Great Post on Austenauthors.net

I am on a deadline and really have no time to post this week, but I just read this exceedingly diverting post on Austenauthors.net and had to share it. In it, Susan Mason-Milks, author of Mr. Darcy's Proposal, muses on what books the characters of Pride and Prejudice might enjoy if they were alive today. Enjoy!

1911's Predictions for 2011

I found this story on Facebook and I cannot verify its origins, but it was very interesting to read. It's a large image so you will need to zoom in to read it. It appears to be a copy of a page from the Ladies Home Journal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to walk ten miles so I am not considered a weakling. Read it here.

Why I should not be allowed to buy Kindle books when I have insomnia

I have a confession to make. I was a full time IT (technical support, software development, web design, etc) person for 12 years. And I can barely run my Kindle. Maybe it's the black and white interface (which is so good for my poor eyes) or maybe it's the fact that there is no mouse. But I just have a hard time with the non-intuitive organization. I just learned how to put books into collections. Of course I never actually investigated how to organize my Kindle until recently. And I almost never turn on the wireless- only if I buy something and instantly go get my Kindle.

So the night before last, I bought a regency novel- non-austenesque- and ran in to grab my Kindle so I could download it instantly and go read it since it was bedtime. Lo and behold, it downloaded many books that I had apparently purchased during a fit of insomnia, who knows when. It was sort of like Christmas, though, because two Austenesque novels appeared- one by Mary Lydon Simonsen- "A Wife For Mr. Darcy", and one by P.O. Dixon- "To Have His Cake and Eat it Too."

I started right in reading "A Wife For Mr. Darcy" because Mary Simonsen recently started following my blog (*waves* Hi Mary!) and I stayed up half the night reading it. I love a book that really draws me in and keeps me reading. There are dozens of half (or quarter)-read books on my Kindle that just don't grab me.

I wish there was some sort of comprehensive list of all Austenesque literature where one could go and check off what one has read. It would automatically scan Amazon and other sources to dynamically update the list so one would know when another book has been released in that genre. It would list every book cover version (I bought two of the same book once because one had been self-published and then was taken on by a publishing house and released with a different cover) and it would list the description and then on could check it off when purchased. Hmmm. I wonder if any of my software design buddies would want to take that on... ;)

Either way, I don't *really* think I shouldn't be allowed to buy Kindle books when I have insomnia. But I think from now on I'll make sure I download them right away.

Ellen Degeneres Surprises Colin Firth with his Wax Figure

I just found this on YouTube and it's pretty adorable. Watch when he stands next to the figure and adopts its pose.

I originally saw the video here: http://britsunited.blogspot.com/2012/01/colin-firth-meets-his-wax-figure-on.html

SOPA and PIPA

I was just reading Mary Simonsen's blog and came across this delightful video "trailer" mash-up of Beauty and The Beast/Pride and Prejudice and it put me in mind of the war that is being raged on the internet in regards to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and The "Protect IP" Act (PIPA). You can (and should) read about the particulars here. While some politicians argue that these acts are designed only to stop copyright infringement and piracy, the wording of these bills speak otherwise. If these things pass, witty little diversions that are just for fun, like this video, would be enough to shut my blog down. Pinterest would likely be gone. And who knows what other censorship would occur? So Austenites, watch this adorable video (slightly different than the one posted above) and go sign a petition to protest SOPA and PIPA and to protect Internet Freedom.

Comments

Good morning! I just want to let everyone know that at the moment, threaded comments (hitting 'reply' to an existing comment) are not working on my blog. I've sent a help request in to Google. Apparently I am not the only one with the issue. They *just* rolled this functionality out last week so it is to be expected that there will be some bugs. I will delete this post and reply to all comments when functionality is restored.

Re-reading

I just read an article in the New Yorker Online about re-reading novels. It struck a chord with me because I am re-reading Pride and Prejudice after two years of reading, almost exclusively, novels based on Pride & Prejudice. I'm struck by how little dialog there appears to be. I like the way Austen describes what is said rather than presenting large blocks of dialog. I need to keep that in mind in my own writing, as I am often using dialog to express thoughts and feelings that could be expressed otherwise.

I also realized that I have incorporated bits of all the variations of Pride and Prejudice that I have read, as well as the movie adaptations, to round out the characters a bit more. I am not sure I would be as smitten with Elizabeth, if I didn't have the support of Jennifer Ehle's performance- her non-verbal looks and cues.

Friends have asked me why Jane Austen doesn't describe the clothing the characters wear, to any great degree, or the landscape and I reply that Jane wrote for her contemporaries- and one has to imagine that she did not expect her writing to be read 100 or more years later, after significant changes in culture and daily life, or she would have set the scene in greater detail. Or, perhaps she thought things wouldn't change that significantly, but I have trouble believing that. When we write today, this assumption doesn't exist. That is not to say that authors run around believing they will be as famous and lauded as Austen is today, but even the lowliest paperback can end up in some future rummage sale to be purchased for a few cents and enjoyed on a long drive in the hovercraft :)

In other news, I found this image on Pinterest and I think we can all relate to it as Austenites. (Credit for this image goes to someecards.com.)