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!