(It’s our birthday party and we’ll shamelessly self-promote if we want to. Dorothy is serving cake and iced rooibos in the conservatory.)

Two articles about Jane Austen, Janeites, and the upcoming films Becoming Jane and The Jane Austen Book Club mention AustenBlog and The Jane Austen Handbook, and we are thrilled about it! (more…)

How much fun is this? Alert Janeite Jan sent us a link to a map of Bath on The Atlas of Fiction, with highlights of locations mentioned in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. For instance, click on the teardrop by “Beechen Cliff” and see the explanation, “Catherine walks with the Tilneys” from NA. Jane Austen knew her Bath geography!

For those new to Jane Austen, the Jane Austen Society of North America has added a page to its Web site presenting the facts known of Jane Austen’s life and her relationship with Tom Lefroy, contrasted with the presentation of this episode of Jane’s life in the film Becoming Jane. If you have seen the film and are interested in learning how much of the film is “real,” we suggest this page is an excellent starting point.

We would also suggest some further reading for those wanting to learn more about Jane Austen’s life:

Jane Austen: A Biography by Elizabeth Jenkins (out of print, but you should be able to purchase a used copy or get it through your public library or Interlibrary Loan)

101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen by Patrice Hannon - a wonderfully readable, intelligent, information-packed introduction to Jane Austen’s life

Jane Austen: A Family Record, ed. by Deirdre Le Faye - the motherlode of pure fact about Jane Austen’s life

With the official U.S. release less than a week away, the coverage is ramping up for Becoming Jane, and we expect it to reach fever pitch in the next couple of weeks. Several Sunday newspapers have devoted feature articles to Jane and Janeites (more on that in other posts).

The Washington Post, not fooled for a minute by the Made Up Story, asked some prominent Austen fans and scholars about the fictionalized aspects of the film.

Jan Fergus teaches a course titled “Jane Austen and Popular Culture in the 21st Century” at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. She’s written two Austen biographies. But will Friday find Fergus at the multiplex? Not likely: “I would not be able to sit through what looks like a tissue of fabrications and nonsense.”

Ouch! That’ll leave a mark. (more…)