Reduced to a small but determined band of Jane, Julia, Kate and Sue, we discussed the delectable Ms Austen at great length. In between Julia complaining about her burnt lasagne (when she had ordered canelloni - but at least it got us another 20% off the bill) we managed to spend at least 20 minutes on P & P barely touching upon who our favourite screen Mr D'Arcy was.
We were agreed in the universal truth that Ms A's wisdom by-passed time and place, and that her shrewd appetite for human observation was as relevant now as it was at the time of her writing.
We all had our different favourites among the novels, but P & P was high on the list of all present:-
Jane - 10
Julia - 9
Kate - 10
Sue - 9
If you are interested in the minutiae of family life at this period you may like to listen to some of this delightful series on Radio 4 called A history of private life:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mydqy
We agreed to perhaps miss a meeting in early December as people would be too overwhelmed with other Christmas jollities and have Monday January 11th in our diaries for William Trevor's The story of Lucy Gault. If the lack of a pre-Christmas meeting is too much to bear please suggest suitable dates/venues.
For you Hardy lovers (you know who you are) I am attaching a link to the poem I imperfectly remembered:-
http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Thomas_Hardy/9301
Batey
xx
1 comment:
Sorry I missed all the fun but a combination of a persistent bug and a flu jab has made the last couple of weeks pretty depressing. The lovely lovely November weather has, of course, added to my depression. But now almost back to my normal self, whatever that is.
P&P has always been one of my favourite novels and I'd give it 10/10 for its wit and its shrewd depictions of the characters of the day. Can you imagine what life must have been like in those days - a long carriage ride or walk from one's neighbours, theatre visits only possible if one could afford and arrange a short visit to the local town or city, and only sewing, riding or talking interminably with one's family for entertainment - aaaargh. No wonder they dissected every piece of conversation or deviation from the 'norm'. and no wonder its the format for many a Mills & Boon and/or chick lit novel.....
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