Classics Without All the Class discussion

Please keep comments to these chapters. Caution spoilers! Beware!

I'm glad I'll be able to join in this discussion. I got the book on audio and am enjoying my "reread".

When are we starting with this?

Karen wrote: "When are we starting with this?"

Persuasion is our book for October starting tomorrow. :)

I read this a few months ago in another group, so I'll save my comments for the final thread :) I hope everyone enjoys it!

Catherine wrote: "I'm glad I'll be able to join in this discussion. I got the book on audio and am enjoying my "reread"."

Which edition did you get Catherine? I am listening to the one read by Juliet Stevenson and enjoying it very much. I've read Persuasion before and like trying a different format.

At this point in the book I can only say poor Anne. So overlooked by her family. I love the way her sister Mary is written. So silly and arrogant. I like characters I can roll my eyes at, haha.

Danaë wrote: "Catherine wrote: "I'm glad I'll be able to join in this discussion. I got the book on audio and am enjoying my "reread"."

Which edition did you get Catherine? I am listening to the one read by Ju..."

Nadia May is the narrator and is just excellent. I agree, Anne really is getting the worst of it. She is ignored and overlooked by her entire family, even though she may be the one who is the most balanced and intelligent.

I want to share with you a part of chapter 4.

"More than seven years were gone since this little history of sorrowful interest had reached its close; and time had softened down much, perhaps nearly all of peculiar attachment to him, but she had been too dependent on time alone; no aid had been given in change of place ... or in any novelty or enlargement of society. No one had ever come to Kellynch cirle, who could bear a comparison with Frederick Wentworth, as he stood in her memory."

What do you make of this guys?

Honestly, to me it just says she couldn't move on. Just stuck with an ideal rather than reality. Just my opinion though.

I was thinking that Austen is practically saying that if Anne sought out other men's society, that if she made a conscious effort to get over Frederick she would have forgotten about him. Therefore, it's not that Anne couldn't get over him, it's that she DIDN'T try to!
I could be reading too much in this though!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I had seen the story on DVD, but I enjoyed the book much more. The unwillingness of Anne's family to allow her to marry Frederich because of his supposedly lower station in life really affected her. She obviously didn't find anyone else who measured up to him.

I think a big part of it is in the time-frame. Early on it is noted, that she was pretty for a while, but her beauty soon faded. I assume she spent a long time healing her heart and moping in regret, and when she was finally ready to move on she was not pretty enough to tempt other men. Or she did not have the self-confidence to go to London with her father and sister and flirt regardless of her age and looks. It's not like her family encouraged her in demanding affection. Also, she was propably still hanging on to the thought of Frederick, who had loved her without her having to pretend, and who was different from the men her father would allow her to flirt with.
Could it also have it been stubborness? (If I can't have him...)

I have already finished the book a few days ago, but this quote stuck with me:
"He had, in fact, though his sisters were now doing all they could for him, by calling him "poor Richard," been nothing better than a thick-headed, unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to more than the abbreviation of his name, living or dead."

Was Dick already a derogative term back then or did she mean something else.

Someday I hope to own the book and read it. My elderly neighbor surprised me with the DVD years ago. She was laughing sweetly when I called to thank her. It was one of her favorites and I had never seen it. I rather liked it but you really had to pay attention to body language to keep from missing things. It would be interesting to see how it compares to the book.

Nathalia wrote: "I have already finished the book a few days ago, but this quote stuck with me:
"He had, in fact, though his sisters were now doing all they could for him, by calling him "poor Richard," been nothi..."

Seriously Nathalia! I totally thought that too while I was listening to this on audio!

John wrote: "Chahrazad wrote: "I was thinking that Austen is practically saying that if Anne sought out other men's society, that if she made a conscious effort to get over Frederick she would have forgotten ab..."

I think it's her wit and sarcasm that she uses in all her books that take these subtle jabs at the aristocracy and the different classes of England at the time. Also she makes some serious commentary on the lives of women at the time, but she does it very subtly and I think that the best book that she does this in is Pride and Prejudice. I also think that she write well defined strong female characters (at least as strong as she is able to get away with that the times of her publication dates) Persuasion might not be a great example of this but P&P certainly is, and so is Emma. It does frustrate me when people question her books claims to be classics, they have been carried through the ages as great books, so how can they not be considered classics, they have stood the test of time, which is the main definition of classics.

Hello, where do I go to introduce myself? Are we reading persuasion in the Month of November? Or discussing it in November, I'm a little confused.
Sick with pneumonia, starting to read Persuasion now.

newbie, Sharon

Welcome to the group Sharon :)
Persuasion was the group read for October, you can always join the discussions in the respective threads.
This month's read is "the Midwich Cuckoos"

Chahrazad wrote: "Welcome to the group Sharon :)
Persuasion was the group read for October, you can always join the discussions in the respective threads.
This month's read is "the Midwich Cuckoos""

Hi Sharon! Welcome! Feel free to jump into any book discussion if you want to share, but yes, we are reading The Midwich Cuckoos and discussing it this month. Next month will be The Bell Jar.

And thanks Chahrazad for fielding those! I appreciate it!