In today’s episode of “What The Heck Are They Talking About?” we have an article from the Detroit Free Press about a book called Area Woman Blows Gasket and Other Tales from the Domestic Frontier.

In “Area Woman Blows Gasket and Other Tales from the Domestic Frontier”, Patricia Pearson doesn’t try to hide the fact that she’s not perfect. In fact, she presents ample evidence that less-than-perfect parents have produced plenty of gifted children who went on to become productive adults. Jane Austen’s parents, Pearson notes, sent the future author of “Pride and Prejudice” to live in a hut with peasants until the Rev. and Mrs. Austen deemed her “more interesting.” Hmmm. Guess that worked.

It’s unclear if we must condemn the author of the book in question or of the article for misreading the book. But condemn we must. *shakes finger in schoolmarmish manner*

Jane Austen did pretty well in the Sunday Star-Times survey of favorite books, though not without some hilarity:

Another transformed Jane Austen into a science fiction writer by voting for Sensor Sensibility.

Love it!

The Lord of the Rings was first on the list–not surprising in the country where the popular film adaptations were made–but guess who came in second?

Pride and Prejudice, which takes second place on our Top 50 list (as it did in the BBC poll), might be described as a tale of grit overcoming adversity too. Not only does the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, get her difficult cuss of a man; she does so on her terms. Working down the list, the Harry Potter books, The Da Vinci Code, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Power of One and, of course, The Bible are also tales of courage and determination.

Though I expected Jane Austen to do well in our survey, I didn’t think she would beat J K Rowling and Dan Brown. I’m delighted to have been proven wrong.

When Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, Napoleon still dominated world politics. There are nine other 19th-century classics in our Top 50. Dickens appears three times. Sure, Kiwi readers have embraced recent bestsellers as The Da Vinci Code, The Bronze Horseman, The Lovely Bones and The Other Boleyn Girl, but they have not turned their backs on great works from the past.

Not bad considering that they decided to take the Harry Potter series as a whole–with merit, we think.

If you heard about or saw the modern-set PRIDE AND PREJUDICE adaptation that came out a couple of years ago (which has become known colloquially as P&P Utah), the Columbia Basin Herald has an article about the LDS filmmaking community, called “Mollywood.”

LDS films are also occasionally referred to as “Mollywood,” Sego said, explaining that it is a take-off of a funny name used for more straight-laced Mormon members, a Molly Mormon. That’s because some of the films have poked fun at universal Mormon beliefs and traditions.

Sego explained that an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” was set at Brigham Young University. Jokes can include things about the way Mormons date, or Jell-O being the state food.

“It’s kind of a joke that any time (we have a) dinner, someone will bring a salad made of green Jell-O, carrots and stuff,” she said.

A very slight Austen notice, but an interesting article for those wondering about how that film came to be made.