Good job, guys! According to a study by people who track library loans, Pride and Prejudice is the most loaned classic in the UK! (Wuthering Heights is #2.) Jane takes three more of the top 20 spots as well:
- #8 Emma
- #11 Sense and Sensibility
- #17 Northanger Abbey
The Telegraph‘s article says, “The study involves a comparison of lending data from Britain’s libraries for 50 classics by British and Irish authors from the literary canon from the early 1990s, a decade ago, and last year.”
Mission #1: People of Britain, read more Austen! I want to see Persuasion and Mansfield Park on this list next time too. We can’t leave Anne Elliot out in the cold and Fanny Price sitting on her bench, now can we?? And let’s get those other numbers up, too. (Special Sneak Preview: Austenacious will do our part by hosting another read-a-long soon!) People of Not Britain: don’t think I’m not watching you too!
Also according to The Telegraph, “Works by Thomas Hardy, George Eliot and EM Forster have seen their popularity plummet over the last two decades . . ..”
I’m not going to say a word for Thomas Hardy. (Anyone want to take that on in the comments?) But, EM Forster, you guys! I love EM Forster. A Room With a View, anyone? Howards End? So beautiful! So smart! The article says maybe Austen got more popular because of the adaptations, and because of her “rather too light, bright, sparkling tone.” (Though George Orwell also got more popular, and he’s, like, super-funny, right?)
Forster is comic, just as much as Austen, so maybe we need more adaptations? I love the 1985 version of A Room with a View—Helena Bonham Carter, before she was crazy! Naked guys! … Good lord, has it really been that long? IMDB says there’s also a 2007 version, which I completely missed. Have any of you seen it? Thoughts? We could do better, though, right?
For Howards End there’s just the 1992 version with Emma Thompson. I’m conflicted here—I really don’t think this book is adaptable. But if anyone wants to have a go, feel free!
Then there’s our girl George Eliot. I’ll admit I’ve only ever read Middlemarch, and I only read that because of the 1994 version. (See, TV adaptations pay off!) Middlemarch is pretty awesome—though it’s not as joyous as Austen and Forster, it does have depth, without being as, um, self-conscious as the Brontës. Do we want a new Middlemarch adaptation? But Rufus Sewell and Colin’s brother Jonathon are so cute… Juliet Aubrey is so Dorothea…. I don’t know. What do you all think?
Mission #2: People of Britain and Not Britain, read more Forster! Read more Eliot! Demand quality adaptations, or make your own crazy vlogs! Or both! Think, live, breathe fiction!
And… go!
P.S. (Mission #3: Contemplate Colin Firth’s legs.)
austenacious 
I’m not surprised that Mansfield Park isn’t very high on the list, since most people see it as Austen’s most difficult work. It’s also her longest novel, which might deter people from borrowing it – just a hypothesis, but I notice that many of the books on the list are quite short (Oliver Twist is there, but not Bleak House). Besides, as we’ve discussed in the comments many times in the past, we’re still waiting for a decent adaptation of MP that will encourage people to read the book instead of putting them off. I’d like to see Persuasion higher in the rankings, but that’s my personal bias because I love it so much.
We really don’t need another Middlemarch, not when the 1994 version is so perfect (Austenacious watch-along, y/y?). I might be up for some more Eliot adaptations, though. I know there was a version of Daniel Deronda a few years ago with Romola Garai as Gwendolen, which I haven’t seen, but what about Adam Bede? I think it could work really well as a miniseries, but the only one I can find on IMDb is from 1992 and stars Iain Glen, which doesn’t bode well – Adam’s supposed to be honest and a wee bit rustic, whereas for me Iain Glen will always be Richard Carlisle in Downton Abbey and Mr Preston in Wives and Daughters, i.e. posh and slightly evil. A Room with a View is another one that doesn’t need another adaptation, but I haven’t seen the 2007 one so I can’t comment on it. I watched Howards End recently, but like you I don’t think it adapts to the screen particularly well.
Aaand now I’m contemplating Colin Firth’s legs. Oh dear. I have a (huge) crush on Firth!Darcy, but I think I’ll pass on this one.
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The 2007 version of ‘a room with a view’ wasn’t very good. It was pretty awful really. 85′ version is by far the best! 🙂
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