How did Colonel Brandon ever get such a bad rap? Is it the flannel waistcoat? Is it that a man of five and thirty can never hope to feel deep affection? Granted he’s not a hawt and sexay beast like Willoughby, but then Colonel Brandon wouldn’t dump a woman at a ball in front of half of London, either (not to mention some of Willoughby’s other less-than-stellar behavior). And yet more than one critic has suggested that Marianne Brandon would not have the completely happy and satisfying marriage that she would have had with Willoughby. We beg to differ, and apparently so does Amanda Grange, because the hero of Colonel Brandon’s Diary has more tragedy and romance in his life than any three or four bodice-ripping Regency rakes. Elopements! Duels! Adultery! Love children! This is Jane Austen? the skeptic might ask; we reply, it sure is! It’s all in Sense and Sensibility, cunningly hidden in the backstory, but Amanda Grange has brought this dramatic tale to full life in the best book yet in her series of heroes’ diaries. (more…)

At last, the much-anticipated, much-procrastinated (by the Editrix) massive end-of-summer 2008 Jane Austen book roundup! Gird your loins and wade in, Gentle Readers; there’s something here for everyone, we think.

First we would like to direct your attention once again to the AustenBlog library at LibraryThing. We’ve catalogued just about all the books in our personal library and all those that have been reviewed on this blog. We still need to work our way through old Friday Bookblogging posts, but it’s coming along. Do send in anything you don’t see to our attention, and if you’re a LibraryThing member, friend us! (We’ll be adding Austen-related books we don’t have from your libraries as well…thanks for that!) We understand that at some future time, social networking features will be added to LibraryThing that we hope will allow readers to rate each book for the information of their fellow Janeites. We’ll be using LibraryThing as our link for books, as it gives a selection of ways to find books online and in brick and mortar stores. Also, don’t forget to join the Friends of AustenBlog Group; the message forum will be a convenient way to let us know about any books we have missed. Now on to the books! (more…)