First 2007 post
So Lj is being emo, and not letting me access most of the pages , including the “update journal” page which is why I typed this out on a word processor.
Bah.
Anyway, happy new year everyone!
Went on holiday to Berlin to meet my grandmother who lives there. Pictures found here.
Today is the first time after coming back from Germany ( which I shall talk about later) I am actually awake before 1 pm, so I've quite forgotten what morning feels like.
Just finished Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and I still cant decide if I like it. I've always believed (and have been told many times, normally accompanied with a pitying nod of the head) that I am a romantic at heart, but this is the first actual romance I've read and understood. Until now, I've basically stuck to contemporary stories (a la the infamous Mills and Boon) and chic lit.
I attempted reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice at least twice, but now I feel I haven't read it thoroughly enough for it to make a lasting impression. And I know it will. Its kind of like those things which you cannot appreciate fully the first time, but end up loving them.
I wonder which one of the two sisters I relate more to. I think I want to be more like Elinor, but I guess I'm your typical Marianne . There are way too many I's in that sentence. See? Totally Marianne. Although she does have a “kind heart” =p !!
Throughout the book, I had a partiality to Edward. Even though he is a bit of a weak character, especially at the start, and his “courtship” of Elinor isn't described in as much detail as Willoughby's of Marianne, I still felt some sort of pity+fondness towards Edward. Even though it broke my heart a little when Lucy brazenly“confides” in Elinor that she and Edward are engaged, I still hoped she was lying through her teeth. And that Edward would jump out from nowhere and politely ask her what in heavens was she saying?! But this is might happen in a contemporary romance. And thats what made this book a welcome change for me, because although I could predict what would happen, I couldn't predict how exactly Austen was going to make that ending possible!
Willoughby I hated. From the start. Which is completely unlike me because I normally do like the dashing, handsome, guy-who-charms-everybody. Except this one I didn't trust right from the beginning. He didn't give an air of reliability. He was too quick, too whirlwind-ish. And I think the thing that put me off the most was that he was too transparent. One could tell right away that he was going to break Marianne's heart, and not mend it again, as Edward mended Elinor's.
Of Colonel Brandon, my idea of him was coloured by the person who plays him in the movie version ( of which I saw a few minutes). See, the thing is I don't like Alan Rickman. I can't explain it but he.. just doesn't fit in my ideal romance. Maybe because he plays Snape in the Harry Potter films. I don't know. However, Hugh Grant doesn't fit my idea of Edward either. But hey, Hugh Grant is hot (see the Marriane-ness?) Classic version of how one should read the book before watching ( well in this even glimpsing) the movie. Anyway poor Colonel Brandon. He gets Marianne's heart in the end, but I feel a bit sad for her as she certainly wasn't swept off her feet. Ironically, it is Elinor who gets the surprise ending.
Now I want to watch the movie. And maybe read some more Jane Austen!