Let's talk about: Pride and Prejudice.... again

After watching the longer 1995 version I decided to watch the shorter 2005 version again as well. 

In just a very short time I will be visiting a few of the places from this film (Chatsworth house, Stanadge Edge, etc) and really was in the mood to see it again. 

It seems to me that most Pride and Prejudice lovers have very strong opinions about the respective adaptations. They seem to love one of the versions and hate the other. 

I do not feel that way. 

I take the unpopular opinion of liking both equally but in different ways. 

I will always love Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy the most. 

And I will always love the fact that the longer version allows for more exploration of the novel. 

But here are some of the things I like more about the 2005 version. 

Lizzie's sass!

She is fantastic in the older version as well but I actually really like Keira Knightly as Lizzie and there are so many "Oh Snap!" moments in this film. 

 

Jane

I think the Jane in the older version is good but she is not what I pictured while reading the book.

Rosamund Pike however, made my perfect Jane. 

She is stunningly beautiful and embodies Jane's modesty and calm manner very well. 

 

I think this version does a really good job of portraying the familial bond between the family. They feel like a real family to me. They seem close even when they annoy each other and when they are being crazy. 

 

I especially noticed this in the relationships between Lizzie and Jane, the mom and dad, and Lizzie and her dad. 

I love the scene when Lizzie is telling her father what Darcy has done and he realizes how much she really loves Darcy. I think Donald Sutherland captures the emotion perfectly to show how we feel when our children are truly happy. They really let us see how close these two are.

 

The cinematography and music. 

They do this so right in this movie. 

The scenes are beautiful.  This movie is beautiful.

 

and lastly, I love that when I am in the mood for some Lizzie and Darcy I can choose to either take a whole day or weekend to watch the longer one but can also take just one evening to watch this one. 

What about you? 

Do you have a favorite? 

Here is the trailer for this adaptation: 

 

Let's talk about: Pride and Prejudice

I spent the weekend with the 1995 version of the Bennet family. 

My husband and I were both a bit under the weather this weekend and I decided that made it the perfect weekend to just hang out and take the time to watch this longer version of Pride and Prejudice. 

It has been a while since I have watched this one and I was anxious to do so since it is less than a month until I will be seeing Lyme Park (Pemberley in this adaptation) in person! 

I really enjoyed watching it. It really is such a good adaptation of Jane Austen's novel and it is really well acted. Oh man, their mom just drives me nuts. She plays her so neurotic (the way she should be!) and I just cringe every time she opens her mouth. Well, I cringe pretty much anytime the mom, Lydia, or Mary are on screen.

I found out a lot of interesting things while watching. 

First, Julia Sawalha (Lydia) was actually a year older than Jennifer Ehle (Elizabeth) even though she plays the younger sister. 

Susannah Harker (Jane) was pregnant during filming but they were able to hide it with the cut of her dresses, shawls, etc. 

Adrian Lukis (Wickham) looked familiar to me so I looked him up and realized I had just watched him playing Sir John Darnley in Season 6 of Downton Abbey. 

Anyway, I was having a lot of fun reading all the trivia about this film as I watched it! 

Plus, the town of Meryton was filmed in Lacock and I will be there in about a month as well! 

I think knowing that I will be seeing some of these places in person soon really enhanced my viewing but even without that, this is a really solid adaptation. 

I think that Jennifer Ehle plays Elizabeth really well and I believe Colin Firth to be the PERFECT Mr. Darcy. He really captures him. 

Is anyone not in love with Mr. Darcy after watching this? 

If you haven't seen this adaptation of Pride and Prejudice I highly recommend taking the time to watch it!

Here is the trailer: 

Let's talk about: A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

We watched the movie Paddington last year and really enjoyed it. You can see my full review of that here. But we didn't know much more about Paddington. We have read a few picture books about him but had never read the chapter books by Michael Bond. 

 In just a few weeks my mom and I will be arriving at Paddington Station in London and staying the night at the hotel connected to it. We are planning on visiting Paddington's statue and the Paddington bear store. So I kind of wanted to get more acquainted with the bear. 

I checked out all of the books our library had and began to read the first one out loud to my daughters. 

We instantly all loved it. We are now on our third book. They beg for more chapters! Even the ten year old. We have all been smitten with Paddington. 

These books are really charming and so much fun. 

Now they both have a list of things they want me to buy at the Paddington store and Maddy is wishing for her very own Paddington stuffed bear. 

In each book, each chapter reads like a short story in the life of Paddington. He gets into scrapes but he isn't really mischievous, just curious. He is polite and kind. And I am so, so glad we started reading these books!

We love this bear!

photo of Michael Bond and Paddington from The Telegraph

Let's talk about: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I have been wanting to read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes ever since I started seeing previews for the upcoming movie. It looked really good to me and has a great cast. Also, about that time I started seeing reviews of the book popping up all over booktube and they were all favorable. 

I finally got it from the library last week and spent the weekend devouring it. 

It was such a quick read and was really hard to put down. 

I really liked the main characters as well as a few side characters and the story drew me in. 

It was such an emotional book and a lot of it centers around a very controversial topic. 

I won't go into details of that because but I was really torn on the book because of it. 

I feel like the book's biggest strength is the fact that it really got me thinking about my opinion on this topic and even prompted a very interesting discussion between my husband and I when I talked to him about it. 

The book takes place in England and it was also fun to read about the town that the characters live in. 

I think it is well worth the read and I will definitely be seeing the movie this June. 

Here is the Goodreads blurb for this book: 

 

"Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time."

 

 

Busy, busy times

I feel so bad that I haven't blogged as much lately. I have neglected this blog which is sad because I love writing it. But I have been so busy planning my upcoming trip and spending a lot of my "online" time doing trip things. 

I should be on sometime this week or at the very latest next week with some great recommendations. 

Check back!