Jane Austen Year 2025

As I mentioned before, as part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, and I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

Austen, Jane (Jane Austen in German)

January: "Sense & Sensibility" - Verstand & Gefühl/Sinn & Sinnlichkeit - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
February: Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017
March: "Pride & Prejudice" - Stolz & Vorurteil - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
April: Bell, Catherine "Jane Austen and the Art of Words" (GE: Jane Austen und die Kunst der Worte) - 2021
May: "Mansfield Park" - Mansfield Park - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
June: Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen" - 2020
July: "Emma" - Emma - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
August: Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007
September: "Northanger Abbey" - Kloster Northanger - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
October: Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013
November: "Persuasion" - Überredung/Anne Elliot - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
December: Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

And there are, of course, hundreds of books about Jane Austen, her life, her novels, plus numerous "sequels" to the novels she wrote, written by contemporary authors. I am not a big fan of those kind of stories, so I'm not including any since I haven't read them.

Austen, Jane
"Lady Susan" - Lady Susan - 1795
"The Watsons" - Die Watsons - 1803/05
"Sanditon" - Sanditon - 1817
"Selected Letters. 1796-1817" - 1796-1817

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen. The World of Her Novels" - Jane Austen und ihre Zeit - 2002

Shields, Carol "Jane Austen. A Life" - 2001
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

Which Austen Heroine are You? 

Other books relating to her work:
Baker, Jo "Longbourn" - 2013

Birtwistle, Sue; Conklin, Susie "The Making of Pride and Prejudice" - 1995

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club" - 2004
McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma. A Modern Retelling" - 2015

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" - 1993
Rowlatt, Bee & Witwit, May "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad. The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship" - 2010
Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

You will find more posts where she has been mentioned here.

And there are some recommendations by friends:
Harman, Claire "Jane’s Fame - How Jane Austen Conquered the World"
Mullan, John "What Matters in Jane Austen? - Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved"

And during the year, Captivated Reader found a YouTube link on PBS for a Jane Austen dance and general information about her life.

Austen, Jane "The History of England"

Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

This was the last of my Jane Austen reads in 2025, the #Reading Austen project.

The booklet has 55 pages, very small ones. Yet, only 18 of them are about the History of English, the rest of the book is taken up by the correspondence between (mainly) two girls at the beginning of the 19th century, a short story called Lesley Castle.

I really enjoyed the first part. It was interesting to read how the kings and queens of England were seen by a partial and prejudiced person. Jane like the York and hated the Lancastrians, so anything they did were seen through her rose- or black-tinted glasses. Hilarious, though, and not necessarily to be taken seriously. 

Also the second part has its hilarious moments. Like when women are judged by their height and being tall is supposed to be a fault. Just read it, it doesn't take long.

Book Description:

"'The History of England', written when Jane Austen was in her late teens, is a lively and somewhat disrespectful overview of the history of England's monarchy. She sees nothing reprehensible in Richard III, yet burns with contempt for Elizabeth I, and documents several reigns with breezy nonchalance.

This volume also contains 'Lesley Castle', a delightful and often hilarious correspondence detailing the mishaps and misapprehensions that befall five young ladies."

Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education"

Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

I have read quite a few books about Jane Austen as part of the #Reading Austen project this year. And this one will be quite on top of my favourites of the year and of the books I read for the project - besides all of Jane Austen's books, of course.

What I really liked was the author linking his life to all of Jane Austen's books. It starts when he is 26 and reads his first one: Emma and ends with Sense & Sensibility when he finally meets his wife, after having told himself all the time that he would never marry.

He also didn't want to read Jane Austen, thought it would just be something like a chick lit with no content whatsoever. But he had to read the first one for a class and then found that Jane Austen has a lot to tell and to teach us.

How he develops from a conceited, big-headed young student into a decent human being, that is the background to this book. Something we can all learn from.

From the back cover:

"Before Jane Austen, William Deresiewicz was a very different young man. A sullen and arrogant graduate student, he never thought Austen would have anything to offer him. Then he read Emma — and everything changed.

In this unique and lyrical book, Deresiewicz weaves the misadventures of Austen’s characters with his own youthful follies, demonstrating the power of the great novelist’s teachings — and how, for Austen, growing up and making mistakes are one and the same. Honest, erudite, and deeply moving, A Jane Austen Education is the story of one man’s discovery of the world outside himself."

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England"

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013

Part of my #Reading Austen project is to read a book by the author in the uneven months and a book about the author and/or her books in the even ones. This is my October read.

And it was a very interesting and detailed book. We get several maps right at the beginning where we cannot just see where Jane Austen lived during her lifetime but also some other contemporary characters with a similar background. Something that always adds to the explanations in any book, fiction or non-fiction.

But it's not only that. They explain how the pounds, shillings and pennies were divided, how the weights and measurements were calculated, all those nitty-gritty bits that are in the books of that time but not explained because the readers would have known what it was. The same as what it meant when someone had £10,000 pounds a year. 

They tell us everything about weddings at the time, about the aristocracy and who was who, education was as much talked about as what was going on in home and kitchen. The fashion of the time (of which we read a lot in Jane's books) is described, the religion, work and hobbies, crimes, illnesses, just everything that was important to the people of the 19th century.

So, if you want to know more about Jane's life, this is the book for you.

From the back cover:

"Jane Austen, arguably the greatest novelist of the English language, lived from 1775 to 1817. Her fiction focuses on the gentry and aristocracy, and her heroines are young women looking for love. Yet the comfortable, tranquil country that she brilliantly devised is a complete contrast to the England in which she actually lived. For twenty-nine of Jane Austen's forty-one years, the country was embroiled in war.

Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England explores the real England of that time. Roy and Lesley Adkins vividly portray fascinating aspects of the daily lives of ordinary people, from forced marriages and the sale of wives in marketplaces to boys and girls working down mines or as chimney sweeps, this book eavesdrops on the daily chore of fetching water, the horror of ghosts and witches, Saint Monday, bull baiting, sedan chairs, highwaymen, the stench of corpses swinging on roadside gibbets and the horrors of surgery without anaesthetics.

Giving a voice to these forgotten people and revealing how they worked, played and struggled to survive, Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England is an authoritative and gripping account that is sometimes humorous, often shocking, but always entertaining."

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook"

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007

Part of my #Reading Austen project is to read a book by the author in the uneven months and a book about the author and/or her books in the even ones. This month, it was a book about her time with a lot of background information to why some characters acted the way they did. There were a lot of lovely illustrations and even more funny allusions to the novels.

I can heartily recommend this little book to any Jane Austen fan. Whether you have read her books or watched them on TV or in the cinemas (hopefully both), you will be delighted by this. And if time travelling was a thing, you could even learn how to behave in Regency times without anyone noticing you're from the future.

From the back cover:

"Jane Austen published her first novel in 1811, but today she's more popular than ever. Film adaptations of her books are nominated for Academy Awards. Chick lit bestsellers are based on her plots. And a new biopic of Austen herself Becoming Jane arrives in theaters this spring.

For all those readers who dream about living in Regency England, The Jane Austen Handbook offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early nineteenth century. You'll discover:

How to Become an Accomplished Lady
How to Run a Great House
How to Indicate Interest in a Gentleman Without Seeming Forward
How to Throw a Dinner Party
How to Choose and Buy Clothing

Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living."

Happy July!

Happy July to all my Friends and Readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch
"Sommerwiese"
"Summer Meadow"
Hanka and Frank say to this picture:

"In this watercolor, Hanka played with the colorful blossoms and flowers in summer colors on a meadow."
"Hanka hat in diesem Aquarell mit den bunten Blüten und Blumen in Farben des Sommers auf einer Wiese gespielt."

I love these wild flowers. They remind me of my childhood.

Read more on their website here. *

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No big outings this month, though some visitors and lots of meetings with friends.

The temperature changes are really bothering me. We're constantly changing: hot, then thunderstorms, then cold, then hot again, and just when we've gotten used to it, it gets cold again, only to climb again immediately afterward, and so on. This is really bad for me. I feel constantly nauseous and dizzy.

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My German saying this month goes with the picture above:

"Etwas durch die Blume sagen".

It means "Saying something through/with a flower" or "Saying something in a roundabout way". With this you hint at or allude to something, you make a hidden criticism. You express something indirectly, rather than directly and openly. You circumscribe it, or phrase it in a veiled way, often to convey criticism or an unpleasant message without hurting the other person.

I am sure other languages have similar sayings. If you know more in your languages, please, let me know.

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As I mentioned several times, it's Jane Austen year (see #Reading Austen project), and I am re-reading a book by her every other month. In the other months, I read another book about her. This month, it was "Miss Austen" by Gill Hornby. I don't really like people writing a sequel to a book where the original author died. I never did and I doubt I ever will. So, I guess my next book about Jane Austen (in August) will be a non-fiction again.

I've been reading a few less challenging books lately, partly through my book club, partly because friends lent me books I absolutely "had to read". I need to do something about that.

But, I had another successful attempt at bringing this fabulous author into my life. Lego issued another set about Jane Austen. It was a gift if you ordered something with them and since hubby always has some wishes, he had no problem getting it for me. Here is the finished set:

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* You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about the two artists. 

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🌸🌼🌺 I wish you all a very Happy July! 🌺🌼🌸

Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen"

Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen" - 2020

As I mentioned before, as part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club has started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, and I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

In April, I read a German book by Catherine Bell, "Jane Austen und die Kunst der Worte" [Jane Austen and the Art of Words].  I was not impressed, I probably read too much about Jane Austen before and this one could have been written by any Jane Austen fan without doing any more research. Such a pity.

Mind you, "Miss Austen" wasn't all that much better, only a little. The Miss Austen mentioned in the title is not Jane but her sister Cassandra. We hear about her last self-given task, the intention to destroy the letters her sister had written that contained something Cassandra didn't want anyone to know, that would look bad on her sister's legacy. But, since those letters were destroyed, we don't know what it contained and the author just invented them.

I don't like people writing a sequel to a book where the original author died. I never did and I doubt I ever will. So, I guess my next book about Jane Austen (in August) will be a non-fiction again.

From the back cover:

"1840 : Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury.

She knows that, in some corner of the vicarage where she is staying, there is a cache of letters written by her sister Jane.

As Cassandra recalls her youth, she pieces together buried truths about Jane's history - and her own ; secrets which should not be revealed.

And she faces a stark choice : should she act to protect Jane's reputation?

Or leave the letters unguarded to shape her legacy..."

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home"

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

My favourite book of the month. As part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club has started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, last month it was "Pride & Prejudice", next month will be "Sense & Sensibility". When it fits in with my other reading "duties" (book clubs and challenges), I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

This was a fabulous biography. Lucy Worsley really "visited" Jane Austen at home and accompanied her on all her visits to friends and family. It was so nice to read what she and her family, especially her sister Cassandra had been up to. You hear about the relationship between them and also any other person of their lifetime. Also, the way they lived. We all know that they had money problems but it is different today, at least in our countries. Also, the things Jane did for female authors and women in general are not to be underestimated.

After reading this book, I feel I got to know Jane Austen better, almost personally. I would love to have all biographies written like this. I think I love the author even more than I did before.

There are so many quotes I could mention but I leave it at this one  about my favourite novel: "Persuasion was … set precisely in the period of peace between the months June 1814 and February 1815, when Britian's naval officers were on shore leave." It shows how her novels relate to the time she lived in.

From the back cover:

"Historian Lucy Worsley visits Jane Austen at home, exploring the author's life through the places which meant the most to her.

On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

This new telling of the story of Jane's life shows us how and why she lived as she did, examining the places and spaces that mattered to her. It wasn't all country houses and ballrooms, but a life that was often a painful struggle. Jane famously lived a 'life without incident', but with new research and insights Lucy Worsley reveals a passionate woman who fought for her freedom. A woman who far from being a lonely spinster in fact had at least five marriage prospects, but who in the end refused to settle for anything less than Mr Darcy."

The book also contains some interesting pictures that relate to Jane Austen's life.

Alphabet Authors ~ A is for Austen

I found this idea on Simon's blog @ Stuck in a Book. He picks an author for each letter of the alphabet, sharing which of their books he's read, which I ones he owns, how he came across them etc.

I might not do it exactly as he does but I will try to get to all the letters of the alphabet over time.

My first author is probably clear to anyone who knows me even just a little. Of course, I could have picked Isabel Allende (of whom I read 5 books) or Margaret Atwood (4). I do like both of them and I will certainly read more of their books in future but I just have to go with Jane Austen.

Of course, I have read all of their books and own various copies of all of them. So no surprise there. You can see a picture of her covers, this time not in alphabetical but in chronological order. The same with the German editions:

If you are interested in my German reviews: here is a list of all her books that I read with the German titles included:

Austen, Jane (Jane Austen in German)
"Emma" - Emma - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Mansfield Park" - Mansfield Park - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Northanger Abbey" - Kloster Northanger - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
"Persuasion" - Überredung/Anne Elliot - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Pride & Prejudice" - Stolz & Vorurteil - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
"Sense & Sensibility" - Verstand & Gefühl/Sinn & Sinnlichkeit - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

And since 2025 will be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, the Classics Club has started a #ReadingAusten project here. We start with Sense & Sensibility.

And there are, of course, hundreds of books about Jane Austen, her life, her novels, plus numerous "sequels" to the novels she wrote, written by contemporary authors. I am not a big fan of those kind of stories, so I'm not including any since I haven't read them.

Austen, Jane
"Lady Susan" - Lady Susan - 1795
"The Watsons" - Die Watsons - 1803/05
"Sanditon" - Sanditon - 1817
"Selected Letters. 1796-1817" - 1796-1817

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen. The World of Her Novels" - Jane Austen und ihre Zeit - 2002

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" - 1993
Rowlatt, Bee & Witwit, May "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad. The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship" - 2010
Shields, Carol "Jane Austen. A Life" - 2001
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

How did I come across this fantastic author? I only started reading her novels when I moved to England in 1994 and began reading books in English. I started with a few easy reads, children's books that I read with my boys and easy reads, quick chick-lit types first but found pretty fast that I preferred the classics, Louisa May Alcott was one of the authors that eased the way from the children's books to adult ones. And if you read one English classic, Jane Austen is not very far.

The saddest part of having Jane Austen as one of your favourite authors is that she didn't live long enough to write more then the six novels she finished (plus a few that she started).

Facts about Jane Austen:
Born    16 December 1775 Steventon Rectory, Hampshire, England
Died    18 July 1817 (aged 41) Winchester, Hampshire, England
Buried in Winchester Cathedral
She appears on the £10 note of the Bank of England.
They unveiled a statue in Basingstoke, England in 2017 on the occastion of the 200th anniversary of her death.
A Jane Austen festival takes place in Bath every year in September.
You can visit the cottage in Hampshire (Jane Austen's House), where Jane Austen lived most of ther life. It is now a museum.

Most of her novels portray the women of her time, mainly those who depended on a "good marriage" in order not to starve to death. You can tell she knows a thing or two about that situation. She had a great sense of humour and her novels are full of ironic comments.

Her father was a rector and she had seven siblings.

Her books were made into several films and television series, all of them interesting and worth watching. But my favourites are:

1. "Persuasion" w. Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds - 1995
2. "Pride & Prejudice" w. and Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth - 1995
3. "Sense & Sensibility" w. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman - 1995
4. "Emma" w. Doran Goodwin and John Carson - 1972
5. "Mansfield Park" w. Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee Miller - 1999
6. Since I'm not a huge fan of "Northanger Abbey", there isn't really a version I like much but if I had to choose, I'd probably take the version from 1987, not because of Katharine Schlesinger or Peter Firth but because of Robert Hardy who was great in any role.

And one last bit of information:
The actress Anna Chancellor is a descendant of Jane's brother Edward Austen. Jane is Anna’s eight-times great aunt. There are similarities in the drawings and pictures and the descriptions, so, if we want to know what Jane looked like, see here and here. Maybe we can imagine Anna Chancellor who also acted in my favourite "Pride & Prejudice", she is Mr. Bingley's sister Caroline.

Also, you can take a quiz and find out which Austen heroine you would be. I am Elinor Dashwood.

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This is part of an ongoing series where I will write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.

Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life"

Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

Jane Austen is one of my favourite authors. I have read all her novels, even the ones she didn't finish, some letters and short stories, so: a lot about her.

Claire Tomalin is a British journalist and biographer. She has a good reputation, especially for her biographies.

After reading this book, I understand why. I think she put together whatever is known about Jane Austen and her life, her family, her works, her illness, her death, anything. And she also tells us a lot about the era the author lived in, how female authors were regarded, how women were regarded, how people lived. You just have the feeling you lived with them.

We also get to see many of her writings, not all the letters as a whole but many excerpts that give us a glimpse of the author's life.

It's a shame Jane Austen was not able to write more books but this is a good supplement to her literature.

From the back cover:

"At her death in 1817, Jane Austen left the world six of the most beloved novels written in English - but her shortsighted family destroyed the bulk of her letters; and if she kept any diaries, they did not survive her.  Now acclaimed biographer Claire Tomalin has filled the gaps in the record, creating a remarkably fresh and convincing portrait of the woman and the writer.

While most Austen biographers have accepted the assertion of Jane's brother Henry that 'My dear Sister's life was not a life of events,' Tomalin shows that, on the contrary, Austen's brief life was fraught with upheaval.  Tomalin provides detailed and absorbing accounts of Austen's ill-fated love for a young Irishman, her frequent travels and extended visits to London, her close friendship with a worldly cousin whose French husband met his death on the guillotine, her brothers' naval service in the Napoleonic wars and in the colonies, and thus shatters the myth of Jane Austen as a sheltered and homebound spinster whose knowledge of the world was limited to the view from a Hampshire village."

Baker, Jo "Longbourn"

Baker, Jo "Longbourn" - 2013

I don't care much for novels that are based on someone else's work (so-called fan-fiction) and I might never have started reading this one if it hadn't been for a friend who had finished reading this and lent the book to me.

What can I say, it was an interesting read to learn about the servants at Longbourn, the house of the Bennets from "Pride & Prejudice". I think we know all more about their lives since watching "Downton Abbey".

While it is helpful to know the original story and thereby following the life of the Hills, Sarah, Polly and James, I don't think you necessarily need to have read it.

However, the author has gone a little too far with some of her assumptions and I doubt Jane Austen would have agreed with her protrayal of the family. I can only grant the author a lot of imagination. She should have written a book about a fictional house in the Regency Period with the main focus on the servants. Would have avoided a lot of silly allusions to the Bennet family.

Yeah, as I said before, not a fan of books written about other books. If you can't think of a storyline by yourself, leave it. I am sure it will be a long time until I pick up some fan-lit again.

From the back cover:

"It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea."

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen, The World of Her Novels"

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen, The World of Her Novels" - 2002

This is such a brilliant book about Jane Austen, her life, her world, her novels. It begins with "Jane Austen and her family" and "England and the world", then goes on to describe all her novels in detail, even the unfinished ones, and suggests further reading in the end. There are a lot of maps and pictures in the book so we can imagine what her life looked like. Even paintings from the time that indicate what her characters might have looked like, what they used to wear, what kind of houses they might have lived in etc.

This is definitely a book for Jane Austen fans. Or of fans of England at her time, the Regency period.

From the back cover:

"With a wealth of details about Jane Austen's life and times, this volume brings to life the world of her novels. Austen scholar Deirdre Le Faye first gives an overview of the period, from foreign affairs to social ranks, from fashion to sanitation. She goes on to consider each novel individually."

#ThrowbackThursday. Jane Austen

 

Austen, Jane
"Emma" - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Mansfield Park" - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Northanger Abbey" - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
"Persuasion" - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Sense & Sensibility" - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)

Eleven years ago, I posted my first Jane Austen review. It was not my favourite (Persuasion) or the one that is probably most popular (Pride & Prejudice), probably because this comes first alphabetically.

 

I reviewed all of Jane Austen's novels in the meantime, plus her short or unfinished stories, plus some books about the author, you can find them all here.

I also reread the books with an online reading group, The Motherhood and Jane Austen.

Read more on my original posts here or under the links above.

#ThrowbackThursday. Which Austen Heroine are You?

I haven't done a Throwback Thursday, yet, but will try to do this from time to time.

This was my very first post eleven years ago. I took the test again today and guess what?

I am still Elinor Dashwood, eleven years ago as well as today.

Take the Quiz here 

Who are you? Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, Anne Elliot, Catherine Morland, Fanny Price, or Emma Woodhouse? I always thought I would be most closest to Anne Elliot but maybe that's because "Persuasion" is my favourite Jane Austen novel?

See my original post here.

Austen, Jane "Sanditon"

Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817

I've had this fragment of a novel on my TBR pile for a while already. I never was sure whether I really wanted to read it. I have read "The Watsons" and "Lady Susan" and Andrew Davies have just made this into a mini-series. He has already made other great series and movies from Jane Austen's novels and several other classics, so I'm almost certain it's a good one.

But I wanted to read it first. It is a very promising beginning of another Austen novel, the characters well depicted, the scenes worked out beautifully, you can tell that there are going to be a few problems along the way that need solving. It is lovely to read how she made fun of certain traits in people and I'm sure there was more like that to come. What a shame she wasn't well enough to tell her sister what her plans were for the story.

Do I really want to hear the end from someone else? Oh, Jane, why couldn't you live longer? It would have been great to have a hundred of your stories.

From the back cover:

"Written in the last months of Austen's life, Sanditon features a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators in a newly established seaside resort, and shows the author contemplating a changing society with scepticism and amusement. It tells the story of Charlotte Heywood, who is transported by a chance accident from her rural hometown to Sanditon, where she is exposed to the intrigues and dalliances of a small town determined to reinvent itself - and encounters the intriguingly handsome Sidney Parker."

Birtwistle, Sue; Conklin, Susie "The Making of Pride and Prejudice"

Birtwistle, Sue; Conklin, Susie "The Making of Pride and Prejudice" - 1995

If you're anything like me, you always want to know everything about a film or television series you watched, the location, the actors, the director, the costumes, anything worth knowing what goes on behind the scenes. Many DVDs nowadays offer an insight, you can often watch the film again with the director's comments, there are a lot of extras, interviews etc. It's almost like having been there yourself.

Now, I normally don't watch films of books that I've read, there is often far too much that's missing or - in my eyes - wrongly interpreted. But Jane Austen and other classic adaptations, I just can't resist. I will compare them and say, this one is better than that one, though.

In 1995, Andrew Davies wrote the screenplay and Simon Langton made this fabulous novel into a six-episode series. That's a time-frame where you can cover a lot of scenes. It still is my favourite adaptation of all the Jane Austen adaptations ever. (see here on IMDb)

This book, "The Making of P&P" shows us a large number of behind-the-scenes pictures and tells a lot about the series. In the introduction, Sue Birtwistle, the producer, reports about how the idea started and how the project evolved. Then they carry on with every little tidbit of information about the script, the production, costumes, the music and dancing, the filming, and there is a conversation with Colin Firth. We don't just learn about this particular series; we can also discover how television is made. Totally interesting.

The book also contains hundreds of wonderful photographs both from the series as well as from behind the scenes, and many, many funny episodes that happened. A wonderful book to read, look at and devour while or after watching "Pride & Prejudice".

From the back cover:

"The Making of Pride and Prejudice reveals in compelling detail how Jane Austen's classic novel is transformed into a stunning television drama.

Filmed on location in Wiltshire and Derbyshire, Pride and Prejudice, with its lavish sets and distinguished cast, was scripted by award-winning dramatist Andrew Davies, who also adapted Middlemarch for BBC TV. Chronicling eighteen months of work - from the original concept to the first broadcast - The Making of Pride and Prejudice brings vividly to life the challenges and triumphs involved in every stage of production of this sumptuous television series.

Follow a typical day's filming, including the wholesale transformation of Lacock village into the minutely detailed setting of Jane Austen's Meryton.

Discover how Colin Firth approaches the part of Darcy, how actors' costumes and wigs are designed, how authentic dances are rehearsed and how Carl Davis recreates the period music and composes an original score.

Piece together the roles of many behind-the-scenes contributors to the series, from casting directors and researchers to experts in period cookery and gardening.

Including many full-colour photographs, interviews and lavish illustrations, The Making of Pride and Prejudice is an indispensable companion to the beautifully produced series and a fascinating insight into all aspects of a major television enterprise."

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817"

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817" 

Jane Austen certainly belongs to my favourite authors. Unfortunately, due to her early death, there are only six finished books (and two unfinished ones) written by her which I have read several times. However, there are still other writings, as these "Selected Letters".

This book might not have been meant for publishing, they are just letters Jane Austen wrote to friends and family, mainly to her sister Cassandra. However, they give a great idea of life at the time and also how the author found a lot of her stories.

I really enjoyed hearing about Jane's life!

From the back cover:

"'Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important.'

Letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen's time and social position, and Austen's letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can convey. Wiser than her critics, who were disappointed that her correspondence dwelt on gossip and the minutiae of everyday living, Austen understood the importance of 'Little Matters', of the emotional and material details of individual lives shared with friends and family through the medium of the letter. Ironic, acerbic, always entertaining, Jane Austen's letters are a fascinating record not only of her own day-to-day existence, but of the pleasures and frustrations experienced by women of her social class which are so central to her novels.

Vivien Jones's selection includes very nearly two-thirds of Austen's surviving correspondence, and her lively introduction and notes set the novelist's most private writings in their wider cultural context."

McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma"

McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma. A Modern Retelling" - 2015

I am not a fan of fanfiction. I usually don't read that kind of stuff. But somehow I was quite interested in the idea of transplanting one of Jane Austen's books into our world.

Yes, the idea sounds nice. Almost like communism. Wouldn't if be nice if we all were equal and had the same chances? Well, because people are people this fantastic idea will never work in the real world.

Neither does Emma Woodhouse in the 21st century. Most people don't like her in the original version "Emma". They will hate her in this one. We all know better in the meantime and so should she.

Alexander McCall Smith has written some fabulous books about life in Botswana ("The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" Series). I think he should stick to it. Not that this was written badly, I just don't like it when someone picks up someone else's idea and moves it further.

So, yes, not my thing but if you're curious and like this type of book, I think you might even enjoy it.

From the back cover:

 

"Sometimes it takes time to discover who you really are. And for Emma Woodhouse the journey is only just beginning. After graduating, Emma returns home to Norfolk, where she plans to set up a design business. But that summer, as Emma begins to match-make various friends and neighbours, some important lessons about life and relationships await her…"

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club"

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club" - 2004

I'm reading this with an ad hoc online book club a friend started to read this and Jane Austen's books. Since I just reread all of them, I am referring you to the link here for my reviews of them.

I'm afraid this book does not give Jane Austen any credit. The book club is like many of the clubs my friends have told me about - and I once briefly was a member of one, too, but left it rather quickly since I would love to talk about the books we read, not gossip about everything but books. The sticker on the cover "Richard & Judy's Book Club" should have rung huge bells. I will let that be a warning to me.

Do they ever talk about the books? Has Karen Joy Fowler even read any of them? If she did, she doesn't know how to talk about a book because I am under the impression she hasn't even opened any of these fabulous novels. Why else would she construct a story around Jane Austen without even getting into her writings?

A disappointing read. I only finished it so we can talk about it in our little group.

From the back cover: "In California's Sacramento Valley, six people meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's novels. They are ordinary people, neither happy nor unhappy, but all wounded in different ways, all mixed up about their lives and their relationships. Over the six months they meet marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and, under the guiding eye of Jane Austen, some of them even fall in love . . ."

There were, however, some other books mentioned in the book, apart from all the Jane Austen novels (mainly science fiction or fantasy):
Henlein, Robert A. "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Junger, Sebastian "The Perfect Storm"
LeGuin, Urusla K. "The Left Hand of Darkness"
LeGuin, Ursula K "The Lathe of Heaven"
LeGuin, Urusla K. "Searoad"
Radcliffe, Ann "The Mysteries of Udolpho"
Rand, Ayn "The Fountainhead"
Tolkien, J.R.R. "The Lord of the Rings"

Photo ABC

I am a member of a photo group where we get a prompt for every day and have to take an appropriate picture. Because we had the alphabet one month, I decided to do a book theme.

I always added either the link to my blog or to the books. I have decided to post a picture every week so my booky friends can enjoy them, as well. 

E is for ... English Classics. 

My favourite. Jane Austen.

All books by Jane Austen I read and reviewed can be found here.