Plain Jane

This past weekend I rented the movie Becoming Jane.  It reminded me of a Jane Austen book turned film, which I suppose is fitting.  And so I came to the conclusion that had it been a book (written by Jane Austen), I would not have liked reading it.  (It was based on the book, Becoming Jane Austen, which was a collection of events in her life.)

I like Jane's stories, but not her novels.  I think she has really great stories, characters, themes,etc., but her novels are so hard for me to get through (I've read three now - P&P, Emma, S&S) because of the excessive details surrounding mundane events that do not lead anywhere or help the story at all.  I have to constantly go back and reread things I've just read so I can pick out the important things.

Emma, the one I read last (last semester for a class, actually) is the one I've liked the most of the three I've read.  I feel like I have to trudge through all six for some reason, and just keep having staring contests with my copy of Persuasion, knowing that as soon as I crack it, I'll complain about the writing.  Sigh.

I much prefer film versions of her works because the stories are so lovely (and they have to cut the crap for time constraints). Her writing is not lovely.  But hey, that's one girls opinion.