The Hindu has a charming article (despite some slightly tortured syntax) about traveling to Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire.

At a cursory level Chawton house represents just the home of a simple writer. A deeper exploration reveals an insightful peak into the private world the author resided in. Viewing all the mementoes, the memorabilia, the flotsam and jetsam of the writer made the narrative theme of her stories come alive. I could almost imagine Emma or Elizabeth (two of Austen’s liveliest heroines) come bounding down the steps or airing their point of view.

We were bemused by the discussion of lunch at the pub across the road:

What could be termed as Chawton High Street had six or seven shops and a bar incongruously named “Gray Fares Bull”. Most from the museum gravitated there. There was raucous cacophony inside the bar. It was clear that the talks centred on Jane Austen. Somebody was reading aloud from Emma. Another argumentative voice lamented why Mansfield Park did not get its due. Yet another voice aggressively dismissed all the movies based on Austen’s books as candyfloss where the wit and irony of the writer were completely lost.

Inevitably, we got drawn into the vigour of the infectious moment. Fortunately, I had my slim folder of favoured readings. One of our group members read an extract from Pico Iyer’s lyrical essay titled “Jane Austen in Calcutta” (The essay was a review of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy). An elderly English teacher remarked that words of writers do not need visas and immigration stamps; they travel ever so effortlessly.

We almost had lunch at the pub; we will definitely have to stop in there next time! (There’s also a tea room, Cassandra’s Cup, but sadly it was closed the day we visited.)

Scotland on Sunday opines that, while Andrew Davies’ body of work as an adapter of literature great and popular is rightly honored, perhaps it’s time to seek out some new voices.

It is a fair bet that he will make a fine job of A Room With A View, just as he will with a scheduled remake of Brideshead Revisited, Sense and Sensibility, Little Dorrit and Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, all of which are said to be on the Davies to-do list.

Such industry is to be admired, but it doesn’t stop the growing feeling that perhaps some other voices should be heard. Davies will be 70 this year, with all the experience and perspective that that brings. However, it would be interesting to see some of these books through the filter of someone else’s experiences.

We’ve been saying the same thing for a while, not that anyone pays us the least bit of attention. (Hrmph.) Mr. Davies did a great job with P&P and not a bad job with Emma, but it would be nice for Austen fans to see their favorites through other eyes (within limits, of course!). Alas, it’s too late for Northanger Abbey. We loved the recent adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South and would like to see that adapter, Sandy Welch, work on some other classic novels. (And a perusal of the IMDB reveals that Welch is writing the upcoming BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre.)

The article mentions Gurinder Chadha’s multicultural take on P&P, BRIDE AND PREJUDICE:

As a writer and director of Bend It Like Beckham and Bhaji On The Beach, she has plenty of experience in getting to the heart of what a multicultural Britain really means. She also has previous form in translating English literature into new contexts. In 2004, she filmed her own take on one of Austen’s best-loved novels and released Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood take on the adventures of the Bennets and Mr Darcy. Why stop there? How about a Punjabi Pickwick Papers. Perhaps television commissioners will be more inclined once they have seen the results of her big screen adaptation of the Eighties TV favourite, Dallas.

The beauty of B&P is that it was a new way of looking at P&P without destroying it. Any adapter of Jane Austen should, first and foremost, love the novel, and second, know it inside out, and not be looking to “improve” it somehow. That way lies madness, not to mention the scorn of Janeites.

Alert Janeite Maureen wrote to tell us that the Hampshire County Council is “releasing” copies of Persuasion in public areas across Hampshire as part of a promotion of their library system.

Whoever finds the novels are asked to read them and then place it somewhere else in the county for others to enjoy.

Hampshire County Council is behind the craze known as ‘book crossing’, and said it was aimed at encouraging people to read more.

Richard Ward, the head of libraries, said: ‘This is a simple, but brilliant idea and hopefully will get people reading and encourage people into our libraries.

‘The books can go absolutely anywhere. They could end up on a train to Darlington, but they could be passed around, so as many people as possible read them.

‘If it proves successful then we could consider doing it again, maybe with a completely different style of book.’

The books have been donated by Penguin as part of the company’s 60th anniversary.

Bosses at Hampshire County Council chose Jane Austen’s Persuasion – of which they have 500 copies in their libraries – because she was born in the county in 1775.

Those who come across a copy are asked to log on to the book crossing website.

Then, using the unique identification number on the label inside the book, they can register their comments about the book and say where they found it.

The idea is part of the Huge Hampshire Read campaign, which encourages people to take out more books and runs until July 15.

Incidentally, we are aware of at least one JASNA region that is releasing copies of Jane Austen novels registered with Bookcrossing.com.

Despite it technically being classed as littering, Peter Gibson, of Keep Britain Tidy spokesman, backed the idea.

He said: ‘The only worry would be if a book was in a bad state and the pages were strewn across the street, so people would have to be careful about where they left it and what condition it was in.

‘But we do not want to be killjoys on this.’

Now that is what we call a wise public official!

Maureen also blogged about this effort at Bookglutton.

From a review of a new film in the Guardian:

When Jane Austen was once asked what she wrote about, she is said to have replied: ‘I write about love and money. What else is there to write about?’

Huh? Has anybody else ever heard that quote attributed to Jane Austen?