A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by Susannah Carson – A Review

When the new Austen literary tome A Truth Universally Acknowledged edited by Susannah Carson started off with a foreword by Harold Bloom the famous American writer, literary critic and current Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University, I was more than a bit anxious fearing the book would be over my head. Firstly, I [...]

Read Full Post »

A Match for Mary Bennet, by Eucharista Ward – A Review

Jane Austen’s minor character Mary Bennet is not exactly heroine material. With only eight passages of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice she has made a lasting impression on readers over the centuries as a pious young woman who often insensitively offers advice of “threadbare morality” to her family at the most inopportune moments. Author Eucharista [...]

Read Full Post »

Jane Austen Biographies – Guided by Reason

“I admire the activity of your benevolence,” observed Mary, “but every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.” Mary Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Ch 7 
It is not a surprise to me that there are so many biographies of Jane Austen [...]

Read Full Post »

The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy, by Sara Angelini – A Review

Guest review by Christina B.
Many modern versions of Jane Austen’s works fail to hit the mark because the author forces a “rewrite” of the original, altogether forgetting that some scenarios and mores from the Regency era make no sense in the modern day world. Or worse yet, the author fails to deliver any character development [...]

Read Full Post »

End of Month Austenesque Mini-Review Roundup – September

Waiting for Mr. Darcy, by Chamein Canton 
A contemporary mid-lit novel inspired by every woman’s dream of finding her Mr. Darcy no matter what age. Lauren, Gabby, and Alicia are three forty-something full figured friends who met in adolescence, loved, worked, married, divorced, and everything in-between, but are not quite ready to give up on their [...]

Read Full Post »

According to Jane, by Marilyn Brant – A Review

Here’s a new novel that tugged at my heart strings and validated my belief that if the world was run according to Jane Austen, we would be much smarter and happier. Enuff said! 
Fifteen-year old Ellie Barnett is a bookish geek. She excels at academics, but according to her caustic older sister, she is digging herself [...]

Read Full Post »

The Other Mr. Darcy, by Monica Fairview – A Review

The Other Mr. Darcy is a new Pride and Prejudice sequel with a unique premise. Spotlight Caroline Bingley, a minor character who we all loved to hate in the original novel, and somehow make her into a likeable heroine. Impossible you say! And so it would seem. Add into the mix Robert Darcy, the unconventional [...]

Read Full Post »

Darcy and Anne, by Judith Brocklehurst – A Review

Originally self published in 2007 as A Letter to Lady Catherine, this Pride and Prejudice spinoff has a surprising new heroine – Anne De Bourgh! Yes, I heard that collective gasp of astonishment. A whole novel devoted to Mr. Darcy’s sickly, unaccomplished, and henpecked cousin? Indeed! Judith Brocklehurst’s novel may have been given a grand [...]

Read Full Post »

Murder at Longbourn, by Tracy Kiely – A Review

Fall is in the air, and if you are looking for a great new murder mystery novel to cozy up with, Murder at Longbourn by Tracy Kiely is a excellent choice. Cleverly combining a traditional drawing room detective story and a comedy of manners, this surprisingly witty and beguilingly suspenseful whodunit is actually a contemporary chick-lit [...]

Read Full Post »

Lady Susan, by Jane Austen – A Review

Jane Austen’s epistolary novel Lady Susan has never received much attention in comparison to her other six major novels. It is a short piece, only 70 pages in my edition of The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Minor Works containing forty-one letters and a conclusion. Scholars estimate that it was written between 1793-4 when the young [...]

Read Full Post »

Naxos AudioBooks Recording of Lady Susan – A Review

Jane Austen’s epistolary novel Lady Susan has never received much attention in comparison to her other six major novels. It is a short piece, only 70 pages in my edition of The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Minor Works containing forty-one letters and a conclusion. Scholars estimate that it was written between 1793-4 when the young [...]

Read Full Post »

Ransome’s Honor, by Kaye Dacus – A Review

Men in blue. Need I say more? 
If Lydia Bennet was condemned as the most determined flirt to make her family ridiculous in Pride and Prejudice for her fixation on any officer in a red coat, then I am as guilty as changed for a Royal Navy man in blue. Besides pictures of my father in [...]

Read Full Post »