From the desk of Br. Paul Byrd, OP:Â It was about thirteen years ago when I first met and fell in love with Jane Austen. I was up late flipping through the channels on T.V., when I came across the 1996 adaptation of Emma starring Kate Beckinsale. From the moment I began watching the story... Continue Reading →
The Private World of Georgette Heyer, by Jane Aiken-Hodge – A Review
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: Jane Aiken Hodge’s 1984 biography of Georgette Heyer, reissued this month by Sourcebooks, was until very recently the only one available. Published ten years after Heyer’s death, it describes her life primarily from her letters to her publisher. An intensely private person, Heyer eschewed publicity, never giving an... Continue Reading →
A Preview of Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Board Book (Little Miss Austen), by Jennifer Adams
Please join us today in welcoming author Jennifer Adams for the official launch of her book blog tour of Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Board Book (Little Miss Austen), a new children’s board book inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that is releasing today by Gibbs Smith Publisher. GUEST BLOG Hi Laurel Ann. Thanks... Continue Reading →
Why Jane Austen? Blog Tour with Author Rachel M. Brownstein
Please join us today in welcoming Austen scholar Prof. Rachel M. Brownstein for the official launch of her book blog tour of Why Jane Austen?, a new literary and cultural history of our Jane’s rise and continued fame that is being released today by Columbia University Press. GUEST BLOG Jane Austen’s eruption into popular culture... Continue Reading →
The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life: Inspiration and Advice from Celebrated Women Authors, by Nava Atlas – A Review
Guest Review by Aia A. Hussein Judging by the number of writing guides available in bookstores today, as compared to the number of guides available twenty or thirty years ago, it would seem that there has been an increase in demand for books about writing. Admittedly, many of these guides are similar in scope and... Continue Reading →
Tea with Jane Austen, by Kim Wilson – A Review
We are always happy to see an author’s work go into a second edition, especially when they are as deserving of reprint as Kim Wilson’s beautiful Jane Austen-inspired books: Tea with Jane Austen and In the Garden with Jane Austen. Previously published in 2004 and 2008 respectively by Jones Books in the US, this new... Continue Reading →
A Trip to the Emerald City to See William Deresiewicz, Author of A Jane Austen Education
I have to admit I am a homebody. I like my nest and my creature comforts: my computer, my books, my diet Dr. Pepper, my antique iron bed splayed with pillows, and, my Jane Austen. *sigh* There is no place like home. So says Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. I could not agree... Continue Reading →
Penguin Classics On Air Interviews of William Deresiewicz – Author of A Jane Austen Education
I absolutely LOVED this book and cannot gush about A Jane Austen Education enough, REALLY!!! If you need further encouragement, please watch the Penguin Classics On Air video interviews by editorial director Elda Rotor of the author William Deresiewicz. A former Yale professor, he is open and affable and just the right personality to explain... Continue Reading →
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me about Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter, by William Deresiewicz – A Review
We have long harbored the belief that everything worth knowing about life and love can be learned in a Jane Austen novel. William Deresiewicz thinks so too, and we could not be happier. In A Jane Austen Education he soundly reaffirms our opinion that the world would be a better place if everyone just paid... Continue Reading →
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries, by Emma Thompson – A Review
Nominated for seven Academy Awards®, the 1995 movie Sense and Sensibility remains one of my most cherished interpretations of a Jane Austen novel. Everything about this film project seems to be touched with gold; from the award winning screenplay by actress Emma Thompson; to the incredible depth of British acting talent: Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman,... Continue Reading →
Pocket Posh® Jane Austen: 100 Puzzles & Quizzes, by The Puzzle Society™ – A Review
For those addicted to brain teasers and Jane Austen, I have the prefect diversion for you. The Puzzle Society™ has assembled this tidy Pocket Posh® edition of crosswords, quizzes, word searches, codewords and more, all inspired by Jane Austen, her novels and her world. Challenge your knowledge of “our” Jane in this compact pocket edition... Continue Reading →
Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World, by Claire Harman – A Review
From the desk of Shelley DeWees: “The books went out of print, and Jane’s generation of Austens aged and died secure in their belief that the public’s curiosity about their sister had been satisfied. But almost two hundred years and tens of thousands of books on Austen later, her fame and readership worldwide continues to... Continue Reading →