Pash, Pick or Pass: Austen Heroes

We're playing with some old-school gentlemen this week - my three fave Jane Austen heroes, Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Captain Wentworth from Persuasion and Mr Knightley from Emma. 

My Choices

Pash: Captain Wentworth. I adore the fact that he's smart, brave, and a self-made man, but it's his passion that really makes me swoon. If you've read Persuasion and seen Wentworth's letter, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If he, as a man of action, can write like that, imagine, well, how he'd act?! Oh yeah, I'd pash him alright. 

Pick: While Captain Wentworth makes me swoon, Mr Darcy has always had a special place in my heart. He's not the most popular of Austen's heroes - or any heroes, really - for no reason. Handsome, rich and lovely, he's more reserved than Wentworth but no less devoted. He's worth getting to know - and keeping around.

Pass: Sorry Mr Knightley, you're very dashing, but just a bit old - and the teensiest bit creepy. I mean, you knew Emma as a baby, and you've been fantasising about her since she was how old? Wait, don't answer that. Pass.

So who would you pash, pick and pass out of this tempting trio? Create your own post and pop the link in the comments, or answer directly below!

Next time: It's a battle of the vamps - Edward Cullen, Damon Salvatore and Eric Northman.

Bookish Fun: I'm Lizzie Bennet!

According to this quiz, that is. I don't know that I'm very much like Lizzie, though I do hope I have more in common with her than, say, Emma Woodhouse, Fanny Price or poor, silly Catherine Morland. Who is your fave Austen heroine? Mine is Lizzie (no surprise there), followed closely by Anne Elliot. Coincidentally, that's also the order that I prefer the books (Pride and Prejudice, then Persuasion), and the men (Mr. Darcy then Captain Wentworth).

Bookish Fun: Paper Cuts By Olly Moss

How awesome are these silhouettes? You can check them all out here and here. These are some of my faves:

Inigo Montoya

Fezzik

Hook

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Mary Poppins

There's Wally!

I don't know why, but I love silhouettes (actually, I probably do know why - they may have something to do with my Austen obsession). I've been wanting to get my fiance's and mine done for awhile, thinking we could possibly use them for our wedding invitations, so I was excited when we got the chance at Disneyland. The lady there was amazing - she did them in about 45 seconds! I think they turned out pretty great:

My Book Boyfriend: Captain Wentworth

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by The Unread Reader every Wednesday. It's all about fictional boys that make us swoon. This week, I'm swooning over Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I was initially going to go with Mr Darcy (the obvious choice, I know), but when thinking about my fave fictional moments in response to The Perpetual Page-Turner's post on fictional men the other day, Captain Wentworth was the one who sprang to mind first, and stuck there...

About Wentworth

• He falls in love with Anne Elliot at a young age. Austen describes him at that time as "a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit and brilliancy." Eight years on, when the novel is set, "he was not altered, or not for the worse... [the years] had only given him a more glowing, manly, open look."
• He starts out poor, but his confidence and ambition - and, er, broken heart - motivate him to move up the ranks in the navy, and he soon makes a fortune.
• He's one hell of a letter-writer.
• I first read Persuasion not long after my Ever After phase, so, inevitably, my Wentworth looked a lot Dougray Scott (and, come to think of it, my Anne looked pretty much like Drew Barrymore).

• In all the adaptations, only one Wentworth has made me waiver from my original picture: Rupert Penry-Jones from the 2007 BBC version. He looks totally different, but he's totally gorgeous:

Swoon-worthy quote
Two words: the letter. If nothing else, Persuasion would be worth reading for the letter alone (though as a bonus there's a lot of other awesomeness). Here are my favourite parts - warning, spoilers ahead... but they're kinda worth it.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago... I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan... I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature!"

Top Five: Fave Books of All Time

I was obsessed with Ever After when I was 12. One of my favourite lines was when Prince Henry asks Danielle to pick a book that she likes, and she replies, "I could no sooner choose a favourite star in the heavens." At the time, I thought this was, like, way deep, and quickly adopted it as my own attitude towards books. Now I just think it's super cheesy, but I have to admit it still kinda applies. As an avid reader, I come across so many books that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (and a few that I hate, hate, hate), but over the years I've managed to whittle down a rough top five list of books that stay with me and repeatedly draw me back in. So, here goes: 

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Dickens is my favourite author - I just adore his beautiful prose, quirky characters and sprawling stories - and David Copperfield is the epitome of these things. I always feel sad when I've finished reading it, not because of the ending, but because it ends. Even though it's mega-sized, I still can never get enough of Davey boy and the inhabitants of his world - from Betsey Trotwood and Mr Micawber to Steerforth and even the icky Uriah Heep. OK, I just talked myself into reading it again right now.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Picking up this book is like diving into a big, comforting pool of marshmallows, hugs and sunshine (corny, but true!). I first read it when I was 16 and have revisited it at least once a year since then, but my introduction to the story happened when I was nine and the amazing BBC series aired here. I watched my gran watching it, and I remember her explaining to me what prejudice meant and then telling me all about Elizabeth and Mr Darcy and their pride and prejudices (of course). She then lent it to me on VHS, and I still have her copy of episodes four to six. I treasure it, even though I can no longer watch it (thank goodness for remastered DVDs).

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I read this for the first time last year and was immediately blown away. I initially resisted reading it because it's narrated by Death and it sounded a tad morbid for my liking, but I was SO glad I persisted because it's just brilliant. I tell everyone I know that they HAVE to read it (it's missing from the pic above because it's currently on loan); I just can't rave enough about this beautifully written, surprisingly uplifting Australian (!) masterpiece.

4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This haunting tale really strikes a chord with me in the way it deals with love and loss. Frankenstein's desperate attempt to avoid losing everything he holds dear has the opposite effect, and I can't help but wish this was different every time I read it. Of course, that wouldn't make the book anywhere near as powerful and I wouldn't love it nearly as much. But I am a sucker for happily ever afters.

5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. This book has it all - it even says so itself: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles." It just makes me happy. 'Nuff said.