Guest Post: The 200th Anniversary of Sense & Sensibility

by Serena on October 6, 2011

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Tagged as: jane austen, Mary Lydon Simonsen, Mr Darcy's Bite, Sense & Sensibility

{ 13 comments }

1 bermudaonion (Kathy) October 6, 2011 at 8:42 am

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I’ve only read a few of Austen’s books. It’s good to know it improved as time went on.

2 Serena October 6, 2011 at 9:07 am: This is one of my least favorites; I think Marianne just drove me crazy. On another note, I have noticed that some books do improve over time…like a classic read in your teenage years gains your appreciation if you read it again later in life. Maybe I should take my own advice and read S&S again.

3 Anna October 6, 2011 at 11:15 am

I started re-reading S&S a couple of months ago but I’ve put it down to read other things. It’s not my favorite Austen either, but I’m glad I can appreciate it.

4 Serena October 6, 2011 at 11:45 am: I’ll have to read it again at some point, but I’m not feeling it now.

5 Stephanie October 6, 2011 at 11:41 am

Sense & Sensibility is the only book of Austen’s that I didn’t enjoy. It was kind of tough to get through, actually, so I think maybe I should reread it now that it has been a few years to see whether my opinion has changed.

6 Serena October 6, 2011 at 11:55 am: I had a hard time getting through S&S the first time I read it to, which is part of my reluctance to reread it now…but some day. P&P is my favorite, but Anna thinks my opinion will change once I’ve read Persuasion.

7 Mary Simonsen October 6, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Hi Serena. Thank you for having me back at Savvy, Verse & Wit. It seems that others find reading S&S hard going. One of the main problems is how the female characters have to sit and wait for events to come to them. That is not something most modern women could or would do. It happens to Jane Bennet in P&P, but we would never expect it to happen to Lizzy. I think Elinor Dashwood is too reticent for most modern tastes, and like you said, Marianne makes you crazy. But if she were alive today, she would still be in high school. Most of us were drama queens in our teens. Mary

8 Serena October 6, 2011 at 1:03 pm

Mary, fine point. Marianne would have still been in high school…but I wasn’t that dramatic…I hope. LOL

9 Mary Simonsen October 6, 2011 at 1:11 pm

Serena, As a rule, I wasn’t that dramatic, but I did have my moments. I also had a sister who could have won an Oscar for some of her performances. Don’t get me started on some of my classmates.

10 Serena October 6, 2011 at 1:27 pm: Trust me, there were some real drama queens in my high school. No siblings here to report on.

11 Darlene October 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm

Great post from Mary. S&S is one I haven’t even tried reading. Maybe one day but you and Anna don’t seem all that enthused about it so maybe not. Lol.