Jane Austen: A Life Revealed

Jane Austen: A Life Revealed Catherine Reef

Jane Austen didn’t leave much behind about her personal life. Very few of her letters survived, and family accounts of her appearance and personality directly contradict each other. One niece said she had “fine naturally curling hair, neither light nor dark” and another said she had “long, long black hair down to her knees.” Reef details what we do know, what’s debated, and what’s speculated about Austen’s life. Throughout, she weaves in the plots of Austen’s novels, often highlighting how they dovetail with events happening in Austen’s life at the time of writing.

Overall, I think Reef does a great job in writing a compelling biography with such scant primary source material. I think the referencing of book plots was a nice touch, but it also gives me pause. I think many readers will already know the plots and find the summaries a bit tedious. Other readers who will discover Jane through this book will find the plot summaries so well detailed, they may lose the inspiration to read the books for themselves.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Dawn of the Dreadfuls Steve Hockensmith

So, I liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I tried Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and didn't get more than 30 pages into it* and overall, I'm more than a little burned out on all of these mashups. The joke's old and it really only worked as a novelty.

But... this isn't a mashup, it's the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and, dare I say it, even better.

Because Hockensmith isn't shoehorning an alternate plot into an exsisting literary work, he's not constrained by one and so it just works so much better than the mashups..

We start at the church, for a funeral, only the corpse doesn't stay dead for the entire service. Mr. Bennett, one of the only people in Meryton to understand what this means, starts training his daughters in the ways of the warrior. Mrs. Bennett is just concerned about their marriage prospects if they engage in such unladylike behavoirs.

Jane is being foisted onto the lecherous Lord Lumpley. Elizabeth is torn between her martial arts instructor and the scientist who comes to study the zombies.

The zed word gets thrown about rather frequently, unlike in PPZ, and sometimes I disagreed with a character action (not so much of a 'no! don't do that!' but more of a 'dude, Jane would NEVER! Even if there were zombies all over the place!') BUT, overall, I really like what he did the characters and his thoughts about what they'd be like several years younger. I also loved the background information we got-- not only on the previous zombie wars and information about the zombies and how England reacted and what was going on there, but also about the original story. If you ever wondered why all five Bennett girls were out at once or why Netherfield was empty in the first place... well... here's one possible explanation.

Overall, super fun.

*Although that may have been my mood at the time instead of the book.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Jane Austen meets Pirates of the Carribean

Quirk Books (those lovable scamps with the bitchy marketing team that brought you the fantabulous Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) is back, this time with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Entertainment Weekly had a nice interview with the non-Austen member of the author team that revealed the following:

Well, our monster-to-Austen ratio is higher than in the last book, about 60-40 (that’s 60 Austen, 40 me). That’s proportionally more monsters, swordfights, and submarines.

So, less Austen, more mutant lobsters. This could awesome, or craptacular. It also loses a lot of the gimmick/hilarity/shock value of their first offering, but I'm still interested in reading it. Just not as obsessed as I was to see the first one.

h/t to fellow librarian David who passed this on to me!

ZOMBIE MAYHEM

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

When this book was first announced, I said that if the text melded zombie warfare with Jane Austen's story half as well as the cover did, I was sold. And it does, just as well as the cover.

This is... pretty much exactly what it says--Pride and Prejudice, with some key words changed from Austen's text and some scenes added in to create much zombie mayhem along with the other romantic entanglements. Not only is Darcy a man of consequence because of his wealth, but also because of the amount of unmentionables he has killed.

Some was a little over the top. I'm not sure Lizzie's "warrior code" really meant she had to eat the hearts of those she killed (that weren't zombies). Sometimes she went a little too hard core for me. On the other hand, kicking Darcy in the face after his first proposal? RIGHT ON.

Also, it's illustrated! I like the fact it's illustrated more than the illustrations themself--but with a list of illustrations in the front? It really plays into the older editions of Pride and Prejudice.

It's silly and fun and, if you're like my friend Marie, whose two favorite things are Jane Austen and zombies? This is for you.

I laughed the whole way through it and am hoping that Quirk classics mixes up a few more of my favorites. Jane Eyre with vampires? Faerie mischief mucking up War and Peace? Robotic monkeys wreaking havoc in Great Expectations? Oh wait, that was a South Park episode.

What do you hope to see in revamped classics?

Ok-- I would like to state that I bought this book and I'm really, really liked it. This letter from the publisher however, kinda ruins it for me. (Also, do you really want to accuse one of your distributors as "stealing your thunder"?) As someone who used to work in marketing and PR, epic fail. There's a way to be light-hearted and funny without talking to people like they're 5.

PR reps need blogs more than bloggers need review copies. The majority of the books I review are ones I got from the library or purchased. Yes, I review books that publicists and authors give me and I like that. But free books? That's just extra icing and sprinkles on the cake. I was here years before people started giving me books, and if that well dried up tomorrow, I'd still be here. Free books is not why I'm here, and that's not why most of the blogs I read are here either.

And I'm doubly disappointed, because I strongly felt the need to comment on this letter with my review of the book. I've seen the article mentioned a few times today out there in blog land and felt that if I reviewed the book, I also had to comment on the letter. I wanted this post to be about Elizabeth Bennett kicking some zombie ass. And it's not. Boo.

Yummy...

So, this is all a Jane Austen-y post. But in YA land.

Did you know that Shannon Hale is having a Princess Contest? Time is running out (it's one of those things that require thinking and entries are due on Monday!) (This is totally relevant because she wrote the chocolate cake of book Austenland: A Novel which is NOT a Jane Austen wannabe book (so please, don't judge it as such) but a fun little romp about those of us with an unhealthy Jane obsession. Or rather, an unhealthy Colin Firth obsession.

Another fun book about unhealthy Jane obsessions?

Enthusiasm Polly Shulman

Julie's best friend, Ashleigh, is an enthusiast. When she becomes interested in something, it goes a little overboard. So, when Ashleigh decides to become obsessed with Jane Austen? Julie sees her high school career ending up in the toilet. Ashleigh is speaking rather properly now and refuses to "bare her lower extremities" aka show her ankles. Or wear trousers. Oiy.

To top it off, in order to find her own Mr. Darcy, Ashleigh has decided to crash the fall formal of the snooty boys school up the road. Not only does Julie thinks this is an awful idea, she can't help but wonder why Ashleigh gets Darcy and she's stuck with the perfectly fine, but a bit boring, Mr. Bingley.

Of course, at the dance, they both find Mr. Right and an unfortunate communication error means Ashleigh claims him first. Ashleigh would never move in on a guy Julie likes, so Julie stays mum, her heart breaking.

Meanwhile there is the school musical, other friends, extra-curriculars, a boy who can't take a hint, mysterious poetry, and messed up step-families.

NOT a Jane Austen wannabe, but a fun romantic romp about friendship, high school, and boys, and an overbearing best friend whose heart is completely in the right place.

A big thank you to Tiny Little Librarian for the recommendation!

One that was not done so well is

The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love Rosie Rushton

This is a retelling of Sense and Sensibility set in modern day England

It was light and airy and fun, but not nearly as lovely as the original. I think I would have liked it more if I wasn't familiar with the source material.

Now, I like some remakes... Clueless was a wonderful look at Emma. It made fun of itself.

Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason? Really well thought out and hilarious takes on Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion (the worst part about the movies was that they stripped out a lot of the parallels.)

The adaptions that work work because (a) They know what they are and are able to stretch the story within those confines (b) Are hysterical. They also, in their own way, (c) Retained a bit of the subtle commentary on society.

Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love is lukewarm. It is so strictly worried about faithfulness to the original material that it doesn't add anything to the story. If you're not going to add, then why retell?

If you've never read Sense and Sensibility then this would be a fine, if not memorable, teenage brit chick lit about girls dealing with divorce, a new town, and boys. It strips away the commentary.

Read the original. Skip this. Unless, you have to read Sense and Sensibility for school and totally don't understand it and have access to this and not access to the movie. This book won't help you pass the test, but if you read it first and then go back to the Austen, you might understand the basic plot of the Austen a little more.

Oh, and completely unrelated, here's a great site for wasting some time and learning your geography-- check out all the challenges.

Colin Firth in a wet shirt...

You know how much I love Shannon Hale and she's written a book for us adults! Woo hoo!

This is nothing like her previous work. This is not fantasy in made up lands, but pure chick lit. In her blog when she talks of Austenland, she says,

I truly did not think that this book would ever be published. It was a side project for so many years, just a fun story I kept returning to, quite different from anything else I was writing. It's just so fun to see it coming about. It's just such a gooey chocolate cake of a book for me, a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies, a carrot pudding with rum sauce.

A gooey chocolate cake of a book is a perfect description. Jane Hayes is a graphic designer in New York and not getting any younger. She can't find a man to live up to the expectations set by one Mr. Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy in the Pride and Prejudice.

See, this is something I can totally understand. Shannon Hale has a minor Colin Firth obsession. In the acknowledgements she assures her husband "you know this Colin Firth thing isn't really serious... It's just a girl thing, I swear." I'd just like to take this moment to assure my husband the same thing. But he can still give me Colin Firth movies for Christmas, I really won't mind.

Also, I love her dedication: "For Colin Firth-- you're a really great guy, but I'm married, so I think we should just be friends."

If you understand the Colin Firth thing, this is the book for you. If you don't, well then you probably won't get it and might want to skip this one.

So anyway, Jane is hung up on an illusion. When her wealthy great-aunt dies, Jane is left a trip to Penbrook Park, where you can pretend you're living in a Jane Austen novel for three weeks. Jane decides to take it as one last hurrah to kick the Firth habit for good. It'll work, right?

I will warn you, this is completely different than Hale's other books. It doesn't have her normal literary writing style (because, let's face it, chicklit with literary writing style just doesn't work).

That is not to say it isn't good. For those of us who understand the Colin Firth obsession, it's wonderful. I opened it as soon as it arrived on my doorstep, started reading and only stopped to IM my similarly Firth-obsessed friend. We then wished we could go to Penbrook Park and planned all sorts of adventures. It's hilariously funny as well.

Also, this is good chicklit. It's not as straightforward as it could be. I like that Penbrook Park was not as perfect as it sounded and was populated by desperate women. Hale really thought this through and didn't take the easy way out. Because, let's face it, Hale is awesome, even when writing chicklit.

If the words "Colin Firth in a wet shirt" make you swoon, well then, this is the book for you. You'll be googling Penbrook Park in no time to see if it really exists...

Also, check out the letter Ms. Hale sent to Mr. Firth with an ARC...

Other blog reviews: Eclectic Closet, Writing and Ruminating, Bookburger, Estella's Revenge, Mads Reads, A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, A Novel Idea

Pride and Prejudice 4-Evah

Currently Reading: The Opposite of Fate Amy Tan

So, according to the listeners of Women's Hour, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is the book that has most transformed women's lives.

Hmmmm. Now, I love P&P, even to the point where I pretentiosly abbriviate it as such, because doesn't everyone know what I'm talking about? But it didn't really transform my life. No more than Bridget Jones's Diary did. (We all know it's the same story, right?) Except for making me feel slightly more normal than I did before reading it.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, however, did. I read it last winter and it scared me because it just feels so immenantly possible. It made me start acting up.