Project Darcy by Jane Odiwe

I read Project Darcy right before Christmas and it was a perfect book to read at that time of year.    Author Jane Odiwe is also a wonderful artist and I loved her illustration of an old-fashioned house in winter in a small circle on the cover.  Looking at that picture whenever I picked up the book, I found it southing and put me in the mood for the novel.  I wish I could actually get more copies of her artwork.  I need to look into this!

Project Darcy is a time travels with Jane Austen novel. Ellie Bentley joins an archaeological dig at the childhood home (Steventon rectory) of Jane Austen for the summer while in college.   This isn’t really how she wanted to spend the summer, but her good friend Jess has survived cancer and this dig is one of her dreams.  Together with their other friends, Martha, Cara, and Liberty, they travel to Hampshire and stay in Jess’s Aunts house, which also happens to be the home of the Lefroy family, good friends of Jane Austen.  While there, Cara and Liberty go silly over the boys, but Jess find herself more seriously infatuated with Charlie Harden, a rich and nice guy.  Ellie is not so infatuated by Charlie’s snobby friend Henry Dorsey.  This present day story roughly follows the lines of Pride and Prejudice set in modern times, but with a few new twists and surprises.

One twist is that Ellie has a special gift where she is able to slip back in time and experience Jane Austen’s romance with young Tom Lefroy.  Jane finds Tom quite stuffy and arrogant when she first meets him, but upon further meetings, she finds herself in love.  Tom and Jane both have no money and know their romance is improbable, but their love cannot be denied.  Could this romance have helped to inspire Pride and Prejudice?

I enjoyed this novel.  It was a relaxing read and quite entertaining.  I felt both the contemporary as well as the time slip portion of the novels were equally as strong in the narration.  I enjoyed both stories and felt in suspense waiting to see what was happening in the other time frame.  I liked all of the characters and I especially enjoyed the twists to the stories that Odiwe added in just when you thought you knew what was going to happen.  I also really enjoyed the setting of the modern day story – an archaeological dig on Steventon Rectory!  That would be a dream to work on.  I also love time slip/time travel stories so together with my love of all things Jane Austen, this was the perfect novel for me.  I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great book to read.

Book Source:  I am grateful to author Jane Odiwe who sent me a copy of this wonderful book to review.  Thank-you!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I read Pride and Prejudice over the Christmas holiday in a final celebration of the bicentennial of the publication of the book.  Unfortunately I didn’t get my review posted in the bicentennial year, but this still works . . . hopefully.  I am not going to write a full depth review on a synopsis of the story, as I have reviewed the story overall in previous years.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books of all time and it is always a joy to reread a well-loved book.  Who cannot help to love the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy?  Austen’s ironic humor in the book and her wonderful characters are sheer perfection. I loved rereading many of my favorite passages and quotes.

 To celebrate the bicentennial, I purchased a new copy of Pride and Prejudice.  It was one of the Penguin Classics newer cool retro hardcover versions complete with a ribbon bookmark (Pictured above).   My paperback copy of Pride and Prejudice is starting to fall apart so it was a good time for an update.  The update had a new introduction by Vivien Jones at the start and the original Penguin Classics Introduction by Tony Tanner at the end.  It also included various notes on meanings of different phrases in the text that was noted with numbers that were referenced in the back of the book (notes).  I found the ribbon quite helpful for looking everything up as I went through.  I also enjoyed both introductions, although as with most introductions, I wouldn’t actually read it unless I had read the novel.  Otherwise, the author ruins the plot of the book for you, or you don’t understand half of the references as you haven’t read the book yet!

Overall, if you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice – what are you waiting for?   And if you are looking for a new copy, this hard cover has a nice price, classy cover, and great references.

Book Source:  I purchased this book on Amazon.com

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne

Title: The Real Jane Austen:  A Life in Small Things
Author: Paula Byrne
Read by: Kate Reading
Publisher: HarperAudio
Length: 13 hours and 31 minutes
Source: MP3 Audio through Wisconsin Public Library Consortium – Overdrive on my Droid

The Real Jane Austen:  A Life in Small Things is one of the best biographies of Jane Austen that I have ever read.  Instead of a biographical narrative of the slight details we know of Austen’s life from her birth, various moves, and death, Paula Byrne instead explores themes from Austen’s life.  She takes an object in Austen’s life and details the latest research on this object or topic and how it relates to Austen’s novels.  It was wonderful.  It gave such good background that I had never heard before on Austen.  It also really showed that instead of being the sheltered woman that never really got out much, that Austen was a well-traveled woman for her time with a naughty sense of humor.  She also had extensive family beyond her immediate family that helped to influence her work.

I listened to an MP3 Audio version of this book through the library and it was a wonderful book to listen to while I worked on chores.  I’ve listened to books narrated by Kate Reading before and she does an excellent job and is a joy to listen too.  Another wonderful aspect of this book is that while I slowly listened to it, I also read other Austen inspired novels.  This book gave me a great understanding of different aspects of Austen’s novels that I didn’t have before.  I would recommend it as a “must-read” for anyone that loves Austen, and also a book of interest for anyone that would like to learn more about the history of early nineteenth century England.

Longbourn by Jo Baker

As most readers of my blog know, I am obsessed with all things Jane Austen.  What you might not know is that I am also an avid Downton Abbey fan.  I love Masterpiece Theatre in general, but as soon as I saw this series I was hooked and devoted.  My entire family loves it as well.

In Longbourn, author Jo Baker brings together my two obsessions.  Longbourn is the story of the staff behind the scenes that make Pride and Prejudice possible.  Author Jo Baker is descended from a family that was “in service” and was able to incorporate just what it would be like to be the staff at a regency manor.

Sarah was taken in as a young orphan and raised by the infamous Mrs. Hill (infamous in that Mrs. Bennet is constantly calling for her in the novel and can’t seem to get along without her).  Her childhood is spent learning to be a housemaid in a small estate.  There is Mr. Hill, Mrs. Hill, Sarah, and young Polly working at the estate by the time Sarah becomes a young woman.    The house is put into an uproar when Mr. Bennet hires newcomer James as a footman.  He is a great help with the work, but is also very mysterious.  Sarah finds herself suspicious and trying to solve the mystery of him.

Sarah also finds herself captivated by Ptolemy Bingley, a young mulatto footman that arrives at Netherfield with the exciting new family in the neighborhood, the Bingleys.  Ptolemy is different than anyone Sarah has ever met.  He was born a slave on the Bingley estate in the West Indies, but is now a free man in England. Will Sarah find love with Ptolemy or the mysterious footman James?

I LOVED this novel.  Longbourn opened up an entirely different world to the Austen novels than I have ever read before.  How are all of the ladies able to get ready, eat, and get to their dances?  There is an entire team that works behind the scenes to make it possible.  It was wonderful to finally read a story about the pros behind the scenes and to know that they have a story too.  

I also loved James’s backstory in the Napoleonic Wars.  I was also intrigued by so many secrets to Pride and Prejudice that would make sense.  So slavery is where the Bingley’s made their fortune, etc.   I felt like the secret of this novel is that it in no way changed Pride and Prejudice, but instead expanded the story and gave a back story to so many intriguing plot lines.  I loved learning more about Mr. Bennet and Mr. Wickham.  I love how Sarah thinks to herself that Miss Elizabeth wouldn’t be taking such long walks through the mud if she had to scrub her own petticoats.    

Overall, Longbourn is a great historical fiction novel about the fascinating people often overlooked in literature, the servants who made all of the great events possible.  It was a fascinating story

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library

Pride and Prejudice (1940)

I need to catch up on my reviews!  I’m participating in the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary challenge hosted by Laurel Ann at Austenprose.  I still have a couple more books I want to finish this month for the challenge – so we’ll see how it goes.

As part of the challenge, I rewatched Pride and Prejudice 1940.  I must admit that although this was the first film version of Pride and Prejudice and also stars one of my favorite actors, Laurence Olivier, as Mr. Darcy, this version has always fallen flat for me.

 

The pros:

• Laurence Oliver is a wonderfully handsome Mr. Darcy with a great haughty attitude
• Edmund Gwenn and Mary Boland make a wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Bennet respectively.
• I do like the change at the end that hints of a happy ending for Mary Bennet.

The cons:

• Although Laurence Oliver is wonderful, he doesn’t capture Mr. Darcy as perfectly as Colin Firth.  Olivier is actually too likeable too early!
• Greer Garson is way too old to be Elizabeth Bennet.
• A feature length movie is just too short and it misses many of the major storylines.
• The carriage race at the beginning between the Bennets and Lucas's over who will get to meet the new single men in town is ridiculous and makes me cringe every time.
•  The costumes are all wrong - totally not the right time period at all.  I felt like I was watching Gone with the Wind rather than Pride & Prejudice.
• Lady Catherine de Bourgh is totally changed.  She actually has her confrontation with Elizabeth to make sure she is good enough for Mr. Darcy and totally approves of the marriage.
• The overall tone of the movie is to make it into a madcap farce of desperate women husband hunting.  It is not the real Pride and Prejudice.

Overall, I like to watch this version of Pride and Prejudice as I like old movies; I just wish it wasn’t called Pride and Prejudice as it strays far from the source material.