Persuasion (Macmillan Collector's Library)

EUREKA! I have found it. I have found the key word.The key word is ENJOY!I ENJOY being alive. I ENJOY breathing the air. I ENJOY being able to sleep, to dream, to think, to write. I ENJOY reading books. And I especially ENJOY writing personally-revealing reviews of personally-revealing books that ignite the imagination and send the mind flying!OK. OK. Enough about me. What about you?Why might you want to read Jane Austen's "Persuasion"?Why, to ENJOY the book of course!OK. Very good. But why stop there? Why stop at the ENJOYMENT of reading the book? Why not let your mind go beyond the ENJOYMENT of reading the book? Why not keep going until you arrive at the ECSTASY of seeing, hearing, experiencing something imaginary, something ideal, something unreal, as if it were really happening right here, right now, in real life?Sounds great! But how?By bringing the book to life in your mind.Yes. Yes. Yes. But how? How??By seeing the 2007 movie “Persuasion,” starring Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones, BEFORE reading the book. That's how.I did see/hear the movie BEFORE I read the book. And I'm glad I did.As I read the book, the movie kept coming back to life in my mind.In addition, the book revealed -- in depth and in detail -- all of those seemingly minor thoughts, feelings, and incidents that did not make their way into the movie.By means of the written word, a book can open a character's heart and mind to the reader. By means of voice-over, a movie can do the same kind of thing. But not to the EXTENT that a book can.Be that as it may, whatever the movie may lack in such EXTENT is made up for, many times over, by the movie's astounding EFFECT.Indeed, insofar as EFFECT goes, there is something in the movie that surpasses anything and everything in the book; in any other book I have ever read; and in any other movie I have ever seen.That extraordinary "something" that I am raving about is the kiss scene. Not just the kiss, mind you. The scene!(Not to mention the love letter -- and the race against time -- leading up to the kiss scene.)In that kiss scene, a moment of time becomes an eternity of bliss. The infinity of space shrinks to nothing. Nothing except! Nothing except a small warm pocket of space wherein there is room enough for only two human beings, two people, a man and a woman, this man and this woman. Each is the whole world of the other.What will become a kiss evolves and revolves between the two of them, binary stars, paired, gradually encircling one another, beyond the reach of all the universe that is not their own. It is just the two of them. Nothing more. Nothing less.Try as I may, I cannot tell you in words. The book cannot tell you in words. You have to see the movie to believe it. Seeing it, hearing it, you will believe it, even though it is nothing but make-believe."Nothing but make-believe"??? What a thing to say!!!As if make-believe were of little or no value. A next to nothing sort of thing. A waste of time! of money!! of life itself!!!OK. OK. I stand corrected. How dare I down-talk make-believe!Let me slow down here, stop, and ask myself a couple of questions:1. What would thinking be like without the make-believe of imagination?2. What would life be like without the make-believe of dreaming?Those two questions have these two answers:1. We cannot think without imagining.2. Nor can we live without dreaming.So, no more down-talking make-believe. Not by me anyway.OK. Agreed.Now that's settled, I can turn my back on things that do not interest me, and return to what does -- i.e., "Persuasion" : book and movie.Much as I much prefer books to movies, the "Persuasion" movie of 2007 is exceptional. So exceptional that, if I had to choose one over the other, either the book or the movie, I would choose the movie.By the grace of good fortune, however, I don't have to choose between the two. For, I have both: the movie and the book.Each is excellent. Both are superb. And the two together are scintillatingly synergistic.When push comes to shove, however, my mind must admit, and my heart must confess, that, to my way of thinking and feeling, the movie is even better than the book, simply because of the kiss scene.That kiss scene is so good, so well done, so realistic, so believable, that I believe it to be real, even though it is make-believe.Is believing in make-believe such a bad thing? I think not.Speaking of thinking, consider this:Once you have seen/heard the love letter, the race against time, the kiss scene, and the other scenes in the movie, you can replay them in your mind by conducting "search and enjoy" missions: just pick up the book; flip to the juiciest pages; and read to your heart's content.What could be easier? What could be more enjoyable?? Certainly not the realities of everyday life. Ugh! Why get into that when you can get into this: a good book.

Title: PersuasionAuthor: Jane AustenRead by: Juliet StevensonPublisher: Naxos AudiobookLength: Approximately 8 hours and 43 minutesSource: Purchased from Audible.Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel. It was published posthumously and was written at the end of Jane Austen’s life. The story is a story of second chances. Anne Elliot rejected the engagement from Frederick Wentworth eight years before. She loved the young Lieutenant Wentworth, but his wealth and consequence were not enough for her friends and family to think it a prudent marriage. She allowed herself to be persuaded out of the marriage. Now Wentworth is back as a wealthy Captain. The Elliot’s meanwhile have seen a decrease in their fortune and have to rent their estate out to Wentworth’s sister and brother-in-law while they take a house in Bath. Will they find their way back to each other?I read Persuasion this month as it is the September book club selection for JASNA Wisconsin. I can’t wait to discuss it! I have reviewed Persuasion on this blog before as I love, love, love this book. This time I’m going to go over highlights and thoughts on had on my latest reread.• Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful narrator. She was Mrs. Elliot in the 1996 version of Emma, and I have listened to her narrate other audiobooks in the past.• I love thinking about this novel and how it was written at the end of Jane’s life. It makes me wonder, did she look back on life and have regrets perhaps of a love that she rejected? If only we had her missing letters!• I love Austen’s characters. Their traits are still what we see in family, friends, and neighbors today from the preening and narcissism of Mr. Elliot to the hypochondriasis of Anne’s sister Mary.• I love the description of Lyme Regis. Every time I listen to this book, it makes me want to visit and find Louisa’s wall.• Louisa puzzles me and kind of makes me sad. I know she was young and impetuous, but it seems a lot to have a near death experience to take away her spirit and have her settle down.• Speaking of Louisa, do you think Captain Wentworth ever had any feelings for her?• I love Anne’s friend Mrs. Smith and her good-natured gossip. I love that Captain Wentworth helps her at the end to get what is due to her. It’s sad that without a male relative back in that era, you couldn’t get your finances settled.• I wonder if Elizabeth Elliot every married. I can imagine her spending the rest of her days just wandering around Bath with her father.• Wentworth’s letter is still the most romantic letter of all time.• The ending is not nearly as long as Austen’s other novels. I wonder if she would have lived if this book would have been expanded at all.• Where do you think Anne and Captain Wentworth ended up living? The movie versions have different ideas.• What is your favorite movie version? I love the 1995 version. Are you looking forward to the new movie?

Jane Austin's writing does not need the critique of someone so far beneath her abilities as myself. Jane Austin the author speaks for the work. The word of Jane Austin made her a giant of the literary world. Who can say more?

Really good book! It arrived in a great condition and it arrived within a few days of ordering it!!!

Es gibt viele sehr schlechte Druckausgaben. Diese hier hat die klassische gute Qualität, für die der Penguin Verlag bekannt ist.So macht lesen Freude.

Bon produit.

Un très beau livre et belle couleur, cependant arrivé légèrement abîmé.

La calificación que le estoy otorgando es debido a que recibí el libro sin ninguna protección y en consecuencia venía sucio, tanto de la portada como de las hojas, es como si ya estuviera usado, he pedido muchas cosas en esta plataforma y es la primera vez que me sucede algo así.