Pride & Prejudice Movies (Viewing May 29th at 8pm ET)

I will be watching and live tweeting the 2005 Pride & Prejudice at 8pm ET on May 29th. (I live in Japan, so that is actually 9am Saturday for me.) We won't always have to do Friday/Saturday viewings I just picked that for this time. Let me know if a different day/time works for you  -- my only wish is to not have to be up at 3am.

Make it a viewing party where ever you are -- maybe even with some themed food. You could do British pub food or a traditional Tea. Share your pics down below if you do anything fun!

Pride & Prejudice has been interpreted into numerous plays, movies, and TV-shows. Some have been better than others, and some have been phenomenal.

I am only going to concentrate (primarily) on the movies today.

The first interpretation to hit the big screen, Pride and Prejudice, premiered July 26, 1940. It starred Greer Garson and Laurence Oliver. It was well received, and The New York Times called it 

"the most deliciously pert comedy of old manners, the most crisp and crackling satire in costume that we in this corner can remember ever having seen on the screen."

I haven't seen this one yet, but I will comment below when I have (soon-ish, hopefully). Have you seen it? What did you think?

Available on demand: Amazon 

Buy it now: Amazon 

Then there was a long break from Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudice in the box office, but don't fret! Many of her other works were adapted to the silver screen.

The next interpretation introduce was Bridget Jones's Diary, released 13 April 2001, and starring Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth.

Did you know? The author of Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding, had envisioned Firth's Mr. Darcy from the 1995 mini-series when she created the character Mark Darcy. Additionally, Firth accepted the part of Mark Darcy in this film because Andrew Davies, the screenwriter for the 1995 mini-series, collaborated on the screenplay for Bridget Jones's Diary. But! Firth had initially declined the role of Mr. Darcy in the BBC show.

Could you imagine a world where Colin Firth wasn't Mr. Darcy (or Mark Darcy)?! I can't. He was, no, is my favorite Darcy.

Available on demand: Amazon
Buy it now: Amazon 

Next up, Bride and Prejudice, is a Bollywood style movie. It was released on October 8, 2004 and stars Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson. The music and the dancing emphasize the themes and emotions in the story. You'll notice there is no kissing in this movie - apparently that is because in traditional Bollywood movies public displays of affection are taboo, even at a wedding!

I'm going to admit that this is not my favorite P&P interpretation though. I don't like Rai's Lalita (Elizabeth). It wasn't until after I'd seen it that I found out that Rai refused to read P&P because she didn't want to be influenced by the real Elizabeth. I always hate when I find out that movie makers (actors, directors, cameramen...any of them, really) haven't read the book. It just doesn't sit well with me. What do you think? Am I too harsh?

Available on demand: Amazon

Buy it now: Amazon

However, the 2005 adaptation, starting Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen is my favorite. (And I will openly admit that Macfadyen is the closest second as can be to Firth in my eyes. To be honest, it may only be that Firth came first, if it had been any other way Macfayden would probably be my number one. So dreamy...)

This is one of my all time favorite movies, and completes regularly with Star Trek (2009) to be my feel good movie du jour. I will watch one or the other at least once a month. I love everything about this movie, the casting (especially Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet), the music, the setting; everything.

I am not wrong or alone. Pride & Prejudice was nominated for 34 awards that year. Including Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and a couple Golden Globes. In total, it won five awards:

• Best New Filmmaker- Joe Wright, from the Boston Society of Film Critics
• Most Promising Newcomer - Joe Wright, from the British Academy Film Awards
• Best British Film, from the Empire Awards
• British Director of the Year- Joe Wright, from the London Film Critics' Circle
• British Supporting Actor of the Year- Tom Hollander, also from the London Film Critics Circle

This is the one we'll be watching on May 29th at 8 pm Eastern. Live tweet with me (@FIBookClub) using #FIwatchPnP

Available on demand: Amazon
Buy Now: Amazon

What are your favorite adaptions?

AudioBookSync.Com Summer Reading List

Sync is a program that offers two free audio book downloads each week during the summer. Each pair includes a Young Adult novel and a Classic novel matched through similar themes. Each book is only offered for seven days, so you much download the titles during that time.

Week 1: This summer began May 7th. Through May 14th they offered Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier. Beautiful Creatures will be our June book-of-the-month so I hope you were able to download it while it was available!

Week 2: 5/14-21 Dodger, by Terry Pratchett and Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. I'm very excited about this week! I love Terry Pratchett, he has such a great voice. And, I'm a little embarrassed to say, I've never read Great Expectations. I seemed to have missed it in all of my English classes. So this is one for the bucket list! Also, Great Expectations has been adapted to the big screen 10 times, count them t-e-n times! and apparently, they span the the spectrum. We may have to make this one a book-of-the-month soon as well.

Week 3: 5/21-28 X: A Novel, by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, and Here in Harlem, by Walter Dean Myers. X is about the young man who becomes Malcom X. Here in Harlem is a collection of poems. Both tell the stories of Harlem and its struggles.

Week 4: 5/28-6/4 The Ring and the Crown, by Melissa De La Cruz, and Sea Hearts, by Margo Lanagan. I have enjoyed a few novels by Melissa De La Cruz, so I am interested in this title, even though I hadn't heard of it previously. Sea Hearts and The Ring and the Crown are about love, magic, and human weakness.

Week 5: 6/4-11 A Corner of White, by Jaclyn Moriarty and Dracula, by Bram Stoker. I honestly have no idea what A Corner of White is about. I've read the synopsis, and I still don't know. Dracula is about a vampire (obviously).

Week 6: 6/11-18 The Living, by Matt de la Pena and The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger. Both are about catastrophic events and the characters that try to survive. The Perfect Storm was adapted into a movie in 2000.

Week 7: 6/18-25 Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein and Anne Frank Remembered, by Miep Gies and Alison Leslie Gold. These are not for the faint of heart, both are about the Nazis, the war, and concentration camps.

Week 8: 6/25-7/2 Monster, by Walter Dean Myers and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Lord of the Flies is another of the classics that I didn't read in school. (I went to a few different high schools, so my program wasn't very predictable.) But to be honest, I was never really interested in it. Still, free is free, and a movie was made.

Week 9: 7/2-9 Echoes of an Angel, by Aquaneta Gordon and Chris Macias and Buddha Boy, by Kathe Koja. Both are stories of overcoming hardship. Though very different, they are both moving.

Week 10: 7/9-16 The Explorers Club, by Nell Benjamin and Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne. I can't wait to read both. I remember watching the 1956 Around the World in Eighty Days movie as a kid, I loved it! I may have to go digging around to find it again.

Week 11: 7/16-23 Crows and Cards, by Joseph Helgerson and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. Misadventures in the South.

Weeks 12: 7/23-30 March, by Geraldin Brooks, and Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. March is the story of the Little Women's absent father, so they are best read together. Little Women came to the big screen in 1994.

Week 13: 7/30-8/6 Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles, by Tanya Lee Stone and John Ball's In the Heat of the Night, by Matt Pelfrey. Overcoming prejudices and differences on the police force in the south and fighting on the battlefield in WWII. In the Heat of the Night was released in theaters in 1967.

Week 14: 8/6-13 Under A War-Torn Sky, by L.M. Elliot and The Old Brown Suitcase, by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz. Two more WWII stories and what freedom can cost. Both look like they will be very interesting.

There you have it, 14 weeks and 28 books.

Which ones are you interested in? Should we add any to our book list?

Pride & Prejudice Review

I've finished this month's book, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin. Have you finished it yet?

This is a copy of the review I posted on to Google Books:

As a club we read Pride & Prejudice in May 2015. Personally, I've read it at least five times. It is one of my favorite stories. A classic, and used as an inspiration for so many other stories.

Pride & Prejudice is a historical fiction romantic comedy. In this one novel, Jane Austin tells numerous stories of love and courtship. She writes of how love can grow so slowly you don't even know it happened. How it can be a spark that lights a burning fire from the moment you meet someone. And, that love and marriage do not always go hand-in-hand. Some marry for comfort; some marry because they want to be married - not necessarily in love.

I believe that this novel has held its popularity for so long because Austin allows there to be many reasons for love. Everyone is able to relate with the story, and everyone wants to have a love as deep as Elizabeth's and Darcy's, as passionate as Jane and Bingley's, and as comfortable as Charlotte and Collins'.

If you haven't read the book, do so. If you have, then do it again. I always find sometime new and wonderful between those pages.

Read my review and others HERE.

How would you review Pride & Prejudice?

AudioBookSync.com

I mentioned this briefly in my initial post, but I wanted to mention it again since it starts today!

Audiobooksync.com is offering two free downloadable audio books each week this summer. Each week they will offer a contemporary Young Adult book and a classic that shares similar themes.

The first week, today through the 14th, they are offering Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the classic Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

The reason I mention this is simply that we will be reading Beautiful Creatures in June, so why not get a free copy?

I have grown to love audio books. They let me "read" while doing other things - driving, washing the dishes, or cleaning the house! I love anything that helps me multitask.

That's really all for today.

Have you found me on twitter yet? (no I haven't tweeted, but I started working on my profile...)

How are you coming along with Pride and Prejudice?

Happy Reading!

Twitter Handle

So I realized I didn't add any info about how to follow the conversations on Twitter. I'm sorry! I was too excited about getting things started.

I may have also had to create a new account, so I may have procrastinated a bit.

Anyway, the pertinent information:

Follow me here: @FIBookClub

While we watch movies the hashtag for the conversation will (usually) follow this formula:

#FIwatch____ 

The blank will be filled with the initials of the book title, for example later this month when we watch Pride and Prejudice it will look like this:

#FIwatchPnP

To be honest we can probably use that hashtag all month long, that way if you are reading and want to share a thought on twitter instead of on here, we can all find it.

Come find me on Twitter!

Disclaimer: I am working on getting better at using Twitter more regularly. In fact, all I've done is set up the account, I haven't even tweeted yet. I will though, I promise!

First "Meeting" - First Impressions - And Other Notes

Welcome to the First Impressions Book to Movie Club!

First and foremost, this is a formal invitation to anyone to join us. Come one, Come all!

I have been thinking about trying to make a virtual book-to-movie club for awhile now. I don't have all of the specifics figured out yet, but I wanted to at least get started. So, here we are.

This is my idea of a "book club." I don't always like book clubs, they tend to read the same books, or at least the same types of books, over and over again or are filled with people who have silly ideas about literature. (Have you read THIS article by cracked.com? You should, you'll see what I mean.) I love talking about books, but I can't stand people finding crazy meanings in every - little - thing. (My DH will vouch for this. He loves to tell people how I got a "D" in my college Film class because I refused to accept that the "grass in Westerns" symbolized anything other than "the grass in Westerns.")

Now, I'm not saying that authors don't include messages beyond the text. I know the power of metaphors and symbolism. I just think we need to read for what it was written for, not project our own agendas into the writing. If you don't agree, you don't have to. I just wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from while I thought about creating this book club. And, I'm not asking you to leave, quite the opposite! Stay! Share! Have some fun!

But I seemed to have digressed, let me try this again .... so, this is my idea of a book club. The premise is that everyone will read the book then at the end of the month we will watch the movie together. I know what you are thinking.

I'm not delusional.

I promise.

I don't mean we will all gather in some physical place to watch the movie. Duh. I mean I will announce a time and a day that I will watch the movie, and I encourage you to watch it at the same time as me. We can all live tweet our thoughts as we watch. We can talk about the differences between the books and the movies, or what we liked about the movie or book, or, well, anything really.

What do you think? Are you interested?

If you are, and I'm assuming you must be since you've made it this far, welcome to our first "meeting."

Our first book will be Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin (buy) or as it was originally titled, First Impressions. See what I did there? Witty, right? P&P is a classic romantic tale that everyone should read. Just to get this out in the open, we will be watching the 2005 version (with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen). While I would love to encourage everyone to watch the BBC version starring Colin Firth, I understand that it 5 and a half hours long and that is a bit of a commitment. (But, watch it if you have the time. It is amazing.)

We will read it over the month of May, then I will announce a time to watch and tweet along.

Next month, we will read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (buy). I wanted to mention this now, because from May 7th - May 14th audiobooksync.com will offer the audio book for free. So make sure you get a your free audio book!

As I just wanted to get things going, I chose the first two books. But I am open to suggestions, comment below if you have any!

The only rule is that the book must have been made into a movie -- this can include new movies that are being released, though we will have to develop a format for in theater movies if that were to come up. Any ideas?

I think that is enough for now. I'll get to reading P&P and check in from time to time.

Happy Reading!