Laurie Viera Rigler's Blog: Jane Austen Addict, page 10
August 29, 2013
Austen in August: guest post & giveaway of both Austen Addict novels
What are your favorite Austen moments? Here are mine from the novels and the films. Enjoy my guest post, and enter the giveaway!
August 10, 2013
The Austen in August Mansfield Park Read-along
Whether you hate it or you love it, it's fun to read in a group of Austen-crazy folk! Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves, discuss!! And sign up at Austen in August headquarters.
August 3, 2013
Recapture a Childlike Sense of Wonder
August 2, 2013
Born in the Wrong Century, and other book lists
There's another great social media site for book lovers, and it's called Riffle. One of the most delightful things about Riffle is the ability to create curated book lists of any kind, which you can share with other readers. Creating and reading these lists is delightful in and of itself, but even better is that it is an exciting way to discover new reads and share your enthusiasm for your own favorites.
Here is my very first list:
July 25, 2013
Austen in August is almost here!
It's that time of year again: Austen in August! Giveaways, chats, best-of lists, read-alongs, movie-viewing parties, and more! It's like a two-week slumber party where it's all-Austen-all-the-time, and you don't even have to leave your computer.
Want to join the fun? Head on over to The Book Rat to see the official invitation. You can sign up now if you want to contribute a guest post, giveaway, or other fun stuff. Or you can just visit The Book Rat from August 18-31 for daily Austen activities and freebies. I'll be posting and giving away books, along with lots of other Austen lovers.
See you at Austen in August!
Related articles
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Slings and Arrows
June 19, 2013
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Slings and Arrows
Been thinking about Shakespeare a lot lately, thanks to rewatching for the third or fourth time the entire three-season series "Slings and Arrows." If you have not seen it, make haste to Netflix or iTunes, because you are in for a treat.
Slings and Arrows is set in a fictional Canadian Shakespeare festival and is all about the alchemy of storytelling and theatre and the best and worst of human behavior. It's hilarious, touching, brilliantly written, and makes the language of Shakespeare, the subtext, the structure, all of it, come to life in a way I have never seen before. Here's a little taste:
Jane Austen (and all roads lead to Austen), whose deep and often comic insights into the highs and lows of human behavior led George Henry Lewes (and, according to him, Thomas Macaulay) to call her "a prose Shakespeare," clearly had an intimate knowledge of the Bard; even seemingly passing references to his works in her novels are fraught with subtext.
Consider Mrs. Dashwood's mentioning to Marianne that the family will defer finishing its reading of Hamlet till Willoughby's return, a return that will not come, and which will lead Marianne into an Ophelia-like attempt at self-destruction.
Or the teasing way in which Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey is introduced as a girl of little learning but who has amassed a store of useful information from her reading. For example:
...from Shakespeare she gained a great store of information - amongst the
rest, that
---------"Trifles light as air,
"Are, to the jealous, confirmation strong,
"As proofs of Holy Writ."
That
"The poor beetle, which we tread upon,
"In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great
"As when a giant dies."
And that a young woman in love always looks
"like Patience on a monument
"Smiling at Grief."
Although Northanger Abbey is a comedy, none of these quotes is lightly chosen. Catherine will be both the object of jealousy and see her brother suffer from it, is deeply compassionate towards those who are suffering, and will be forced to find reserves of patience to endure the wait for the object of her own affections.
Did I ever say Northanger Abbey is Austen's most underrated novel?
May 24, 2013
A Jane Austen Pilgrimage
From a beautiful piece in the Washington Post by Zofia Smardz:
"Well, that’s how it goes on a Jane Austen pilgrimage. You think, if I can only see where she lived and worked and danced and played, I’ll get inside her head. Capture her genius.
Hah. That’s not so easy, is it, old girl? After 200 years, there’s not that much to see. And you’re so good at hiding.
But it won’t stop me from looking for you."
I can relate. Which is why I'll be going back to keep looking, too. Do read the whole piece. It's really lovely.
Bath may not have been Jane Austen's favorite place, but it was certainly mine. This is a shot from the Roman Baths, which were hidden beneath the Bath of Jane Austen's time.
May 23, 2013
May 21, 2013
An epic tale of mice and matrimony
What will they think of next?
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