Jane Austen follows me everywhere

Jane Austen has this uncanny habit of following me everywhere. I haven’t blogged in a while as I have recently moved to Melbourne (for those that aren’t regular readers, I was previously in Sydney) for a new job. It has been a bit of a hectic time, and now that I’ve settled down again I can tell you that one of the few constants I have, has been Austen.

Even though I have left an entire bookcase of Jane Austen books back in Sydney, and I decided not to bring a copy of Pride and Prejudice with me (although I have a digital copy on my iPad), she has still managed to follow me to this new city.

Pulp! The Classics’ Pride and Prejudice

“Lock up your daughters… Darcy’s in town!” (Cover)

This Pride and Prejudice cover leaped out at me from the shelf at Art On King/Modern Times in Sydney’s Newtown a week ago and I just had to pick up the 352 page paperback for a closer look. With red edged pages and a bold “Look at me cover” it was damn enticing for just AU$19.95 and as I’d seen it online previously I was so excited to finally find it in a shop. ISBN-13: 978-1843440710

Pride and Prejudice’s 200th anniversary – Australian news roundup

The Pride and Prejudice 200^th anniversary was a public holiday in Australia (a day in lieu for the Australia day on the Saturday), and when I came back to work on Tuesday my sub-editor handed me Page 6 and Page 7 of The Sydney Morning Herald’s weekend ‘Spectrum’ (you can see some of it here).

Q&A with Jane Austen Society of Australia’s Susannah Fullerton

As a Sydney-sider, I find it particularly fun when I come across Australians with a Jane Austen side to them. Even more so when they release Pride and Prejudice-orientated books (see my review from yesterday) that have me gushing.

Pride and Prejudice Tote Bag and other Austen-merc favourites

I couldn’t resist buying this bag (yes, I’m a terrible spend thrift when it comes to Austen merchandise). I saw it on the rack in Kinokuniya, in The Galeries, Sydney and just had to pick it up. For (AU)$17.95 I thought it was a great buy, and especially needed at the time as I’d just bought several books and one of my grocery bags was splitting.

What to expect for Pride and Prejudice’s 200th anniversary

A really important year is coming – 2013. It’s Pride and Prejudice’s 200th anniversary (no, I can barely believe it either!) and the celebrations are going to be kicking off globally. While I’m personally very excited for the number of new books and new editions set to be published (I have a number of reviews already pending for the new year), there’s something very special about attending an actual event. For those of us here in Australia, the pickings might be somewhat more limited than those living in the UK or the US, but we can certainly have our fair share of entertainment.

I’ve done some searching early, and have put together a quick calendar for you of events worth considering around the country. If you hear of any others, by all means let me know, but this is what I’ve discovered so far. Also, I’ve marked on those I’m definitely going to or considering attending – if you’re coming, let me know.

Book Review: Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James

“They wanted dancing and merriment… They got murder” – Back cover

I have been tweeted and recommended this book by many people since (and before) it came out in December last year.  However, I was put off, expecting darkness to seep in, and “guilt and misery and such odious subjects” (as Austen herself said about her pen not dwelling on such) to become the focus. However, now I have read it, devoured it perhaps, I can safely say that this sequel is believable, faithful to Pride and Prejudice and an exciting, easy read.

Pemberley or Manderley?

Sitting in Palmer and Co., a prohibition-style bar in Sydney’s Merivale area that blares 1920s music in sepia-toned mood lighting, we began discussing Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier as our latest book club read. Around us are shelves filled with strange objects – grey top hats, cage-looking iron implements, and walls covered with black and white photographs and mug shots of convicts. It’s strangely fitting for the book, and while the cocktail ‘Fire and Brimstone’ (which would have been perfect for Manderley, and actually had earl grey in the mix) was sold out, we drank and watched as patrons donned fascinators and crept in and out.

Somewhere in-between updating each other with our lives in the month past and trying to hear each other over the music, the question “Manderley or Pemberley?” came up.

Pride and Prejudice genre confusion

I was in Basement Books, at Central Station (Sydney), this weekend just gone and I came across a bizarre cover of Pride and Prejudice. In actuality, it was a 2-in-1 (with Emma) that presented the book as a thriller through the font emblazoned on the cover with ‘Jane Austen’. This A Wilco Book, ISBN: 9788182522367 ,  is so close to reads from Stephen King and the cover-formula for other thriller-style books that it took me by surprise. I only wish now that I’d bought the copy when I saw it!

Arguably, Pride and Prejudice means something different to everyone who reads it.

Book Review: Jane Austen Made Me Do It

‘Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart’ – Front Cover

This compilation, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress (of Jane Austen blog, AustenProse, fame), was a complete surprise to me. I was unsure of what I was expecting, but picked the paperback up regardless for (AU)$21.95 from Dymocks in Castle Towers, Castle Hill ISBN: 978-0345524966. As someone who generally does not read short stories, I found some beautiful gems within this 464-page anthology – and many of them had a Pride and Prejudice slant.