Discussion!!

This was such a fun read. So now on to the questions...

1. Name one of Jane's commentaries on life that you enjoyed.

ie: The part where Henry and Catherine are talking about motives and people in their circle. Henry is talking above Catherine and she states quite plainly " I do not understand you." Henry replies, "Then we are on bery unequal terms, for I understand you perfectly well." Catherine:"Me? Yer; I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible."
I love this part. It is such a commentary on those people who use language and their own opinions to raise themselves above others. I thought it was such a clever moment and such a loud statement in very simple terms.

I also love the commentary in the beginning where Jane is talking to her readers in that she states that there is no shame in her heroines reading novel. She carries on for a good two paragraphs on the hipocrasy of writing novels and then having your heroines too virtuous to ever touch a novel. I laughed out loud. I thought this too was so clever.

2. What theme stood out most to you?
I think that one of the strongest statements made was to not judge a situation based on the perceptions of others. (Particularly Isabella or John Thorpe) I think though these characters were exaggerated, they are found in everyday life. They are the "all around experts" and Jane cautions us to be careful of them. To judge a situation or person based on facts gathered from more than one source and hopefully above all else gathered from the person themself. I think this was made apparent in the father judging Catherine based on John's opinion as well as Catherine judging the Father based on her imagination and facts gathered on her own.

3. Comment on your overall opinion of the story.

I agree with the earlier comment. At times Catherine was a little too naive. I think Jane exaggerated all of her characters in order to make a greater statement. I did feel that the story though less complex than her others, was very clever and very enjoyable. I laughed out loud many times and found many delightful scenes. One of my favorites being the "proposal" hint by John Thorpe and Catherine's naive responses. I loved the conversation in this scene. It was so clever. Again I laughed out loud. I love it when a book brings that strong an emotional response.

4. Bonus question! Compare Catherine to your favorite Austin heroine.
I choose Lizzy from Pride and Prejudice. Lizzy to me is such a dynamic character. She is witty, and strong willed. She is intelligent and human. She jumps to conclusions and judges poor Mr Darcy harshly, but admits her mistake and is wise enough to recognize when she is wrong. Catherine is naive, though in that naivity is still witty unintentionally. She is a bit more rash, but very humble and quickly admits her faults and rectifies them. She is sweet tempered and trusts very easily. She learns from her mistakes. Both characters though very different are enjoyable.

Have a super week ladies!

Northanger Abbey

I just wanted to let everyone know I wasn't going to be able to discuss this months book. I waited too long to get it from the library and all of them were checked out in the ones by me. Now I have one on order and it will be available in a week...
I heard you all say it was wonderful...so I can't wait to get it. All the high school/college kids must be reading it or either another book club borrowed our idea. I am excited for next months book and am going to request it now.

Upcoming schedule

Jessie, I can't remember if we picked a day for you to start the discussion. Since this is the last week of the month, feel free to start it any time.

As for the upcoming schedule, I posted what we have in the side column. I've asked Tam and Ashley if they would like to lead May and June. And Michelle will be emailing me soon with her book choice for April.

Free Books

Go check out www.dailylit.com. You can sign up to receive free books via email.

March Book

Sorry for not getting this out sooner. I think for March we will read one of the books I got from the Library. There were 4 that I wanted to read, but narrowed it down to the one I chose. Which is The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. I know Lisa has read a lot of her books so I apologize if it is a repeat for her or anyone else, but I am totally in a Robin McKinley mood as I just finished Spindle's End and it was amazingly good. We'll discuss it on Thursday, March 27th.

Happy Reading!!

Schedule???

I can't remember if we ever made a schedule for the next few months? And when are we discussing Northanger Abbey? Speaking of Jane Austin, I just watched "The Jane Austin Book Club," and it was really fun. I wasn't expecting it to be anything special, but my husband is out of town and so I decided to watch a chick flick. It was very fun and made me want to reread all the books :).

In Bronx School, Culture Shock, Then Revival

Since we recently read "My name is Asher Lev," I thought I'd share this interesting story from the NY Times about a Hasidic Jew becoming the principle of a failing school in the Bronx.
Talk about a tough job! Here is the link.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.