The problem with waiting way too long to write reviews is that I forget all the details. I read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld because it’s a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and it was on NPR’s list of recommended books from 2016. I remember enjoying it. It was fun and well done, inspired by Pride and Prejudice without being too tied to it. Liz Bennett is a magazine writer while her sister Jane is a yoga instructor, and they both live in NYC. Jane is almost forty and ready to start a […]
Okay, so I HAVE to read Pride and Prejudice now, right?
Oh my god, y’all, this book was so fun. As I’ve admitted in shame before, I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice before (I know, I know). But I grabbed this one on audiobook after approximately one million of you reviewed it favorably, and I really enjoyed it! The audio version in particular was a fun distraction while training for my latest run. So this tells the modern day story of 5 unmarried sisters, and their various shenanigans as their parents’ financial situation falls to pieces. It’s […]
Pride and Prejudice…. if the Bennetts were worse than the original
First, a disclaimer. I LOVE me some Pride and Prejudice. I own several copies of the book, I love both the BBC miniseries, and the Kiera Knightly movie. I have a scarf printed with text from the book. I have read many of the modern ‘spinoff’ novels, and have enjoyed most of them. So when I saw Eligible in the Charlotte airport while looking for a book to kill time during an unexpected layover, it was a no-brainer for me. All that to say….. meh. […]
After early promise, kind of a let down
Sisterland is about identical twin sisters, both with psychic abilities, but with diverging ideas on what that means for them. One, Violet, embraces her gift while the other, Daisy, rejects them in favor of living a “normal life”. This disharmony is at the center of the book, and, as such, was a delight to read. Sittenfeld was a bit of a darling around these parts thanks to Eligible (and the fact that one of us knew her at one time), so I knew that I’d give […]
P&P in Cinci
So thanks to all my fellow Cannonballers Eligible popped up on my radar. I hadn’t heard about the Austen Project, but if I’d had it isn’t really my thing. I’m a huge Austenite (minus Mansfield Park because… ugh), but I don’t do messing with her very well. I don’t do the “sequels” or the re-imaginings easily (except Clueless which is one of the most perfect movies ever made). I haven’t even seen the Joe Wright version of P&P, because it’s Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth […]
When The End of the World Comes, I Want to Be in Cincinnati
I know people have mixed feelings about this reboot of Pride and Prejudice but I heartily enjoyed it, and I think Jane Austen would have too. Though I never was fully able to forget this was an homage, Sittenfeld does a good job of playing with how the dynamics of Austen’s insular novel world would translate to a 21st century American context. Austen was poking sly fun at her characters, and Sittenfeld does likewise. Instead of being set in the English countryside, this novel is set […]