Elders of the Internet

Love it! Nick Offerman is the best.

Sanditon miniseries, and books I've reread lately

I finished watching PBS's Sanditon miniseries, which is based on an unfinished novel that Jane Austen was writing when she died. It was pretty good, but I felt it was too soap opera-y. You already know that I don't like it when people insert random stuff into Jane Austen adaptations, especially if it's only for the drama. There are trysts! Kidnappings! A page is taken out of Cruel Intentions' book! There's a love triangle between two hot dudes and the heroine! There's a love triangle between the hero and two ladies who love him! There's at least one manipulative bitch who isn't afraid to use sex as a weapon! You know, a lot of stuff that does not belong in a Jane Austen adaptation (unless she already wrote it in there).
Also, I didn't like it that the hero walked around in stubble all the time, and that the heroine almost always wore her hair down despite being of Out age. They also did not wear hats and gloves in public/outside nearly enough. I also feel that there was too much obvious makeup on the women (I'm pretty sure ladies did not wear smoky eye makeup with crimson lips in the Regency era). I hate it when historical period pieces aren't accurate.
The heroine felt like a cross between Catherine from Northanger Abbey and Lizzie from Pride & Prejudice. The hero was definitely a Darcy type. The bitchy old rich lady was basically the same as she was in the book. One thrills to think of the frenemy relationship she would have with Lady Catherine de Bourgh. They really fleshed out the sole character of color, a young lady from the West Indies who is an heiress in the miniseries. I liked her and felt bad for her to be stuck in a town full of just white people who were often racist to her. The trips to London showed how diverse it was back then, which was nice and interesting. The ending was very abrupt and unsatisfying, which I thought was because maybe they ended the miniseries where Austen's novel did, but no! They fleshed it way out more than the novel, and just chose to end it that way! WTF. Despite all that, it was pretty good.

So obviously after I finished Sanditon, I decided to reread the book to see how similar the miniseries was to it. The answer is: not very. It was all right. It usually takes me a while to get into nineteenth century writing nowadays, thanks to the Internet and social media, and by the time I was hitting my stride, it was over. Anyway, my volume of Sanditon also has The Watsons and Lady Susan, and I decided to reread Lady Susan because I remember finding it so funny and scandalous. It... was fine. It did make me watch Love & Friendship, its adaptation that stars Kate Beckinsale, who is perfect, if a bit tamer than Lady Susan in her letters to her best friend. So random how they made her best friend American just because Chloe Sevegny (sp?) wanted it be in the movie for some reason. Anyway.

I organized more of my books, consolidating several piles into one megapile next to the stairs. This action of course revealed several books that I need to read and decide whether to keep or not.  I  reread Franny and Zooey for this reason. I wrote about it last time I read it, and I really liked it at the time. This time it was mostly just okay. I still liked the Jesus/religious stuff, but I guess there's something about reading a book where young people in their early to mid twenties have quarter-life crises when you yourself are in your thirties, that lowers the appreciation for the book. I last read it 9 years ago, when I was in my early twenties, so it makes sense that I liked it more then. Anyway. I'll be giving this one away.