Laurie Viera Rigler's Blog: Jane Austen Addict, page 14

Downton Abbey Madness

Like millions on both sides of the pond, I've been glued to the entail*-that-launched-a-thousand-soap-opera-moments known as DOWNTON ABBEY. It's like having the same case of Stockholm Syndrome that all the downstairs folk (except maybe the evil Thomas) have.

No matter how badly the characters treat one another, no matter how silly they are, I care about them. I care about Lady Mary, despite her dissing Carson when he rightfully turns down a job with her nasty fiance. I love Anna, even though she feels guilty for not going to America with Lady Mary (hello! Your husband just had his sentence commmuted!) And I care about Lord Grantham even though he seems to be more loyal to his dog than to his wife. 

And I adore Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess.

Watch Downton Abbey: The Best Maggie Moments on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

 

I love this show so much that I just about turned a cartwheel when I realized my PBS app on my iPad can stream the show to my big flatscreen. Thank you, PBS Masterpiece. I'm definitely gonna buy the DVDs or download the whole thing from iTunes so I can watch it again. And again. 

But no episode of DOWNTON ABBEY is complete without Sarah Ball's brilliantly funny weekly recaps of every episode in VANITY FAIR. It reminds me that I do have Stockholm Syndrome. And how ridiculously funny it all is. (Either that, or we are all collectively, certifiably mad.)

*Another example of an entail is to be found in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. (See, there's always a connection to Jane Austen!)

V-Day Thoughts, via Grey's Anatomy and Jane Austen

It's that time of year again, when women feel like total losers for being single or wait for their men to pass or fail the big Valentine's Day test. Will he screw up and totally forget, buy a cheap trinket instead of the one thing he knows you want, or, even more stressful and high stakes, will he finally pop the question?

Could there be anything more insane than this holiday that's supposed to be all about love?

I was watching the GREY'S ANATOMY Valentine's Day episode today, and one of the characters was a florist who was so exhausted and stressed from the V-Day rush that he accidentally crashed his delivery van into the ER.

Almost dying in service to Valentine's Day madness was a big wake-up call to this florist, who said he would never stress himself out over this holiday again:

"People call you up you know, they ask you, make something beautiful. Yeah, so some sorry schlep can forget they've been treated like crap every day of the year…Like my flowers are magic or something. But I bought it. Nearly killed myself trying to make sure everyone got their little miracle. What a joke. People oughta just stop being so awful to each other, you know? Leave me out of it."

My biggest takeaway from that speech? "People oughta just stop being so awful to each other."

Not bad advice. If we were good to the people we supposedly love every day, we wouldn't have to prove our love on that one day of the year. We could be more like Jane Bennet of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, or Catherine Morland of NORTHANGER ABBEY, or Anne Elliot of PERSUASION. In Austen, kindness is always rewarded, and often with love. Could there be a better recipe for happiness than that?

[Gazing at photos of gorgeous actors playing Austen heroes can also be quite helpful.]

One thing's for sure. Feeling entitled to love, or a certain type of bouquet, or a necklace, or a diamond ring, is a sure recipe for misery.

Just ask that lady in GREY'S ANATOMY who was furious at her admittedly clueless boyfriend for once again giving her a velvet jewelry box on V-Day without a ring inside. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it. It's worth watching.

And so is almost every Jane Austen adaptation ever made for the big or small screen. So if you don't expect to get that perfect bouquet, piece of jewelry, or declaration of love today, be kind. To others. To yourself. Fire up the Blu-ray or the Netflix queue and watch BRIDE AND PREJUDICE or the Colin Firth P&P or the Gwyneth Paltrow EMMA (just a few of my faves) or PERSUASION with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds.  Even better, read PERSUASION (my favorite Austen novel) or PRIDE AND PREJUDICE or NORTHANGER ABBEY or, let's face it, any of the six. You'll feel much better, I promise.

Be happy. And wish yourself a very happy Valentine's Day. 

 

My idea of good company.

It's always exciting to see one of my novels on a best-of list at this time of year. This year, CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT appears on Amused by Book's Favorite Books of 2011 list.

I love the scope and diversity of this list, which includes JANE EYRE and BOSSYPANTS. Who wouldn't want to be in the company of Charlotte Brontë AND Tina Fey?

(Can you just picture the cocktail party conversation?) 

Thank you, Amused by Books. 

Start off 2012 with a laugh.

I did.

Cannot wait to watch Downton Abbey, Series Two on PBS Masterpiece. Until then...enjoy, and happy new year, everyone!

And, just in case you missed part one:

 

 

Holiday Readathon Double Giveaway

We all like to escape into a good novel and enter the lives of our favorite characters, especially during the holiday season.

But did you ever wonder what your favorite characters read when they feel like entering another world?

For example, in Book One of THE JOURNEYS OF JOHN AND JULIA, a brilliant new fantasy series by debut novelist Aurelia, one of the characters curls up with my novel RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT.

From this comes my 2011 Holiday Readathon challenge:

Choose a character from one of your favorite books, and ask yourself which novel he or she turns to for the perfect getaway read.

Post your answer to enter my Holiday Readathon Giveaway.

Two lucky winners will each win two novels: THE JOURNEYS OF JOHN AND JULIA IN CHAPTER ONE: GENESIS by Aurelia, and RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT by me.

THE JOURNEYS OF JOHN AND JULIA IN CHAPTER ONE: GENESIS is sure to become one of your absolute favorite novels. It is is a must-read, whether or not you win this giveaway. 

About THE JOURNEYS OF JOHN AND JULIA IN CHAPTER ONE: GENESIS

Secretly guided by a magical collective of superbeings called The Twenty-Two, a pair of teens crack open the door to another reality—and unwittingly awaken the sleeping beast of their nemesis-to-be, the beyond evil Niem Vidalgo Oten.

"Cool new series…Anyone who is a fan of 'Heroes' will definitely enjoy Genesis."—Tim Kring, creator of the NBC TV series "Heroes"

TO ENTER, YOU CAN:

Post your answer here in the form of a comment.

Post your answer on my Facebook page, and include the words "Holiday Readathon."

Post your answer on my Twitter feed with the hashtag #HolidayReadathon.

Post all three, and you'll have three chances to win THE JOURNEYS OF JOHN AND JULIA IN CHAPTER ONE: GENESIS and RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT.

This giveaway is worldwide and ends Sunday, Dec. 4 at midnight PST.

Good luck, happy holidays, and don't forget to sign up for the Holiday Readathon at WhoRuBlog, aka Holiday Readathon Central!

 

What's scarier than dissing a dead author?

Last year, in the pre-Halloween season, Oxford professor Kathryn Sutherland (see NPR interview) claimed that Jane Austen's manuscripts were heavily edited for punctuation (egads, an altered semicolon!). Here's a piece in The Guardian about Sutherland's findings.

What's most interesting about this tempest in a teapot is that if one reads the two pieces linked above, plus this one in Language Log, Sutherland never once implies that heavy editing of punctuation  detracts one iota from Austen's genius. Quite the contrary, in fact. She calls Austen "modern," "experimental," and says that her use of dashes for emphasis, for example, is not to be seen anywhere in literature until Virginia Woolf. This is praise, folks, not censure.

But analysts of all kinds pounced on these findings, concluding that Austen must not have been the brilliant stylist we know and love after all. Sounds like just one more attempt to assert that an unmarried clergyman's daughter who didn't mix in literary circles couldn't possibly write those novels on her own.

NPR wrote a solid analysis of the furor.

And now, just in time for the ghosts of authors past to rise again, comes ANONYMOUS, a movie all about how poor, low-born William Shakespeare couldn't possibly have written all those high falutin' plays. It had to be—wait for it—a British peer.

In this week's New Yorker, David Denby aptly called this theory the "dreariest of snobberies."

So what's scarier than trying to diss a dead author? The fact that such attempts keep rising up no matter how many times we think we've vanquished them. Sort of like the villains in the umpteenth installments of Saw, Scream, or Halloween.

Out Today: JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT

Make haste to the nearest bookstore and pick up your copy of JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT, a collection of never-before-published short stories inspired by Jane Austen and written by:

Lauren Willig • Adriana Trigiani • Jo Beverley • Alexandra Potter • Laurie Viera Rigler • Frank Delaney & Diane Meier • Syrie James • Stephanie Barron • Amanda Grange • Pamela Aidan • Elizabeth Aston • Carrie Bebris • Diana Birchall • Monica Fairview • Janet Mullany • Jane Odiwe • Beth Pattillo • Myretta Robens • Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway • Maya Slater • Margaret C. Sullivan • and Brenna Aubrey, the winner of a story contest hosted by the Republic of Pemberley.

JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT is edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose, one of the finest sites in the Janeiverse.

Women: Only in the Movies

Mindly Kaling of The New Yorker wrote this hilarious piece on women who exist only in romantic comedies, and I just had to share. Enjoy!

Yahtzee: The Movie?? (you'll have to read the article...)

Men of the Stacks: A library lover's pinup calendar - latimes.com

Carolyn Kellogg of Jacket Copy has given me yet another reason to love libraries.

Jane Austen Made Me Do It, Excerpt

 

A sneak preview of this exciting collection of short stories inspired by Austen, including a bit of my story, Intolerable Stupidity, in which Mr. Darcy sues people like me and my fellow anthology authors!

JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT (Ballantine) is coming to a bookstore near you on October 11.