Alert Janeite HeatherL sent a link to a little article on unison.ie about nine-year-old Alana Brennan, who has been cast as one of Catherine’s little sisters in Northanger Abbey 2007. The link requires registration; you can register if you want to read it, or use BugMeNot, or just read the below–there’s not much more to it.

Cratloe primary school student Alana Brennan has been cast as a member of the Morland family in a forthcoming TV version of the novel ‘Northanger Abbey’.

[. . .]

“I’m delighted, absolutely thrilled with the part,” said Alana last night. “I found out two weeks ago and started bawling crying. My mam said, ‘You’re supposed to cry when you don’t get a part, not when you get it,’” she laughed.

Awww. She’s a little too old to play Hannah Harriet (the very youngest Morland at four) and too young to play Sarah (the next youngest to Catherine at 16) so we’ll probably see Alana running round the parsonage.

ETA: Hannah? *Editrix smacks self with Clue Trout*

As she pointed out in the interview we posted recently, Dr. Joan Klingel Ray, the author of Jane Austen for Dummies, was concerned about the many typos and errors that slipped through the editorial process into the finished book. She kindly sent us a list of errors that she has found (so far!) for anyone who has already purchased the book. (Warning: it’s a fairly large PDF file; if you can’t handle the download, e-mail the Editrix and we’ll send it to you as a Word file or try to find another way to accommodate you.) Future printings should incorporate the corrections.

Alert Janeite DeeDee sent us a scan of an article from The Week in which novelist Marisha Pessl names her best books–a list that includes Northanger Abbey.

This underestimated work of Jane Austen deserves a second look.

And a third, and a fourth, and so on, and so on…

The story follows Catherine Morland during her visit to Bath, England, with family friends. Part parody of gothic fiction, part social satire, the book probes how the books we read shape our reality, help us fabricate illustions–which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Austen so delicately, and humorously, points out.

(But what about the Great!Coat? She didn’t mention the Great!Coat.)

Every bookstore has one – a rack or shelf full of little “giftie” books that fit neatly into the bag you’ve put the “real” present in. From “A to Zs of Beekeeping” to “Inspirational Quotes for Your Dog,” giftie books have covered almost every topic known to man. Now, thanks to Lesley Bolton, Jane Austen’s life, world and work have joined the ranks of these books. In The Jane Austen Miscellany Bolton covers everything from the clothes Jane wore to nth adaptation-slash-sequel of “Pride and Prejudice.”

With a layout full of faux Regency designs (and a few C.E. Brock illustrations thrown in for good measure), fancy fonts (one that looks like a knock-off of Pia Frauss’ excellent design) and categories like “Austenian Insults,” this book is not for the die-hard Janeite, but perhaps a good idea for those wishing to bring more members to our ranks. The Jane Austen Miscellany is full of trivia-bytes just obscure enough that the average non-Janeite wouldn’t be aware of them, but familiar enough to those Austen fans that have actually read all her work and a biography or two.

While some of the trivia Bolton includes in this book are novel (for example, “A lady would have never worn diamonds or pearls during the morning hours”), she also focuses a bit too strongly on the various adaptations of the novels. Linda Berdoll’s infamous Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife and “P&PUtah” are some of the few that Bolton promotes, alongside biographies by Deidre LeFaye and the recent BBC adaptations. Bolton almost takes for granted that her audience is familiar with Austen, a move that might have worked if her target audience weren’t non-Janeites.

So if you’re an Austen fan just starting out (I hear we had a new wave of them post-P&P3), or a Middle-Aged Austen Whore expanding your circle of influence, go to your nearest bookstore, find the giftie book rack (it’s usually near the registers) and pick up your copy of The Jane Austen Miscellany and your gaudy gift bag of choice (I recommend the sparkly gold ones!) today.