do not punch her. Do not punch her.”

• *passive-aggressiveness intensifies*

• Though, I don’t think I’d fare well in the 19th century—my head’s too far in the clouds to notice the veiled insults and read the subtext of the letters people sent me.

• “I’m so poor.” *talks about all the household renovations he’s doing*

• John Dashwood really only cares about money.

• (To quote the text) “Elinor was pleased that (Edward) had called and still more pleased that she had missed him.” Savage.

• “Pity me!”
  “You know what? I do pity you.”
  Even more savage.

• A simple representation of Marianne’s feelings these past few chapters:
  heartbreak heartbreak heartbreak how dare you insult my sister heartbreak

• Lucy: “You’re such a great friend.”
  Elinor: “Ok.” Can you please shut up.
  Lucy: “We can write letters to each other!”
  Elinor: “Mm.” uugh no why me?

• And then HE walks in

• Lucy: “Umm…”
  Edward: “Uhh…” *sweating nervously*
  Elinor: Edward! It’s just lovely to see you!

• Then Marianne walks in

• Is this where Lucy finds out Elinor thought Edward liked her?

• No, but it’s coming.

• “...she fancied them satirical, perhaps without knowing what it was to be satirical”
  No wonder why people like Jane Austen

• Ooh! I want to see something bad happen to Mrs. John Dashwood! (that sounded a lot more civil in my head)

• “Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.” She would do well on the internet.

• “...enough time to collect her thoughts…” Well, considering Mrs. Jennings had an entire page worth of dialogue… well, that might be a bit of an understatement.

• Marianne is like “Frick, my sister’s awesome and I also want to punch Edward right now.”

• Elinor is like “Impressive. You can avoid blurting out everything that comes to your mind.

• I arrive in London:
  Marianne: ignored.
  Hearts: broken.
  Edward: disowned.
  I am forcibly escorted out of London.

• “Get it all out of her, my dear.” Out of context, this could be a spy novel.

• Eavesdropping!

• So that’s what Jane meant by “illiterate”