You might not be able to afford the inscribed edition of Emma described below, but you can be one of five lucky winners of one of the latest Jane Austen-related publications from Sourcebooks. They are giving five AustenBlog readers the opportunity to win their choice of the following books:

Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil Brinton

Letters from Pemberley and More Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins
(Note: These are two separate books–please only request one of them.)

The Darcys Give a Ball by Elizabeth Newark

The Pemberley Chronicles and Women of Pemberley by Rebecca Ann Collins
(Note: These are two separate books. Please only request one of them.)

The Watsons and Emma Watson by Jane Austen and finished by Joan Aiken

Emma and Knightley by Rachel Billington

Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma by Diana Birchall

To be entered in a drawing to win one of these books, send an e-mail to austenblog AT gmail DOT com with your name, mailing address, and the title of the book you would like to receive, by 10 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, May 2, 2008.

ETA: For the Jane Dawkins and Rebecca Collins books, each author has two separate books. Please only request one title. Apologies for the confusion. For those who have requested both, we’ll put you down for the first one–they are a series–unless you e-mail us and tell us differently.)

The Press Association reports that a copy of Emma inscribed by Jane Austen to Miss Anne Sharp, the governess at her brother Edward’s estate, Godmersham, will be auctioned by Bonhams on June 24. (Perhaps this is the sale? The catalogue is currently not available.) The auction house expects the book to sell for £50,000. Inscribed? That’s ALL? We think six figures is not out of the question, though of course auctions are always iffy. A quote from the current owner, who wishes to remain anonymous:

“The novel had been sitting in my family library for at least three generations and it remains a mystery as to how the book first got there.”

Indeed!

Alert Janeite Julie T. spotted a reference on last week’s episode of Ugly Betty:

Last night on “Ugly Betty,” Betty and her boyfriend, Henry, were planning to celebrate her birthday dinner in the “most romantic restaurant in New York CIty.” It’s name? The Pemberly Inn.

Yep. That was the spelling. Wonder if it had a gift shop? That sold furs and sexy lingerie?

Those of you in the U.S. can watch the full episode online. “Would you like a doggy bag for your cheese?”

The Jane Austen Festival, to be held 17-19 April 2009 in Canberra, Australia, has issued a call for papers to be delivered at the 2009 Festival.

The Steering Committee for the 2009 Jane Austen Festival invites proposals for breakout sessions related to theme, “Jane Austen: The role of Ettiquette, Music & Dance in her life”.

We encourage inventive breakout formats, such as skits, debates, and slide presentations, as well as traditional lectures. Sessions should be approximately 40 minutes in length, allowing time for questions afterward.

Please see the link for submission details and instructions.

Most of the British press, now that the movie is past, seemed to like it well enough. Perhaps if they had said so before it aired, it wouldn’t have lost in the ratings to Midsomer Murders. Or maybe not.

Here’s an article we missed on Sunday, from the Times.

What she calls the “Janeites” – the legions of (mainly female) fans obsessed with Austen and all her works – are already complaining online that Olivia Williams, the actress who plays Austen, is too tall

Where is all this complaining going on? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

The Telegraph has a thoughtful look at the film.

Above all, she reflected on her own romantic history, as Fanny’s questions (put, it seemed, on our behalf) constantly raised the issue of why she’d never married.
advertisement

To its credit, the programme didn’t come with a simple answer to that – or a simple emotional response. Instead, Austen pondered her single state with a mixture of bullishness, puzzlement, satisfaction and sadness. In a touching scene towards the end, one of her old suitors, the Rev Bridges (Hugh Bonneville at his most gently benevolent) asked her if she was at all sorry that she hadn’t married him. “What would be the point?” said Austen.

Sam Wollaston at the Guardian liked it despite his allergy to bonnets. (One longs to quote Edward Knight in the film–”If that’s what you think Aunt Jane’s books are about, perhaps you should read them again.”)

OK, so I’m not a Jane Austen freak, I’ll admit. I have subject-matter issues, plus an irrational hatred of bonnets, carriages, marriages, gravel, ribbons, mazes, and all that. But this dramatisation, by Gwyneth Hughes, of the second half of Austen’s life really was beautifully observed and thrilling to look at, with performances that left me weak with admiration (sorry, I’m getting carried away). The real star was Olivia Williams in the lead, who lifted this from standard Sunday-night BBC1 costume drama to something special. Her complex Austen was witty and brilliant, as you’d expect, but also moody and a bit mean, sometimes bordering on bitter. Suddenly it was clear: of course, that’s exactly what Jane Austen was like. A classy film.

The Times (again) has another reviewer who professes to hate Austen, but praises the film.

The central performance from Williams was a knockout, complimented by harsh unglamorous close-ups of a harried face, pale and careworn, and sad, soulful eyes. But best of all, however, were the silences. Whereas the wearisome Austen brand mistakenly equates prolixity with charm, here the words were cut down to a minimum. Gorgeous scenes, composites of close-ups, of Austen alone, staring, reflecting and aching, all underscored by the pining piano of the composer Jennie Muskett, somehow described Austen’s crushing loss and confusion without a line of dialogue. The closing topper, where Austen revealed that she was pressurised into remaining unmarried by her sister, and was thus a novelist by default, made complete sense.

What? Did anyone else get that from it?

And for all you soundtrack fanatics out there, Music from the Movies reviews the soundtrack, which (as we posted previously) is available for download on iTunes and will be out on CD next week.

We are pretty sure that Miss Austen Regrets got fairly good reviews after its broadcast here in the U.S., if not absolutely enthusiastic embrace, perhaps. We liked its intelligence and wit, the presentation of Jane Austen as a businesswoman and not so much of a romantic, and Olivia Williams’ magnificent performance that captured Jane Austen’s intelligence and wit and sense of fun as well as a clear-minded view of her life. It is clearly the screenwriter’s interpretation of events, not all of which we agreed with, but overall we were pleased with it. However, the theme of the UK press coverage in anticipation of the Sunday broadcast is the same old “The tar-hearted dried-up spinsters of the Jane Austen Society won’t approve! Tsk Tsk!” We really detest the press sometimes.

ETA: We nearly forgot! Alert Janeite Kate wrote to tell us that the soundtrack for Miss Austen Regrets is available to download on iTunes, and will be available to purchase in shops on May 12.

The Daily Mail (not exactly a bastion of thoughtful journalism, we admit) leads the tsking.

An incorrigible flirt with a crush on a man half her age, a woman who scandalously reneges on the acceptance of a marriage proposal, and a reveller familiar with hangovers because of her penchant for wine.

The above depiction of Jane Austen has already sent shudders down the corsets of her fans worldwide, for this little-known side to the early 19th-century author is the subject of a new BBC costume drama, Miss Austen Regrets.

*rolls eyes*

To make matters worse, when Jane died, aged 41, her sister Cassandra burned many of her letters - probably to spare the feelings of relatives and acquaintances who were the target of Jane’s barbs.

Actually, it’s more likely because they were letters to Cassandra and nobody else’s business. Slight difference. She didn’t burn the one with the dead baby joke, did she? Nope.

“People who think of Jane Austen as a little country mouse who was reserved around men will be shocked,” reveals Gwyneth Hughes, who wrote the script after painstakingly scouring Austen’s letters for revealing new insights into the author’s life.

Does anyone think that?

But Hughes is adamant. “Yes, she liked a drink,” she smiles. “When we showed the film in America, I got e-mails from the Jane Austen Society asking on what evidence we based the fact that Jane Austen had hangovers.

“So I found the quote from a letter which said: ‘I believe I drank too much wine last night; I know not else how to account for the shaking of my hand today.’”

Well, to extrapolate that to a hangover might be pushing it a bit. But no matter. (We are wondering about that “letter from the Jane Austen Society” as well.)

Another acquaintance, Reverend-Brook Bridges (played by Hugh Bonneville), is another potential husband.

“Jane mentions Bridges about half a dozen times in her letters - always affectionately and with a slight tinge of what might have been. There is a real sense of something between them, that he was a real contender, even if he never proposed,” says Hughes.

We’re not so sure about that, but it was okay in the movie.

But the third man in Austen’s life was half her age - and it was more like she had a girly, sexual crush on him. The object of her desire was the 20-year-old Dr Charles Haden (played by up-and-coming actor Jack Huston, who starred in Factory Girl).

Haden treats Jane’s sick brother and gets on very well with Jane until he is diverted by the charms of her niece Fanny.

“There was sex and passion on offer from Jane. She describes him as ’something between a man and an angel’. We have these letters with incredibly smitten feelings about this young chap. She was like a teenager,” explains Hughes.

We still are of the opinion that Jane was more likely joking with Cassandra about Fanny’s crush on Mr. Haden–imitating her way of talking, perhaps. While we think that Jane was quite capable of being pleased by an attractive young man who said lovely things about her “darling children,” we also think she would have tempered any attraction with common sense. Though he does come on kind of strong in the film!

Moving on to another article in the Yorkshire Post, which had this interesting tidbit that we think must have been a misapprehension by the reporter.

“Then I remembered that I had read Claire Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen a few years previously,
and had come across this amazing thing.

“The woman we all think of as the archetypal spinster wasn’t someone who had had no offers of marriage. She’d had an offer from an extremely eligible man who was wealthy and whom she had known all her life. He was a family friend, his sisters were her best friends, and his name was Harris Bigg.

“Had she married him she would have been rich, but she said yes one evening in December 1802, then got up the next morning and said no. Giving back-word was a shameful and appalling thing, so what happened during the intervening night, when she went off to bed, sharing a room with her sister, Cassandra?”

Tomalin had discovered this relatively little-known Austen fact through an account left by Jane’s 10-year-old niece, who witnessed the effects of this scandal on the family.

What? While we think well enough of Claire Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen (though we usually recommend others), she was hardly the first to “discover” l’affaire Bigg-Withers. It was mentioned in Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family Record, which was published in 1913. We’re not sure if that is the first mention, but it certainly predates Tomalin. It also is mentioned in the wonderful biography by Elizabeth Jenkins, in our opinion the most readable of all Jane Austen biographies.

But at least Gwyneth Hughes admits she made most of it up–though she backs it up with evidence from the letters. As we already said, we don’t always agree with her interpretation, but Olivia Williams’ intelligently wonderful performance puts the film over the top for us. And we love this part:

“All the men in the story are real and all are mentioned in the letters – some very fully and others not. I took each one and imagined who he was and what kind of relationship they might have had.” To Hughes, the least interesting was Tom Lefroy, with whom Austen shared a teenage flirtation, a puppy love previously examined in the rather slight and unsatisfying feature film Being Jane.

Hee hee heeeeeeeee!

Reuters also has an article that covers most of the same ground, and the Times chats with Greta Scacchi about her portrayal of Cassandra Austen, though oddly they run a photo of Olivia Williams with the article, and they really don’t talk much about Miss Austen Regrets. The journalist seems more interesting in putting a “gotcha” on Ms. Scacchi and getting her to say something unguarded.

So UK Janeites, do stop in and let us know what you think of the film once you’ve seen it!

We mentioned this in Getting Local a week or so ago, but a couple of people have asked about it so we’re making a separate post.

JASNA’s Rochester and Syracuse Regions are hosting a Super Regional Conference, “iJane: Jane Austen in the Information Age” this Saturday, May 3, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gleason Auditorium, Central Library, Rochester, NY. Tickets are a very affordable $27 for JASNA members and $32 for non-members, and includes lunch from Simply Crepes. The speakers include Myretta Robens from the Republic of Pemberley and your humble servant. We’re very excited about it and hope to meet some AustenBlog readers there. Click the link above for the registration form–they’re due by Monday, but we’ll see if something can’t be worked out if anyone still wants to attend.

The next day, Sunday, May 4, from 2-5 p.m., the second annual Jane Austen Ball will be held at the Cutler Union Ballroom at the Memorial Art Gallery on University Avenue. If you’re unsure of your English Country Dancing skills, there is a practice session at 10 a.m.

The Dole Branch Library in Oak Park, Illinois, will have a discussion of Pride and Prejudice on May 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tea will be served.

Unfortunately we didn’t hear about this until the run is almost through, but if you’re in the area of Epping, NH, the Leddy Center for the Performing Arts has a production of Sense and Sensibility. There’s one more show tomorrow afternoon, so make haste! Fosters.com has a review.

Alert Janeite Mimi sent us an article from Kritik Magazine complaining about the Janeites who put Mr. Darcy on a pedestal.

There’s a difference between someone who appreciates Jane Austen and someone who wants to be Jane Austen. It’s good to use literature as an occasional escape from reality, but when fiction spills over into real life and we start to want to inhabit it—when we start assuming that life is a series of F. Darcy Balls and proposals from Colin Firth—it’s a problem.

Don’t blame Jane Austen if some of her fans get carried away. In fact, Jane Austen wrote a book about someone who took books too seriously. But we must protest and say that the vast majority of folks dressing up and going dancing at the Fitzwilliam Darcy Ball were just interested in having some fun, and that many of the young ladies on Facebook who claim they are waiting for their Mr. Darcy have their tongues firmly in cheek.

And who made Facebook a reliable barometer of society at large anyway?

Austenites airbrush Austen’s Darcy himself. They forget that the man in the book is arrogant, rude and in the end, stable and good but a little bit boring. They miss the whole point when they refuse to give second chances to the stable and boring (or sloppy or impoverished or slightly vain) men in their own lives.

We have some sympathy for this point of view, but it also misses the point of the novel. Mr. Darcy isn’t attractive because he’s rich or handsome or arrogant or shy or even because he changes himself for Elizabeth’s sake (well, maybe that last one a little bit). He’s attractive because we see him through Elizabeth’s eyes, and he is the perfect man–for Elizabeth. They are wonderfully complementary characters, which the authoress acknowledged. From the novel, Vol. III, Ch. 8:

She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

While we’re not entirely sure whether the slavering hordes on Facebook are completely cognizant of that point, we think that complementary nature of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s relationship is what they really are looking for. They are soul mates, and there’s not really anything magic about it.

Alert Janeite Sylvia sent us a video of Pride and Prejudice in alternate reality…

And if you prefer your Jane Austen a little more low-concept, Alert Baja Janeite sent us a video of a cartoon cat reading the first chapter of P&P. No catch, that’s exactly what it is.

Nibbles has a very relaxing voice, doesn’t he?

The Times has the solution for the credit crisis! Before investing, ask yourself: What Would Jane Do?

Courtship is a risky business. In Sense and Sensibility, for example, Marianne invests much time and emotion in Mr Willoughby. He turns out to be a cad and Marianne avoids conjugal ruination only because Colonel Brandon is so forbearing.

Things are even worse in the non-fictional world. There are many Mr Willoughbys and few Colonel Brandons. Every year millions of lives are irreparably damaged by “love cheats”. Yet, scandalously, dating is almost wholly unregulated. What incompetence or corruption can explain the Government’s inaction?

[. . .]

Having made your choice and taken your chances, there are two ways that things can go wrong. The first is simple bad luck. If 20 per cent of men with Mr Willoughby’s known characteristics turn out to be cads, then 20 per cent of women with Marianne’s risk-reward preference will end up losers. If Marianne is among them, that is bad luck for her.

But there is no systematic error here that requires correction by regulation. If women who prefer the Mr Willoughby trade-off are properly informed about the risk premium - if they know how much risk they are taking for the sake of how much reward - then the gains to the 80 per cent who get lucky must exceed the losses to the unlucky 20 per cent.

The same goes for investing in bonds. A “junk bond” rated B-minus has a 10 per cent probability of default. In other words, one in ten will not be repaid in full. But, provided the risk premium for junk bonds (ie, the extra interest earned for taking this extra risk) is correct, the benefits derived from the other nine will exceed this loss.

We are alternately fascinated and repelled.

Granada will make ITV programmes available via iTunes download, including NA07 and Emma96 (Kate Beckinsale version). Granada owns MP07, too, so it’s quite possible that might show up as well.

As part of a deal which sees more than 260 hours of ITV shows uploaded to the downloaded site, fans will have the change to pay £1.89 per episode before downloading popular programmes such as Captain Scarlet, Cold Feet, Lewis and Jane Austen adaptations Northanger Abbey and Emma to their Mac, PC, video iPod, iPhone or widescreen TV fitted with Apple TV.

£1.89 per episode? That’s pretty much the only advantage we’ve ever noticed about making those films so bally short.

ETA: This site says the films will be available “later in the year.”

The Guardian is reporting that ITV is delaying the broadcast of Lost in Austen, along with some other new dramas, as a result of a change of management at the network.

It is thought that Fincham - who starts his ITV job on May 12 - wants to focus particularly on drama,

It’s unclear if that means “he wants more drama” (in which case, why delay broadcasting a drama such as Lost in Austen?) or “he wants to make sure it’s GOOD drama so snarky bloggers stop mocking us” (in which case, better luck next time, mate).

This article is probably not unexpected, with the impending broadcast of Miss Austen Regrets on UK television, but we found it a trifle strange nonetheless.

She flirts remorselessly. She wakes up with a hangover. She wisecracks with her women friends about the myriad failings of the pitiful male specimens she surveys. Sex and the City’s Samantha? Carrie? Miranda? No, Jane Austen, of course.

OHDEARJANENOTWITHTHESEXANDTHECITYCOMPARISONSAGAIN!!!!! Elvis wept, people! Something original, please!

“Your only way to get a man like Mr Darcy is to make him up,” says Olivia Williams’ Jane Austen to her niece Fanny (a sentiment echoed by my mother, who once sent me a card bearing the cheery greeting “Searching for Mr Right?” and then inside the helpful solution: “Look in fiction!”). This vehement assertion of no-nonsense realism is underlined by an obsession with money that has this Jane swinging slightly wildly between acerbic social commentator and Regency Heather Mills.

Oh, she has GOT to be kidding us. The “obsession” with money in the film was related to the fact that the Austens, as a family, had suffered several financial setbacks–setbacks, incidentally, that may have contributed to Jane Austen’s death (severe emotional distress exacerbates the symptoms of Addison’s disease). They didn’t even put them all in the film–we can’t remember the expected legacy from Uncle Leigh Perrot not coming through, but that happened around the same time that Henry’s bank failed, if memory serves. Jane was at the time in her career when she was just starting to make some decent money, and get attention in the right places–reviews by Walter Scott, the patronage of the Prince Regent–and then she fell ill, and couldn’t take advantage of it. Are we the only ones who can follow a very logical plot? Sheesh!

Besides, Heather Mills, unlike Jane Austen, can actually go out and get a job. Not that she will, but just saying.

It is, however, somewhat undercut by the drama’s central thesis: that Jane Austen was a passionate romantic, one who withdrew her acceptance of a rich young Londoner’s proposal because she wasn’t in love with him, and who regretted, till her dying day, her decision not to marry the man she loved because he was too poor.

We think she has Miss Austen Regrets confused with Becoming Jane. Surely she didn’t think that Jane regretted Brook Bridges? (In the movie, meaning–it’s doubtful she spared the guy a thought in real life).

Frankly, this whole thing sounds like it was written by Bridget Jones after a bottle of Chardonnay, except that we know Bridget suffers from writers’ block. By the end we were wondering WTFerrars it had to do with Jane Austen.

Alert Janeite James took up our invitation to send a report of local Jane Austen events and let us know about his JASNA region’s recent meeting. –Ed.

Guest post by James F. Nagle

I wanted to let you know about a speaker that we had at the Puget Sound Chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, the Regional Coordinator of the Vancouver BC Chapter, spoke to us on April 13, 2008. Phyllis is a licensed speech therapist and has written and spoke about So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The title of her book comes from a phrase Jane Austen used to describe Mr. Bennet.

I learned again the lesson that Jane Austen tried to teach in Pride and Prejudice, that first impressions can be seriously misleading. When I first heard the subject matter of the book and the talk, I had my back up, thinking “how dare she imply that any of these characters were autistic”. Phyllis disarmed that in her initial moments. She explained that experts now speak more in terms of the autistic spectrum rather than autism as a yes or no, black or white situation. Many people can function quite well but still exhibit some difficulties and fears in social interaction. She projected clinical descriptions and the audience quickly identified characters to which the descriptions applied. While it is easy to identify extreme characteristics in such people as Anne deBourg, we were surprised how many of the clinical diagnoses applied to Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine, Lydia, Mary, and even to some extent, Mr. Darcy and his social reluctance. Her talk was especially enlightening regarding Mr. Bennet and the impacts his autistic spectrum tendencies had on the plot. Because he does not like crowds, he had never taken the family to London, even though, with five daughters, they would have experienced not merely a wonderful vacation, but a wonderful place for them to meet people and expand their horizons and the list of eligible beaus.

I introduced Ms. Bottomer at our talk, and as I explained, it is so rare at a JASNA Meeting that we have a controversial topic. The response of our attendees was universally favorable. The talk provided an insight not only into the characters and an appreciation of Jane Austen’s ability to depict a problem, even though in her time, there was no such name as autistic spectrum or Asperger Syndrome, but it also helped the audience appreciate other members of their family or people with whom they worked. If you get a chance to hear Phyllis speak, please do so and don’t hesitate to pick up her book.

Alert Janeite Allison T. found a “sock creature” named Bingley on Etsy. Yep, it’s that Bingley. Sort of.

Bingley is a big-time Jane Austen fan. He has read every book she has written and can’t wait for her next great literary work to be published. He has been watching the newspaper for word of a book signing to attend, but none has appeared. Although disappointed, he would wait forever to meet his idol.

Oh, so would we! And we think Bingley is adorable.

Alert Janeite Laurel Ann sent us an article from the Birmingham Post about Andrew Davies. It has a bit about P&P, wet shirt, yada yada, nothing we haven’t seen before, except for this rather revealing bit:

In fact, Davies claims his reputation for raciness arose due to a misunderstanding about a comment he made concerning Pride and Prejudice.

“I said I wanted to do a really sexy version of it because people think Jane Austen is all about social comedy and people making polite remarks in drawing rooms, whereas she is all about sex and money. Those are the deep down motivations,” says Davies. “One of the things I do try to do is bring out the sexual subtext that lurks in all of these great classics, because in the 19th century the convention was unless it was pornography, you couldn’t write directly about sex.

“It is all subtle and implied, which probably makes for better writing.”

You think?

Spring has arrived at AustenBlog World Headquarters, and our thoughts lightly turn to summer relaxation. It’s time for a roundup of recent and upcoming Jane Austen-related book releases, and we think there are some you will want to add to your beach bag. We also have some other Jane Austen-related book news, so put up your parasol and read on.

First, the latest Dalziel and Pascoe detective novel from Reginald Hill is an updated homage to Sanditon.

The characters created by Miss Austen are brought into the modern setting of a seaside area which the local landowners and monied types are trying to make wealthy through health. When a titled lady at the head of this bid is found roasting on her own hog spit, Dalziel’s right-hand man Pascoe arrives to investigate.

Yikes! What a fate for Lady Denham! But this sounds like the perfect beach read–unfortunately it’s only available in the UK at the moment.

Radio Riel has some podcasts of discussions that took place after the recent PBS broadcasts of Jane Austen adaptations.

The Panorama of the Mountains blog tells us that Jane Austen’s books soothe the savage breast.

Everyone loves a (well-written) romance. When I’ve volunteered at the Prison Book Program, some prisoners request trashy romance novels, but we’re prohibited from sending them sexual content. So they’re sent books by Austen and the Brontes instead. No one’s complained to my knowledge.

Other books that have recently been released include Elizabeth Aston’s latest novel, The Darcy Connection (we should have a review this week); a reprint of Joan Aiken’s Emma Watson, a completion of The Watsons; Jane Austen: Her Golden Years by Muriel Keller Evans, a novel that seems to be covering the same ground as Miss Austen Regrets; and for those who prefer books of information, Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness: Manners and Morals from Locke to Austen looks like a scholarly take on an interesting subject.

Coming soon: the paperback version of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict will be released in a week or so; the much-anticipated U.S. release of Captain Wentworth’s Diary by Amanda Grange also occurs this month; a reprint of the first Jane Austen Mystery, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, also comes out later this month. A reprint of Park Honan’s biography of Jane Austen is due any day; a “Brief Life” also will be out very soon; and we just spotted another Joan Aiken reprint, Eliza’s Daughter, due out in November.

That’s it for Weekend Bookblogging (hey, it’s still weekend in some places), so until next time, always remember, Gentle Readers: Books Are Nice!

We received two wonderful quotations about Jane Austen’s work from Alert Janeites this week.

Alert Janeite James sent us this, from David Traxel’s 1898: The Birth of the American Century, “a history of the year the Spanish-American War began,” wrote James. “On page 75, when the author is trying to establish what people were reading and doing in that turbulent year, he notes:”

An English writer of genius did enjoy a revival in 1898. There is, announced a writer in the New York Times, “a veritable Jane Austen renaissance.” At least part of that renewed interest came through a general longing for a society as stable as the one she depicted so well, and admiration of the model Austen provided of how proper young women should behave.

James added, “I though it was interesting how the Times first noticed that Jane was having a renaissance 110 years ago!!!”

And journalists are still finding Jane Austen’s popularity amazing! But how did they do it in 1898 without a wet-shirt shot?

Alert Janeite Paola sent us a bit of dating advice from the February issue of Glamour magazine’s UK edition’s Dos and Don’ts section:

“Recent research reveals that two-thirds of British people perceive readers of celebrity autobiographies to be physically unattractive. So if you plan to pull on your train journey home, leave Jade Goody and Kerry Katona’s life stories at home. Our tome of choice? Pride and Prejudice - nothing says, “I’m a classy lady, but I’m looking for love”, like a bit of Jane Austen.”

What were we just saying about using Jane as a litmus test for potential lovers? Faux Janeites never prosper!