We can change your mind!

I'm just back from Books and Beer Club. Attendance was small but we had a great meeting. Tonight we discussed Jane Austen's Persuasion. Of the seven of us at the meeting, six of us gave the book a thumbs up. And one gave a sidewise thumb. The language was tedious, there were too many characters, it was too difficult to get into. "But I really liked the story."

Our fearless leader, Wendy, is a huge Jane Austen fan. I'd only ever read Pride and Prejudice before. I'm not sure of the Austen history of the rest of the members. You can read my review of Persuasion here. Those were the views I shared with the group. There was a lot of agreement amongst the readers and some small differences of opinion.

As the meeting was coming to a close, our dissenter said, "You know what. I think I can switch to a thumbs up. After discussing the book with you all, I realize how much I really did like it."

A few of the members planned to read more Austen. I'm not sure how quickly I'll pick up another book. Too many books, too little time! 

Next month we'll be reading mystery. Three of us met for dinner before the book club meeting and started talking about what book to suggest for next month. We realized that none of us had read any Agatha Christie. So... for May we'll be reading Murder on the Orient Express. If you've read the book or seen the movie, please don't spoil it for me!

Aren't you that woman from the book club?

Sometimes I feel like I'm a celebrity. If people don't recognize my face from book club meetings, they recognize my name from book club e-mails or the articles that I write about our book club for a monthly local newspaper. There are surely worse ways to be known.

The best part is that every time I'm recognized as "the woman from the book club," I get to talk about books. It happened twice last week.

I was at the pool last Tuesday, minding my own business, working really hard in water aerobics class when I sensed that people were talking about me. I wasn't being egotistical or crazy. When class ended, a new friend of mine came up to me and said that she'd been talking to another woman in the pool (who wasn't in the class) about the book club. She thought this other woman might be interested in joining the book club. Once we were all out of the pool and drying off before heading off to the remainder of our days, we talked. About book club. And about books. They shared titles of books they'd recently read and enjoyed (wish I'd had my phone - or a pad and paper to jot down the titles - I always think I'll remember but I rarely do). I told them that our community book club is reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple for our May book club meeting. I also mentioned that I was reading Persuasion by Jane Austen for Books and Beer Club. We then talked about how with all the books we've read, we've read so few of the classics. My new friend and I attended the same high school at different times. (Midwood High School in Brooklyn, New York in case you're curious.) We wondered why our curriculum included so few classics. "But then again, aren't you enjoying them more as a adult than you might have as a kid in high school?" Woman in the pool said she'd email me to get more information about the community book club. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe she forgotten my "easy enough to remember" book club email address. We're not as young as we used to be!

Thursday I was at a well-attended luncheon when a woman named Sue came up to me and said, "You're Sue. From the book club, right?" When I said that was me, she said that I was missed at the last community book club meeting where Cross Creek, a memoir by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was discussed. As I was admitting that I haven't yet finished the book, a neighbor who is also a member of our community book club walked up to us and said that once she realized she wasn't free on the day of the book club, she dropped the book. I still plan to finish Cross Creek. I purchased the e-book and so I shared that I don't feel pressured to finish the book at any particular time. We're talking about taking a day trip up to Cross Creek (yes, it's an actual place in Florida, not too far from where we live) and I also shared that I need (yes, need) to have the book finished by then. Neighbor asked if it was worth finishing. Sue said that it was.

I'll give a more complete review of Cross Creek once I've actually finished the book. But I was quick to share my thoughts on what I've read so far with Sue and neighbor. What I don't like about Cross Creek and what Sue shared that many at the book club meeting agreed with is that it's written anecdotally, almost short stories, but not quite, that aren't in chronological order or written in a way that you can really make sense of who the other characters in Rawlings story are. I would have loved a true narrative. This is why I moved to Cross Creek. This is when I moved to Cross Creek. This happened first, this happened next. Here's the conflict. Let's wrap up with the resolution. 42% of my way through the book and it's not like that at all. That's what I wish it was.

What I'm really enjoying about Cross Creek is allowing my mind to wander, to get a better sense of Florida in the 1940s, to get a truer sense of how Florida really was one of the final frontiers in the United States. For example, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. When I try to imagine what Brooklyn was like 60 years ago - or 100 years ago - or when my parents were growing up - in my mind the buildings are still in place. They're only older looking (which I realize makes no sense since the buildings I'm talking about were much newer back then and seriously older now). Maybe they're really more old-fashioned looking? The point is that I have a visualization going on that is probably not too far from the truth. When I try to imagine what things were like even 30 years ago in this part of Florida, I can't imagine. That means it's even more difficult to imagine what it was like 70 or 80 years ago. Just how wild and untamed was Central Florida in the middle of the 20th Century?

Shouldn't anyone who has decided to call this part of the state his or her home have a better picture of what things were like way back when?

Persuasion by Jane Austen - I can check another classic off the list of books I never read in high school!

Not the actual edition that I read.
I read the Project Gutenberg e-book edition.
More about Project Gutenberg at the end
of today's post.

My formal literature education ended in high school. The only English class I took in college was a freshman writing seminar. And in retrospect, my exposure to the classics was very limited. I'm not sure I understand why. I did take AP English my senior year of high school. I wish I could remember what books we read then. The only one I remember definitely was Anna Karenina. I liked the story but somehow got bogged down in the writing.

I remember slogging through Shakespeare with my mom reading aloud to me, kind of acting it out, to make it more exciting. But I don't remember her take on "The Classics."

Since joining Books and Beer Club a few years ago, I have probably read more classics than ever before. I'd never read any Jane Austen until I read Pride and Prejudice with Books and Beer a few years ago. Did I mention that Persuasion is the April book club read for Books and Beer Club?

What I loved about Persuasion by Jane Austen was how timeless the story is. It was set in early 19th Century England but the plot could just as easily take place in early 21st Century - anywhere! The protagonist, Anne Elliott, is an intelligent woman in her late 20s when the story begins. She's kind of an outcast in her family. Her father and older sister, Elizabeth, are a bit on the vain side. Younger sister, Mary, is a bit of a drama queen. Anne is the only one who has common sense.

She's been pining over a lost love for nearly 8 years. She and Frederick Wentworth were estranged after Miss Elliott's dear friend and mentor (and fill-in for her deceased mother), Mrs. Russell, persuaded her to break off the relationship.

Fast forward 8 years. Sir Elliott is near financial ruin. He is forced to rent out his estate and move to a different part of the country to avoid shame. His estate, Kelllynch, is rented out by the Crofts. As coincidence would have it, Mrs. Croft is the sister of Frederick Wentworth, who is now Captain Wentworth. Can their feelings for each other be reignited? Is that even necessary?

The relationships between friends, cousins, neighbors were all very realistic, even by today's standards. The only thing that never seems realistic to me when reading these old English books is the idleness of most of the characters in the book. In Persuasion, the only characters who seem to work are those in the Navy. Otherwise. the characters don't have professions and keep themselves occupied by taking walks, playing cards and the like. Maybe that was the reality of early 19th Century England, but it makes no sense in modern times.

I looked to see if there was a modern interpretation of Persuasion as a movie but wasn't able to find one. Please let me know if you are aware of one. I'd love to see it. I might look to see if there are contemporary novel adaptations as well. I should probably consider rereading The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. The connections would make so much more sense after reading at least some Jane Austen.


In conclusion, I enjoyed Persuasion much more than I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice. There was less rambling, it was more straight and to the point, and it was a story that I could relate to. Dare I read more Jane Austen?

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