So Why a Nerd Alert? Sunday Stealing

My love of reading makes me a nerd?  Humph!  My Star Trek fascination, now that is a nerd alert. 

1. Favorite childhood book? I have mentioned this before, I loved Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

2. What are you reading right now? As You Wish, by Cary Elwes. It is all about the making of Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies.

3. What books do you have on request at the library? I don't go to the Library any more, although we have a lovely Carnegie Library the next city over. 

4. Bad book habit? I fold the page over, instead of using a book mark.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Nothing 

6. Do you have an e-reader? Yes, It is what I use since I can enlarge the font for easier reading, and it is just easier to read.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?  I usually have a couple of books that I am reading, I am currently slogging through a book that I don't really like, though I am interested in finding out how the author ended it.  I

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Not really, I am actually blogging less that I use to, and doing a lot more memes.  Blogging less, because my computer is a pain right now, I need a new battery.

9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far)? The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran, It sounded much more interesting when the author visited the Daily show. 

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? I love the Princess Bride book I am currently reading, I also re- read Sense and Sensibility this summer, Part of my Jane Austen Summer, I always re-read one of her books.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not often. I did not read the text book that my Son in law wrote, I think about, Photonics.  Physics, and Science would not interest me much. I do not read many romances....I don't consider Austen a romance author.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? History, autobiography, some classics.  Fiction of all kinds.

13. Can you read on the bus? Yes,

14. Favorite place to read? In bed and when I travel.

15. What is your policy on book lending?  It is hard to lend a Kindle.  I use to lend paperbacks. 

16. Do you ever dog-ear books? See my bad habit above.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? No, I only marked books I read for college.

18. Not even with text books? Yes.

19. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? The Hunger Games Trilogy and/or World War Z

20. What makes you love a book? Sympathetic characters, a good story, a true story, I love biography. 

Chatting about Fairys

http://www.everydayruralty.com/

1.  What are your favorite condiments? I like catsup and mayo.  I also like steak sauce and balsamic vinegar. Is cranberry sauce a condiment? I have it all year long.
2,  What are you reading? Eden (Eden Saga), by Dean Crawford.  I just finished The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran, by Majd, Hooman. The Forgotten Sister: Mary Bennet's Pride and Prejudice by Jennifer Paynter, is one I could recommend to you Patrice if you like Austenalia.
3.  What was the last dessert you had? I had some frozen yogurt last night.
4.  Wendell would like to know if you would build him a snowman. (If you don't have snow, just pretend. He's not detail oriented.)  Since we are talking dessert!

5.  Tell me something fun or interesting. Fairy doors, I wrote about them here.
I have plans to have one in my house before too long, because they fascinate me.  I have always loved miniatures, since I was a kid and my Grandpa made a doll house for me.  
I have some lovely gnarly Walnut trees in the yard, I could do something like this.  I remember reading someones blog, who wrote about talking a walk and finding a Fairy Door in a tree along her path.  I could go around placing Fairy Doors mysteriously, all around town.

My Favorite Reads

11/3

I love to read.  The prompt today is to talk about a book I love.  I would find it hard to just give you one book that I love.  When I was a child, I loved Little Women, I was like Jo but I aspired to be as good as Beth.

Chatting up the Grandsons

1.  Do you remember your first day of school?
I remember it because Mom took a home movie (Film, 1952) of the occasion.  She always made a plaid dress for the occasion and I carried on the tradition for my girls by sending them off to the primary grades in plaid.

Currently-MamaKat's

 

Reading: I like to spend the summer reading Austen, as she only has about 6 Novels I sometimes branch out into Austen Fan Fiction Sequels. I am wondering if playing the Austen Unbound game on Facebook is the same as reading Austen?   I am currently reading Fanny Burney's Camellia.  Burney is somewhat of a contemporary  of  Austen.  I have read her before and while I like Austen better, their styles are similar.  She writes satirically about England's upper classes.

I am also on a bit of a doomsday kink and I am reading Breakdown. by Katherine Amt Hanna, about a flu pandemic.  

 

JANEITES - April A to Z

The term Janeite came in to use by the devoted Readers of Jane Austen, and later used as a term of ridicule for the fanaticism and idolatry of everything Jane Austen.  The term came into being, after the publication of J. E. Austen-Leigh's, A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1870. That I know he is a nephew of Austen, places me precariously in the fanatic column.  (Don't read this book in Kindle, as it is ever so hard to read in that format.)

BAROUCHE-April A-Z

Transportation in the 18^th and 19^th century was especially interesting and I have always loved the idea of carriages, I think it is a hangover from wanting to be a princess. One of the reasons that I watch royal events is because of the carriages. As a Jane Austen fan I first became acquainted with the Barouche in Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Gatewood, boasts that her brother owns his own barouche, and Mrs. Elton in Emma drops the fact that her brother owns a barouche into every conversation. I love the word Barouche, it curls off the tongue.

Miss AUSTEN-April A-Z

 

Here is my first entry for the A-Z Challenge.  I want to thank Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out for starting this challenge in 2010.  I'll bet he never thought it would grow this big, when he challenged the Bloggy world to post about a different letter of the Alphabet every day in April.

 

 

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice.
I am such a Jane Austen fanatic, summer is on the way and I devote my summers to all things Austen. I spend it re-reading a Jane Austen novel.  I usually try to find a well written sequel recommended by some of the Austen web sites I frequent and I read something about the great lady herself.  I even read the zombie Pride and Prejudice one summer (rather bizarre actually) and one P & P sequel was some what erotic for my tastes, but it was nice to know Elizabeth and Darcy had some interesting sex at Pemberley, which they indulged in about every third chapter.

TRIFEXTRA

This weekend we are venturing into uncharted territories once again. This Trifextra isn't so much a writing challenge; it's more of a reading challenge. We want you to scour through your favorite pieces of literature and give us the best 33 words you can find.

You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.  I offer myself to you again with......
Captain Wentworth, Jane Austen's Persuasion

Friday Fill-Ins

tvline.com

1. Wow, this Hub Bub about Beyonce should so be over.

2.  I am pretty good with Jane Austen trivia.

3. Finally, I'm all caught up with my laundry!

4. If I never hear about that gullible football player again it would be all right with me.

5. Sweet or savory: I love them both, especially eaten together.

6  The pains in my left shoulder are new.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to folding sheets,

    tomorrow my plans include Seeing Les Miserables and Sunday, I want to

    take the dogs for a walk if the weather is nice!

I am so turning into a curmugeon, thanks to Mr Bankerchick, he talks back to the television and I am starting to talk back to it as well, lately it has been about the trivial things that the NEWS people think is news.  I am so over #1 and #4.

Sunday Stealing: The 11/11 Questions meme

What is your favorite possession?My laptop and my Kindle, if we are talking material goods. I have several items of my mom's that I would really hate to lose or break.

Do you like to read? If so, which books do you love best? Oh yes, I think it is a shame when someone says they never read books, etc.  My favorite author is Jane Austin, I have read every thing she has written and everything written about her, including the vampire spoofs. I love to read science fiction and autobiography.  My favorite book is Little Women, I've read it several times as well. I especially like fiction.

Evelina, History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

I recently completed a group read over at The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide of Evelina, it is a novel written by English author Frances Burney and first published in 1778. My stalking of Jane Austen this year has sent me to all things 18th Century, and the Gossip Guide.
I was aware from my reading of Jane Austen's memoirs and biographies that Fanny Burney had some influence on JA. It was subscribed to, by her family and her books are referred to in her letters. I wrote a little about the relationship here.
Evelina was written in the form of letters primarily to her foster father, the Reverend, Mr Villars but also to other characters in the book.  She was an orphan of dubious heritage, raised lovingly and sheltered by Mr Villars.When she is seventeen, he is convinced by Lady Howard to let her visit her at Howard Grove.  That visit ultimately leads her on a journey to London and the seaside near Bristol, growth and romance.  This is a sentimental example of early romanticism, definitely not a bodice-ripper. Her adventures lead her ultimately to that happy ending. 
This is not Jane Austen, While a good writer, Burney was limited in her characterizations by the viewpoint of the letters of Evelina.  You are looking at life through the eyes and sensibilities of a seventeen year old. You also have to look at this book as historical satire. Many of the absurd characters and situations were somewhat overblown and seemed contrived. Evelina is embarrassed by Captain Mirvan and Madam Duval.  Her new found relatives are social-climbing boors. and the hero Lord Orville bears little resemblance to Mr Darcy or Captain Wentworth, except in Evelina's eyes.
The story is compelling and by book two, I was hooked.  I tried to stay to the timeline of the group read, but found myself reading ahead to see what happens next.  There are several plot twists, a young man who tries to commit suicide, a seeming uncaring birth father, a repugnant French grandmother, and may other cads, fops and ne'er-do-wells. It is not a hard read, especially if you are familiar with literature of the time period. Gossip Guide has a review of an audio version you can down load here.
I liked the book, and plan to read more of Fanny Burney.

Join me in the 18th Century

                                                         Evelina by Fanny Burney
I am part of the group read of Evelina over at the Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide .  This past summer I reread some Jane Austen, and as I stalked her around the Internet I have come across some great blogs of 18th Century and actually extended my reading from Jane Austen to other characters and authors of the time.
Fanny Burney is an author of the time known to the Duchess of Devonshire and her ton whom Jane Austen read and may have been inspired by.  This particular read is an epistolary novel that Jane used in some of her juvenalia and the  first drafts of her more  famous writings.  The only novel that I know of, written in the form of letters is Lady Susan.  I don't think this form of writing continued with JA writings as I don't think it  leads to the character development for which Austen is so famous. Evelina is a great read and if you are interested you should go over to the Duchess's site and read more about this book and the times.

An Austen Summer

I will enjoy August, as I will be working the dayshift and can resume taking the Metrolink to work. That means it is time to re-read a Jane Austen book, haven’t decided which yet. I just finished a version of The Watsons an unfinished fragment, titled: The Watsons and Emma Watson: Jane Austen's Unfinished Novel Completed by Joan Aiken. I thought it, not very good. Once you completed Austen’s words, the rest is more like a melodrama, and not very satisfying. I have tossed it in the goodwill box. Some of the sequels, can be a fun read, if you have a good author, but, most end up a puffed up romance novel, not at all like Jane Austen. I picked up The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy, by Maya Stater, and it is a dark, sometimes amusing view of Mr. Darcy’s side of the story. It reads well because it is not trying to be an Austen novel. It is written as diary entries and looks at Regency Era hypocrisy, from an upper class point of view. It also looks at the evolution of Fitzwilliam Darcy from prideful aristocrat to a painfully introspective suitor. It parallels the Pride and Prejudice story line with only little interaction with the Bennett sisters of Meryton, and many connections with the Bingleys, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and even Lord Byron. This is much more satisfying than some of the continuations of the P & P story.