Mirkwood Reflections

Austen adaptations abound! I read this blog post which ranks 21 of them with clever explanations then thought to myself that my own list would look somewhat different. And then someone (yes, you, Austenacious !) asked me HOW my list would shuffle the films. So here I am in the wee hours of the morning, ranking Austen movies instead of sleeping.  Go read that blog post before reading mine because her comments are far more comical than mine could ever dream of being. Plus mine will make more sense if you look at hers first.  Two of the movies on her list I haven't seen -  Austenland , 2013 since it has yet to open in Michigan and  Bride & Prejudice  since Bollywood films make my skin crawl . Then I added one that she left out, which is at the bottom of my list. So, without further ado, I present to you my top twenty Austen film adaptations in reverse order of preference! Ta-dah! 20. Northanger Abbey 1980 - one of THE worst movies I have eve...

Northanger Abbey My favorite Austen film! Probably because it's light-hearted and comic. Tilney is all that a gentleman should be, plus he's amusing and likes to banter. None of that smoldering broodiness that Darcy is so known for. It's also short, which is nice to be able to fit in an evening, unlike the very long Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. You have to make an appointment with that one. (though it is an oh-so-enjoyable undertaking!) IMDB Cities of the Underworld This History Channel TV show on DVD caught my eye at the library. I've always been fascinated with underground relics and ruins, especially after having toured the Underground Seattle as a teen. I find it almost unbelievable that all that can be underneath the pavement of modern cities. I watched 4 episodes - the first disc - and can't wait to watch the rest. You can watch some online at the History Channel website. IMDB Valentin e's Day The star-studded cast was the attraction here, not th...

A novel about reading? Why yes, that's what Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey really is. Catherine Moreland, a naive seventeen-year-old with a taste for Gothic novels, is invited to Bath (a resort town) with family friends. Befriended by several young people, she is then invited to Northanger Abbey, the sinister-sounding home of Eleanor and Henry Tilney. Her imagination runs wild due to all the novels she reads and her visit ends badly. My Rollicking Readers book club discussed Northanger Abbey yesterday evening. Although not everyone there had actually READ the book, those of us that did enjoyed it. I know I did! I think I'm finally getting the hang of reading Austen! Our discussion ranged from the uses of novel reading in the plot to the difference of the hero from the average Austen hero to our enjoyment of the verbal repartee. We then watched tw o versions of Northanger Abbey on DVD - one from 2007 and one from 1987. Oh my, what a difference! We found the recent ver...