Authors Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein at the Library

Authors of Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak through Philosophy and Jokes, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein will be speaking in 421 Snell Library on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 @ Noon as part of the Meet the Author series.

The Family Fortune

Keeping up with my Austen kick, another slightly chick lit adaptation that I read recently (this fall) was The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz.  This modernizing update of Persuasion was recommended to me by a friend.  Even though I’m well familiar with the story, I still found myself dying to get back to reading it.  Somehow, these stories still manage to generate in me a page-turning suspense.

I thought certain aspects of this update worked better than others.  Jane Fortune, the Anne Eliot stand-in works for her family’s literary journal, the Euphemia Review.  While in keeping with Jane’s literary interests (and the opportunity for meeting her Captain Wentworth figure, writer Max Wellman), something about the unrealistic nature of her career bothered me.  The story is set in Boston, which makes it a fun read. 

While no Austen, and at times oddly irksome, I still found myself captivated by The Family Fortune.  What do you think of the cottage industry of chick lit ‘Austen’ retreads?  Do you have a book that fully captured your interest despite its faults?

Duma Key

Has anyone had the opportunity to read the latest from Stephen King?  We got a copy from the public library and unfortunately only had 7 days so Joel tried and got bored after about 100 pages.  I actually made it past 100 pages and wanted to keep going but we were good library patrons and returned it on time.  OK so maybe it was a little late.  But I’d be interested to hear if anyone made it to the end and if it’s worth getting back on the waiting list for it.

Clueless

I vividly remember when the movie Clueless came out.  I was 11, and had recently moved to a new town, and was going to summer camp with most of the other girls in town.  One early social outing was for a big group of us to go see Clueless, a film that had certainly been well marketed as “super-cool” for the pre-teen set.  I was very excited to be included, and it was the first time I went to the movies with friends, and without adults.  The movie lived up to everyone’s expectations of humor and glamour.  The following year I was able to cajole two friends into seeing Emma with me, and I at least, enjoyed seeing the parallels between the two movies. 

Fast-forward a few years, to when I finally read Emma, and it becomes my favorite novel.  I was then also able to better understand the nuances of two of my favorite movies.  When I got to college and was studying Austen, one surprise was that while most of my professors and teaching fellows decried Austen movie adaptations, they universally admired Clueless.  For my 19th Century Novel class, our professor even sponsored a movie viewing after we read Emma.  One highlight was my TF extolling the virtues of getting to see the physical embodiment of Emma in Alicia Silverstone.  Seeing the film as I got older (and many times since) my appreciation for it has deepened.  In each new viewing, I uncover a new example of director Amy Heckerling’s trenchant wit and I marvel at how she was able to so supplely adapt the novel to a very different modern setting.

What do you think of Clueless?  How about all the Austen and other ‘trendy’ literary adaptations and updates that followed its success?  Do you have any favorite going-to-the-movies stories?