[QuickTidal]

 Macros, on 03 January 2025 - 07:09 PM, said:

surely you mean the only adaptation worth watching, the '95 series
no one of any kind of taste actually enjoyed the '05 fiasco

honestly, such peasants at times

So here’s the thing.

For accuracy, characters, and attention to regency and Austen detail, the 1995 miniseries is the ONLY one that matters, I agree. I agree so hard that I bought the high def bluray set for it so that I can watch and enjoy it anytime.

BUT

The 2005 film, though wildly anachronistic, completely miscast in some instances, with terrible scene choices and shot blocking…and score…has a near exquisite cinematography that looks often like oil paintings and is a sumptuous buffet of visual delight. And though Longbourn of the film looks NOTHING like what it should look like….something about it sings to me. And though most of the cast annoys me, both Donald Sutherland and Matthew Mcfaddyen excel at their roles.and Rosumund Pike sells Jane Bennet as the most gorgeous girl around more than Susannah Harker ever did.


So yes ‘95 is leaps and bounds better…but I can still find enjoyment in the 2005 film.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 January 2025 - 09:20 PM

[JPK]

Next up for classics I've found myself agreeing to a pair of buddy reads, so I'm doing to do something I don't plan on being the norm and doubling up.

On deck is Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES and I'm scheduled to start Marcus Aurelius' MEDITATIONS on Monday.

I'm about 50 pages into ATOTC and have to say I'm absolutely loving it so far. I'm always partial to stories set around the French Revolution and the first couple chapters here are absolutely compelling. I do have to note that I'm finding a lot more humor here than I originally anticipated, but it does fit the duality of the novel as set in the opening paragraph. A particular gem from chapter 4:

Spoiler

Quote

When Mr. Lorry had finished his breakfast, he went out for a stroll on the beach. The little narrow, crooked town of Dover hid itself away from the beach, and ran its head into the chalk cliffs, like a marine ostrich. The beach was a desert of heaps of sea and stones tumbling wildly about, and the sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction. It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs, and brought the coast down, madly. The air among the houses was of so strong a piscatory flavour that one might have supposed sick fish went up to be dipped in it, as sick people went down to be dipped in the sea.

It's still pretty early to say, but I have the distinct impression already that I'm really going to like this book.

[Gabriele]

JPK, on 04 January 2025 - 03:43 AM, said:

My favorite character has to be Mr Bennett. I completely understand the desire to hide from everyone and seclude myself in my library.

I can totally relate to that feeling.

[Gabriele]

JPK, on 05 January 2025 - 03:05 AM, said:

Next up for classics I've found myself agreeing to a pair of buddy reads, so I'm doing to do something I don't plan on being the norm and doubling up.

On deck is Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES and I'm scheduled to start Marcus Aurelius' MEDITATIONS on Monday.

I'm about 50 pages into ATOTC and have to say I'm absolutely loving it so far. I'm always partial to stories set around the French Revolution and the first couple chapters here are absolutely compelling. I do have to note that I'm finding a lot more humor here than I originally anticipated, but it does fit the duality of the novel as set in the opening paragraph. A particular gem from chapter 4:

Spoiler

Quote

When Mr. Lorry had finished his breakfast, he went out for a stroll on the beach. The little narrow, crooked town of Dover hid itself away from the beach, and ran its head into the chalk cliffs, like a marine ostrich. The beach was a desert of heaps of sea and stones tumbling wildly about, and the sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction. It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs, and brought the coast down, madly. The air among the houses was of so strong a piscatory flavour that one might have supposed sick fish went up to be dipped in it, as sick people went down to be dipped in the sea.

It's still pretty early to say, but I have the distinct impression already that I'm really going to like this book.

Maybe I'll give Dickens another shot. I burned out on him with Oliver Twist and David Copperfield both of which I didn't really like, and never read anything else by him. Going to follow your read-along.

[JPK]

Alright, I've been a busy man lately. Some updates.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: I'm sitting around 60% on this one and honestly it's only because I'm doing it as a buddy read and agreed to stay with a serialized pace. If it weren't for that, I would have devoured this one. There have been several times when I have caught myself rereading paragraphs just so I can really let the gorgeous prose sink in. Events are starting to ramp up in the novel now, and unless something really goes sideways before the end I expect this will likely be taking a rightful place as one of the best novels I've ever read.

MEDITATIONS by Marcus Aurelius: mercifully short book, this one. If you're unaware, this is essentially a Stoic philosophy written by a Roman Emperor. Apparently it was never meant to be published but was more of a personal journal of sorts. I hate read this book, and probably should have dropped it for something else but I fell prey to a sunk-cost fallacy mentality on it. There were bits in there that I thought were actually thought-provoking (like major sections about accepting death and your place in the greater place of nature) but so much of it just doesn't stand for me. He repeats as a core mantra that everyone dies and to accept death and that everyone is forgotten usually eventually, but that very premise is difficult to take since I'm reading his words nearly 2000 years after his lifetime and so many of the names are of men, mostly emperors and philosophers, that are still known as well.

THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy: Another mercifully short one, though this one sat much more favorably with me. This is a heartbreaking novel, and exceptionally grim. But that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone glancingly familiar with the author. It's really hard to describe my thoughts on this one because of how unrelentingly dark it is, but it's the core of hope even in the darkest circumstances and of a father trying to care and provide for his child even when it seems hopeless that really touched me. That said, I'm not sure I'll ever read this one again because it was just brutal.

[Gabriele]

JPK, on 20 January 2025 - 03:28 PM, said:

Alright, I've been a busy man lately. Some updates.

MEDITATIONS by Marcus Aurelius: mercifully short book, this one. If you're unaware, this is essentially a Stoic philosophy written by a Roman Emperor. Apparently it was never meant to be published but was more of a personal journal of sorts. I hate read this book, and probably should have dropped it for something else but I fell prey to a sunk-cost fallacy mentality on it. There were bits in there that I thought were actually thought-provoking (like major sections about accepting death and your place in the greater place of nature) but so much of it just doesn't stand for me. He repeats as a core mantra that everyone dies and to accept death and that everyone is forgotten usually eventually, but that very premise is difficult to take since I'm reading his words nearly 2000 years after his lifetime and so many of the names are of men, mostly emperors and philosophers, that are still known as well.

If you want some fun Roman stuff, try Suetonius' Twelve Caesars. Just don't base an history essays on his juicy gossip without cross checking a bunch of other sources.

Meditations and Augustin's Confessions were more like must reads for me.

[JPK]

Finished A TALE OF TWO CITIES today. My earlier statements stand and this was a 5* read for me. The back half of the novel is a master class in keeping the reader in a state of high tension. I'll also say that the closing line of the novel is gorgeous. Somehow it manages to be heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.

I'm currently about 40% into THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by le Guin. I am enjoying this book now, but made the mistake of picking it up on inauguration day to avoid facing the political shit show. Then I come across non-binary nationalistic aliens. Once I came to terms with that, I've found the novel very engaging. Le Guin always amazes me with how much worldbuilding and character she manages to push into a small pagecount. Between this and the two EARTHSEA books I've read, I'm starting to think she may end up as a deep-dive author for me.

I think my next serialized novel is one I've been meaning to read for years that was suggested by Azath: DON QUIXOTE.

[JPK]

I polished off THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS last night. My earlier thoughts on this one rang true through to the end. It's a beautifully written book with very interesting explorations on sex, gender, and politics. Makes me want to look deeper into more of her Hainish cycle.

I'm still chipping away at DON QUIXOTE and enjoying it. I think I'd love it more if it didn't lean so heavily into referencing the materials it's satirizing but I can also see why it was necessary to do so.

This one's a pretty hefty one so it's definitely going to slow my pace a bit. I'm also going to give myself a bit of a breather and hop over to something a bit more current to accompany it as I've been making pretty good time so far. I'll likely double up again sometime in late Feb or early March.

[JPK]

Haven't forgotten about this, nor given up. DON QUIXOTE is just a lot of book.

I finished book 1 last night and I'm starting #2 today. If I had access to a time machine, I think I'd like to find the individual that decided to combine both books for modern editions and smack them.

As far as the book goes, I like it well enough though it's clear that I'm missing a lot of the satire because I'm not familiar with the works being referenced. I do like what I've read though. Some of the backstories for every single character they stumble upon can be very charming, even if slightly repetitive. I hope for more misadventures of the key duo in the second part, but at this point I'm just along for the ride and will enjoy wherever this book chooses to take me.

[JPK]

Alright, I finished up DON QUIXOTE about a week ago and have finally finished mulling it over. In the end, I found this to be an ok book, though I do understand that historical importance of the novel in establishing the narrative structure.

I found the second half of the novel to be the stronger part, after Cervantes had received the criticisms regarding the first half and was able to implement them. In particular, I think the second half is the better at reigning in the short stories involving side characters and only using them where they enhance the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Speaking of Sancho, he is the true gem of the novel. Everything from the point when he arrives at the court of the Duke and Duchess through him abdicating his Governorship are just fantastic.

I'm currently reading THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and expect to finish it on Wednesday. This is just gorgeously written. Absolutely among my favorites of the classics I've read so far.

[JPK]

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY was gorgeous all the way through. I went in to this one knowing that this was Wilde's only novel, and the overall premise of the aging. Very quickly in, I realized that Wilde must have been gay as I definitely picked up on the male gaze going on but was surprised to find it being pointed towards the men of the novel.

Now I'm working on two classics again. First up is Isabel Allende's THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS. I hit 40% on this one and I'm very mixed. There's lots of weird sex stuff in the first third of this book, the story frequently spirals into tangents, and I find that I dislike almost every character. Otoh, there's clearly a plot about social revolution that seems like it's starting to pick up momentum and has a lot of potential. I don't hate it and it's not nearly as hard to push through as sections of Don Quixote was.

The other one I'm working on is Orwell's ANIMAL FARM. I read this one twice back during my school years but it's my first time reading this with a fully formed brain. One thing that's really standing out to me is how even though it's clearly meant to be about communism, how much of it easily translates to current American politics as well via populism into fascism. So much of Napoleon could easily be applied to Trump.

[JPK]

Dnf on THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS. First book on the classics read that I haven't been able to finish but this book was full of awful awful stuff. To the point where I won't even put this in a little library to pass it on.

[Gabriele]

 JPK, on 17 May 2025 - 04:09 PM, said:

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY was gorgeous all the way through. I went in to this one knowing that this was Wilde's only novel, and the overall premise of the aging. Very quickly in, I realized that Wilde must have been gay as I definitely picked up on the male gaze going on but was surprised to find it being pointed towards the men of the novel.

He certainly was. Even spent two years in prison for sodomy and gross sexual misconduct. He was a bit too open about it - in his lifestyle as well as his writing - for the uptight Victorian society.

[JPK]

So my pace has slowed down a bit again as I've started another brick of a book - THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Dostoyevsky. I'm about 20% in and just thoroughly impressed with this book. The pulpy soap opera involving the romantic entanglements of the family pairs so well with the chunks of philosophical arguments.