British period stuff...

[dangermousie]

My favorite British period adaptation is North and South. See this fun MV for why :)

NS is my third-favorite 19th-century novel (behind Jane Eyre and Our Mutual Friend, both of which also had excellent adaptations).

I am lucky in my 19th-century novel loving soul: most of them have excellent adaptations, from various Trollipe novels (Pallisers! OMGLOVE), wonderful abundance of great Dickens stuff, Austen overkill, Jane Eyre and other Bronte works, Gaskell novels, Wilkie Collins stuff, Hardy etc.

In fact, if they ever adopted Bronte's Shirley and Gaskell's Mary Barton, I'd be set forever.

Comments

[eccequambonum.livejournal.com]

i cannot wait for the second season of Cranford this winter. life needs more Gaskell.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Icon! I need to dig out my N&S icons.

I haven't seen Cranford yet - I know! I did love the book - I don't remember much anymore only that one of the stories made me cry.

[eccequambonum.livejournal.com]

i cannot tell you how many times i rewatch/relisten to the Wives & Daughters / North & South / Cranford adaptations on my iPod. this post means that i am basically going to start watching them again this afternoon.

go hie thee and download Cranford! bloody gorgeous adaptation (though I've not read the book, but when it is that pretty and eff me, that cast!). but yes, you need a box a tissue for any watching. each episode was a "who dies this week!" type that had me bawling endlessly.

off to fire up the iPod...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I plan to watch it this week then :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The miniseries (which is awesome) actually combines several Gaskell books. Unfortunately, the copy of the book that I recently read wasn't the one that had all the stories the mini was based on. (Still bitter! I view putting Judi Dench on both covers as mean deception! Or something equally illogical.)

I think Wives and Daughters is my favorite of the adaptations I've seen, though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I like W&D but prefer North & South which parallels my view of the respective novels - W&D is more famous, I believe, but I prefer N&S in part because of the love story and in part because industrial topics are just of more interest to me.

There are a couple of excellent Gaskell novels that beg to be adapted - Mary Barton, about unionizing. And Sylvia's Lovers, which is excellent - I love the heroine even as I loathe her husband with the strength of ten thousand suns (an opinion not shared by the wikipedia author - I think this is yet another one of those shipper war situations :P only this time in obscure literary fandoms).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I actually became unusually for me) involved in the W&D romance as I was watching, as I was frequently "telling" it that Molly and Roger weren't allowed to not get together, and then that Roger was making her sad, so he wasn't allowed to marry her anymore.