Jane Austen

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
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Machupicchu14
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Thanks Courtenay! :D
I would really love to go to those places, they really seem beautiful!! It would be wonderful to visit Jane Austen's house.
I very much need to go to England!!!
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

You do indeed! :wink: I'm sure you'll get the chance before too long.

Right now I'm actually planning a trip to Bath for just a few days — I happen to have a little time off work and couldn't think of anywhere else I'd rather go at the moment... :D I will definitely re-visit the Jane Austen Centre while I'm there, as it's been a few years since I last went there and I'm aware they have some new exhibits. I also happen to not have any other books on the go at the moment, so I'm planning to re-read some Jane. Probably Persuasion, as it's partly set in Bath. So is Northanger Abbey, but I like Persuasion better — the shortest and yet the most intensely romantic of all Jane Austen's books. On the other hand, I keep wanting to re-read Mansfield Park as well. Plus Paula Byrne's biography The Real Jane Austen, which I started a while ago and was really enjoying but got distracted by something else and still haven't finished it. So many books, so little time... :wink:
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

You'll get to read them anyway!! :wink:
You are so lucky Courtenay, hope you enjoy your time in Bath!! :D
Tell me how it all went you come back. I am sure visiting Jane Austen Centre will be wonderful!
God! I have to tell my mum we need to go to England soon.

I also want to start reading some Jane Austen's books, will try and get them!
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

Just started re-reading Persuasion. Wonderful!! :D I have read it once before, but it was long enough ago that I can't remember every detail of how the story progresses, so it's still exciting. I remember I also enjoyed the BBC adaptation, which I have on DVD, but it's a fair while since I watched that as well. Definitely a great warm-up for a visit to Bath myself! Then I think I'll read Mansfield Park next. It's been too long since my last Austen fix. 8)

Funnily enough, the guest house I've booked to stay at in Bath is called Wentworth House, and the handsome leading man of Persuasion is Captain Wentworth! But I don't know yet whether the house will match up to the romantic charms of its namesake. :wink:
Machupicchu14 wrote: I also want to start reading some Jane Austen's books, will try and get them!
Great! :wink: They aren't difficult to find, as they're out of copyright and any publisher can print them, so there are lots of editions available, most of them not expensive. Any good bookshop will probably have them. You might like to start with Pride and Prejudice — I did (when I was 13) and was instantly hooked. Jane Austen's writing style can take a little getting used to — she needs to be read quite slowly and savoured, but her way of writing is so beautiful and filled with subtle feeling (and absolutely killer humour :mrgreen: ) that it's well worth taking your time and indulging!
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

I have read Pride and Prejudice alright!! That's why I like it so much. I probably read it 3 years ago but I always re-read every now and then. I simply love it !! :D :lol:
I have also read Sense and Sensibility . It's also a great book but the characters are not like Mr. Darcy or Lizzie. :lol:

Which one do you think I should get next ?
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

Sorry, Maria Esther — I took it from your earlier post that you hadn't read any of the books yet, just seen the films. You probably did say earlier that you had read them and I forgot! :oops:
Machupicchu14 wrote: Which one do you think I should get next ?
Ooh, good question! :D They all have something worthwhile about them and I couldn't pick an absolute favourite. I love Mansfield Park, but it's longer than the others and very slow in starting (it does pick up later). Northanger Abbey is shorter, but it was actually the first novel Jane completed — though it wasn't published until after her death — and it's a bit lighter in tone and less polished than her later ones. (She actually wrote it as a send-up of the sensationalistic "Gothic horror" novels that were hugely popular while she was growing up.)

I have a feeling you'd love Emma if you also enjoyed P&P and S&S. :wink: It's one with a heroine who starts out infuriatingly full of herself, but you can't help liking her, and of course she gets her comeuppances along the way. The cliffhanger at the end — Jane Austen's books always have a will-they-won't-they twist before the final resolution — is one of the best and had me cracking up laughing when I first read it! :lol: I think I'd try that one next if I were you — that or Persuasion. But you see which you like for yourself, of course.
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Courtenay wrote:Sorry, Maria Esther — I took it from your earlier post that you hadn't read any of the books yet, just seen the films. You probably did say earlier that you had read them and I forgot! :oops:

Don't worry Courtenay, I don't think I'll made that point clear before! :)


Courtenay wrote: I have a feeling you'd love Emma if you also enjoyed P&P and S&S. :wink: It's one with a heroine who starts out infuriatingly full of herself, but you can't help liking her, and of course she gets her comeuppances along the way. The cliffhanger at the end — Jane Austen's books always have a will-they-won't-they twist before the final resolution — is one of the best and had me cracking up laughing when I first read it! :lol: I think I'd try that one next if I were you — that or Persuasion. But you see which you like for yourself, of course.
Thanks! :D I think I will go for Emma. I have read what's about and it does seem very interesting and I am sure I will enjoy it! Also, it's in my school library, which means it's easier to get.
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
Lev Tolstoy


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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Has anyone read "Longbourn"? :)
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

I haven't, Maria Esther, but I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has. I tend to steer away from continuation novels or rewrites of my favourite authors — I read Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James earlier this year, and while it was good in itself as a detective story, it really wasn't Jane Austen to me and it wasn't the way I would like to think of her characters from P&P as continuing their lives. But Longbourn, I understand, is P&P told from the servants' point of view, isn't it? I might enjoy that more — it's an intriguing perspective to take, keeping the same story but retelling from the standpoint of character(s) who are marginalised in the main narrative. But I'd also be glad to hear what some of my fellow Austen fans think first. :wink:

I had a great visit to the Jane Austen Centre in Bath some days ago, I should mention. I'd been before and I do know her life story fairly well by now, but it was well worth revisiting. The tour of the museum always includes a very good and informative talk by one of the guides on Jane's life and specifically her time in Bath, how it influenced her and what she liked and disliked about the city (she and her mother and sister lived there for several years in a number of different residences, at what became a difficult time in their lives). There's also plenty to learn about life in the Regency period, including dress-up clothes to try on and how to use "the language of the fan" to communicate at a distance with someone at a party whom you may be interested in meeting properly! :wink:

The most interesting "new" thing there for me (new since I last visited a few years ago) was a marvellous life-size waxwork of Jane herself, which was designed by an artist based on the few pictures we have of her (most of which are questionable) and also on descriptions written by her family and friends — there's a video about the making of the waxwork to watch while you're there. I really did get the feeling that even if we can't be sure exactly what Jane's facial features looked like, this sculptor really has caught her spirit somehow — it just looks "like her"! :D

Other than that, I finished my re-read of Persuasion yesterday — wonderful and very romantic, although I always feel the ending is a little rushed, but of course it's happy! — and will probably start Mansfield Park next. Tomorrow, too, I might have the opportunity to go and see the recent film, Love and Friendship, based on one of Jane's early short stories that weren't published during her lifetime. It's had very good reviews and is supposed to be very funny, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like...
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

The Jane Austen Centre sounds absolutely wonderful.:D I can't wait to go there. Very glad you enjoyed it!
Well, I would recommend Longbourn , it's a very entertaining and good book which I am sure you'll enjoy it. I though it was very interesting to see how the author has been capable of retelling the story of Pride and Prejudice through the servants point of view. Although the end referring to Lizzie and Darcy is one I really don't like. That's because if it's not Jane Austen, I can't think of anyone telling the story after their wedding. (I don't know why that happens with me) ;) But, yeah, overall it's very good! :D
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Started reading Emma !!! Yay! :mrgreen: So far, as all Jane Austen's books, it is brilliant. I am really enjoying it. :)
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

I'm currently reading The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. I bought it and started it a couple of years ago but didn't get through it all — not because it wasn't good, but simply because I had too much else going on at the same time and lost track of it. This time, I hope to finish it. It is really, really interesting and intriguing; it's essentially a biography of Jane Austen, but rather than just going through her story chronologically, each chapter features a different object from her family's possessions — such as her notebooks, a piece of jewellery, a work of art and so on — and looks at what that item can tell us about Jane and her life and times. The author really emphasises what a lively, witty, well-connected and socially aware young woman Jane was — a long way from the stereotype of her being a prim, proper, strait-laced little miss writing her novels in seclusion from the rest of the world. You really feel she would have been a fascinating and hilariously funny person to get to know!

While I'm on this thread, next week I'll be having another short break in Hampshire and hope to visit Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton one more time while I still have a year-long pass. :wink:
Machupicchu14 wrote:Started reading Emma !!! Yay! :mrgreen: So far, as all Jane Austen's books, it is brilliant. I am really enjoying it. :)
How did you get on with it, Maria Esther? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, if you'd like to share. :D
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

Talking of Jane Austen again, here's a project of a different kind that I ran across recently — a proposed travel guide to "Jane Austen's England"! http://www.janeaustentravelguide.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; :D

Unfortunately it seems it's only been published in Dutch so far and hasn't been picked up by any English publishers; they have a fundraising campaign at the moment (on the website) for a potential English translation. I hope they make it — I'm amazed there isn't a book like this in English already!!
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Courtenay »

Good news, by the way, if you're a Jane Austen fan — the project I mentioned above has just reached its fund-raising goal and the English version of the Jane Austen's England travel guide is expected to be published in about July next year! :D I'll be looking forward to seeing it (I made a donation and will get a signed copy of the book in return). I hope it'll be as good as it sounds and will sell well!

In the meantime, I'm off tomorrow to Bath again for a couple of days — mainly for the Christmas market, but I will drop in at the Jane Austen Centre shop as well just to see if there are any must-have gifts for my family or friends. (Or maybe just for myself. :mrgreen: )
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Re: Jane Austen

Post by Machupicchu14 »

You'll have a great time there Courtenay!!! :D

I am also very pleased that the English travel guide is going to be published! Mind you, I am certainly going to buy it!
"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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