Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

I was first introduced to Jane Austen over 10 years ago when a friend lent me her Pride and Prejudice videos. I fell in love with Lizzy and Mr Darcy and watched the 5 hours of the BBC 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice over and over and over again. Over the years, I have watched it countless times. Mark can pretty much quote the movie word for word even though I don't think he has seen it all the way through from start to finish.  Persuasion would be a close second followed by Sense and Sensibility. I'm pretty sure I've read all (if not most) of Jane's books and I've also got them as audio books too.

On Tuesday I introduced one of my lovely friends to my friend Jane. She has read the Anne of Green Gables books, but never seen a Jane movie or read any of her books. I was pleased to know that she watched and loved Persuasion the very night I lent the DVDs to her- and I know she'll enjoy the other Jane movies and hopefully the books, as much as I do.  We were discussing why the Anne books appeal to us and we came to the conclusion that it was because life was simpler then, the worst name someone could call you was 'carrots' and the worst thing you might do would be to break your slate over some boy's head. Today we are exposed to so much and there is not a lot of innocence left in the movies and tv shows that we watch.

www.cafepress.com/pemstore

Another favorite author of mine is Elizabeth Gaskell.  She wrote Wives and Daughters, North and South and Cranford. I have only read Wives and Daughters, and have it and the two others on DVD; I love watching them. I will be lending them to my friend once she has finished with my Jane Austen movies.

So off I go and watch 'Lost in Austen' and salute Jane Austen on her Birthday.

Happy Birthday Jane!