Pride and Prejudice - from the sublime to the ridiculous!

My final post for Austen in August is firstly a HUGE thank you to Adam for hosting this incredible event. A whole month devoted to reading, thinking, talking and blogging about JA has been simply delightful.

And secondly I want to share a few bibs and bobs about JA and tie up a few loose ends.

A few weeks ago I discovered there is a Jane Austen app from the Jane Austen Centre where you can receive a random JA quote a day. It's a lovely way to start the day :-)

At the recent Sydney Writer's festival I went to a talk devoted to all things JA, but particularly all about Pride and Prejudice.

Susannah Fullerton was one of the speakers.

Susannah is the President of the Jane Austen Society in Australia and has written a gorgeous book called Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The book is jam packed with quotes, illustrations & photos. A whole chapter is devoted to the famous first lines of P & P.
We discover that P&P has been used as therapy throughout the generations - in the trenches of WW1 & into the bomb shelters of WW2.
Fullerton explores the various BBC series, movie versions & spin-offs are discussed as are the prequels, the sequels, adaptations and spoofs.

Which leads me to my last JA book for the month.

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties: A Cat Lovers Romp Through Jane Austen's Classic by Pamela Jane and Deborah Guyol.
I suspect the title is enough to give you a pretty good idea of what follows, but here are the opening lines just in case you need more information....

"Netherfield Park is marked at last." 
The news caused much romping at the Bennet household for, as every cat knows, a handsome young tom in possession of his own territory must be in want of a mate.
"What a fine thing it would be for any of our five kittens to catch a rich mouse-I mean spouse," said Mrs Bennet."

I'm so glad this readalong prompted me to read Mansfield Park again. Melissa at Avid Reader's Musings hosted a group for those of us (about 10) reading MP which provided further incentive and interest. You can read Melissa's final post here.

It has been wonderful to read all of Adam's posts as well as trolling through all the links over at the master post (as of this morning there were 95 links).

My parting words are thanks to Lizzie and pretty much describe my lifelong love affair with Jane Austen.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I've been hearing great reviews about this book for months.

I also saw Graeme Simsion speak at the Sydney Writer's Festival and thought, again, that I really must read this book soon.

But it took a two month long lovefest of classic readalongs to get me there!

I've loved every minute of my classic recent (obsession).
But this past week has been a bit manic. Personally speaking I feel like I've been in sensory overload mode and only just coping with life.

So on Thursday evening I picked up The Rosie Project hoping to find some light relief.

Oh perfect choice!

It has been a long time since a book made me laugh out loud not once, but over and over again. And I read it all in one big greedy gulp over two nights and one morning.

My obvious (and noisy) delight piqued Mr Books interest and he proceeded to read it too. It was wonderful to share the funny moments all over again with him.

Yes, this books is light and easy to read. But it is also well-written, with lots a great set-pieces and very funny dialogue. I can't wait to see the movie with Steve Carell in the lead role :-)

Classic Club Spin #3

I can't believe I nearly missed this!

I've been so busy with Austen in August (and a few personal things as well!) that I forgot to check in with the Classics Club this month.

It was only as I was browsing fellow Janeites Austen in August posts last night that I came across Heavenali's spin #3 post.

To catch up requires a little cheat though.

It was too late to create a new spin list as the number had already been drawn - its number 4, by the way.

So I found my Spin #2 post and decided to use that as my guide.

Which means that I will now be reading Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel by the end of September.
(If I read this as quickly as I think I probably will, I may even recycle my spin #1 post and read Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell !)

Happy Reading!

Great Picture Books for Introducing Concepts to Young Children

These lists are not complete or exhaustive.

Many of these books could be included in more than one category.

If you have any favourites or recommendations for these lists please let me know.

I'm always on the lookout for new books :-)

Maths

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne

My Map Book by Sara Fanelli

One is a Snail Ten is a Crab by A Pulley Sayre

(A) One Very Tired Wombat by Renee Treml

(A) One Woolly Wombat by Kerry Argent

The Shopping Basket by John Burningham

Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr Seuss

Inside Outside Upside Down by Stan and Jan Berenstein

Seasons

The House of Four Seasons by Roger Duvoisin

(A) A Year on the Farm by Penny Matthews and Andrew McLean

Environmental

(A) Are We There Yet by Alison Lester

(A) Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein

(A) Circle by Jeannie Baker

(A) The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A- Z by Marc Martin

(A) Flood by Jackie French

(A) A Forest by Marc Martin

(A) The Hidden Forest by Jeannie Baker

(A) How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham

Oi! Get Off the Train by John Burningham

(A) Sailing Home by Colin Thompson

(A) Sophie Scott Goes South by Alison Lester 

(A) The Story of Rosy Dock by Jeannie Baker

(A) Tanglewood by Margaret Wild

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

(A) Tree by Danny Parker

(A) Waddle Giggle Gargle by Pamela Allen

When The Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs

(A) Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker

Where's Julius? and Oi! Get Off Our Train by John Burningham

Death and Grief

(A) Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild

(A) John Brown Rose and The Midnight Cat by Jenny Wagner

The Heart in the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers

(A) Tough Boris by Mem Fox

Feelings

(A) Bertie by Pamela Allen

Overcoming Fear

(A) The Deep by Tim Winton

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

(A) Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten by Bob Graham

Silly Billy by Anthony Browne

The Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack

(A) There's A Sea in My Bedroom by Margaret Wild

Growth and Change

A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

(A) My Place by Nadia Wheatley

Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats

(A) Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham

(A) The Red Woollen Blanket by Bob Graham

Tadpole's Promise by Jeannie Willis and Tony Ross

Titch by Pat Hutchins

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

(A) When Frank Was Four by Alison Lester

Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

(A) Window by Jeannie Baker

You'll Soon Grow Into Them Titch by Pat Hutchins

Friendship

A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats

(A) Amy and Louis by Libby Gleeson

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers

Philosophy

Zen Shorts by John J Muth

The Peace Book by Todd Parr

Difference

Avocado Baby by John Burningham

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Henny by Elizabeth Rose Stanton

(A) I Wish I Had a Pirate Suit by Pamela Allen

It's Okay to be Different by Todd Parr

(A) Stanley Paste by Aaron Blabey

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

(A) Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

(A) Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Family Issues

The Family Book by Todd Parr

The Family Tree by Kim Kane

(A) Isabella's Bed by Alison Lester

Living With Mum and Living With Dad My Two Homes by Melanie Walsh

Molly and Her Dad by Carol Thompson

(A) Moonlight by Jan Ormerod

(A) Sunshine by Jan Ormerod

There's Going to Be a Baby by John Burningham

Community

(A) Belonging by Jeannie Baker

(A) The Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham

(A) Home in the Sky by Jeannie Baker

(A) Mirror by Jeannie Baker

(A) My Place by Nadia Wheatley

(A) This is Our House by Michael Rosen

Relationships

(A) Black Dog by Pamela Allen

Dogger by Pat Hutchins

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

(A) My Cat Maisie by Pamela Allen

This is Our House by Michael Rosen

Identity

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

(A) I Wish I Had a Pirate Suit by Pamela Allen

(A) Koala Lou by Mem Fox

(A) Possum Magic by Mem Fox

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Problem Solving

(A) Alexander's Outing by Pamela Allen

(A) Belinda by Pamela Allen

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

(A) Farmer Schulz's Ducks by Colin Thiele

The Hobyahs by Brenda Parkes 

(A) Mr Archimede's Bath by Pamela Allen

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

(A) Waddle Giggle Gargle by Pamela Allen

What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson

(A) Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen

(A) Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan

Cause and Effect

The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle

Mr Gumpy's Motor Car by John Burningham

Mr Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham

Press Here by Hever Tullet 

Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins

Humour

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi & Ron Barrett 

(A) Boo To A Goose by Mem Fox

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile 

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audry Woods

(A) Mr McGee by Pamela Allen 

(A) My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein 

Belonging

Aaaaaaargh Spider by Lydia Monks

Are You My Mother by P D Eastman

(A) The Arrival by Shaun Tan

(A) Belonging by Jeannie Baker

(A) The Fox by Margaret Wild

(A) Home and Away by John Marsden

The Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

(A) The Littlest Refugee by Ahn Do

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

(A) The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan

(A) Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham

(A) The Spirit of Hope by Bob Graham

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers

Discovery

(A) Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

Overcoming Gender Stereotypes

(A) The Long Red Scarf by Nette Hilton

The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch

Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

War and Peace

(A) A Day to Remember by Jackie French and Mark Wilson

Check out my other lists - Picture Books for Older Readers

Books to Share with 3-5 yr olds

Books to Share with 2-3 yr olds

Books About New Babies

Christmas Books

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

I know the pleasure of rereading Jane Austen intimately.

I know that to reread Austen is to delve deeper into the intricacies of her characters, to appreciate her sparkling dialogue, her wit, her clever use of letters, her ability to use free indirect speech is remarkable, as is her use of contrast and irony to craft her novels into such beautiful shapes.

I've reread Pride and Prejudice & Persuasion almost too many times to count. Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Northanger Abbey have been reread 2-3 times each. I've also watched most of the BBC TV series, movies and spin-off of the various novels numerous times....except for Mansfield Park.

I've never seen a movie or BBC production of it and I've read it only once - many, many years ago.

Until now!
For Austen in August I decided it was time to reread Mansfield Park. To see if a reread would reveal the intricacies and complexities and the beauty of Jane Austen in a similar way to her other novels.

To cut a long story short...it did.

I remembered the basic storyline, but there were so many details that I had forgotten, it was like reading something completely new.

Except for the fact that it seemed so familiar at the same time!

I kept seeing parallels between characters in MP to many of JA's other books.

Fanny's delicate health reminded me of Anne Eliott's. Her extreme shyness brought to mind Georgiana Darcy. Julia and Maria were kindred spirits with the Musgrove sisters as well as Bingley's sisters. Indolent, sleepy Mrs Bertram was Mr Hurst. Mrs Norris was the obnoxious wife of John in Sense and Sensibility. Miss Crawford reminded me of Isabella in Northanger Abbey and Henry Crawford had a touch of the Wickham's.

But MP does have some surprises.

We know that JA likes her main characters to be flawed - they make mistakes and learn from them. So when we see Henry Crawford moving from using Fanny as a plaything to really appreciating her values, we suspect that this could be the relationship that Fanny also needs to bring her out of herself.

We also see the potential for Mary Crawford to grow and mature.

Except for this one, telling moment...when Mary and Henry are discussing his plans for Fanny, Mary says, "I know that a wife you loved would be the happiest of women, and that even when you ceased to love, she would find in you the liberality and goodness of a gentleman." (my italics)

Ceased to love????
No, no, no. That won't do!

As we know, the marriages of this time were not always happy affairs - that many were mercenary, loveless arrangements. However JA's oeuvre is all about her favourite couples marrying for love. A love that is well considered, well suited and designed to stand the tests of time.

The fact that Mary & Henry don't take marrying for a lifetime of love seriously is a critical flaw in their characters. From this point on you know that Henry (& Mary) are not going to be capable of the change that JA usually allows her favourites.

And maybe that's why the ending of this book is a little unsatisfying.
The growth and change in Edmund to appreciate Fanny is not dramatic enough and happens in the last few pages of the story almost as an after thought. He learns that all that glitters is not gold!

Fanny's character development spans the entire book but is also very subtle. She learns to stand up for herself which is actually a pretty major achievement for an extremely shy person, but her love for Edmund stays strong despite lack of encouragement or even hope.

I enjoyed MP far more than I anticipated. As a shy person myself, I felt for Fanny and applauded her many acts of bravery and courage. Edmund was a bit of a dick for pretty much the entire novel, but you could see that his misadventures in love would make him forever grateful and appreciative of the life he would have with Fanny. And it was obvious that their love would mature into a satisfying, enriching lifelong relationship. Shy, quiet, serious people deserve to find the loves of their lives too :-)

A Glass or Two of Negus

I finished rereading Mansfield Park for Austen in August just before dinner.

I'm not ready to write my post yet, but ever since Wondrous Words Wednesday (see below), I've been tempted by the idea of negus.

I felt that the fitting way to celebrate the end of MP was with a glass of negus!

A google search revealed that it was basically a mulled wine enjoyed at Georgian balls and dinner parties.

The Jane Austen Centre says "Negus, a beverage made of wine, hot water, lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg was created by by colonel Francis Negus in the early 18th century. Though Col. Negus died in 1737, his namesake drink remained a popular fortifier on cold evenings. During the early Regency it was practically expected, along with White Soup at balls."

Wikipedia also gave me this ... "Negus is referred to in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, when Jane drinks it on arrival at Thornfield Hall; in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, when Catherine is given it at Thrushcross Grange by the Lintons; in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park; in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol during the party at Fezziwig's, in David Copperfield, Dombey and Son, The Pickwick Papers and Bleak House; and in Harriette Wilson's Memoirs.

Anthony Trollope in The Small House at Allington portrays the rustic Earl de Guest's violent disgust at the thought of the drink.

Negus makes a number of appearances as a tonic in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, and Boswell refers to it repeatedly in his London Journal.

It is said to be added to a white soup in P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley.

In A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch, the character Frederick Ponsonby claims that a glass of hot negus "settles the stomach wonderfully."

In W.M. Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Ensign Stubble "never took his eyes off her except when the negus came in".

The recipe calls for port or muscat or something similar.

I couldn't come at the idea of adding sugar to a drink that was so sweet already, so I left it out.

The Recipe:
One part port
Half part boiling water
sugar
slice of lemon
nutmeg
(I also added a dash of ground cloves & cinnamon to give it a little extra zing).

We found a 20 year old unopened bottle of Frontignac at the back of the cupboard. With fingers crossed we blended the ingredients.

And?

It was delicious.

Even sceptical Mr Books enjoyed his glass of negus.

It was the perfect thing for a cold wintry night.

I'm also linking this post to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday meme.

Philosophy in the Garden by Damon Young

I first stumbled upon Philosophy in the Garden at the Sydney Writers Festival when Damon Young was part of the panel discussing the merits of Jane Austen.

His book undertakes to highlight "eleven great authors, and the ideas they discovered in parks, yards and pots."

Naturally, one of these great authors is Jane Austen.

Young begins by telling us that JA "looked to her cottage garden for the comforts of perfection." And that her last three books (Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion) were written at a small twelve-sided walnut table near the front door of Chawton Cottage. Any time she needed a break from writing, to clear her head or to escape the confines of domestic life, Jane would walk out into the garden to be refreshed.

In fact, Young argues, Jane needed the garden to write. The family move to Bath basically stopped JA from writing for a decade. The shock of the move plus the lack of garden made her lose her voice.

As I've been rereading Mansfield Park, I've been on the look out for garden references to see how they stack up to this idea of the garden as consolation and comfort.

Early on at a dinner with the Grants and Crawford's, Fanny seeks peace and quiet at the window. She is joined by Edmund

"where all that was solemn and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of the woods. Fanny spoke her feelings. 'Here's harmony!' said she, 'Here's repose! Here's what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe. Here's what may tranquilize every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene."

After Crawford proposes to Fanny, her uncle advises her to

"go out, the air will do you good; go out for an hour on the gravel, you will have the shrubbery to yourself, and will be better for the air and the exercise."

The visit to Sotherton and the walk around the grounds revealed all the main characters and their key personality traits. Mother Nature brought out their true natures!

Fanny's preference for strolling in the shrubbery to seek solace and comfort also flies in the face of Mrs Norris' need for speed and control. She berates Fanny for going out for a "private walk" without telling her, as she would have asked her to "go as far as my house with some orders for Nanny...which I have since, to my very great inconvenience, been obliged to go and carry myself....It would have made no difference to you, I suppose, whether you had walked in the shrubbery, or gone to my house."

I'm also reminded of how often JA used the great outdoors for some of the major scenes in her earlier work. Elizabeth's muddy walk to visit the ill Jane, the walks around the Collins' place where Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, her visit to Pemeberly with her aunt and uncle, the angry scene with Catherine de Burgh....

Marianne's meeting of Willoughby on a rainy hillside....

I'm sure you can all think of plenty more!

Wondrous Words Wednesday - Mansfield Park

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a lovely meme hosted by Bermuda Onion each week to highlight new (to us) words that we come across in our daily reading.

This week I'm rereading Mansfield Park for Austen in August with Adam and with Melissa from Avid Reader's Musings.

This week I have used the Free Dictionary for my definitions.

eclairissement  -  "Mr Rushworth had set off early with the great news for Sotherton; and she had fondly hoped for such an immediate eclaircissement as might save him the trouble of ever coming back again."

n.
French.

clarification; explanation; enlightenment.

menus plaisirs - "You would look rather blank, Henry, if your menus plaisirs were to be limited to seven hundred a year."

This phrase comes from the French royal palace.The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi was the department responsible for the  "lesser pleasures of the King", which meant in practice that it was in charge of all the preparations for ceremonies, events and festivities, down to the last detail of design and order.

negus - "creeping up the principal staircase, pursued by the ceaseless country-dance, feverish with hopes and fears, soup and negus, sore-footed and fatigued".

I found out about negus on a food and drink site. It was a popular party drink in Georgian and Victorian times containing port, lemon, boiling water, sugar and nutmeg.

Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon

Letters to Alice was first published in 1984. Ever since, every now and again, an inspired English teacher assigns this book to her class and we get a run on it at work.

We have had a flurry of interest again in the past couple of months and I decided that Austen in August was the perfect opportunity for me to check this one out too.

The back cover promises "a sequence of letters reminiscent of Jane Austen's to her own niece (as) 'aunt' Fay examines the rewards of (reading Jane Austen)."

It begins with Aunty Fay writing to her 18 yr old niece, Alice from Cairns in Queensland. Alice is studying English Lit at uni and thinking about writing a book. Aunty Fay is giving her advice about both....

She begins with popular fiction...

"The other books are...thrillers and romances, temporary things. These books open a little square window on the world and set the puppets outside for you to observe. They bear little resemblance to human beings, to anyone you ever met or likely to meet. These characters exist for the purpose of plot, and the books they appear in do not threaten the reader in any way; they do not suggest that he or she should reflect, let alone change...(You are meant to believe while the reading lasts, and not a moment longer)."

Moves onto classics in general...

"Of course one dreads it: of course it is overwhelming: one both anticipates and fears the kind of swooning, almost erotic pleasure that a good passage in a good book gives; as something happens."

"You do not read novels for information, but for enlightenment."

We then have letters detailing Jane's family life and times, imagined in Aunty Fay's slightly acerbic voice and judged through a modern, feminist lens. Even though she acknowledges that "they may have lived in the past but they were as real to themselves as we are to ourselves, and as complex."

We find out that Jane's early books were initially written to be read aloud. She was very aware of her audience because early on she actually had an audience which is why "she knows how to end a scene, an episode, a chapter, before beginning the next: when to allow the audience to rest, when to and how to underline a statement, when to mark time with idle paragraphs, allowing what went before to settle, before requiring it to inform what comes next."

And Aunty Fay gives her niece (and us) the reason why we all should read and reread Austen... "That to be good is to be happy is not something particularly evident in any of our experiences of real life, yet how badly we want it, and need it, to be true. Of course we read and reread Jane Austen."

Fay spends many chapters discussing the merits, highs and lows of Jane's books.

But I have to say that I found Fay's advice rather annoying. And if I was her niece I would feel almost duty bound to ignore it or rebel against it on principal!

That said...my advice is exactly the same as Fay's...read and reread Austen...as often as you can. Simply because you can.

The Odyssey #3

I have a confession.

I'm stuck.

I was thoroughly enjoying my first ever reading of The Odyssey in verse thanks to Robert Fagles translation. I had even tempted Mr BB to try a little of it and he was impressed with the language and rhythm.

But then I hit Book 11.

OMG!

The long, tedious roll call of the dead had me pulling my hair out. I checked my prose version to see if that was any better, but no....name after name, woe after woe...the dead just kept on coming. (I had obviously read it through once upon a time as I had highlighted all the names of the dead! Although maybe I was just keeping a body count?!)

Help!

I've given myself a half-way break (joining in a To Kill A Mockingbird readalong and now the Austen in August) but I fear I'm just avoiding it now and won't find my way back.

Could this be my own private Odyssey?
Is is my own trial and tribulation? Do I need a wily, cunning trick to get back on track?

Anyone?
What am I missing?

Fortunately, The Milk... by Neil Gaiman

I've been meaning to read another Gaiman ever since I read and adored
Coraline. That was five years ago.

Fortunately, the Milk... is a ridiculously tall tale full of pirates, aliens, wumpires and talking time-travelling dinosaurs. Yes, the inside of Neil Gaiman's head is an interesting place to be!

I was enjoying the story and the detailed illustrations by Chris Riddell until ... a QR code appeared on the page as the dad was about to walk the plank with his milk. A note said to scan it to hear Gaiman reading from this page. So I did.

I went from enjoying this tall tale to LOVING it!

From that point on, the rest of the story played out in my head in Gaiman's voice. His voice gave the story added humour, complexity and richness. 

Is this the future of books? Interactive codes that link to youtube videos and websites?

Fortunately, The Milk...  is certainly an example of where this works well and where it adds something of value to the reading experience.

And is it just me...or does the dad in Chris Riddell's illustrations look remarkably like Gaiman himself?

Fortunately, The Milk... is due for release in September through Bloomsbury.
It's perfect as a read aloud story for the 4+ market or as an early reader for 6+ students.

Austen in August Readalong

Another month another readalong.
I seem to be a little obssessed with readalongs and the classics right now! That's a good thing right?

This month it's Austen in August hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader. 

Inside of that, Melissa from Avid Reader's Musings, is hosting a readalong for those of us who plan to tackle Mansfield Park.

And I plan to tackle Mansfield Park.

I first read Mansfield Park in my late teens when I read all the Austen's in fairly quick succession. I enjoyed it but it quickly become the Austen that I classified as my least favourite.

I found Fanny and Edmund frustrating. They both seemed too good to be true and I didn't particularly care about their love story. There seemed to me to be a touch of the 'Jane Eyre's' about this book...and Bronte did it better.

I've reread all the other Austen's too many times to count over the years. I've also indulged in many movies and BBC productions of the various books...all except Mansfield Park.

I've decided it's time to give it another go.

I have a beautiful Folio Society edition from 2003 with wood engravings by Joan Hassall.

I thought I would also dip into my bio of Austen by Claire Tomalin again this month and start 'Happily Ever After' and Jane Austen's Letters (another Folio Society book).

For anyone interested in rehashing my previous Austen posts - the links are below...

Finding My Darcy by Amanda Hooton
Do you love Jane Austen or not post for The Classics Club monthly meme.
What is my favourite classic post for The Classics Club monthly meme (where you find out just how many times I've read P&P in my lifetime....PS I read it again last month, so you can add one more to the number!)
My Saturday Snapshot post with photos from my visit to Lyme Regis to walk in the steps of the Musgroves and Anne Elliot.

I'm looking forward to a month long Jane Austen lovefest.