Today I began addressing my usual pre-travel problem of what to take to read. It's one that I've been facing for a few days now, but with my commitments for the week out of the way I can give it the focus it needs.

 

As usual, I have plenty of books from which to choose -- so much so that it poses the perennial problem of option paralysis. And also as usual, books that seemed ideal at first became less appealing upon further consideration. But I think I'm narrowing it down successfully.

 

The first book that I'm planning to take is a Ross Macdonald novel. They're as close to a sure thing as I can get in terms of reading enjoyment, and I have a paperback of one of his books that I haven't read yet, so it will be perfect for the trip. The only problem is that I enjoy them a little too much, so I can't count on that occupting me for more than a day or two.

 

The second book will probably be Joanna Trollope's book in the Austen Project. I enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld's contribution to it so much that I decided to give another of the volumes a try. We have the updates of Sense and Sensibility and Emma, but for some reason the latter has little appeal for me (Amy Heckerling may have ruined me in terms of Emma updates) so I'll try Trollope's volume instead. I may supplement it with another novel, probably one of my sci-fi paperbacks, but I haven't decided on that yet.

 

That leaves my big choice -- and I mean that in more ways than one. I'm hoping to take one of my larger nonfiction books with me as my primary read, in part because I realized why I have some many of them waiting to be read on my shelves. I do a good amount of my reading when I work out, which usually favors books that I can hold while I'm pedaling on a recumbent bike or a treadmill. This precludes bringing my whoppers, as they're a little much to handle. That's not a problem at the farm, though, as I end up spending hours stretched out on a sofa, which is an ideal way to read a nice, thick tome. Currently I'm leaning towards a history of the Manhattan Project, but I may select something on the First World War or even take a second crack at the first volume of MacFarquhar's Origins of the Cultural Revolution. It's a major decision, but by giving myself a day and a half to make it I'm pretty sure I'll be able to select something that will make the next week especially enjoyable.

I'm just not sure about this one. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. But then again I had no trouble finishing it. I think that Trollope would have got a lot more bang for her buck if she allowed herself greater deviations from the original story. I recall that the movie Clueless was inspired by Emma, and it was great, not a great estate in sight. Maybe push the boundaries a bit further, change the characters' situations even more while keeping their essence. I think for me that the original premise, the Dashwood girls having to leave Norland in the manner that they did was a bit remote for today; it just didn't seem to ring true to me.

I think if Trollope had freed herself from the glorious shackles of Austen's plot (which we all acknowledge to be fantastic) and her imagining of the characters social situation (which is of course superb) and gave her imagination a bit more of a free reign, she could have produced something that was actually much more faithful to the free-wheeling joy that Austen seemed to be able to effortlessly produce. Not bad, but not fantastic.

 

I was lucky to receive this copy from @writingatrosys via Twitter and am grateful to them and Harper Collins for allowing me an advanced copy. This review first appeared on Mrsbbooks2011/blogspot.co.uk

 

I’ll start by saying I love Jane Austen. Hers are the books I turn to when I don’t know what to read next. They never fail to re-ignite my love of books and remind me of the joy of reading. I am always wary of Austen inspired work because as good as some of them are they don’t tend to live up to the original. However I was intrigued to hear about The Austen Project launched by Harper Collins. Each of the six completed published works of Austen is being re-written by six literary greats, bringing them squarely into the 21st Century. The first offering is Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope.

 

The story remains the same. The Dashwood girls, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret lose their father and due to antiquated inheritance terms Norland, their home for 20 years passes to their half – brother John and his scheming wife Fanny. She wastes no time in moving into Norland and persuading John that the help to his sisters and stepmother he promised to his dying father amounts to nothing more than allowing them to live at Norland rent free until they find somewhere else.

 

The Dashwoods are soon offered a cottage by Sir John Middleton, a distant relative and they soon move to Devon. Each are leaving behind something that they love, for Margaret it is her private school, Marianne, Norland and for Elinor it is Edward Ferrars, the younger brother of Fanny, who disapproves of the friendship between the two.

 

Once ensconced in Barton Cottage the girls soon become involved in the comings and goings of the Middletons and Mrs Jennings, the mother-in-law of Sir John. Here they are introduced to Colonel Brandon who soon falls for Mariannne. She however believes him too old for her but soon falls for John ‘Wills’ Willoughby who rescues her when she suffers an asthma attack. A romance between the two quickly develops but just as quickly ends with Wills sudden departure, leaving Marianne heart broken.

 

Meanwhile Elinor is befriended by Lucy Steele, a friend of Mrs Jennings, who confides that she is secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars, the man Elinor can scarcely admit to herself she loves and with whom she now barely sees. For those of you who have read the original you know how the rest of the story goes, for those of you who haven’t I don’t want to spoil it by saying any more.

 

The difficulty with re-writing such a book and making it fit with 21st Century lifestyles is that many of the social conventions are no longer an issue. Ms Trollope deals with them deftly, showing that for some the most important thing is still money and status and not love. The use of modern conveniences felt natural, cars replaced carriages, the modern cottage replaced the old idea of Barton cottage to show how keenly the Dashwoods felt the loss of their old home and Facebook and Twitter replaced the newspapers and gossip grapevines utilised by Jane Austen. Nothing jars when reading the modern version as I thought it may.

Warning: I'm assuming you've read Austen's version of Sense and Sensibility as I write this review. I won't spoil how this book ends but I'll talk about actions and events that happened in the original.

 

Austen's Sense and Sensibility (S&S) was the first of her books I ever read...seventeen years ago. I remember liking it well enough but not as much as I hoped after watching the movie. It would not be until P&P (Pride and Prejudice) that I fell under Jane Austen's spell. My less then stellar reading of the book always haunted me and I am looking forward to my reread of it with the Austen group read staring April 10th. However, when I heard about this modern re-imagining, I simply had to give it a try. I'll admit to worry, however. Could the author translate the characters, situations, and the world they inhabit into the modern day?

 

Yes. Actually, she did it brilliantly.

This will forever be my train station book, as I finished reading it in two different train stations while I waited to be picked up.

 

I'd hoped to put this off until the S&S group read, but alas I had to give this back to the library. So its reading became a priority and once I sat down...I couldn't put it down. It reminds me of Sherlock in some ways...a great re-imagining of characters and situations into a modern setting. Everything is instantly recognizable and yet makes perfect sense within our knowledge and society. This also allows us to judge people and their actions in ways we have trouble doing in within the 'classic' time period. After all, neither Sherlock Holmes nor Jane Austen's works were written to be read as historical fiction but as contemporary fiction. That's hard to remember sometimes.

 

All in all, I found this better then I'd hoped and the review should be forthcoming soon.