Eustace Diamonds was the first Trollope I read, and a good choice, too. Even though it's one of the Palliser Novels, you don't miss anything by not having read the earlier ones.

Connie, I don't know whether The Church and church politics are your cuppa. If they are, The Warden is a good place to start, followed by Barchester Towers.

My lunchtime book is also a Trollope, John Caldigate. (Of course I read several books at once. Doesn't everyone?) The heroine, and to a lesser extent the hero, are Too Good To Be True. But the plot revolves around a legal issue and a trial, which is standard Trollope.

The Way We Live Now definitely isn't for beginners in the Victorian novel, and it's long enough that I wouldn't recommend it as an entry point into his work. But one thing I love about it is that the financiers and the financial shenanigans are front and center.

Why isn't it okay in your book?

I think because the first time I watched the movie, I was so familiar with the text that I wanted them to say the words in the order my brain was expecting. It's like when someone does a cover version of one of my favorite songs and then changes "she" to "he". My brain shouts, "WRONG!" But after watching the movie with a girl I loved who loved the flick my position softened somewhat and I was able to appreciate it on the level I think the director intended. It was easier to take the second time, knowing what to expect.

I love this adaptation of R3--McKellan is so delightfully slimy.

I love it too, Kathy.

I still need to see the Luhrman R+J.

One spit-take away from a comedy, in other words (although Mercutio's and Tybalt's deaths had raised the stakes past the point of comedy, I think).

Mercutio's death really marks the turning point in the play (where the comedy goes wrong, as it is). Sadly, it also takes out the only character I find interesting. Woe!

I guess my problem with Too Stupid To Live is that, well, Too Stupid To Live = Me Cheering For Their DOOM.

I love this adaptation of R3--McKellan is so delightfully slimy.

Yes, which is what makes that adaptation so much fun.

Pete surprised me last night with a copy of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet on DVD. Yes, I know it has some flaws, but it's so pretty!

Me Cheering For Their DOOM.

yeah. That's why even though I can appreciate the movie, I still think the death scene goes on waaay too long.

and I was able to appreciate it on the level I think the director intended. It was easier to take the second time, knowing what to expect.

There might be something to that - I do think it improves on rewatch, when you can dig into the details since you're not so occupied trying to figure out where they're going.

R + J was the first time I felt old in a movie theatre.

Many cultural references were completely missed by everyone in the theatre not sitting in my group, due to extreme youth.

Sigh.

Reinventions of classics are always tricky. Still, Great Performances did a variant of Tosca in the costume of Mussolini's Rome that leant a neat angle to the story.

(Yes, music, not literature, but the "modernization" of an existing story counts, I think)

Branagh's Hamlet rocks. Jacobi and Branagh glaring at each other--yum. And it finally made sense, seeing the entire political intrigue and Hamlet's uncertainty unfold.

I saw R+J in the theatre with another English major when I was in grad school, and we had great fun.

I like it, although Claire Danes was a little too old for Juliet IMHO, but I use it when teaching R+J and the kids freakin' LOVE it (ah, whenever I teach Shakespare, there is a rash of thumb-biting and people calling each other trollop and strumpet -- which personally, makes me SO happy!!)

R+J is a Renn. soap opera...no, a telenovela. It's a great vehicle to introduce kids to Shakespeare because it's so melodramatic and lets the whole difficult language barrier down and they can climb over it and explore the ideas.