Score

Not sure why Pride is always at the top of the list---Seems to me LUST would be more fun than just sitting around being vain.

Who says the motive for voting for P&P isn't unabashed lust? To plenty of women, Darcy is practically synonymous with sex appeal ... at least as incarnated by Colin Firth -- or, for that matter, Matthew Macfadyen! :) (Just look at the number of voters for P&P on the Characters you most want to sleep with list ... OK, the teenage flavor of the month/year seems to get the better of him there as far as top rankings are concerned, but then, those books currently top EVERY single list voted on by the sub-20 set; and given the hype surrounding those books, I find it amazing enough that a novel like P&P should still make the first page of that particular list at all.)

Then again, it just MIGHT be possible that a few people are also rushing to reaffirm their appreciation of Austen as a writer (and social critic) by voting for P&P.

And anyway, isn't that part of the appeal of the "baser" -- read: physical -- sins (lust not being the least of those) ... that you can secretly pursue them for all you're worth, but can nevertheless publicly display disdain for those openly indulging in that type of behaviour instead of in more cerebral pursuits, and simultaneously proclaim your own chastity? I don't think that attitude died once the Victorian Age was over -- it's alive and thriving more than ever!

Remember this list, incidentally? http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/37...

Themis-Athena wrote: "Who says the motive for voting for P&P isn't unabashed lust? To plenty of women, Darcy is practically synonymous with sex appeal ... at least as incarnated by Colin Firth -- or, for that matter, M..."

I was thinking of PEWSAGL: Pride, Envy, Wrath, etc. Pride is the worst of sins in Medieval theology, the opposite of Caritas, leads to all the others. I was only repeating an old joke..... I agree that Austen is hot. PEWSAGL--note we descend from the head to the pubes, with correspondence to seven shakra points. Oi vey.

Sigh. Sorry for not picking up on this, Thom ...

"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, "is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." -- Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice

"Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!" cried Elizabeth. "That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have many such acquaintances. I dearly love a laugh."

"Miss Bingley," said he, "has given me more credit than can be. The wisest and the best of men—nay, the wisest and best of their actions—may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke."

"Certainly," replied Elizabeth—"there are such people, but I hope I am not one of them. I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without."

"Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule."

"Such as vanity and pride."

"Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation."

Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile.

"Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume," said Miss Bingley; "and pray what is the result?"

"I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise."
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice

Removed "Dorian Gray."

Removed several L.E. Parker books. I did leave behind The Wrath of Truth, which is the only one that had a deadly sin as part of the title.

...and the list for the flipside is here: Seven Virtues
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
(rather less voted on..! Ha ha!)