First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice

Turning into Catherine Morland

2012-02-11T17:43:00.000-05:00

"If I understand you rightly, you had formed a surmise of such horror as I have hardly words to -- Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English, that we are Christians. Consult your own understanding, your own sense of the probable, your

Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

2012-02-09T13:38:00.002-05:00

It has been a sick week in my house. First the baby had a fever, then a cold, and while I caught the fever, my husband caught the cold. We are very thankful to be able to share that burden rather than both suffering each ailment. The familial convalescence sent us scurrying for some light reading, and we ended up rereading Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer. I enjoyed the book far more this second

Lady Caroline Lamb: Fiction vs. History

2012-02-02T13:46:00.000-05:00

The "three or four families in a country village" which Jane Austen chose to focus upon did not allow her scope to include the grand personages of her day. This, however, does not stop writers of Austenesque from including those larger than life personalities, the celebrities that determined the manner in which the Regency Era lives on in our imaginations, in their reworkings of Austen's novels.

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" by Janet Mullany and "Letters to Lydia" by Maya Slater

2012-01-31T11:59:00.001-05:00

Two more Jane Austen Made Me Do It reviews, both by well-established Austen writers. The two stories looked at side by side reveal the extraordinary diversity of this collection, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose. The first, "Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" by Janet Mullany (author of the awesome vampirization of our beloved Miss Austen, Jane and the Damned), reflects on the enduring

Sense and Sensibility Janeicillin: Part Three

2012-01-27T13:00:00.007-05:00

Read Part One and Part Two The first month of their marriage was spent by Edward and Elinor with Colonel Brandon at the Mansion-house, from whence they could superintend the progress of the Parsonage, and direct everything as they liked on the spot. They chose papers, planned shrubberies, and invented a sweep, all which went far in the elevation of the humble parsonage into a transparently

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "What Would Austen Do?" by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

2012-01-24T13:40:00.004-05:00

I'm skipping over a couple of stories in Jane Austen Made Me Do It which I intend to review because I just finished "What Would Austen Do?" by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway and am "all alive", as Lady Bertram might say, with the story. This tale was a very unexpected pleasure as I found the authoresses' novel, Lady Vernon and her Daughter (read my review, one of the first I ever wrote,

Profile: Edward Ferrars

2012-01-18T21:35:00.001-05:00

Edward Ferrars was not recommended to their good opinion by any peculiar graces of person or address. He was not handsome, and his manners required intimacy to make them pleasing. He was too diffident to do justice to himself; but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behaviour gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart. His understanding was good, and his education had

Sense and Sensibility Janeicillin: Part Two

2012-01-17T07:27:00.003-05:00

Read Part One The welcome that Edward received when he returned to Barton Cottage was as warm and embracing as his own family’s reception had been cold and distant. In Mrs. Dashwood he discovered the motherly care that Mrs. Ferrars had never provided, in Marianne and Margaret he felt the all the sisterly affection that was lacking between himself and Fanny, and in Elinor, who had always

Jane Austen for President 2012

2012-01-11T15:00:00.007-05:00

I so meant to get this post up before the holiday season, as I thought it would be such a wonderful addition to any Janeites shopping list, but alas, I again must plead baby as an excuse for my tardiness. Nevertheless, for those of you who have not yet heard of Gone Reading International, I will take a few moments to bring this important organization to your attention. Founder and CEO Bradley S.

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "Heard of You" by Margaret C. Sullivan, "The Ghostwriter" by Elizabeth Aston, and "Mr. Bennet Meets His Match" by Amanda Grange

2012-01-10T12:26:00.002-05:00

Today my daughter started preschool. Though I am feeling immense separation anxiety, the couple of days a week she will be so occupied gives me much needed time to catch up on my life, including pursuit of my Austen related interests. Therefore, I suddenly have the time to review more than one story from Jane Austen Made Me Do It at a time, and as I just completed three delightful stories in a

Sense and Sensibility Janeicillin: Part One

2012-01-06T15:47:00.001-05:00

Back in July I wrote the first part of Mansfield Park Janeicillin, but then the realities of new motherhood took over, and I never continued it. I have every intention of doing so, but at the moment, having just finished rereading Sense and Sensibility, my mind is elsewhere. I never know quite where Janeicillin will take me when I commence it, and S & S poses the problem of spanning a much

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "Jane Austen and the Mistletoe Kiss" by Jo Beverley

2012-01-04T16:01:00.000-05:00

Maybe it was the seasonal theme of this story that made it resonate so, but I really enjoyed "Jane Austen and the Mistletoe Kiss", Jo Beverely's contribution to Jane Austen Made Me Do It. The story is set in the neighborhood of Chawton, where Elinor Carsholt and her three daughters have settled following her husband's death. The story is not only sweet and endearing, it is also thematically in

The Annotated Sense and Sensibility, Edited by David M. Shapard

2011-12-31T14:30:00.000-05:00

I can think of no better way to end both the year and The Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge than with a a review of The Annotated Sense and Sensibility by David M. Shapard. Like his editions of Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion (read my review if the latter here), Mr. Shapard not only displays a sincere love and respect for our dear Miss Austen, but also an incredible understanding of

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Pattillo

2011-12-29T08:00:00.004-05:00

I managed to get this book read - absolutely necessary if I have any possibility of completing The Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, issued by Austenprose - by reciting it to my husband as we drove ten hours to Indiana to celebrate Christmas. I have wondered about the books of Beth Pattillo before but never read them, not being super keen on Austenesque set in the present, so this was

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "A Night at Northanger" by Lauren Willig

2011-12-29T06:38:00.000-05:00

I wrote this post in mid November and never published it. Oh this disordered Mommy brain of mine! As I slowly make my way through Jane Austen Made Me Do It, beautifully edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose fame, I felt the need to go back and review a story I had previously determined not to: "A Night at Northanger" by Lauren Willig. The tale has grown on me while lingering in my mind

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:20:00.000-05:00

My poor neglected blog! Santa's bringing you lots of posts to make you feel loved again before the year is over. In the meantime, "May your Christmas abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings"!

From Prada to Nada

2011-11-01T21:10:00.002-04:00

The Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge has led me to reflect on how amazingly universal Jane Austen's stories are, particularly considering how limited was the range of her own experience. Though she confined her topics to the very small world in which she existed, she captured quintessential truths about humanity, allowing her stories to cross cultural boundaries in an impressively

Little Miss Austen Review at AustenBlog

2011-10-28T06:52:00.000-04:00

I hope you'll all go check out my review of Little Miss Austen by Jennifer Adams, an awesome counting primer based on Pride and Prejudice! Mags, Editrix extraordinaire of AustenBlog, asked me to read the book with my little girl, and it has now become one of our standard go-to books. Here is the link: http://austenblog.com/2011/10/28/

Jane Austen Made Me Do It: "Waiting" by Jane Odiwe

2011-10-17T21:23:00.001-04:00

One of the hardest parts of becoming a parent is finding time for yourself, and I don't mean time for morning yoga on the beach. I mean finding five minutes to shower. It's entirely too easy to completely lose yourself in a child, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that I haven't been finding a lot of time to read. After thirty years of devouring every book in sight, this is a rough adjustment. I am

Etiquette: Breast Feeding

2011-09-28T22:18:00.001-04:00

My husband and I find ourselves often consulting the copy of The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette by Nancy Tuckerman and Nancy Dunnan that his mother gave him upon graduation from high school. It is a bit dated, the 1995 edition we own having last been updated in 1978, but we find it an extremely useful guide when we have questions about how to appropriately proceed. I know we

Austen in Walking Land

2011-08-30T00:00:00.060-04:00

Burghley House - Rosings Park 2005 How wonderful to be included in the Austenesque Extravaganza, hosted by Austenesque Reviews! Thank you so much, Meredith, for both allowing me to participate and also for kindly scheduling me at the end of the month, giving me a few extra weeks to adapt to new motherhood. I have tried to switch back into my normal Austen/Austenesque obsessed state, but

Mr. Bennet Visits Netherfield Park

2011-08-15T07:40:00.001-04:00

"Mr. Bennet, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," pronounced the young man with a warm smile, his complexion ruddy from a morning in the saddle. "Do sit down, please." "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Bingley. Thank you." Mr. Bennet chose a chintz chair that was as familiar as the man in front of him was strange, having known the set during the reign of Netherfield's former occupants, and

Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

2011-08-05T01:00:00.005-04:00

Upon receiving an email from Jennifer Ziegler's publicist, asking if I would be interested in reviewing her new young adult novel inspired by Sense & Sensibility, I was happy to agree for three reasons: 1) with the new baby, young adult lit conforms to my attention span, 2) the book would count towards my completion of the Sense & Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, and 3) I love free books. Sass

Austenesque Extravaganza at Austenesque Reviews

2011-07-09T09:26:00.000-04:00

I'm so pleased to finally be able to tell you all about the spectacular event being planned by one of my very favorite bloggers, Meredith of Austenesque Reviews. Austenesque Extravaganza is a "month long celebration of Austenesque novels and writers ... each day of the week will have a different theme and event, like a weekly twitter party with several Austenesque authors." Meredith has lined up

Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman by Maria Hamilton

2011-07-06T17:46:00.008-04:00

Before I commence this review, I must apologize in advance for not doing the book justice. You see, I read it over a month ago, in that long ago, pre-mommy time, but never got to writing the review. Though I can fully attest to the novel's ability to distract and sooth at a most apprehensive time, I'm afraid I forgot some of the finer details of the plot. I hope readers will, nevertheless, find