Our Crack Reviewing Staff has informed us that we might expect reviews of several of the latest Austen-related books very soon, so keep an eye out for them; we’ll also be giving away copies of several of the books being reviewed.

Alert Janeite and avid knitter Katie noticed that several knitting pattern designers have been inspired by Jane Austen’s characters.

Along the lines of us all painting tables, covering screens, and netting purses, Jane is showing up in the knitting world (beyond Knit the Classics…)! The newish book Fitted Knits has the Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan [Use the "Search Inside" feature to find a picture of this pretty sweater, along with a spencer-like shrug that the author suggests could have been worn by Jane Bennet or Caroline Bingley--Ed.] and the Chic Knits Website just published the “Miss Dashwood” pattern (a shrug). Yarn Love, an independent hand-dyed yarn purveyor, has two colorways named for Austen’s characters: Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood (they have several other literature-inspired yarn names like Anne Shirley and Guinevere; who wouldn’t love those as well?)

One of my favorite activities is to curl up with a good knitting project and (re)watch the Austen adaptations… now I can take it to a whole new level of Austen-ness.

Sounds like an excellent set of projects.

Alert Janeite Cindy C. wrote to tell us that she is reading an advance copy of The Deception of the Emerald Ring, the latest volume in Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation Series, and found several Austen references.

First, the main character, Eloise, says “It is a truth universally acknowledged that time moves differently for men.”

And a few pages later, when her grandmother calls to tell her she has a blind date for her, and where the man works, Eloise, a modern character, says “And Bingley has five thousand a year.”

A Texas A&M English professor is writing a book with the absolutely brilliant title of Jane Austen’s Mafia (there apparently was a film with that title, which was a spoof of gangster films and had nothing to do with Jane Austen). The book is about Jane Austen in popular culture. (Hey! That sounds kind of familiar…)

O’Farrell’s book title reflects Austen’s appeal to both genders. These days Austen is considered “the mother of chick lit,” but a Rudyard Kipling story tells of World War I soldiers taking her books along. “In the movie You’ve Got Mail, they make the comment that women like Jane Austen and men like The Godfather,” O’Farrell says. “I sat there thinking, ‘What about me? I like both.’ So do a lot of people. What they have in common is interest in a code of conduct.”

As the saying goes: Leave the parasol. Take the syllabub.

And lastly, if you’re looking for something to read this weekend, Chapter 8 of There Must Be Murder, “Most Alarming Adventures,” is now available for your reading pleasure. (The Editrix’s bodice-ripping alter ego, Penelope Smythe-Featherstonehaugh, might have helped with some of it.)

We’re still in the middle of the latest Austen on Film madness, and now all of a sudden we’re experiencing a run of Austen on Stage as well! (Not complaining!)

Alert Janeite Lisa reminded us of a stage production of Northanger Abbey that will be performed at the Salisbury Playhouse (which Catherine Morland probably passed on her way home from the Abbey–though we dare say she was too distracted to notice), September 6-21. Alert Janeite Reeba will be attending one of the performances and we hope to get a full report! (And any other AustenBlog readers who see it are welcome to send their reviews as well.) The ever-thorough Cub Reporter Heather L. has tour dates and locations for this production on her NA adaptations page at Solitary Elegance. Why, hello, Mr. Tilney.

We’ve blogged recently about the two most recent P&P musical adaptations, and we’re pleased to report that the UK won’t be left out of the fun. I Love You Because, a modern-set, gender-switched musical adaptation of P&P that had an off-Broadway run last year, will have a run at London’s Landor Theatre from 10 September through 20 October. Tickets are £15.

And on this side of the pond, Paul Gordon’s musical adaptation of Emma opens next week and runs through September 16. Alert Janeite Lisa directed us to an article in the Bay Area Reporter about the composer.

And when those characters sing, it will be in Gordon’s contemporary interpretation of the early 19th century. “I just sort of organically write the music I hear, and my sensibility has always been musical theater and the Beatles,” he said. “I don’t want to stray too far away from what would be aligned with the period, but I’m not writing period music. What I’ve done in Emma is keep my sort-of pop musical theater sensibilities, but I’ve scored it for four instruments: piano, oboe, violin, and cello. So I’m giving it a chamber sound. The one place where I am relentless about being accurate is in the lyrics. The lyrics must absolutely be period.”

Sounds like a winner! TheaterMania also has an article about the play.

A different musical version of Emma also will be staged in New York in October as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, as will Austentatious, a musical about a community theater group putting on a very, very bad production of Pride and Prejudice. (The Editrix saw Austentatious last year at the Philly Fringe Festival and enjoyed it immensely.)

There are two events planned for the Los Angeles area involving the film adaptation of The Jane Austen Book Club.

The first event, a screening of the film and a conversation with the adapter/director Robin Swicord, is on Tuesday, September 18, at 7 p.m. at the Harmony Gold Screening Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. This free event is part of the Zócalo cultural forum. Make a reservation for the event at the Zócalo website.

The second event is a Laemmele Movie Event that will include a screening of the film and a discussion afterwards. The event will be on Tuesday, September 25, at 7 p.m. in Santa Monica (exact location provided after you RSVP). The regular film admission price applies. RSVP here.

The reviews are still running mostly positive, though in many cases the praise seems lukewarm. Of course, reviewers who don’t like Jane Austen movies are unlikely to enjoy Becoming Jane. We are, however, heartened by those who have not been fooled by the Made Up Story; for instance, Keith Cohen in The Blue Valley Sun.

This movie loses credibility by being advertised as a biographical portrait of the early years of author Jane Austen and the love affair that gave her the inspiration for her writings. It is historically inaccurate and based solely on a couple of letters written by Jane to her sister Cassandra and an admission by Tom Lefroy in old age that he had once been in “boyish love” with Austen.

The movie is a speculative flight of unsubstantiated fancy. With this flimsy foundation, a clunky and formulaic script attempts to imitate Austen’s literary approach to romance.

[. . .]

The movie’s major failure is its inability to make the words on a page from one of the greatest writers of English literature come alive on screen. You need to read Austen’s novels to truly appreciate her genius in matters of the heart and soul.

Hear, hear! (more…)