Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
Among all the hype and circumstance, the highly anticipated Mr. Darcy, Vampyre will hit bookstores this week. Officially it has the honor of being the first vampire-themed Jane Austen sequel in print by a major publisher. I can assure you it will not be the last. This clever concept is not new by any means.... Continue Reading →
"It is such a happiness when good people get together -- and they always do." Miss Bates, Emma, Chapter 21 The Second Annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week September 14-18, 2009 is quickly approaching. It is an online event in celebration and acknowledgement of all the hard working, creative and dedicated book bloggers out there making... Continue Reading →
I am a bookseller by profession. I sell books. You know, the paper things that have words printed in them. Paper is the operative word here. So having heard Mags at AustenBlog sing the praises of eBooks for years, and years, I was still skeptical about a hand held contraptions that one could read an... Continue Reading →
When fifteen year old heroine Callie Montgomery purchases a pair of red Prada pumps with sky-high heels she thinks her life will change from high school geek to A-list fashionista in one smooth step. She’s out to impress her savvy classmates while traveling on a school trip in London. Not only is Callie socially awkward,... Continue Reading →
The Jane Austen book sleuth is happy to inform Janeites that many Austen inspired books are heading our way in August, so keep your eyes open for these new titles. Fiction (prequels, sequels, retellings, variations, or Regency inspired) Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, by Amanda Grange Amanda Grange, the best selling author of Mr. Darcy’s Diary continues... Continue Reading →
The winners of the 2009 Jane Austen Short Story Award were announced by author and Chair of Judges Sarah Waters at Chawton House Library on Saturday, July 18th during the New Directions in Austen Studies Conference. The first prize of ÂŁ1000 went to Victoria Owens with her winning entry Jane Austen over the Styx. Sarah Waters described... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park really gets a bum rap from critics and readers. Sometimes I think that I am its only advocate, campaigning to an empty room. Granted, it is not as emotionally charged as Sense and Sensibility or as light, bright and sparkly as Pride and Prejudice, but it does have an admirable... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: The fourth and final episode of season four of the Miss Marple Mysteries aired on Sunday, July 26th on Masterpiece Mystery with Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel on PBS. The new Miss Marple, Julia McKenzie, is growing on me. I... Continue Reading →
As for ourselves we’re very well; As unaffected prose will tell. – Cassandra’s pen will paint our state, The many comforts that await Our Chawton home, how much we find Already in it, to our mind; And how convinced, that when complete It will all other Houses beat That ever have been made or mended,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Gentle Readers: In yet the third announcement in less than a week, another publisher is jumping on the classic literary re-imagining/mash-up band wagon and hitching their star to Austen’s prose. Independent publisher Norilana Books has announced today a new novel entitled James Fairfax, combining Jane Austen’s original text... Continue Reading →
The third episode of the Miss Marple Mysteries aired on Sunday, July 19th on Masterpiece Mystery with They Do It With Mirrors, a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1952 novel on PBS. The new Miss Marple Julia McKenzie adds a sympathetic and knowing mantle to her interpretation of the famous elderly detective of St. Mary Mead,... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park will be next up for a literary mash-up. Bookseller.com reports that Beautiful Books, a London based publisher announced today that they have purchased Murder at Mansfield Park, a whodunit by Lynn Shepherd. Based on Jane Austen’s classic novel Mansfield Park, the murder mystery re-imagines Austen’s classic story re-casting gentle and... Continue Reading →
