Sense & Sensibility

I'm not sure why I didn't read any Jane Austen in high school.  I thought it was mandatory but apparently not in Texas.
A few years ago, I endeavored to read Pride & Prejudice and really enjoyed it but I never moved on to any of her others.
A few months ago, a coworker and I were talking about this.  She had never read any Austen books either and we both felt like this is something we needed to do so the idea of a Jane Austen summer was born.
We told a few people about it and they got excited for it too. 
So, we're a book club of sorts except we want food and booze at our meetings!
Anywho....
What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said?  It's really really good!  Is that original enough?
I just loved Elinor and all her properness (am I making up words here?) and then there is impulsive Marianne who really irritated me with her broken-hearted whining.  Oh get over it....there is surely another man out there, right?
But poor Elinor is stuck with this secret about Edward and Lucy all the while loving Edward herself.  It's heartbreaking angst at its finest!
My favorite characters were Mrs. Jennings and Mr. Palmer.  Seriously, those two cracked me up in totally different ways.
Mrs. Jennings is just this unrelenting busy body who gossips incessantly and jumps to one conclusion after another.  She is 100% fun.
Mr. Palmer's dry annoyance at his wife is hilarious.  He doesn't care what she thinks and pays very little attention to her.  But we find toward the end that Mr. Palmer has a true heart of gold...just very little patience for his own wife.


Some of our participants are having a tough time with the book.  Austen's writing style is not exactly Stephenie Myers but I keep telling them to persevere because it's SO worth it!

Persuasion is next!