Vox’s posts tagged jane austen

Just call me Reader McBookerson

nobody@vox.com(Cori) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:55:37 +0000

I'm still behind on my book blogging. So here are some Really Short Reviews so I can finally catch up!

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (audio book). Pondy will attest that I had a very similar idea for a book over a year ago, and I'm convinced Kinsella stole it. Get out of my brain, Kinsella! Anyway, it was exactly what I thought it would be - meh. I've never been a huge fan of Kinsella (I think her heroines are whiny), so I wasn't expecting much. I wanted to read the story I was going to write (I would have written it better, at least that's what I liked to think). Anyway, it was an okay for a time when my brain wouldn't handle anything deeper than surface-level women's lit.

My Rating: 5 out of 10. Meh.

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed. I got this book for Christmas from my friend, but since she sent it to my other friend and sent my other friend's gift to me, I didn't actually get it until this summer when the other friend and I saw each other and swapped. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it went slightly deeper than most (it's women's lit, like Kinsella's book), and it was funny and you actually felt for the main character. The characters were pretty real, and it didn't feel too contrived. And I really love the cover.

My Rating: 8 out of 10 for being deeper than a lot of the other books in this genre. I especially liked the interaction between the main character and her best friend.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Penguin Classics)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (DailyLit.com book). This was on my list of Books Cori Should Have Read In School But Never Did. I liked it a lot at first. I liked the little scrapes Tom was getting into, and I liked how the culture of the kids was so interesting. After a while I got bored. Then it got better and I stopped being bored. I liked Huck Finn quite a bit, so I might pick up the book devoted to him next.

My Rating: 7 out of 10, for being able to see why Mark Twain is a celebrated writer. Quite clever.

Alphabet Weekends: Love on the Road from A to Z

Alphabet Weekends: Love on the Road from A to Z by Elizabeth Noble. I picked up this book on the recommendation of...someone. I think it was someone on Vox. If it was you, then thank you. This was another women's lit book that I enjoyed quite a bit. The premise was very cute and leant itself well to the story. I liked the characters, and thought that they behaved in mostly realistic ways (aside from whiny heroines, that's usually my biggest complaint in this genre).

My Rating: 8 out of 10 for being another light read that left me refreshed instead of frustrated.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Anyone who has ever read any of the Hitchhiker's Guide books knows about Douglas Adams. The man is a genius. His books are hilarious and the plots are outlandish and the characters are one-of-a-kind. It takes a certain kind of humor to appreciate his books, but if you get it, there is nothing else that compares. Dirk Gently's is on par with or may even be better than the Hitchhiker's series, depending on what you like.

My Rating: 10 out of 10. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Apparently this is a hidden gem for fans of Austen and Dickens and the like. I absolutely loved it. It's billed as one of the first mystery novels, and is full of Victorian sensationalism. The good guys are very good and the bad guys are really bad. There's heroism, villany, consequences, true love, and a lot of action. Plus it's well-written and well-paced. I had a hard time putting it down.

My Rating - 9 out of 10, for being just what I love in a classic novel.

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet. This was a delightful little book. I read it in one evening and just gobbled it up. It's especially fun for anglophiles or bibliophiles, of which I am both! Basically the Queen of England discovers her love of reading late in life and all sorts of consequences ensue when she starts forgoing her duties so she can indulge her new love. Sweet and witty. Loved it. Going to buy myself a copy so I can read it when I feel sad.

My Rating: 9 out of 10 for being original and delightfully amusing.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Essential Penguin)

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Wait, that's a lie. I was expecting the movie. But the book had significantly less plot. Once I got over that and looked at it as a character study, I enjoyed it a lot more. I liked Capote's capacity for describing things in wonderful, very real ways. He has a knack for getting just the right words. Makes me want to read In Cold Blood (yes, I realize it's very different).

My Rating: 6 out of 10 because I liked the descriptions more than the actual book itself.

*and breathe* That's 47 books this year, so far.

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It's all Cori's fault...

nobody@vox.com(ancora impara) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:10:34 +0000

That my ass is dragging today. Why?

Because of her brilliant comment the other day that she was watching the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. So, what did I do last night? Watch it from stem to stern. After my son went to sleep. That put me in bed at 1:15 in the morning. I get up during the week at 5:15. Thanks, Cori.

Oh, by the way, it was totally worth it.

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August Reads

nobody@vox.com(Tryphaena) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:35:17 +0000

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

During the summer I was feeling rather uninspired when it came to reading. I have books around here I want to get to, but they seemed to serious or long, or whatever, so I was avoiding them. I picked up Nancy Pearl's two books, Book Lust and More Book Lust to get some ideas and motivation to find new reads. Fortunately, she delivered. Most of that month's books came from her suggestions.

I began with Persepolis 1 and 2. Both are graphic novels that are very well done. They are autobiographical, chronicling one woman's childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in Iran. It helped me to understand a bit more of the history of the country and thethinking of some of its citizens. However, in many ways it made me so sad. I think reading it weeks before I gave birth was a bit much. It took me a few days to stop thinking about all the terrible things that exist in the world and how my children are so vulnerable. (On the flip side, it drove me to pray! I have to remember that God has my kids in his hands...)

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

Jim DeFede

For a complete different story and writing style, I read The Day the World Came to Town which weaves together the tales of individuals who spent their days after 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, and the people who hosted them with amazing generousity. The town of 9000 is also home to an air base with a large tarmac leftover from WW II. It's location is one of the nearest to Europe and is a stopover for smaller planes who need to refuel. Back in the day, everyone had to stop there. Anyway, when 9/11 happened and American airspace was closed, the hundreds of plans in the skies had to be re-routed and dozens found their way to Gander.
I thought the author did a good job of folding in the different tales and persepctives, making it an easy read and even heartwarming, (the Canadian Tire in town gave away over $10,000 in merchandise to help passengers and crew and then bought from their competitor, Wal-mart when they ran out; Gander-ites and those in surrounding communities opened their homes and showers, offered towels and bedding, etc.) esepcially given the back drop of the events that forced everyone to Gander in the first place.

Enigma

Remember how I had insomnia the night before Peaches was born and was up reading a lot. Well, that's when I finished Enigma, a book about the British codebreakers of WW II. A compelling read.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice was the novel I asked my mom to bring me in the hospital. It's a novel I love and have re-read many times. It's easy for me to pick up and put down whenever and helped pass the time when Peaches was nursing at the hospital and then at home.

Casino Royale

Casino Royale was a book I was on the wait list for. I'd never read any of Fleming's work and when our library got in this new set, I thought I'd try the first one. It wasn't nearly as good as I was hoping for. Some persepectives were misogynistic and sexist and, while perhaps more ujderstandable given the era it was written in, still made me feel uncomfortable and gave me to reason to follow up on any more of 007's adventures. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again, but not now.

Happy Reading!

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For all those Jane Austen lovers out there...

nobody@vox.com(Brazen Hussey's) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:16:25 +0000

Hi everyone,

I am a BIG Jane Austen fan; if you know my Mom then it makes sense that I am one. I took this Jane Austen test to see which of her heroines is most like me. My results ended in the much hoped for words "ELIZABETH BENNET!" HURRAY! I wouldn't mind being like Kathryn though. Here's the site and be sure to comment on the post telling what your results were: http://www.pemberley.com/bin/ramble/ramarc3.cgi?read=16406

Post more later,

Jor

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books and pro-creation.

nobody@vox.com(THAT GIRL) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:12:23 +0000

read this.

and this.

this is the token girlie read.

go buy this and keep it forever.

i went to borders again after a 3 month hiatus this evening and had the most fantastic day before labor day...yes, the sunday eve when everyone is out getting shitfaced because tomorrow is a holiday (labor day) where one can continue with the getting shitfaced even more because it's a holiday.

...but I, I, the self-proclaimed hermit with a tendency to hibernate and retract socially on a whim was pleasantly enjoying some quality ME time in borders catching up on tabloid gossip, nursing my love hate relationship with the economist and mother jones, and scouring the stack of books which i lugged to my corner cafe table to determine which ones were the lucky ones to come home with me tonight.

i selected 1-3 (from left) and had to include the 4th (debotton - which i've already devoured and own) because this one, THIS ONE, is a work of art. YOU.MUST.GO.BUY.THIS.YOUR.BOOKSHELF.WILL.THANK.YOU.

for years i've noticed that i have developed quite an annoying tendency (ask my friends) where i fall off the face of the earth and retract into isolation from time to time...never anticipated of course. i'm not quite sure why i do that. but here i go again...on a 3 day holiday weekend where i am "supposed" to have gotten dolled up, gone out, and made myself accessible to perhaps finding "the one". hm...but i'm here at 9:46 pm happily blogging away writing about why i'm here and not out there somewhere while at the same time, battling some sort of self-imposed guilt for not being "normal" and sociable and perhaps missing out on the opportunity in moving one step closer to find someone to nest with.

i'll lay that one to rest. now.

i turn 30 at the end of this year. i'm not 30 yet, but have already begun telling everyone who inquire that i am 30. then i realized that i am aging myself by saying so and letting my last few months of being twenty-something (which i will NEVER be able to say again) slip away - and i kick myself. silly goose, soak up the remainder months of the twenties you idiot (!) because darling, next year, it's all thirties from there! the thought of turning 30 admist my dearest group of college, all just married this year bosom buddies is, well, it has, been making me anxious. against my will. everyone, the last of which was married off two weeks ago, are now happily settling in domestic bliss, while i, freshly un-engaged and single, is left to wander the bars, the lounges, the whatever, by myself -- which is fine -- because i've always preferred to travel solo. i had to interject that -- which is fine -- bit because THAT part is fine. what isn't fine is that suddenly now, in moments of not wanting to fly solo, i can't find a damn person to hang with as they are too busy tending to their other halves. now that sucks.

the thought crossed my mind tonight as i was lurking in borders, that i should 1. join a singles-about-town-club 2. join a girls-singles-about-town-club 3. start my own club where chicks can meet other chicks to hang with 4. starting a jane austen book club...and 5. starting a knitting club - but i'd have to learn how to knit first.

at the core of all this randomness is exactly what has been gnawing at me in the back of my mind ever since i packed up my bags and moved back to la from london following calling off my engagement. ending the relationship was the best thing i could have done for myself and him and not once have i looked back. this is all fine and dandy, but there is a huge part of me that misses the comfort and the stillness of being in a relationship -- the domesticity and all. the movie nights, the cooking, doing laundry, cleaning house...all that stuff i loved. is this a turning 30 thing? is this a wow, all my friends are on to the next chapter in their lives and i feel like i've suddenly regressed? is it fair for me to feel this way? is something wrong with me? what if 5 years from now, i'm still single? would i be happy? would it be a choice? will i be some middle aged cougar trolling the bars looking for love that continues to elude?

my ass is sore from sitting on the floor.

i've also been thinking about kids...those things that i once despised. i'd like to have one of those...perhaps even two someday. but only with the right person - if he ever does come skipping along. never would i want to have children for the sake of having children. many would disagree, i'm sure...especially you religious freaks...but humans were NOT placed on the face of this earth for the simple carnal pleasure of pro-creating. passing the seed. humans were gingerly placed on this planet to experience connections...intimacy...find love. and if one is lucky enough to find love first and foremost, a child would then become a tangible, natural creation that materializes as a result of.

enough of my blabbing.

thanks for reading.

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Jane '08 and the Austen Dream Team

nobody@vox.com(Laurie Viera Rigler) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:21:14 +0000

Good things come in threes. Three Bears. Three Lord of the Rings movies. Three volumes of Pride and Prejudice. … And now, three Jane '08 videos.

Yes, it's a trilogy, and no, my candidate is not ready to concede.

Check it out. Tell your friends. Share, embed, and spread the word.

Jane '08 - Truth (Parody)

If you missed the first two videos, here's the first one. And the second.

Remember: It's not over till every vote is counted and the woman in the bonnet and spencer gets sworn in.

So onward to the White House! And I don't mean Mrs. Norris's sad little crib. I'm talking Pemberley on the Potomac. Bath on the Beltway. State dinners with English country dances. Cabinet members in knee breeches. Which reminds me…

The dream team is now being assembled:

Vice President: Mr. Darcy (a favorite in both red states and blue, and not like the wild young men now-a-days, who think of nothing but themselves)

White House Chief of Staff: Emma Woodhouse (never loth to be first)

Press Secretary: Miss Bates (is sure to say three things very dull indeed as soon as ever she gives a press briefing)

Secretary of Defense: Mr. Bingley (so complying, so easy, and so generous, that there will never be another war)

Secretary of State: Mr. Knightley (anyone who could live at Hartfield with Emma and Mr. Woodhouse must be qualified for high-level foreign relations)

Secretary of Treasury: Mrs. Norris (because she shall not be ashamed to practise economy now)

Attorney General: Lady Catherine de Bourgh (a most active magistrate).

Secretary of the Interior: Mrs. Elton (her first act will be to organize exploring parties to all national parks with the Sucklings in their barouche-landau)

Secretary of Commerce: Caroline Bingley (It's about time she faced up to the fact that her family fortune was made in trade)

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Mr. Woodhouse (devising a universal healthcare plan that includes daily doses of gruel—thin, but not too thin—and an egg, boiled very soft, by Serle)

Secretary of Labor: Edward Ferrars (understands the consequence of ignorance of the world--and want of employment)

Secretary of Transportation: Fanny Price (will ensure that everyone has her own horse)

Secretary of Energy: Elizabeth Bennet-Darcy (if she can walk three miles to Netherfield, she's got energy to spare)

Secretary of Education: Mrs. Bennet (it's about time she became a slave to someone's education)

If you have your own ideas about who should serve at the pleasure of President Austen (I rather like the sound of that), do enter your suggestions in the comments section below.

By the way, a little sidebar on author videos: Check out this hilarious one by Seth Greenland, , which came to my attention via Ron Hogan at Galleycat, who is one of my favorite bloggers and who is always posting updates on the funniest and most innovative author vids. Like this one. And this one.
Does this have anything to do with Jane Austen? Not unless you count the fact that Ron definitely knows his Austen, as evidenced by the title of this post, which featured the first Jane '08 video.

http://blog.janeaustenaddict.com/2008/06/jane-08-and-the.html

http://www.youtube.com/JaneAustenAddict

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Free knitted shawl pattern

nobody@vox.com(Candi Hurliman) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:30:29 +0000

Free knitted shawl pattern. http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/page.ihtml?pid=556&step=4http://www

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/...

A perfect first shawl, and it uses less than one skein of luxurious Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn! Quick to knit with an easy-to-memorize lace pattern. Finish with knotted fringe for a truly elegant look.

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Q&A on Booking Mama, and another chance to win a book!

nobody@vox.com(Laurie Viera Rigler) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:00:27 +0000

http://blog.janeaustenaddict.com/2008/08/qa-on-booking-m.html

Julie of Booking Mama, an excellent blog whose tagline is "Sharing ideas on books and book clubs (and occasionally other things)," interviewed me for her blog. Here is the post, which you can also read on her blog. Do visit Booking Mama if you're searching for something fabulous to read on your own or with your book group.

Booking Mama: I am absolutely thrilled that Laurie Viera Rigler, author of CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, agreed to answer a few of my questions. I read her book back in June when I was fortunate enough to participate in Book Club Girl's BlogTalk Radio Show; and I really enjoyed both the book as well as the discussion with Ms. Viera Rigler (you can read my review here.) I highly recommend CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, and I hope this interview will give you some insight into the book and entice you to read it!

Booking Mama: I love the concept for CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT – it’s such a unique idea to combine time travel with a historical fiction-type book. How did the idea for this novel come to you?

Laurie Viera Rigler: Hi, Julie, and thanks for asking me about CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. The idea didn't come about deliberately; I wasn't trying to think of an idea for an Austen-inspired novel or an idea for any novel. I was just standing in my kitchen one day and saw, in my mind's eye, this twenty-first-century Austen devotee, Courtney Stone, waking up in that four-poster bed in 1813 England in someone else's body.

Booking Mama: To write a historical fiction book like this, you must have done a ton of research to make it “feel” authentic. What types of research did you conduct, and how much time did you spend doing the research for CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT?

Laurie Viera Rigler: I spent six years writing the book and did research throughout that entire period. I read many books and periodicals about the period, traveled to England, and made use of excellent Internet resources such as Google Books and the Jane Austen Society of North America's website, http://jasna.org. I also conducted some experiential research (not time-traveling, unfortunately) by taking English country dance lessons and going to a few balls, including one I attended with my husband in which I discovered that English country dance is indeed a very sexy thing to do with the handsomest man that ever was seen.

Booking Mama: Jane Austen is huge right now with so many books and movies out there! Why do you think she is so popular today, almost 200 years since she wrote her novels?

Laurie Viera Rigler: What makes Jane Austen timeless is her keen observation of human nature, and human nature has not changed at all in the past 200 years. That is why we can read about Elizabeth and Darcy and see ourselves in a heroine who thinks she knows everything about another person and realizes she's been blinded by the same pride and prejudice she ascribed to him. That is why we can see ourselves in Anne Eliot of Persuasion and relate to someone who has been misguided and unappreciated, and who finally gets a second chance to make things right. The other novels have equally resonant universal themes. Plus there is the pure delight of reading a well-constructed, funny, and touching story with a satisfying conclusion and so many layers of mastery that it can be read again and again with increasing pleasure.

The movies attempt to capture that mastery, and some succeed better than others. Emma Thompson wrote the best Austen screenplay, in my opinion, because she truly captured some of that Austen wit and genius. In any case, the movies are almost always fun escapist entertainments, providing a doorway to another time and place, an accessible and low-risk form of time travel. And they are an excellent way to introduce potential readers to Austen's novels.

Booking Mama: I found the ending to be very interesting, and I like how you left the ending open for different interpretations by your readers. As the author of the story, do you have a definite theory on the ending or does your opinion change?

Laurie Viera Rigler: What an intriguing question! The ending has a very specific meaning for me. However, once I started hearing various interpretations of the ending from my readers, I decided not to interfere with the individual reader's interpretation by imposing my own. Generally, the interpretations fall into two main categories, but to say any more might spoil it for those who have not yet read the book. I will only say that the ending is a truly happy one, and that my protagonist gets exactly what she wants.

Booking Mama: Your second novel is kind of being described as a sequel to CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT since it will have some of the characters who were in the first book– this time Jane finds herself in the body and life of a 21st-century woman. Did you always know that you wanted to write this book when you began CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, or did you decide to tell this story after the success of your first book?

Laurie Viera Rigler: The sequel to CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT is more like a parallel story/sequel in that it follows the adventures of Jane Mansfield (the nineteenth-century character from CONFESSIONS, not the twentieth-century screen goddess) who has woken up in Courtney Stone's twenty-first-century life (and body). So basically, while Courtney is taking over Jane's life in the first book, Jane is taking over Courtney's life in the second book.

The idea for the second book came up while I was writing CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. I did consider including Jane's twenty-first-century story in the first book; however, it just didn't feel right. Her journey is a very different journey, and it just didn't fit inside the first book. So I decided it would be my second novel, and I decided this way before I had a publisher.

Booking Mama: As I read this book, I could totally picture it as a movie. Is there any chance that CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT will appear on the big screen? Are there any specific actors/actresses you see in the roles?

Laurie Viera Rigler: I too would love to see CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT as a movie, and the rights are available if some clever producer would like to make me an offer I can't refuse. There are so many wonderful actors and actresses I admire that I couldn't possibly limit my fantasy choices. But I've certainly enjoyed reading and participating in the forum thread on my website that's devoted to casting the movie.

Booking Mama: I have to admit that I am not a huge “Jane Austen Addict;” but after reading your novel, I have to say that I want to re-visit some of her books. That has to make you pretty happy if you’re having that effect on your readers. Besides creating some new Austen fans, what else would you like for your readers to learn from or take away from this book?

Laurie Viera Rigler: I can't tell you how happy that makes me, Julie. It was my intention to write this book so that it would be completely accessible to those who had never read Austen or who had read a little Austen. And then there are all sorts of allusions to the novels that Austen addicts like myself would enjoy as well. It is tremendously gratifying to me that someone who reads my book would then become interested in revisiting Austen or reading her for the first time, which I have heard as well.

What I'd like readers to take away from this book, aside from the pleasure of a fun read, is a desire to explore some of the central questions that Courtney faces. One of those questions is: What makes up my identity? Am I who I am because of what I remember, or because of what people remember about me? Am I whoever people think I am, or am I someone else entirely? And what would I be willing to give up to live in a different time, and what would I gain?

Booking Mama: What is the best thing about being a writer? What is the strangest thing that’s happened to you since your novel was published?

Laurie Viera Rigler: The best thing about being a writer is being able to immerse myself in the world of my protagonists. It is a privilege and an adventure to see a whole new world through their eyes. I may not, in "reality," have time-traveled to Jane Austen's world and switched identities with a Regency gentlewoman, but thanks to Courtney I feel like I've shared her experiences.

The strangest thing that's happened to me since my novel was published was seeing my book in an airport bookstore, because back when I was fantasizing about being published I was traveling with my husband, and in an airport bookstore I said, wouldn't it be fantastic one day to see my book here?

Booking Mama: Besides Jane Austen (of course), who are some of your favorite authors and what are some of your favorite books?

Laurie Viera Rigler: I adore Zadie Smith. On Beauty is one of my favorite books and very much reminds me of Austen, even though it is an homage to E.M. Forster's Howard's End. I also love Nick Hornby, who also reminds me of Austen (About a Boy, High Fidelity, Long Way Down, How to Be Good). And I love Ian McEwan (Atonement, On Chesil Beach), Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Vine of Desire, Sister of My Heart), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake), and so many other authors. I'm an avid reader. A few novels I've recently read and loved: Keeping the House by Ellen Baker, Fifteen Minutes of Shame by Lisa Daily, Angelica by Arthur Phillips, The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover. I could go on and on but will restrain myself!

Thanks again for asking me about CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. It's been a lot of fun talking to you, Julie, and I hope to do it again soon!

Booking Mama: A huge thanks goes out to Ms. Viera Rigler for this interview. If you would like to learn more about CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, you can visit the book's website. I have had almost as much fun playing around on this website as I did reading the book! The site is very interesting (as well as entertaining) and has tons of information for the "Jane Austen Addict" in all of us.

There is also another great opportunity to "talk" with Ms. Viera Rigler on August 12th. She will be joining Jane Austen Today for a live chat, and you can ask her some of your questions about the book. Click here for more details about how to participate - you could even win a copy of the book.

Not only has Ms. Viera Rigler been extremely gracious in answering all of my questions, but she has also offered to give away two signed copies of CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT! If you are interested in winning a copy of this book, please leave a comment with the name of your favorite Jane Austen book (or movie). Don't forget to leave an e-mail address so I have a way to contact you. If you'd like to double your chances to win, blog about the contest (and the interview) with a link to this post. You have until August 8th to enter. This contest is open to citizens of the United States and Canada only.

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Pages: Twilight

nobody@vox.com(terribob) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:42:07 +0000

It came up so I have to discuss it: Twilight. As a youth librarian it was obvious to me that this book had something special about it because when it came in, it went right back out. Then the next in the series came, and the next, etc. Well since the movie is coming out in December I think, I knew I wanted to read it and see what it was about. The same thing happened with the first Harry Potter book. I always want to read the book before it comes out. And, Twilight has so far been absolutely worth it. It's just fun.

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

Stephenie Meyer

It's not a literary masterpiece (like I can actually understand those anyway). I mean, how many times does Meyers have to tell us how beautiful Edward is or that he is cold, or that Bella is a klutz blah, blah, blah... But, I'm still loving it!! I can't seem to put it down. I like how Bella is just an average girl. She reminds of me of a few friends (who will remain nameless) that got beat up by errant volleyballs. She loves Jane Austen! She hunts for book stores. Isn't she great!

I am about half way through and I will surely be getting part 2 soon because I want to know what happens to her, Edward and Jacob. The final book in the series came out last week. I have a feeling I will be reading straight through the next few weeks just to see how it all ends!

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Emma and Northanger Abbey

nobody@vox.com(Emily) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:05:34 +0000

Emma

Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

This week I finished Emma and Northanger Abbey. These were the last two Jane Austen novels that I had not read. I loved both of them, but I'd rank Emma 5 of 5 stars and Northanger Abbey 4 of 5.

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUT BOTH BOOKS BELOW

I found Emma to be a more perfect and complicated novel. I knew she was not going to end up with Frank Churchill, but I did not have a clue how Miss Austen was going to transfer my strong affections from Mr. Churchill to Mr. Knightly by the end of the novel, so that I would be satisfied with the ending. However, transfer them she did, and I was pleased with the result. Mr. Knightly is no Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth, and it is a bit creepy that he's so much older than she is and has loved her since she was 13. But not nearly as boring or as wishy-washy as Edmund in Mansfield Park. It was also exceedingly funny; Mrs. Elton is perfectly horrid and all the more humorous for it. But I think what I like most about the novel is Emma herself.
She is such a great character - bold, funny, smart, good tempered andacutely aware of her failures and shortcomings (after the fact). She’s so sure of herself that it makes it all the more interesting when her plans go awry.

It was very easy for me to love Northanger Abbey. Catherine is so fond of novels and it affects her thinking and has humous consequences. However, Isabelle and John Thorpe were the most loathsome characters I encountered while reading any Jane Austen novel. They weren’t comically terrible (like Mr. Collins, Mrs. Elton, or Mary Musgrove), they were just completely horrid. I really like Henry, he’s an excellent love interest. But the resolution was underwhelming, considering how painful Catherine’s removal from Northanger Abbey was. Also lacking was the final culmination of Henry’s declaration of love. It did not hold up compared to Captain Wentworth’s letter, or Mr. Darcy’s second confession of love to Elizabeth. Despite all this, I greatly enjoyed the book. I liked that it moved quickly and was pretty suspenseful. (I did have to google “pump room” though, and find out exactly what it was. The name sounds horrifying.)

Words and phrases I now use too much, as a result of spending over a month engrossed in three Jane Austen novels: exceedingly, loathsome, irksome, pray tell me, upon my word, obliging and indeed. If only I could always stay immersed in Jane Austen’s world. :)

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Listen to my conversation with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio

nobody@vox.com(Laurie Viera Rigler) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:11:18 +0000

Listen to my conversation with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio

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"Pride and Prejudice" Wordled

nobody@vox.com(eliz. s.) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:45:50 +0000

Ok, I've spent too long playing with this, but it's so. much. fun!! Here's chapter 1 of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I've also played with some songs and posted them on my Tumblr: "In Your Eyes" and "Elevator Love Letter".

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Ninth Circle of Hell: Fourth Floor Down

nobody@vox.com(vtpanther) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:35:48 +0000

Lets just say Satan came to you and asked you to be the archetect of a brand new Hell. Lets say that Satan is a fan of great works of literature and asks you to give the place nine levels, in honor of Dante's great work The Inferno. Who would you put in each level? Dante puts great men who were not Christians in his first level and people guilty of lust in the second. From there, he works his way down to the ninth. Who does he put in his ninth layer? Its not violent people. They are in the seventh, one level below the heretics. Greedy people go in the fourth level. Angry people in the fifth. All sorts of different kinds of liars are in the eigth level and the ninth and last level is thus completely reserved for betrayers: The following summary comes from Spark Notes:

In Caina, the First Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, those who betrayed their kin stand frozen up to their necks in the lake’s ice. In Antenora, the Second Ring, those who betrayed their country and party stand frozen up to their heads; here Dante meets Count Ugolino, who spends eternity gnawing on the head of the man who imprisoned him in life. In Ptolomea, the Third Ring, those who betrayed their guests spend eternity lying on their backs in the frozen lake, their tears making blocks of ice over their eyes. Dante next follows Virgil into Judecca, the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell and the lowest depth. Here, those who betrayed their benefactors spend eternity in complete icy submersion.

Rodger Jackson references this moral estimation of betrayal in his engaging 2000 Humanitas article,

The Sense and Sensibility of Betrayal:Discovering the Meaning of Treachery through Jane Austen

"An act of betrayal makes us appreciate Dante’s reserving the innermost ring of the Inferno for the betrayers. We can even say there is a characteristic “feel” to betrayal. The betrayed experience powerful sensations of violation; they feel used and damaged. Betrayal, however, elicits more than strong feelings. Psychologists offer clinical evidence attesting to the devastating effects of betrayal.1 Betrayal acts as an assault on the integrity of individuals, affecting the capacity to trust, undermining confidence in judgment, and contracting the possibilities of the world by increasing distrust and scepticism.2 Betrayal changes not only our sense of the world, but our sensibility toward the world.

There is yet another significance to the distinction between betrayal and abandonment. Most of us do not see ourselves as betrayers, and in this assessment we are probably correct. For good or bad, it is not everyone who can cultivate the trust of another while plotting to break that trust, or to recognize that someone has our justified, acknowledged trust and then turn that relationship into an instrument. Willoughby certainly did not have this type of deliberate, calculating character.

But notice that this allows him to indulge in a familiar form ofdenial. He casts himself more as the victim of unfortunate circumstances than as someone who has committed a great wrong: he sees the way he treats Marianne as necessary, unavoidable.

What Austen does so well with Willoughby and Marianne is to present a frighteningly common situation wherein an individual voluntarily enters a relationship of trust and then abandons that relationship, not from some carefully constructed plot to harm the truster, but from a neglect born of self-interest, disinterest, or carelessness. Willoughby illustrates that with abandonment we may find innumerable ways of passing off responsibility for our actions; with betrayal we are at least deliberate and self-aware. But Marianne must remind us that the results of abandonment can be as cruel as the most meticulously plotted act of betrayal.

The Sense and Sensibility of Betrayal:Discovering the Meaning of Treachery through Jane Austen by Rodger L. Jackson. Humanitas, Vol. 13, 2000.

In summary, he draws a distinction with the use of Jane Austen's novel, between someone who knows they are going to betray you WHILE they elicit your trust and those who do not know.

Question for Comment: My question would be "which is worse?" Which of these two villains would you put in the lowest level of the lowest level of your inferno?

The question implies that one does more harm perhaps. That one inflicts more "betrayal trauma" to use a psychological term. You might think that it is the person who KNOWS they are going to decieve you that is worse but I am not entirely sure. In those cases, the betrayer is after something that they probably do not single you out for any intrinsic reason in you. They are like a theif standing on a corner waiting for someone with a pocketbook. It is nothing personal. The one who abandons you AFTER eliciting your trust consciously trades in the relationship that they ACTUALLY had with you for some other bauble that catches their fancy.

There is no hiding from the pain when that happens. The only smart thing to do when that happens to you is to build a pyre of the betrayers things, make an effigy on top, light it on fire so that the betrayer can see it from his (or her) distant and fleeing ship, and impale yourself on the betrayer sword with a Dido-like prayer to the gods that your decendents might forever hunt down theirs.

Thats what Dido (The Aeneid) does anyway. She was smart enough to know that this is really the only escape for pain of this sort. But maybe others think otherwise.

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Day 3 in Bath

nobody@vox.com(SamIvy) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:53:17 +0000

Well I have had an exciting past couple of days in Bath. I arrived on Wednesday and did nothing but buy a phone and go to sleep. On Thursday I had an appointment at the Fashion Museum. After waking up early and getting a little lost wandering around, I found the museum and met Eileen who brought me to her office. After locking up everything but my camera, sketchbook, and pencil I followed her to her office where there was a big table covered with a padded white table cloth, a measuring tape, magnifying glass, and white gloves. Eileen brought out an empire waisted dress from around 1810 and I was able to handle the dress and take as many photos as I wanted. I spent about an hour on each of the first two dresses. After lunch I realized that I should probably move a little bit faster and so I got through three more dresses and three pairs of shoes. I took about 300 photos which I have yet to put online so that are at all bearable for other people to look at.

Northanger Abbey (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Jane Austen

On Friday I missed breakfast at the hotel so I went to Sally Lunn's, the oldest place in Bath. Sally Lunn invented the predecessor of hot cross buns. The house stands from the 1600s (I think) but they have found a cooking range and stove from they thing the 1100s. I had tea and a yummy Sally Lunn roll. Then I went to the Roman Baths. Bath is so called for its natural warm spring. The Romans made a temple using the spring as a place of sacrifice and prayer. After the fall of the Roman empire, the temple collapsed covering the pool they had created. During the middle ages, a king discovered the spring and claimed it had restorative powers. Soon many people came to drink and swim in the pool. The spring remained famed through the 18th century when the Pump Room was built above the medieval bath. The spring itself was used in a nearby hospital for all of its restorative properties. It wasn't actually until the late 19th century that people discovered the Roman ruins. So I went to the old Roman baths and saw some amazing ruins of both the Roman and medieval city. The Romans even had pressurized pipes to bring the water to different hot and cold rooms. I then saw the pump room where the fashionable 18th century went to see and be seen. I tasted some of the pump water. It was warm and minerally. It was pretty bad. After that I went to the Abbey which was built during the medieval era. I then walked to the Circus which is a famous area of Georgian architecture where Nicholas Cage and Johnny Depp just bought houses for 6 million. Then I went to the Royal Crescent which has more Georgian architecture. I went to a house museum there set up for the 18th century. It was really well done and beautiful.

The entire city is filled with Georgian architecture. It is like stepping back in time and is really amazing.

Emma (Penguin Classics)

Jane Austen

This morning I went on a Jane Austen walking tour. Jane Austen is one of Bath's most famous residents and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion both take place mainly in Bath. It was really interesting to go through the time and see where Jane lived and where specific scenes in her books take place. A lot of the city has not changed and most of the buildings are still there. It was a fun way to learn about the city and definitely applies to my grant.

Will be posting photos once I have a faster internet connection.

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