Well the new offshoot of In the cup has officially been created. We shall be called In the text. Each month or so we will elect new books to read. I nominate that we generally try to read "classics" because if not I doubt we will ever leave the sci fi/fantasy realm (and besides its much more fun to read books that none of us have read and the classic genre Im sure has tons and tons of books we havent touched). However In the text is a democratic organization and all book nominations will be up for discussion at the close of the last text. So far we have 3 members. To join its easy, just pick up the current text and dig in. We are currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. Cmon...you know you want to be cool like us!
Now to the first post about Pride and Prejudice. Ive read up to Ch. 6. I promised Ron I wouldnt read more but that was sort of a one day thing. After tonight all bets are off. Besides, its such an easy read. I find myself turning the pages with ease and Im eager to find out whats going to happen next. Its all about marriage but I find myself wondering, will Mr. Bingley go for Lizzy or Jane, will Mr. Darcy continue to be rude and cold, or most likely, will Mrs. Bennett give Mr. Bennett a heart attack from all her crazy rants and "nerves". You just have to keep reading to find out!
I can see why I couldnt handle this type of novel when I was in high school. Marriage and social customs of semi-aristocratic societies was not exactly my idea of a fun read. Now however from a much more removed perspective I can appreciate the rigid practices of these small towns for the connections they have with our own modern rigid practices that are very much still in place with regard to if a man is successful than he must of course be looking for a wife. Brilliant observations into a world so superficial, yet her subtlety in relating the joy that everyone gets out of "playing the game" and the entertainment it causes them (without the goal of marriage it seems many of the characters would not even have lives) makes the whole lifestyle much more endearing when being portrayed from Austin's eyes. I cant help but love the rat race that Im currently in, I suppose it would be very unfair for me to expect that people in Austin's day and age didnt both loathe and love their own rat race. I have much more to say about the writing style and the characters but Ill wait until I read to Ch. 10. Id like to have a bit more to comment on before I get into the style. Just wanted to share that so far so good! Pleasantly surprised to say the least. Long live In the text!
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I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying it. I want to say more but I'm afraid I might accidentally give away plot points, since I practically have the stupid thing memorized by this point. I've always thought Mrs. Bennet is an interesting comment on her society because everything that comes out of her mouth is so absolutely ridiculous, but to a large degree also so true. She can also give you a bit of a headache at times, but oh well.
Ron said he started reading it, but I don't know how far he got. He has seen the six hour movie thing more times than he wanted to, so if you get ahead, at least he'll still have some idea what you're talking about.
So is this another blog or a sort of feature where we're all reading the same book and discussing it occasionally on the cup blog?
Sounds like a great idea guys. I don't know if i'll be able to particpate in this read right away because, well, I'm part of a semi-book club...As of right now we're reading Baldesar Castiglione's "The Book of the Courtier" which takes place in the 15th century and consists of a re-telling of a game played amongst many prominent figureheads of that time where they decide to debate what constitutes a "good" courtier, or someone who goes from court to court getting by with his suave style...Funny shit because it a dude who missed out on this awesome (for him anyways) party and decided to reconstruct it in a series of books.
Although I can't hate because I wasn't there for the whole "in-the-cup" inside joke but certainly didn't waste any time to pretend like I was....damn...
Anyways, I guess for the next couple of weeks I'm caped off on reading books I wouldn't read normally. In fact, I have to read a Salvatore book just to get in the mood to read this book.
Anyways, if you guys don't steam ahead I'll definitely try to catch up when I'm done with this.
I did read Pride and Prejudice in High school...it was pure torture at that time. I would love to give it another shot now that I'm a lot more grown up.
Yo yo yo! So I started reading P&P last night and I'm sad I already know how it turns out. ><
Reading this is a way different experience than watching the A&E movie/miniseries. I find myself reading extremely fast to make the flow sound correct in my head. I dont think I've ever had to do that with a book before. But then again the books I usually read are from the last 60 years, so the language flows a lot differently.
Mr Bennet is my favorite character (he should be everyone's). He doesn't let dealing with annoying people (Mr's Bennet) bring him down, he just amuses himself with sarcasm while talking with them. It's interesting to see how gossip and marriage is their equivalent of t.v. and I like that Mr B prefers to chill and read books than partake. Mrs Bennet is a whack ho and she's my least favorite character. nuff said.
I am currently on chapter 5, I believe. I'm also concurrently reading After the Quake by Murakami so try not to burn thru it too quickly.
I have some suggestions regarding In the Text. I believe it should be a weekly or bi-weekly post on In the Cup and that discussion should take place in the comments, like we're currently doing. I don't mind leaning towards classics, but could we spice things up with some stuff from the last century occasionally? Perhaps every third or fourth book? Peace out.
I love the ideas moose! I agree that bi-weekly is cool and that posting in one thread should suffice. Ill make sure to post my next Austin comment on this thread. At least for now. Also I think every 3rd or 4rth book being under a century old is a fine idea. Im interested to see what books we nominate but I figured wed cross that bridge when we get there. For now Im just trying to get through P&P alongside the other 4 non-fiction books that I am reading. Good work all!
p.s. Ms. Bennet is sort of cool man! I mean I get your angle of her being a ho-bag. I cant really defend her much but I dunno....I cant help but feel in her quirky shallowness is some real love for her daughters, and besides shes amusing as hell to observe from the outside because shes the craziest shit! Ill bring this up again in another 5 chapters. Im wondering if shes only going to get worse or perhaps shes going to become more endearing. Well see.
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