Thursday, July 1, 2010

Everything Austen is here!

Today is the first day of the Everything Austen challenge.  I am definitely ready for this challenge because I have just been in a Jane Austen mood lately.  It's all those Georgette Heyer books I read.  They're all set in that same time period, and now that I've read all the Heyer books that the library has to offer, I want to get back to Jane Austen.  Everything about her books and that era is just so romantic and beautiful and different.  I'm so jealous of all of the Austen heroines, because no guys are really like that anymore.  I wish they were, but they're not.

So I had to decided what six Jane-Austen-related things I was going to accomplish, and since I've read most of the books and seen many of the movie adaptations, it was actually really hard to figure out what I was going to do.  But I've finally come up with a list.  During the next six months, I intend to:
  • Read Northanger Abbey.
  • Read Emma.
  • Watch the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey.
  • Watch the biopic Miss Austen Regrets.
  • Watch the 1996 version of Emma, starring Kate Beckinsale.
  • Watch the 1980 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. 
That's the next challenge, and I'm confident that this is one that will not fail.

Challenge 3 Results

Challenge 3-- Thirty Books in 30 Days-- was not a success.  At all.  Instead of reading thirty books, I read three and started a fourth.  But that was about it.  The main reason for this flop-- catching up on all the TV shows and movies I missed during the Unplugged challenge.  I really should have combined those two challenges, since I had all that free and uninterrupted time.  Next time, I will do better.

The most interesting thing I learned during this challenge was just how easy it is to get sucked right back in by TV and Netflix.  As soon as I could start watching TV and listening to music again, that's all I wanted to do.  So the challenge wasn't a completely waste, because it taught me something about myself.  What I also find interesting is that now that the pressure of the challenge is over, I really want to read.  So weird.