Weekend Bookblogging: Blogging Jane Edition
We have the pleasure of presenting Miss Lydia Bennet’s Weblog, with illustrations, for your reading enjoyment. It seems there also will be a book about Lydia written by Jane Odiwe. (We’ve redacted information about the publishers which we received elsewhere and are informed is incorrect.) We also are told that Jane Odiwe’s delightful illustrations will be used in a feature about Jane Austen’s life on the Jane Austen Book Club DVD.
We also are pleased to see that several bloggers are reading Jane Austen and reporting their experience.
The Literate Kitten read Northanger Abbey and enjoyed the Gothic parody.
Of course, it ends in typical Austen fashion, rather abruptly and neatly, with everyone happily married. But, after all, you’re on the Jane Train.
The Jane Train! Love it!
My Own Little Reading Room also enjoyed NA, but we thought gave away a little too much of the plot. “i hate blogging” encourages its readers to try Persuasion, at least the movie. And after Janeites took over his blog briefly and made Jane Austen a star, John Mutford of The Book Mine Set didn’t like Pride and Prejudice that much after all.
To say Pride and Prejudice is a romance brings up connotations of flaky literature without any real value asides from cheap entertainment. That’s not true. There’s a lot more going on in terms of social commentary, character development, and perhaps more. Personally, I never really connected to see what else it had to offer and I also felt it dragged too much in the beginning, but I can see why it has its supporters.
Lukewarm praise, but he has learned to not tick off the Janeites. Wise. 
Norman Geras has indexed his posts about Jane Austen, including other authors talking about their enjoyment of her work.
One Chapter Each Day (great idea for a blog!) is currently working its way through Sense and Sensibility, um, one chapter each day; and Nikolle Doolin continues her audiobook series of Persuasion.
That’s it for Friday, er, Weekend Bookblogging, and always remember, Gentle Readers: Books Are Nice!
October 16th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I like the idea of a Lydia book. I wonder how much she was really paying attention to Jane’s & Elizabeth’s stories? Unless people were talking to her or about her, she probably saw their mouths moving, but all she heard was blah, blah, blah.