I read many, many books this year, but here are the ones I enjoyed the most, in no particular order:
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. Kept me up way past midnight. Waters is a master.
Caught by Lisa Moore. Delightful detail, smart dialogue and an intriguing plot. Wonderful! #CanLit
Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. Wow. I will read this novel again. If I had to chose one book for the year, this would be it.
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin. I listened to this on audible.com, as read by Meryl Streep. Simply amazing.
Longbourn, by Jo Baker. I loved this novel about the servant world of Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Extremely well done.
They Left Us Everything, a memoir by Plum Johnson. An often-funny yet moving account of dealing with parents’ “stuff” after their death. I wept! I laughed! #CanLit
Of course, I must also mention movies—well, just one, which I watched three times and will watch three times over again, no doubt. It’s the 2005 release of Pride & Prejudice, staring Kiera Knightly. I love this movie so much I can hardly stand it.
Ok, now for podcasts—but again, I’ll just mention one: Serial. It’s a reality-crime-mystery sort of series, and therefore highly unlikely to capture my interest, so trust me on this. It’s very well done—and extremely compelling.
Yet! How can I not also mention the podcasts that have been my daily bread for years? They include: This American Life, Learn French by Podcast, Book Review by the New York Times, and Writers & Company from CBC Radio.
In addition to my standby apps, I became fond this year of: Duolingo and Anki (for learning languages), and Lyne (a game).
And, as if this weren’t enough, here is another 2014 shortlist:
You might also want to check out my last year’s round-up:
Thank you for the recommendations. Longbourn sounds really interesting.
I watch at least one Austen movie each weekend—usually that one, but I love Lost in Austen just as much. I have four different versions of Pride & Prejudice, & three Sense and Sensibility (one one of each of the rest, but working on obtaining different versions). Other classics in which I enjoy both as a book and a movie and own multiple copies of each are Jane Eyre (5 movies versions so far), & Anna Karenina (4 versions of the movie so far. And although I do not care for the book, I really like the Little Women movies (3 versions).
Other times I have Tudor weekends watching all the old Tudor-related movies (as well as the television series, or newer movies, although I do care for them as much as the old ones), or Napoleonic weekends. I thought Brando made the best Napoleon in the movie Desiree
Wow! I’m so impressed! Would you mind putting together a list and I’ll post them to my blog? (Credit to you, of course.) Or perhaps you have a blog and have posted them there?
Thank you so much for letting us know!
Sure, but it will probably be later in the weekend before I would be able to do so.
Any particular listings, or all?
Any time! I’d be interested in the list of the historical movies you watch, such as you mentioned.
I do not have a blog, but as far as my library is concerned, it is listed on librarything.com under TheCelticSelkie.
I will.definitely get the movies listed for you, though
Hi Selkie, I looked in LibraryThing for you, but they don’t have a search members option (that I could find) and a search for TheCelticSelkie didn’t bring up anything. :-(
Are you on there as a member, or only through your author page?
The roundabout way to find someone’s library is to do a title search, & if the book comes up it will pull up the username of everyone that owns the title, and when you click on their name it will bring up their library.
Then on the right-hand side you can see books in common, or add to interesting libraries
I am still working on the listing. But here is a listing of Austen movies.
***Note: this is only a listing of those I own, and in no way a complete listing. There are many more I have “wishlisted”.
Emma (1972)
starring Doran Godwin and John Carson.
Emma (1996) starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam
Emma (1996) starring Kate Beckinsale and Mark Strong
Mansfield Park (1983) starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell
Northanger Abby (1986) starring Katherine Svhlesinger and Peter Firth
Persuasion (1971) starring Firbank and Bryan Marshall
Pride and Prejudice (1940) starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
Pride and Prejudice (1980) starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul
Pride and Prejudice (2003—an extremely modern version) starring Kim Heskin and Orlando Seale
Pride and Prejudice (2005) starring Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen
Sense and Sensibility (1981) starring Irene Richard and Tracey Childs
Sense and Sensibility (2004) starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and Hugh Grant
Related movies:
Becoming Jane (2007) starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy
Lost in Austen (2008) starring Jemima Rooper and Elliot Cowan—I absolutely love this movie!
Thank you so much, Selkie! I’m going to post it on my blog … AND track down Lost in Austen.
Here is my Jane Eyre listing.
(I still have at least two more versions on my wishlist, though).
Jane Eyre (1934) starring Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce —This is a very loose interpretation of the story. The only similarity is that an orphan grows up to work in a mansion and the master falls in lover with her, while he has a wife locked up in another part of the house. Adele is Mr Rochester’s niece in this version, not his ward; Jane was fired from her teacher’s job rather than just leaving it for another position; Jane is considered beautiful even by Blanche Ingram’s party, and she is just not stubborn, she is downright unlikable…it is ludicrous at most.
Jane Eyre (1944) starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine— I love this version except that it is too short. It is only reason why it is my
second favorite version rather than tied with the 1983 version.
Jane Eyre (1971) starring George C Scott and Savannah York—a pretty good version with George C Scott playing a superb Mr Rochester.
Jane Eyre (1983) starring Timothy Dalton and the Zelah Clark—this one is my absolute favorite version of Jane Eyre of all time. Very true to the book. The only thing that takes away from that is that it is broken up
into individual episodes rather than letting you watch it as a whole.
Jane Eyre (1997) starring they are events Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton—way too short to be accurate.
Jane Eyre (1996) starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Jane Eyre (2011) starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender —an average version. Although I like how it is shown in a series of flashbacks, I did not think that Mia Wasikowska played a very passionate Jane Eyre as portrayed in the book. She seems to simply state her lines rather than express them.
Personally, I thought Kelsey Grammer would have made an excellent Mr Rochester…too bad a version has never been made with him in it…
I will most likely have a blog up tomorrow with your Austen film list. Watch for it. Thanks so much!
Thank you!
:0)
You would love my book collection on the Bonapartes. I have about 250 volumes (which includes your books, of course!)
I am looking so forward to your book on Hortense.
Awesome! What caused you to develop such an interest?
I started reading royal biographies and historical fiction at a young age. I have always been interested in history. I did not know anything about Betsy Bonaparte until I was about fifteen—I read Bewitching Betsy Bonaparte, and found that I connected to her character more than any other I had read about. I was not able to find any other books about her until a few years ago, however.
Interesting! The newest biography of BB has been getting great reviews. Did you like it?
I did not even know a new one was out!
I used to work a t a book company, and could stay on top of all the new titles coming out. Who is the author?
Here it is:
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/06/wondrous-beauty/
I found your library on LibraryThing. Quite a collection!
Oh, I thought you meant in the last few months—I got that one not long after it came out. It was alright, but I still prefer Bewitching Betsy Bonaparte as my favourite, followed by Betsy Bonaparte by Helen Jean Burn, & Betsy Bonaparte: The Belle of Baltimore.
If Jerome referred to her as Elise, I wonder why no biographer ever has?
You really have read everything on her!
Napoleonic movies:
Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927)
Napoleon (1955) starring Orson Welles
Conquest (1937) starring credit Garbo and Charles Boyer
Desiree (1954) starring Marlon Brando—my favourite historical fiction about Napoleon. Brando is outstanding!
Eagle in a Cage (1965) starring Trevor Howard –Unfortunately, the sound quality on this film is so bad that one cannot enjoy the movie.
Leonard Buczkowski’s Maria and Naopleon (1966) (warning—this movie is horrible!)
Naopleon in Love (1974) starring Ian Holm and Billie Whitelaw
Naopleon and Josephine (1987) starring Armand Assante and Jacqueline Bisset
Napoleon (2003) starring Isabella Rosellini
The Emperor’s New Clothes (2002) starring Ian Holm—a delightful historical fiction based on Simon Leys’s Death of Napoleon
Antoine de Caunes’s Monsieur N (2005) —yet another alternative history about Napoleon.
Documentaries:
Napoleon: Exclusively in Memphis (1993) A VHS of the Napoleonic exhibit in Memphis, TN.
The Napoleon Murder Mystery (1999)
PBS Home Video: Empires – Napoleon: Soldier, Emperor, Lover, Statesman (2000) produced and directed by David Grubin
Napoleon: The Myth. The Battles. The Legend. (2001)
Napoleon’s Obsession: Quest for Egypt (2002)
In Search of Josephine: A Documentary (2012) by Eric Ellena
I just have the Tudor titles left to post