Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2012 discussion

I am off and running on Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen. If you'd like to join me or talk Austen with me, I'd love to have you along.

I won't be doing the re-read, but I'm happy to talk Austen/Sense with you. :)

I've just started....but I can say right now that I detest Mrs. John Dashwood...talking him out of truly honoring his promise to his father.

She's a money-grabber, all right. You'll get the chance to detest her for most of the book.

Always up for a nice bit of fictional detesting. :-)

I don't seem to be making much headway on this one.....

S&S takes a while to get into. It's a long story, but it's really worth reading. I think you might like it better than Emma. (I peeked at your review). Once the story moves to Barton Cottage, it gets more interesting.

Thanks for the encouragement, Jeannette. I hope to goodness I like this better than Emma....I would say I'd have to. :-) Will start up again one I finish the vintage mystery I'm working on.

You at least have to meet Willoughby, before you decide to give up.

In addition to Fanny Dashwood, you'll meet another great Austen villain, Lucy Steele, in later chapters. You'll get a good dose of Austen snarkiness, as well as a beautiful story.

Oh...I don't plan to give up. I have it down for too many challenges, for one thing. And I do intend to read all of Austen (Will just have Mansfield Park left once this one's done). I will definitely soldier on.

Mansfield Park is my least favorite. I'll enjoy seeing what you think of it, and S&S.

Bev wrote: "Oh...I don't plan to give up. I have it down for too many challenges, for one thing. And I do intend to read all of Austen (Will just have Mansfield Park left once this one's done). I will defin..."

Having that same struggle right now with a Henry James read, but pushing through as you are.

The last time I checked your blog I was amazed by the number of challenges you are doing. How many are you actually doing?

Um....thirty-three. Not counting the Olympic Read-a-thon that I'm doing while the Olympics are on.

33! (and a half...) lol! I think there's a 12-step program for that kind of thing, Bev.

Hi, I'm Bev... I have a challenge addiction. ;-)

Hayes wrote: "33! (and a half...) lol! I think there's a 12-step program for that kind of thing, Bev.

Hi, I'm Bev... I have a challenge addiction. ;-)" I've already completed the first step (admitting the addiction): Reading Challenge Addict. :-)

Bev wrote: "I've already completed the first step"

Hahaha!

Atta girl, Bev!

Oh wow! I didn't think anything close to that and this TBR challenge is our first ever challenge, unless you count GR annual challenge.

Hearing the Olympic reading challenge really was a surprise to me. The games distract me from my reading so I wouldn't do well at all.

Dawn (& Ron) wrote: "Oh wow! I didn't think anything close to that and this TBR challenge is our first ever challenge, unless you count GR annual challenge.

Hearing the Olympic reading challenge really was a surprise ..."

I don't have television (well, we have televisions, just no cable, satellite, etc) so the only Olympic stuff I've seen has been via internet. And not much of that....Haven't really paid attention since the 1984 games in LA, to tell the truth.

What do you have to do for the Olympic Read-a-thon? Books with sports in them or ones set at Olympic Games? Or just see how many books you can read during the two weeks the jocks are doing their stuff?

Jemidar wrote: "What do you have to do for the Olympic Read-a-thon? Books with sports in them or ones set at Olympic Games? Or just see how many books you can read during the two weeks the jocks are doing their ..."

You set a page number goal (I went for 1500 pages). Here's my Link.

I blame my Olympic fever on my folks, especially my dad. I was taught it was not just the winning the mattered. Luckily Ron feels the same way towards the games so we enjoy them together. BTW, this is the year of the woman, more female athletes then men, and every nation, including Arab and Islamic, have sent women, to top it off in the US women have received more medals. All of these are first time things. Not trying to convert you, just proud of these accomplishments.

I thought it was how much could be read over the time period and it looks like you are within 200 pages of your goal. Good luck! Do you win books as a prize?

Thanks Bev. What a good idea! I'm with Dawn though in that the Olympics telecast is cutting into my reading time :-(.

Let me know when you get back to Elinor & Marianne, Bev! ;-)

Dawn (& Ron) wrote: "I blame my Olympic fever on my folks, especially my dad. I was taught it was not just the winning the mattered. Luckily Ron feels the same way towards the games so we enjoy them together. BTW, this..."

I don't think there is a prize (or if so, I missed that bit)...but that's okay. I'll take whatever incentive I can get to climb those TBR stacks.

Jeannette...hoping to get back to Sense & Sensibility after the current book.

I've decided that I'm going to try and finish Sense & Sensibility via an audiobook this weekend. I'm making a fairly long car trip, so I'll be a captive audience. That would seem to be the only way I'm going to plow through this particular Austen....

I hope you've got a good narrator. I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you return.

Jeannette: The narrator was Wanda McCaddon (hadn't heard of her). She's been very good. I didn't quite make it all the way through--in the middle of Chapter 37 by the time I hit my driveway this evening. I must say, this is one occasion where having the book read to me was a much better experience than reading it myself. And Willoughby-what a louse! And Lucy Steele...hmmph! "I wouldn't tell you this, Elinor, if you weren't such a particular friend of mine...." Uh-huh.

I told you you would love disliking her! Some fine examples of Miss Austen's wit!

What is happening mid-chapter 37, so I know where you are?

All h--- has broken loose at John & Fanny Dashwood's. Lucy Steele and her sister were invited to stay and it has been revealed that Lucy has supposedly been engaged to Edward for some time. Fanny is having hysterics. The news has come to Elinor and Marianne--and Marianne has just been told that Elinor has known about the secret engagement (and, thus, been "heartbroken" like Marianne) for four months....

Great scene, in both houses!

p.s. Edward is such a dope!

Yes. Indeed, he is.

Marianne is a bit of a dope herself...

They were both young when they made foolish choices, weren't they?

Yep. Coming into the home stretch now. back to reading--although I have to say, I wish my weekend journeys had been about 2 hours longer. then I could have listened to the rest. Reading it just seems to be dragging on this particular story. So far, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Pride & Prejudice are my favorites (roughly in that order).

That's my order, too. P&P had been second, but NA finally stole second place. I love Henry Tilney.

Oh...and Emma is a far distant last place. I actively dislike Emma.

I dislike Mansfield Park more than Emma.

You might enjoy glancing through Love and Freindship (I read the title story) to see what a sharp wit Jane had at 14. "Run mad, if you must, but do not faint!"

I have yet to read Mansfield Park--but I have heard others say that it is their least favorite. I think I'll give Austen a rest for a while after S&S. I actually have read Love & Friendship...a few years ago (pre-blogging/online reviewing days). I rated it 5 stars at the time....

Well....Sense & Sensibility is now done. Click for my final thoughts, such as they are.

I also find it highly unsatisfactory that Robert Ferrars and that snake Lucy wind up back in the good graces of Mrs. Ferrars. If we're going to tie up all the ends in a happily-ever-after sort of fashion--marrying people off right and left at the end and making everyone who deserves to be happy, happy--then by all means, let's also give the despicable characters a bit of what's coming to them as well.

I think they did get what they deserved, each other. They will live out their days bossed and bullied by both Fanny and the old bat. And, Edward, who had no ambitions, gets to be a poor country parson, with a woman who values him.

I find it interesting that you didn't comment on Marianne's fate. Not everyone thinks she has a HEA, either.

Well...I was thinking of how Robert is the weasel with Lucy the snake and they get to be the favorites and get all the benefits of the first born and his wife. Yes, they get to associate with Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars, but they don't seem to mind.

I didn't comment on Marianne because quite honestly I'm not in favor of the highly emotional lady...I'm glad Colonel Brandon gets the lady he has his heart set on (I only hope he's as happy with her as he thinks he'll be). One note on Marianne, though. It would have been a little more realistic to me if Austen had toned her down a bit on the emotional side and not made her quite so sensible and suitable a wife for Brandon in the end. That's quite a change for her....

Yes, Marianne's change of heart was used to drive the point home that Elinor was the best example of how to live and love.

Robert is the weasel, and Lucy the snake, and I can't imagine they'll be happy, even with the fortune. Ot, at least that's what I hope. But, everybody got a "happy enough" ending, even Willoughby, who definitely did not deserve it.

I enjoyed your review, btw!

Thanks!

Thanks for letting me discuss Sense & Sensibility with you, too. It makes me happy to find someone else who appreciates Northanger Abbey as much as I do.

My Northanger Abbey Review. I needed to refresh myself on what I thought about it last year....And Emma, if you're interested.

I liked your NA review; I'll save Emma for tomorrow. Now there's a villain you can really dislike, John Thorpe. I almost expected him to twirl the end of his moustache at some point in the story! And, here is a story where the right people got their happy endings.

Great review, Bev. I think that the romantic pairings in S&S are the least successful aspect of the novel. Elinor and Edward getting together is achieved by way of a not terribly convincing deus ex machina and much as I like Colonel Brandon as a character, I think that Marianne was not true to herself in marrying him. However, I think Austen's portrayal of parent/child and sibling relationships is superb and, as is always the case with Austen, the novel is an interesting commentary on the dire situation for women without financial resources, something Austen knew only too well from her own experience. .

Nicely done, Bev. I will get to the Austens sooner or later. I have recently re-read Pride & Prejudice, and cannot remember anything about the others I read. Something to look forward to.

I have a vague, uncomfortable feeling that I signed up for this one. How do I find out?