I recently saw an adaptation of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" set in the modern day. It's a French-language film, a black comedy/satire known as Quasimodo d’El Paris. It's set in 1999 or thereabouts in an unnamed place, in a city called El Paris. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy8KIUCGSAA&list=PLGuUJt6IB8_ET1gFct-hHQO62Dkqx90Lm&index=23 It is strange and over-the-top, but funny and charming. It … Continue reading Quasimodo d’El Paris
They say that “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove,: suffers from not having Gus McCrae, who didn't survive the first book. They also say that because fans wanted to see Gus again, Larry McMurtry wrote his prequels to “Lonesome Dove”, in which we get to see both Gus and Call in their youth: … Continue reading Dead Man’s Walk
December 15, 2020 Online there are many lists ranking favorite novels in order. My own ranking is really not well thought-out. Just going by enjoyment, I'll list them by how completely I enjoyed each one, ie, the degree to which I found any part of them to be hard going. 1. Mansfield Park2. Northanger Abbey3. … Continue reading Favorite Austens
November 24, 2020 If I searched right, the terms “persuasion” and “persuade”, or variations like “persuadable”, appear – 68 times in “Emma” 46 times in “Mansfield Park” 52 times in “Pride and Prejudice” 42 times in “Sense and Sensibility” 32 times in “Persuasion” 24 times in “Northanger Abbey” The novels are listed from longest to … Continue reading Jane Austen stats
November 19, 2020 I'm 25 chapters into "Mansfield Park" now, though I had not intended to read it. I was going to see only the movie from 1999, since I’d seen adaptations of all her other novels and knew nothing about this one. But I liked the story and movie so much that I opened … Continue reading Starting Mansfield Park
November 13, 2020 Spoilers ahead Finished “Northanger Abbey.” Ok, I’m going to be grossly unfair to Austen here, but I’ve got to call this one “The One With the Brothers and Sisters”: the Morlands (Catherine/James), the Thorpes (Isabella/John), and the Tilneys (Eleanor/Henry/Frederick). “Persuasion” can be “The One With the Widow(er)s.” I guess “Emma” would have … Continue reading Northanger Abbey
