Tag: jane austen

Well, I’m Persuaded… To Read Another Austen Novel

Posted on by Dana

I spent this morning watching Becoming Jane, and even though I know I might get my Janeite card taken away for saying this, I liked it.  Oh, I know it’s inaccurate, but it made for a good story.  Of course, I just love watching Austen-related movies because of the clothes.  I was surely born at the wrong time.  Take a look at some of the stills in this movie.

I just love, love, love Jane Austen.  At this point, I have read all but two of her novels: Persuasion and Mansfield Park.  I have started Persuasion twice and set aside for reasons I can’t remember.  I suspect it might be partly due to the fact that I’ve seen the excellent adaptation starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds.  I loved that movie, and it didn’t surprise me when I took a recent quiz and discovered Anne Elliot is the Austen heroine I am most like.  I felt that when I watched the movie, too.  Still, it’s shameful not to have finished the book, and I am turning back to it again.  I plan to read Mansfield Park as well, but I’m not sure when.  I’m definitely due for re-reads of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

I love immersing myself in her world, and if you do, too, you might check out Jane Austen’s World and Austen Blog.  Of course, there are many more wonderful Jane Austen’s blogs in their blogrolls, too, but I have to get going and that means I need to wrap up this post.

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Northanger Abbey

Posted on by Dana

Northanger AbbeyJane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is the story of the naive Catherine Morland. Catherine accompanies Mr. and Mrs. Allen, family friends, to Bath and meets and befriends Isabella Thorpe, the daughter of one of Mrs. Allen’s school friends. Catherine also meets Henry Tilney and is instantly smitten. Catherine also befriends Tilney’s sister Eleanor and secures an invitation to visit the Tilneys’ home Northanger Abbey from General Tilney, Henry and Eleanor’s father.

Every synopsis of Northanger Abbey that I’ve read has been misleading. Even the title is misleading. I was misled into believing the entirety, or at least a large portion of the book would take place at the imposing Northanger Abbey, ancestral home of the Tilneys. I judge about half the book is actually set at Northanger Abbey. Also, most synopses of the book that I’ve read reference Catherine Morland’s romantic imagination convincing her that a strange gothic history has taken place at Northanger Abbey, but that episode occupies only a small part of the plot of the novel — a few chapters at best.

I don’t think this novel is so much a parody or satire of gothic novels as it is the story of how a young girl loses her naiveté. It was a quick, enjoyable read, and I liked it better than Emma, though I don’t think it quite tops Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Catherine was a likable character, and I enjoyed the dialogue in the novel (as always in Austen’s writing).

I read Northanger Abbey as part of the Historical Fiction Challenge. At this point, my progress in the challenge stands thusly:

I don’t think I’ll pick up Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell again next, but I’m not sure what I will read, as I expecting a bunch of books in the mail and would like to choose from among them; which one I choose depends on which arrives first. I’ll update once I have the books in hand and have made a decision.

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Emma

Posted on by Dana

This morning, DailyLit sent me my final 191st installment of Jane Austen’s Emma, which I read just a few moments ago. Upon finishing the book, I have to say that while I love DailyLit and the idea behind it, daily subscriptions were perhaps not the best way to read this particular novel (and perhaps Jane Austen in general — I am not sure). Austen has a subtlety and requires, I think, a great deal of concentration from her reader. Reading this novel over the course of about six months made it hard for me to remember some of the events. Of course, I could have had installments sent more quickly by requesting them (by default, the subscriptions will not be sent any more frequently than once a day). A second problem I had in receiving the book this way is that it was very poorly transcribed. On several occasions, my transcription cut off in the middle of someone’s speech or would even end as someone was about to say something (even cutting off at a comma instead of a period). I found this maddening and most of the time either requested the next installment or had to go back and re-read the end of the previous one. Another fault in the transcription were grammar errors — the possessive “hers” was rendered “her’s” on several occasions in the text.

As for the story, I have previously read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and am currently reading Northanger Abbey (I have also attempted Persuasion twice). Of the novels with which I am familiar, I have to say Emma contains my least favorite storyline and characters. I never really managed to quite like Emma. She seemed to me to be quite shallow and snobby. I did like Mr. Knightley, but I fail to see what he saw in Emma. Mrs. Elton was hilarious, as Austen’s most annoying characters typically are. Still, even though I didn’t enjoy the novel as much as I typically enjoy Austen, it was an entertaining read. I had seen Clueless, and it was interesting to see how closely Amy Heckerling followed her source material.

Not one soul commented to tell me which Dickens novel I should read of the three: Great Expectations, David Copperfield, or A Tale of Two Cities. Therefore, I used the only means of divination I could think of and asked my seven-year-old daughter Maggie, who has no investment in my choice except that perhaps the title of the third sounds like a Garfield movie. And of course that’s the one she chose for me.

Meanwhile, I have discovered yet another use for my Goodreads account in addition to keeping a record of all the books I have read and am currently reading. Up until the last couple of days, my “to-read” bookshelf has held only the couple of books that were on my immediate list of books I wanted to read. I have begun cataloging the books I find interesting so I won’t forget about them later, and I am finding that to be really helpful for me. My mother has for years kept a notebook with a list of books she find interesting and checks them off as she acquires them, so consider my Goodreads account my notebook.

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Brunonia Barry’s The Lace Reader

Posted on by Dana

I heard about Brunonia Barry’s novel The Lace Reader yesterday via Book Club Girl’s blog.  Book Club Girl has an interview with Barry that really intrigued me, and you ought to give it a listen if my description of the novel intrigues you.  I was lucky to be one of the first ten commenters, which means Book Club Girl will be sending me a free advance reader edition of The Lace Reader.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is how it came to be published.  Trying to get a book published is hard, trying, and often disheartening work.  Rather than spend years trying to find a publisher, Barry published her book herself.  The book became popular with readers and book clubs, and it attracted the attention of publishers who then had to bid for her book.  I love that part of the story.  Barry was able to score a $2 million book deal; the novel will be published by William Morrow and has already generated film industry buzz.

The novel is the story of Towner Whitney, a native of Salem, MA who can read the future in patterns of Ipswich lace.  She returns to her hometown after the murder of two women.  Barry says that her inspiration for the story was Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth, around which I built a senior English elective at my school.  Needless to say, a new book deliberately written with the Hero’s Journey in mind intrigued me.  Barry explains that “Most stories that follow this pattern have a decidedly male orientation: a lone individual acts heroically and saves the day. I wondered if there might be an alternate form, a feminine Hero’s Journey.”  Barry is right.  Of the books I chose, all of them had a male protagonist, and it wasn’t that I didn’t want to find a book that had a female protagonist — I couldn’t.  I chose books like The Iliad, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Le Morte D’Arthur, The Ramayana, The Hobbit, Star Wars, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which was nixed by my principal), among a few other selected texts.  In part I am intrigued by this book for possible inclusion in my course.

I am about one-quarter into Northanger Abbey, and it’s been a delight.  I love the “heroine” Catherine, and I am looking forward to discovering what the Editrix of Austen Blog loves about Mr. Tilney (I’ve only seen him twice so far).  Austen, as always, has a pitch-perfect ear for conversation, and I was completely charmed by chapter six, in which she recounts a dialogue between Catherine and Isabella Thorpe (whom I also adore).  I should be finishing Emma this weekend, so please look for a review some time on Sunday.  I have decided I will read Charles Dickens next on DailyLit, but I am having trouble choosing a book.  I have narrowed down the list to three selections, and if you have thoughts about which one I should choose, please leave me a comment.

David Copperfield would take me more than a year in 447 daily installments, but A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations are broken into 170 and 231 parts respectively.  When selecting novels for DailyLit, I try to choose books that I think I would otherwise not read, and all three books fit that description, so if you don’t help me, I’m afraid I’ll have to rely on eenie, meenie, miney, and moe for assistance.  Here’s incentive for you: if you successfully convince me to read the book of your choice, I will send you a DailyLit subscription to the book of your choice (so long as it’s free), and you can enjoy a bit of DailyLit in your own inbox.  What do you say?

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Change of Plans

Posted on by Dana

Readers might recollect that I am participating in the Historical Fiction Challenge.  I have a change of plans.  Instead of reading Ferrol Sams’ Run with the Horsemen for the challenge, I will be reading Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. It is my recollection that I didn’t finish the novel in high school, and now I would like to read it.  I haven’t decided for sure, but I’m thinking of substituting Edward P. Jones’ The Known World for Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.  Actually, I’m going to go ahead and make the substitution.  I think reading Wuthering Heights and Northanger Abbey back to back will be fun.

For the record, if you’re keeping track, I have already read Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley and Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess.  I am currently reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (which I will probably finish soon).  I still plan to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

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Jane Austen Blogs

Posted on by Dana

Jane AustenJane Austen is quite popular in the blogosphere, and readers have a wide selection of Austen blogs to choose from.

Jane Austen’s World includes regular posts about life during Austen’s times.  I would recommended it not just for readers interested in the times, but also for students, teachers, and writers doing research.  Posts have links for further reading, which is very helpful.  The blog is visually appealing, too.

Austen Blog serves up Jane Austen news with a side of snark that Jane herself would appreciate.  Be careful not to wind up on the wrong side of their Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness.

Austen-tatious is a blog for Austen fans by an Austen fan.  The blog discusses all things Jane, including movie adaptations and popular derivative works, as well as Austen-related events in North Carolina.

Austenprose readers are treated to a passage from Austen’s writing each day in another visually appealing and informative blog.

Jane Austen Today examines movie adaptations, derivative works, web sites, and other modern-day media based on Austen’s works.

Following Austen is the blog of writer Lori Smith, whose book A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith was released in October 2007.  She also blogs at Austen Quotes, where you can get your daily fix of Jane in bite-sized chunks.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is the blog of Laurie Viera Rigler, author of the book by the same title.

Lydia Bennet’s Journal is one of Jane Odiwe‘s blogs.  She is the author of Lydia Bennet’s Story.

I’m reading Emma through DailyLit right now, and I’m really enjoying it, although I must point out that I find it aggravating that the excerpts sometimes cut off in the middle of a sentence, and the transcriber makes errors like putting apostrophes in possessive pronouns (e.g. her’s).  It makes me shudder every time, and I don’t understand it — I saw no such errors in their transcription of Moby Dick.

As a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, I have decided it’s time to read all of Austen’s novels, and Austen blogs certainly inspire me to complete this quest.  In fact, some of these “sequels” and other derivative works look interesting, too.

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