Thompson told me about herself, her fellow actors, about Austin, about books and movies. Quite a read. ( )

Reading this was so delightful! Emma Thompson is hilarious and I loved seeing the behind-the-scenes events of one of my favorite movies. ( )

This is really two books packaged as one.

Part one, the screenplay, is a delight. Thompson keeps a lot of Austen, but also inserts her own subtle physical humor and I wish we had seen it all filmed in its entirety. She makes it seem historically accurate without adding all the slang that trips you up in Heyer. I'm really wanting that screenplay of My Fair Lady she was supposedly working on to be be filmed.

Part two, the diaries, really solidify Thompson's comedic talent. The escalating frantic pace of the filming schedule is panic-inducing to people like me and increases my respect for people who can keep it all straight and deliver a fantastic performance on top of it. The side remarks regarding Greg Wise are also interesting(given that they are currently a couple).

If you're waiting for the "however," you have reached it. There is a decent amount of swearing and references to things that wouldn't have been printed in Austen's book (the Hugh G. scandal of the time and other similar topics). *Which is merely pointed out so that if you are a mother thinking that this will be as "clean" as Austen you may want to be aware(and also aware that, though Austen doesn't deal directly with topics like this, Wiloughby is still Wiloughby and Lydia is still Lydia). Since I prefer my fiction and non-fiction without said topics/words, I probably won't reread this one. But it won't hamper my enjoyment of the film.


*the first copy I got from my library had them all conveniently marked out in black pen.

Our girl Emma wrote this book that would be my choice for a sickbed comfort. From sheep with so much wool it's dangerous for them to run around too long to actors' digestive troubles. Happy sigh. ( )

I find that for S&S I prefer Emma Thompson to Jane Austen.

One slight complaint on the book - the photographs are all badly printed. ( )