Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Title: Northanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 239

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR

Northanger Abbey, originally published posthumously in 1818, is the story of seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, one of ten children of a country clergyman, whose wild imagination and excessive fondness for Gothic novels (especially Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho) has skewed her worldview and interactions with others to great comic effect. 

Fundamentally a parody of the Gothic fiction that was so popular in Austen's formative years, Northanger Abbey is a uniquely significant work, in that it shows Austen's departure from those conventions and tropes -- featuring three dimensional heroines, who were not perfect people, but flawed, rounded characters who behaved naturally and not just as the novel's plot demanded. 

Part of my 2022 reaching plan is to reread all six of the completed Jane Austen novels. This time, I am going to read them in the order that Austen wrote them. So up first is Northanger Abbey. Instead of making a new review, I am just copying my review from my last reading of this volume in 2012. Here’s what I wrote:

“Northanger Abbey is fast becoming my second favorite Austen (after Persuasion, of course).  I love Catherine Morland.  She may be young and naive, but she grows.  She becomes a woman right in front of the reader.  I love the progression more than anything.  I see an early version of Emma in Catherine.  She's not as well defined as a character, but the idea of character so wrong in her worldview comes through.  This volume doesn't have the recognizable quotes that Pride and Prejudice does, but it does have some good discussions between Tilney and Catherine about life and literature.  And the novel doesn't have the extensive social commentary so prominent in P&P and Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park.  But that's okay.  This is more of a nice story of a girl growing into a woman and falling in love.”

BBC Miniseries :

I love this movie.  I love the leads, Felicity Jones and JJ Fields.  I love the Abbey.  I love Bath.  I even love Isabella Thorpe, that snake.  (Carey Mulligan is equal parts likable and killable...)  Every part was perfectly cast.  I don't even mind the dramatization of Catherine's gothic stories.  It fits with her character even if Jane Austen didn't write them in there.  In fact, this is fast becoming my third favorite movie adaptation of Austen (after P&P BBC version and Persuasion new BBC version).

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Haunted Castles by Ray Russell

Title: Haunted Castles

Author: Ray Russell

Publisher: Penguin Classics 2013

Genre: Horror

Pages: 235

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Popsguar - Story within a Story; New to Me

Haunted Castles is the definitve, complete collection of Ray Russell's masterful Gothic horror stories, including the famously terrifying novella trio of  "Sardonicus," "Sanguinarius," and "Sagittarius." The characters that sprawl through Haunted Castles are frightful to the core: the heartless monster holding two lovers in limbo; the beautiful dame journeying down a damned road toward depravity (with the help of an evil gypsy); the man who must wear his fatal crimes on his face in the form of an awful smile. Engrossing, grotesque, perverted, and completely entrancing, Russell's Gothic tales are the best kind of dreadful.

How have I never heard of Ray Russell? And to find out he is one of Guillermo del Toro's favorite authors? Holy cow this was a great find on the random library shelf. I love love loved every single story included in this collection. But I have to say that my favorite was "Sagittarius" involving Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and Jack the Ripper. The way Russell crafts his stories fascinated me. I loved the story within a story format for a few of the stories included. I loved the throwback to Gothic storytelling. And I loved the stories themselves. There were thoroughly scary. Perfect pick for my spooky October reads.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Title: Northanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 239

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Classics - Romance; Mount TBR; Book2Movie

How I Got It: Own It!

Northanger Abbey is fast becoming my second favorite Austen (after Persuasion, of course).  I love Catherine Morland.  She may be young and naive, but she grows.  She becomes a woman right in front of the reader.  I love the progression more than anything.  I see an early version of Emma in Catherine.  She's not as well defined as a character, but the idea of character so wrong in her worldview comes through.  This volume doesn't have the recognizable quotes that Pride and Prejudice does, but it does have some good discussions between Tilney and Catherine about life and literature.  And the novel doesn't have the extensive social commentary so prominent in P&P and Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park.  But that's okay.  This is more of a nice story of a girl growing into a woman and falling in love.

BBC Miniseries :

I love this movie.  I love the leads, Felicity Jones and JJ Fields.  I love the Abbey.  I love Bath.  I even love Isabella Thorpe, that snake.  (Carey Mulligan is equal parts likable and killable...)  Every part was perfectly cast.  I don't even mind the dramatization of Catherine's gothic stories.  It fits with her character even if Jane Austen didn't write them in there.  In fact, this is fast becoming my third favorite movie adaptation of Austen (after P&P BBC version and Persuasion new BBC version).

The Great Gatsby Readalong -- Sign Up Post

From Unputdownables:

The following is the reading and posting schedule for this read-a-long. Please note, we will be reading roughly 45 pages per week (about 6 pages a day). Unfortunately, there are not very clean breaks (i.e. ending at chapter breaks) this time, so we’ll always be ending in the middle of chapters… feel free to read ahead if you are on a roll, or at least read to the next natural breaking point. That said, please note that not everyone will be doing so, and I ask that you do not comment on things that happen outside of the scheduled reading (i.e. no spoilers, please). Thanks!

Schedule:

Beginning Thursday, December 29th and ending Friday, January 27th.

READING SCHEDULE:

Week #/ dates :: Place in which to STOP

Week One/ December 29- January 5 :: page 45 Week Two/ January 6- 12 :: page 90 Week Three/ January 13- 19 :: page 135 Week Four/ January 20- 27 :: page 180 (The End)

POSTING SCHEDULE:

Post #/ date post should be up on blog:

Start up Post/ Today! Week One/ January 6th Week Two/ January 13th Week Three/ January 20th Week Four/ January 27th (Final Review)

How it Works:

1. Each week, on Friday, share your thoughts about the previous week’s reading. If you are stuck on what to comment about, you can respond to my post or others’ comments. Regardless, you MUST check in each week, even if to say you are behind in the reading
2. Feel free to post reviews of the each week’s reading on your own blog (if you are a blogger), and to visit each other’s links. If I, or other readers, have extra time we will gladly try to visit your blog if you also leave a link to your post about this book. However, please make sure to share your thoughts here on this blog, as this is where the main conversation will be happening.

 I joined today.  The Great Gatbsy is one of my all-time favorite books.  I haven't reread it in about 3 years, so I think now is the time.  Now I have to go home and find my copy.  I wonder if it's in the grey tub, or the blue tub, or the bookshelf???  Hmmm... this could be interesting!

For purposes of the readalong, I will be commenting solely on the website each Friday.  Once the book is completed, I will post a complete review of the books and my thoughts to the discussion posts.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title: North and South

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Publisher: Penguin Books 1854

Genre: Classics

Pages: 449

Rating:   Book 4/5 stars    Movie 5/5

Reading Challenges: 2011 - Way Back When; Page to Screen

Hmmm... I have some mixed feelings about this one.  It's no Jane Austen.  I think I've been reading too much Jane Austen style 19th century literature that it's hard to get back into other fiction forms.  Reading the introduction, I learned some interesting things about Gaskell and the book.  Did you know that Gaskell made a pretty decent living writing?  North and South was originally published as a serial in a magazine, but she felt that the story was limited in that form and so expanded it for the novelization.  And her editor was Charles Dickens.  Yes that Charles Dickens!  Taking all this into consideration, the novel was enjoyable.

The novel spent much more time on Margaret's thoughts on her father's change of situation.  And we leaned much more about his change of heart.  I think part of the problem was that the novel was very slow.  We spent the first 50 pages still in Helstone.  Milton didn't enter into the picture until extensive musing about the church, life in Helstone, and the upcoming move.  Once we got into Milton, I liked the story better.  We met the other players.  Margaret was introduced to factory life.  The story progressed, but definitely slowly compared to modern novels.

Movie

The miniseries I absolutely adored.  It cut the longer introduction.  It cut some of the discussions.  But it kept the main storyline about Margaret and the change in life to the North.  The casting was beautiful.  Richard Armitage is just perfect as Mr. Thornton.  (Although I kept seeing him as Guy from Robin Hood.  Definitely not the same character.)  Daniela Denby-Ashe was beautifully understated as Margaret Hale.  She brought the quiet strength to the character.  The book has that quality, but seeing her reactions on-screen made a much more interesting character.  But by far, my favorite was Sinead Cusack as Mrs. Thornton.  She's hard to like, but somehow I understand her motivations.  That is the mark of a talented artist.  The visual difference between Milton and Helstone is gorgeous.  We instantly see the different atmospheres with color, architecture, and costumes.  And that final scene... brings out the hopeless romantic lurking inside of me.