Emma Lion Heroine

I'm on book two of this series. Very Jane Eyre-like, very Austenique. One heroine chooses her man, collects books, and tries to keep her home in 1800's London - {the series has only been written to book 8 / 25 so far, so we don't know who she chooses yet... A Vicar? A Duke? A Byron?}. It's on Amazon as a Kindle or paperback. Your welcome.

The Duchess Reads

I'm pretty sure the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) likes classic books. Here she is in her Anmer Hall office below, and on her desk there are a set of these stunning cloth bound books that really look like this set I've been coveting.

And several years ago, she wore a certain dress for visiting the Anne of Green Gables house on P.E.I. that was Anne-like, a nod to Anne, if you will. In fact, she went out of her way on that tour to be able to see the Anne house. I posted about that here.

What do you think, is the Duchess a fan of the classics?


Edited:
Just saw this story about the Cambridges at home during the isolation, and yes, they noticed the books, too!
Here is a caption that went with the story (see below)

From Hello Magazine:

 

From Daily Mail:

 

The New Emma and Isolation

I keep seeing the new Emma flash across my Amazon as being able to watch it at home right now. It's currently playing in theaters, but because we're all homebound, we can watch it early, at home. Honestly, it's really tempting to do that, anyone else? Grab the popcorn and your wallet, and sit in your comfy chair.

The Works of Jane Austen

That moment when you are window shopping and find something you just cannot live without. What I found ... A 1970's copy of Jane Austen's novels in one volume. One gorgeous, pretty bound, exquisite volume of gathered words that I love, love, love.

Two Stories

I love the two stories behind these images. 

I bet you know them both.

Put on Your Bonnets

Fantine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a new Andrew Davies production coming to PBS in the future, (think Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth's Pride and Prejudice), that I have really high hopes for. It is after all my favorite book and it needs to be well done to erase the 2012 version from my mind (this could have been so amazing, but it fell short). Here are the latest publicity stills from the upcoming Les Miz.

Valjean

Javert

Looks to be a good season in the autumn of 2019, perhaps. PBS/BBC has also adapted Jane Austen's unfinished book, "Sandition," that is currently airing. So put your bonnets on and get ready for some serious period film watching.

Jane Online

Join me and hundreds of others taking this free Jane Austen online course!

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

• Develop knowledge and understanding of the historical and literary contexts in which Jane Austen was writing
• Investigate virtually the important locations associated with Jane Austen and their impact on her writing
• Assess and discuss the impact of Austen’s society on the depiction of arts and reading in her novels
• Explore some of the myths surrounding women writers of the long eighteenth century
• Identify the challenges of adapting, translating and interpreting Jane Austen’s works and how this affects global understanding of her work
• Evaluate the marketing of Jane Austen in her own time and now

Love & Friendship

Go see this Jane Austen movie~ Love and Friendship

What Jane Looked Like

Photo Credits, left to right:
Credit: ITV West Country/Katie Rowlett
Credit: ITV News West Country/Charlie Souter-Phillips

The Jane Austen Centre in Bath has revealed what they believe Jane really looked like after extensive research. 

Could this be the face of Jane Austen? 

I have made myself two or three caps to wear of evenings since I came home, and they save me a world of torment as to hair-dressing, which at present gives me no trouble beyond washing and brushing, for my long hair is always plaited up out of sight, and my short hair curls well enough to want no papering.

JANE AUSTEN, letter, Dec. 2, 1798

 

Regency Roads

I'd give almost anything right now for "50 miles of good road." With all the road construction going on lately, you realize you sometimes take good roads for granted, ...whether they are Regency roads, or not.

When the roads get put back together, I'll be grateful. For now, I'll trod them carefully, and with just a little angst that mine are not Regency ones with country paths for stretching with rests from the travel between Regency miles. Once again, born in the wrong era!

"It must be very agreeable 

for her to be settled within 

so easy a distance of 

her own family and friends."

"An easy distance, do you call it? 

It is nearly fifty miles."

"And what is fifty miles of good road? 

Little more than half a day's journey. 

Yes, I call it a very easy distance."

~~Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 32

Free Classic e-Books

Amazon is offering free ebooks for Kindle right now. Any title that is pre-1923 and out of it's copyright is included in this promotion.

I just got all my favorites, and some that I have been wanting to read - Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Walden, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Keats Poems, The Woman in White, Emily Dickinson Poems, Utopia, and The Secret Garden. There are pages and pages to choose from. I think they work for iTouch phones, too.

Feeding a Crowd and Feeling Regent

Feeding a crowd is not easy or economical these days, but here is a fun recipe from the Jane Austen Centre that allows you to do just that. I plan on trying it soon, just because it's so easy and I have all the ingredients on hand, and I want to "feel Regent" while feeding my particular crowd, (if mac and cheese can be even remotely Regent, I'll make it Regent).


From the Jane Austen site:
"This recipe, from Martha Lloyd's Household book, looks as though it could be an early version of baked macaroni and cheese. It is actually a form of pasta in Alfredo sauce. Use any type of pasta (shells, elbows, etc.) though it looks beautiful with penne."

Stew a quarter pound of pipe macaroni in milk and water until it is tender, then lay it on top of a sieve to drain. Put it into a stew pan with two large spoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese, a quarter pint of cream, a small piece of butter and some salt. Stew it gently 'till the whole seems well done and then put it into a dish. Strew grated Parmesan cheese over it, and brown it with a salamander or in a Dutch oven. It may be done with gravy instead of cream if preferred.

Find out who Martha Lloyd was.

Room Windows With Views

The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
~E.M. Forster

This is so true, and we do find ourselves on a particular path that not everyone saunters on. Each makes his or her own way, and thank goodness, or the paths would be overcrowded. I love the path I am on, and wouldn't trade it for any other. I've walked with John Keats and Fanny Braun, been in a white tower looking down to Camelot, and looked out of lots of room windows with views. It's been impressive so far, and I cannot wait for more.

Box Hill Would Be Nice

The perfect picnic...good friends, good food, beautiful scenery...Box Hill would be nice - unless it's already in use. A good, sturdy basket filled to the brim with delectables, a nice thick blanket, and perhaps a book...and don't invite anyone called Emma.

Lately Forgotten

"Pride and Prejudice," and "Jane Eyre" - two of my favorite books. Some of my favorite movie adaptations are about these two literature gems - I adore them! I wonder though, just how many film versions of one particular novel one actually watches before you say - enough! (It may actually be never!)

However, I would love to see some of the lesser known literature that is always overlooked in favor of Austen and Charlotte Bronte, come to fruition. Here are some I would choose:

1. Anne Bronte's "Agnes Grey." Let's give the third Bronte sister a film adaptation, for goodness sake!

2. Charlotte Bronte's "Villette" or "The Professor." Charlotte wrote other novels, too, I would love to see one, or all of them, on film.

3. An updated version of Henry James "The Europeans." This is such a great story, but overlooked.

4. Lucy Maud Montgomery's "Anne's House of Dreams." If Kevin Sullivan could recapture the magic of his first two Anne movies, "House of Dreams" would be the one to do it with. We all pretend the third Anne film was never made anyway. If done right, "House of Dreams" could bring the story altogether and tie things up as they always should have been - romatically and Anne-like.

5. A good version of any of the Willa Cather Stories, such as, "A Lost Lady," "Neighbor Rosicky," or "Death Comes For the Archbishop."

6. "Custom of the Country," by Edith Wharton. Or anything by Wharton. She is lately forgotten when it's time for adaptations, with the lovely exceptions of, "House of Mirth," "Age of Innocence," and "Ethan Frome."

7. Anything from Edgar Allan Poe.

8. "The Woman in White," by Wilkie Collins. I enjoyed the Justine Waddell version, but it doesn't do the book justice.

9. "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gillman. Happily, this one is coming true!

10. One of Louisa May Alcott's many stories - any of them that don't have "little" in the title! Although I love those, too.

The Brontes or the Bennets?

Thornton or Darcy?
Jane Austen or Jane Eyre?
New books or old books?
Emily Dickinson or Emily Bronte?
Anne Bronte or Anne of Green Gables?
The Brontes or the Bennets?
North or South?
History or Classics?
Victorian or Medieval?
BBC or BBC America?

Wikipedia Meets Random House

I came across an interesting website called Librivox. The way it works is that anyone can narrate, and then submit as an audio file, any book that is in the public domain, to their site. Many Librivox free audio books are available at Audio Owl.
As a listener, something to be aware of is that some of the audio file quality is not as good as you might hope, but overall, it looks like fun, sort of a Wikipedia meets Random House kind of thing!

I have linked several here, but there are many more available:

Listen to Anne of Green Gables
Listen to Through The Looking Glass
Listen to Jane Eyre
Listen To North & South
Listen to Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Listen to Custom of the Country
Listen to The Watson's (by Jane Austen)
Listen to Agnes Grey
Listen to Portrait of a Lady
Listen to The Mayor of Casterbridge

Jane Austen Slideshow

Click to view the Jane Austen slideshow at the Masterpiece Classic site.

Poor Man's Jane Austen

My guide book, otherwise known as a newspaper article
Virtually walking the streets of Winchester, England
The Grey Friar Pub - a quick pint before turning the page to Chawton House

Wrinkled page of Winchester Cathedral, (where dear Jane is buried)

I look on as two people walk where Jane's feet, and not mine, have trod; Jane Austen's house - Chawton
Photo Credits, Gary A Warner (sorry, Gary!)

Those Were the Days

Taking a look back to the good old days of period films - days when watching a 6 hour mini-series could be somewhere other than PBS.
The first time I saw the Firth-Ehle version of P&P, was as it aired on A&E for the first time in the U.S. I taped it onto a VHS tape, and saved it for years, before finally buying a DVD player, (and new DVD copy of Pride and Prejudice), JUST for this movie and all the extras on it.
Thank goodness for PBS, without them I'd never turn the tv on! I remember the days when mini-series like, "The Thorn Birds," and the other "North & South," aired in parts for weeks and weeks on broadcast television. Those were the days.