I wasn’t going to include this as a task but have since changed my mind -
I had read Pride and Prejudice again just before I joined the challenge so I’m hoping I can get away with adding this review as a task.
I wrote my review at the end of July and click here to read it.
Hope you like it.
Posted on 13 August '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired. No Comments.
by Sally Smith O’Rourke
ISBN-13: 9780758210388
(Re-Print) Published: January 2009
First Published: April 2006
I was feeling pretty ordinary this week, so decided to self-medicate with a nice romance novel and to kill two birds with one stone, I chose a Jane Austen inspired book for the Everything Austen Challenge. I’m so glad I picked this book up from the library, it was like soaking in a warm bath and was just what I needed. Sally Smith O’Rourke has written a lovely, uncomplicated fantasy romance.
Eliza Knight is an artist from New York and is looking to add a standard lamp to her unit decor. Her shopping trip results, like so many good shopping trips do, with no lamp but her bringing home a beautiful 200 year old antique vanity for her bedroom. While inspecting some damage on the vanity, she moves the wood backing and two letters fall out.
One letter was sealed but the other was open and reads:
“May 12th 1810. Dearest Jane, the Captain has found me out. I am being forced to go into hiding immediately. But if I am able, I shall still be waiting at the same spot tonight. Then you will know everything you wish to know. F. Darcy.”
The unopened letter was addressed “Jane Austen – Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Chawton Great House.”
Could the letters be real? Was Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice a real man?
The letters are found to be authentic, so Eliza is now the owner of, not only two Jane Austen letters but also her bedroom vanity. Being the owner of these items is not enough for Eliza, she has to discover more about the real Fitzwilliam Darcy. Why is he a mystery? Why is there no mention of him in history? Were he and Jane Austen lovers? Why did Jane Austen’s family destroy so many of her personal letters after her death? Eliza determines to find answers to these questions and her life is forever changed by the attempt.
Let this book pamper you and take you on a lovely journey into Jane Austen’s time. The story moves along at a pleasant pace and I never felt the need to skip ahead. It is not a book that I would want to pick apart and look at the details too closely. I simply accepted the characters as presented and was comfortable with the way Jane and Darcy were depicted. The Man Who Loved Jane Austen is a peaceful book and was just the presciption I needed for my maladies.
Posted on 13 August '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired, Reviews, Romance. 1 Comment.
For task 5 I read ‘The Man Who Loved Jane Austen’ by Sally Smith O’Rourke.
What a great name this author has and she also wrote a lovely book.
My review is here.
Posted on 13 August '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired. No Comments.
Task 4 Completed – 2008 BBC Mini-series Sense and Sensibility Review
I have been eagerly awaiting the 2008 BBC version of Sense and Sensibility to become available in Australia and at last I’ve seen it. The opening scene immediately distinguishes it from previous adaptions and certainly made this Austen fan sit up wide eyed. Visually it is absolutely gorgeous and I’m going to say I love it far too much in the following review.
I was delighted with this version and the way it has picked up on parts of the book that have until now, not been translated to film. The actors are terrific, solid and you feel convinced. As much as I adore the Emma Thompson film version I feel this adaption is more true to the book. It certainly has time to address more as it is a mini-series. I am torn between my favourite Elinors now, Emma Thompson swept me away in the film and I am a huge fan but closer in age to Elinor, Hattie Morahan portrays Elinor Dashwood beautifully and I am sure it will be her face I visualise when I read the book from now on. I did find myself thinking about Emma Thompson a lot while watching it and I think it is because the two actresses’ voices are uncannily similar.
Dan Stevens is my Edward from now on. He plays the part so close to my idea of Edward that it felt like I’d just put on my comfy slippers. I respected Hugh Grants’ portrayal but I was never completely convinced.
One of my highlights and it probably won’t make sense to everyone, was seeing Mark Williams waltz into Barton cottage as Sir Middleton. I adore this man and his quirkiness. Anyone who can get me to sit through an entire series on steam engines (Mark Williams on the Rails) just because of his infectious manner of delivery, makes it to my honours wall.
I would say the only part of this version that didn’t sit comfortably with me was the actor who played Willoughby, Dominic Cooper. It certainly has nothing to do with his delivery, he was brilliant but it is simply that I visualise someone different, taller and more charming. It’s hard to be impartial when I’ve already got such a vivid feeling about how my Austen men should be. Please don’t let this form a negative opinion of Dominic Cooper because I’m sure he will make many melt, just not my taste I guess. I can’t see the sexual appeal of James McAvoy either and yet as an actor he is fantastic.
The scriptwriter Kevin Hood did an amazing job. He’s written a period drama with a contemporary style and delivery and I’m sure this version will recruit many new Austen fans to the fold.
Love it, love it, love it, love it, just in case you weren’t convinced.
Posted on 11 August '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired. 6 Comments.
by Keith Robinson
www.unearthlytales.com
ISBN: 13 978-1-4421-1441-8
Published: April 2009
I love young adult fiction and make no excuses for it. I eagerly awaited the arrival of my copy of Island of Fog but when it arrived I was suddenly nervous because I really wanted to like it. I tentatively stepped into the prologue, let out the breath I was holding and launched into the first chapter. Now my book has a distinct bend in the middle from being stuck under my arm while I tended to my life of the last 3 days. What a great adventure Keith Robinson took me on. In keeping with the tradition of young adult fiction, Island of Fog brings together a group of young people who have to solve a mystery in order to save themselves and those they love.
Twelve year old Hal and Robbie are best friends and live in a small community on a green lush island. The outside world is not known to them, their parents exiled themselves when the world was ravaged by a deadly virus. Despite being marooned, their island life, up till now, has been ideal but now in their teens they start to question their surroundings. They crave things they have only heard about, they crave adventure and something new, they crave the sun and the moon. The sun and moon are never seen on their island because the island is covered in a thick impenetrable fog. Hal, Robbie and the other teenagers on the island are getting restless. They are adolescents and like all adolescents are going through physical and mental changes. They are becoming adults, getting taller, stronger, and forming crushes. They are growing hair in strange places but is it normal to grow it on your fingers, is it normal to be itching all day, is it normal to have a green scaly rash or sharp fangs. Should they show their parents? Can they trust their parents, whose explanations don’t seem convincing anymore? Can they trust the strange outsider who arrives, unaffected by the virus and conveniently, at the same time as their physical changes? They know they aren’t being told the truth and set out to find it.
Island of Fog travels along at an enjoyable pace and the suspense has you hungry for each page turn. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and love that young adult fiction can take you off on a great adventure without you being muddied up by ‘adult themes’. Island of Fog ends but the story is certainly not wrapped up and I searched the last few blank pages with hope of finding an excerpt of the next book. So, Keith Robinson, thank you for Island of Fog and as I can feel a series coming on, I sit, eagerly awaiting book two.
Posted on 5 August '09 by Michelle, under Childrens fiction, Reviews, SciFi/Fantasy, Young Adult. 3 Comments.
by Nick Earls
www.nickearls.com
ISBN: 9781741666335
Published: 1/7/09
We all ‘think’ we know what we want but it often takes a wake up call to really ‘understand’ what is best for us.
Curtis Holland is an average guy who has had extraordinary luck come his way. He and his friend Derek Frisk had a band called Butterfish, which went from local to global. With that came all the rockstar trappings, travel, money, parties, celebrity and pressure. After their 3rd album fails they are dropped by their record label and the band dissolves. Derek stays in LA to keep up the rockstar image but with some relief , Curtis gladly leaves that life and plans to work on producing other musician’s work. So now he is back in Brisbane, has no band, his father died while he was on tour and so did his marriage. Moving into a suburban home with a studio in the back garden, disguised as a granny flat, Curtis takes a breath, opens a beer and adds up the cost of his absurd rockstar life.
When Annaliese Winter floats down his driveway looking for her dog, Curtis is rattled by his fascination with the complex 16 years old. As he gets to know the rest of her family, 14 year old brother Mark and their mother Kate, he find himself drawn to them and it seems his average street, in an average suburb is suddenly less ordinary. Curtis isn’t sure what he can contribute to the relationship developing with his new neighbours. He is still jet lagged from his rockstar life and the truth is that he hasn’t dealt with the loss of his father, his marriage or his band. Together with his brother Patrick, Curtis tries to reconnect with their father and by going through his belongings, they uncover much they didn’t know and much they’ll never know. A fast and furious visit from Derek drags up further regrets but also offers Curtis an alternate view of himself.
Curtis’ return to reality explores the relationship with the place we call home and the need for balance in life. Returning home stirs up history of our time before we left but also gives us a safe place to review where we’ve been. Rediscovering what is important in our lives sounds simple but the fact that you’ve lost sight of it means that havoc was wreaked and there is much cleaning up to be done.
I particularly liked Curtis’ journey to reconnect with his father. Exploring the idea that after we die we are reduced to a sum of our stuff and what we have chosen to share with others. It reinforces the lessen to be careful what you leave behind because you may leave an impression that you would be disappointed by. Perhaps we should all engage a trusted friend, who in the case of our demise, will remove those things we wouldn’t want our family to find.
It was also interesting seeing Curtis and Patrick trying to resettle themselves after losing their last parent. I heard someone mention once – and I wish I could remember who, so I could credit them – that we never truly grow up while we still have our parents. That we complete our development when we have to face a world without our parents in it. Despite the sadness of losing their father, I was heartened to see them both grow a little taller from the experience.
I really enjoyed ‘The True Story of Butterfish’ and its simple message about discovering what is important in our lives. Although I read it over a very busy week, I found myself heaving an audible sign of relief each time I was able to pick it up again.
Nick Earls has a knack for making average into extraordinary and he’s done it again with The True Story of Butterfish. It is full of Australian markers but with relief, is free of those Australian stereotypes and cliches that make me cringe, no shrimps on barbies or crocodile dundees to be seen.
Curtis’ experience with the illusion of celebrity life highlights that at home we are all the same. That before ‘they’ were celebrities they were average people just like us and that in reality they still are. He sets his story in an average house, in an average street, in an average suburb, which could translate to any suburb in the developed world. By so doing, he reaches out to all us average folk, sitting on our average couches, doing washing, cooking, cleaning or like me typing a review on my laptop with a 4 year old tucked up beside me giggling away at ‘The Little Rascals’ on DVD and makes our lives seem a lot less average and in fact, quite extraordinary.
Thank you Nick Earls for The True Story of Butterfish.
Posted on 3 August '09 by Michelle, under Reviews. No Comments.
Task 3 completed – finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and review at http://torchundertheblanketbooks.com/2009/07/28/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies/
Posted on 29 July '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired. No Comments.
by Jane Austen
First Published: 1813
Pride and Prejudice is one of my more ‘well read’ books. The dilapidated state of it is evidence of my love for it! A book falling apart is sad for the reader but must be wonderful for the author, don’t you think?
Jane Austen creates such wonderful, believable characters, you never feel a moment of unease. Without that distraction, you are free to immerse yourself in the storytelling.
Pride and Prejudice introduces us to the Bennett family of Longbourn, Hertfordshire and focuses mainly on Elizabeth Bennett, the 2nd eldest daughter. As she and her family maneuver through the politics of an oppressive society, we are entertained by the absurdities of ‘class’ and perception of respectability. The Bennett daughters are ‘out’ in society but none of them are married yet. Their mother’s primary goal is to rectify this situation, and her efforts are a source of great embarrassment to the eldest two daughters Jane and Elizabeth. Society changes dramatically for the girls when a single gentleman of great fortune moves into the shire manor, Netherfield. After meeting at a public dance, Mr Bingley is enchanted by Jane and his attentions are welcomed by her and her family. Mr Bingley brings with him into the country, his two sisters, brother in law and his closest friend Mr Darcy. First Impressions of Mr Darcy leave the Hertfordshire residents very unimpressed and he insults Elizabeth, wounding her pride. Mr Bingley’s arrival is also timed with the militia encamping in the shire, much to the ecstasy of the two youngest Bennett girls. Forming attachments with or correct opinions of those gentlemen that now surround them, proves to be difficult when complicated by meddling family, devious intentions, misunderstanding and of course, pride and prejudice.
The adventures of the Bennett daughters explore the deficiency of first impressions and the art of getting to know someone in a society where manners and etiquette make intimacy a challenge. In fact, the book was originally named First Impressions but was rejected for publication in 1797. Austen revised the text in 1812, renamed it Pride and Prejudice and had it accepted for publication in 1813.
In my opinion, Elizabeth is Austen’s best heroine and should be essential reading for any young woman. Austen heroines have faults but don’t compromise themselves to achieve everything their heart’s desire. Neither do they achieve their goals by thinking or acting like men. Despite the era , Elizabeth is a determined character. She has a strong sense of social justice and believes women are capable and entitled to free thought, love, family and occupation.
I am an avid Austen fan but I feel confident in recommending Pride and Prejudice to anyone with an interest in historical societal structures and human behaviour.
Posted on 28 July '09 by Michelle, under Classic Lit, Historical Fiction, Jane Austen & Austen Inspired, Reviews. 1 Comment.
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
What word comes to mind after reading Pride an Prejudice and Zombies?
‘Hoot’ will suffice.
What a concept! Due to my devotion to the classic, I was a little concerned about reading this but am very glad I did. More than once, I laughed out loud at the ridiculous notion of the prim and proper Bennett women vanquishing undead beasties.
Life for the Bennett family is plagued by the same challenges as any other family in the Hertfordshire district. Maintaining a good standing in society, seeking out fair prospects for children of marriageable age and ridding the country of zombies. The unmentionable scourge of Satan are running rampant all over England.
Mr Bennett, to keep his family safe, has had his daughters trained in the Orient by a master of the deadly arts. In the course of their lives, they encounter eligible but not always deserving young men. Forming attachments, however, is not a simple thing when deceived by meddling family, men with malicious intent and constant attacks from the undead.
Despite their considerable skills in the deadly arts, the Bennett women are just the same as in Austen’s classic. Elizabeth, reasonable, Jane, resigned, Mary, zealotical, Kitty, easily lead, Lydia, unruly. The characters were so familiar in fact, that I often imagined I was reading the classic only to be shocked when “…Elizabeth lifted her skirt, disregarding modesty, and delivered a swift kick to the creature’s head…” (Austen, Grahame-Smith, 2009, p.28).
I loved this book and I am certain I will be reading it again and again like the true fanatical Austen fan I am.
Here is a link to a great Pride and Prejudice and Zombie Giveaway
Posted on 28 July '09 by Michelle, under Historical Fiction, Jane Austen & Austen Inspired, Paranormal Fantasy, Reviews, SciFi/Fantasy. 3 Comments.
Completed 2 of 6 – Watched Mansfield Park (1999) with Frances O’Connor playing Fanny Price. Love this version. Love this character. Out of all the Austen women this one I can relate to the most. Probably want to BE more like Elizabeth Bennet but definately AM more like Fanny Price. All the actors in this version are just as I see them in the book. This version takes me straight into the story especially the scenes back in her childhood home. You can almost smell it. Wish her brother had been included though.. an unfortunate character to drop. Mansfield Park, the book, wraps up too quicky for my comfort and this movie version is no different. Wish we had more time with Fanny and Edmund.
Note – Still reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Posted on 25 July '09 by Michelle, under Jane Austen & Austen Inspired. 2 Comments.
My name is Michelle and I've been an avid reader since I was a kid. With my head stuck in a 'Famous Five' book, I was never hindered by bed time thanks to my trusty torch. I live in Australia with my beautiful family. My tastes cover many genres but I do have a passion for Jane Austen and Austen inspired works. My site is full of these works and I hope my collection is of use to fellow lovers of Austen.
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