In case you were wondering, from our current deep dive of Pride and Prejudice, if we also appreciate period television, the answer is yes.  We both loved watching Poldark (and I’ve enjoyed reading a good bit of the series as well), Ashley doesn’t miss Outlander (in book or television form), and I make a point of seeing the Masterpiece Classic season on PBS.  We also took a field trip to see the latest screen version of Little Women last week.  I missed seeing Howard’s End on Starz last year and I’m excited to see it now. [Yes, I know it’s also on Prime Video, and yes, I’ve already started watching it because the first night of Masterpiece included three hours and I just needed a head start.]  I’m also excited for more Jane Austen (you’re all shocked, I know!). And while I’m not a purest, I do prefer to read the book before watching the performance, so I added Howard’s End and Sanditon to my TBR as soon as I saw the 2020 Masterpiece calendar.  

In general, I try not to should on my reading life.  I don’t like to read books that they say I should read.  The proverbial they had plenty of say over my reading life back in the day, but not any more.  However, sometimes I do find myself reading a book because I’m about to watch a screen version.  Sometimes I’m very glad like with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society because the book is a joy and quite different than the movie, but both, separately, are fun.  Sometimes the hold line is so ridiculous that I just can’t like with Witcher, and it’s on the TBR list.  And sometimes I’m apprehensive about the book, but excited for the screen version like today’s discussion on Sanditon and Howard’s End, but for different reasons.  

At this point, you all know we consider Jane Austen very worthy of attention.  I’ve read all (six) of her major novels and some of her other works as well, but before this month, I hadn’t read Sanditon.  It was a bit challenging to find, but I did land with this collection after a couple of tries.  Fair warning, when this text is referred to as incomplete, no one is exaggerating in the slightest.  The text I read was about 80 pages of Sanditon, while the rest of the roughly 500 pages are Lady Susan, the Watsons, Love and Friendship, the History of England, and other stories presented in chronological written order, which, so far, is a pretty interesting read.  I’m glad I read the original text, and the characters and writing are very much what you’d expect if you’ve read much Austen, especially her romance novels.  If you pick this up, keep in mind it’s about 80 pages and Pride and Prejudice is about 300, so you’re only getting about one-fourth, give or take, of the story.  It’s a solid set up and introduction to the characters and setting, but that’s it. If I wasn’t anxiously awaiting what I hope to be a complete tale that starts with this text, I’d be very frustrated at only having this portion of the story.  Am I recommending you read it? No, because I feel like reading a portion of a story is a very personal choice. Is it another great example of Austen’s writing and storytelling? Absolutely! I enjoyed it, and I’m glad I read it. I doubt I’ll pick it up again, but I have hopes for the screen version.

I adore E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View, but DNFed A Passage to India (which I started on the recommendation of a friend, much to the cringing of two others – one our beloved Ashley who is welcome to “I told you so” to her heart’s content, along with S).  On that note, I’ll confess all my readerly feelings about Howard’s End.  I didn’t love it.  I love what it wanted to do, but the execution, well, it wasn’t for me.  While I adore YA books, I don’t always need that pace in my life (and sometimes it’s just too much for me), but this book just dragged on and on…and on.  The sentences were clearly artfully crafted, and the descriptions were so gorgeously painted, but the first half was some set up and so, so many descriptions.  At about 40%, the characters and situation had been introduced and the action was fin-al-ly getting started. There were still slow parts of descriptions in the second half, but they didn’t feel as numerous and there was definitely a lot going on, increasingly as the book went on towards the end.  I didn’t do a direct comparison, but I’d guess the first 40% of the book is included in about the first half an hour (of four hours) of the show. There was definitely a sprint to the ending. While I was reading this part I was so frustrated that all the action was jam packed into the second half after the first was such a slog.  I didn’t (and I’m assuming most readers don’t) need world building for a title set in the early twentieth century England.  

The bottom line: Am I glad I read it?  I’m on the fence about that honestly. Am I looking forward to watching the series?  Absolutely! The story is great, E. M. Forster has a lot to say about many different facets of society.  It’s just that I’d rather read about that than the landscape, how the room is arranged, and the status of the roads.  Take, for example, perhaps my favorite quote from the text: 

There’s a lot there, right?  Gender issues, morality, and the workings of love, propriety, and social mores.  I want to talk about that, not the landscape! I’m not sure how that will translate to the screen, but we will see. 

While I was slogging through the first half of the text, it reminded me of the first half of Dicken’s Bleak House.  In that tome, there is so much legalease to get through with Tarkington and Tarkington before you get to the real story, which is actually amazing and very worth it.  I’ll watch the movie of Bleak House again, but I doubt I’ll reread the book, ever.  I’m hopeful Howard’s End will be similar, because that story has SO MUCH POTENTIAL.  Watch along with me on your local PBS station Sunday evenings, or the episodes are usually online for two weeks after they air, or longer if you are a Passport member, oh yes, or you can also catch Howard’s End on Amazon Prime Video and Starz, if you already have it in preparation for Outlander starting in a month…like Ashley.  

How do you feel about viewing first compared to reading first?  Are there books you don’t love that have been adapted into movies or series?  

~Nikki