When I get the house to myself...

Jeramy is in Hunting Safety education classes right now (required if you want a hunting license), which means I had the house to myself for 3 nights this week for over 3 whole hours each time! Now one might ask what a twenty-something (okay soon to be thirty-something) young woman does when she finds her self with such long stretches of freedom, and I'll tell you.

Jane Austen

Okay, so I'm obsessed with Jane Austen. I adore her books and the movies too. Jeramy, on the other hand, can't stand them. For one, he doesn't really enjoy reading books, and even if they did Jane Austen would not be his first pick. And second, the movies are just not his style. Surprisingly stuffy, upperclass Brits focused on the challenge of finding love and happy married in a society that places high value on class don't mix well with tattoeed, redneck pipefitters. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming either.

So trying to finish knitting the afghan for Matt & Jen's baby, I decided it would be a good time to compare the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice with the one Keira Knightley did a couple of years ago. Watching movies I've already seen fifty times goes well with knitting, because I can only half listen during the less interesting parts and pay attention during my favorite scenes. Like Elizabeth's rejection of Darcy's first proposal. Or when Elizabeth first sees Pemberley and then unexpectedly runs into Darcy. I could go on and on.

I've decided that I definitely like the A&E version better, because as a true P&P fan I want all the details that only a 6 hour version of the movie can provide. For example, in the newer version, you do not really get to understand Elizabeth's initial attraction to Wickham and how bad he really turns out to be. But there are some things that the newer version did well...the difference in wealth between Darcy and the Bennetts is more stark, you can better see that the mother's drive to get the girls married to rich men is driven out of concern for their future livelihood, and the country atmosphere is more apparent (that is you see farm animals, etc.) Also, in the newer version society seems bigger...the town of Meryton is much larger and the balls have many more attendees.

Anyhow, now I'm sure you're bored to tears and completely understand Jeramy's abhorrence of anything Jane Austen. Luckily for me, he has Hunting Safety education classes next week too. So now I have to decide between Mansfield Park, Emma and Sense and Sensibility!