Sophia's Sofa Chat- A Visit With Kirk

It’s Animal Adoption Day at our city’s shelter. I’m curious about one sweet little kitty girl because the webpage says she doesn’t like other animals. This reminds me of a certain curmudgeonly guy who used to let us humans share his home before he died. And she’s got tiger fur just like my old Simon so I’ve decided to drag my latest Sofa Chat visitor along with me to Shelter day.

This is Smitten, the shelter baby I want to see

Unfortunately, we have to walk down to the river, across the covered bridge, through the park to the old WWII Tank Assembly building that now houses the animal shelter. That’s not rude, right? People like to be invited over only to be dragged back outside in the crisp fall air for a long walk. I’ll ply him with a hot coffee, tea or cocoa and some treats that were donated by some of the city’s best bakers for the occasion. Promise! Haha!

So bet you’re wondering who my victim- erm, guest will be today. All the way from Boston and a fellow book lover, I do believe I first encountered Kirk here on GoodReads. Full of wit and zeal, his thoughts on books have been fun to read. I’ve enjoyed expanding our acquaintance into Facebook where it’s a highlight of my day to view the art and music and natural beauty Kirk posts.

And, here is my guest. Right on time.
Howdy, Kirk! Glad you could visit today and isn’t that splendid? You’re already dressed for outside because we’re going to take our chat on the road today. Hope you don’t mind a little walk with some adorable animals at the end of it.

I love walking in the fall. Thanks for having me on a mobile Sofa Chat!!! And thanks for the kind words
about FB posts!

I understand you enjoy being out of doors through cycling. Do you have a favorite fall cycling path?

Anytime of the year I love Concord’s Strawberry Hill Road...I get a thrill...riding down Strawberry Hill...Eastham’s National Seashore bike/walk path from Salt Pond Visitor Center to Coast Guard Beach...and riding from, to, and near Rockport’s Halibut State Park.
Okay, you just made me nearly lose it with your thrills on Strawberry Hill bit of wit. Maybe you need to Debbie (from one of my earlier chats) for some Doo Wop.

I’ll bet the area around Boston is just gorgeous this time of the year. What are some of your favorite activities for fall?

So hard to say one single thing ‘must be done’ to appreciate Boston!!! But….Faneuil Hall might be a good choice to start. The Hub of the Hub. For book lovers, the Boston Public Library and the Boston Athenaeum are ‘must be done’. Yep, good call! I’m a library fan.

Is there an activity or place that just ‘must be done’ to appreciate Boston and its environs?

Walking in dead leaves (Team Marianne!!!!!) is one of my favorite fall activities. Pumpkin everything...Apple everything too...Fall cycling can be great too...
We have fall color tours and they can be partnered with the ‘Mystery’ train so one can be part of an interactive murder mystery play while getting off at a few stops to walk around and appreciate the glories of nature.
And that reminds me of one of my favorite scenes in Jane Austen’s Persuasion where Anne Elliot extols on the fall. But Team Marianne works just as well!

Now, you have a partiality for Jane Austen’s works, too. Are any of her novels your absolute favorite?

Lol, it’s cliché but it’s P&P by a very small margin over S&S, Persuasion, Emma and then a little gap to NA and a little further back is MP(sorry! Your favorite, I believe).
My second favorite, but my skin is thick so you’re safe from any book rivalry ire.

What do you love about them?

Perhaps it’s the twin love stories….Jane Bennet is my 2nd favorite and Elizabeth Bennet is my 3rd favorite Austen heroine. Lol...while Mr Darcy isn’t my favorite Austen hero (ducks!....Mr. Knightley far and away #1)….I respect him and his personal journey to becoming a better person...which more than I can say about the 2 Austen males last on my list. And I enjoy rooting for good guy Bingley to get a clue about Jane (and Rosamund Pike is my favorite Jane Austen actress...followed very closely by Felicity Jones).
I, too, would put Knightley over Darcy on my list. But look at that, love seeing sweet Jane Bennet getting a shout out.

How did you first find Jane Austen’s works and grow to love it?

I joke about being part of the Austen Class of ‘95. I highly enjoyed the films first(P&P ‘95...one of my cousins played snippets at family holiday gatherings, S&S ‘95 (saw three times in the theater) and Emma ’96 (although now Emma ‘09 is my favorite Austen adaption). Then read all of the big six. Then, went on to what limited JAFF I could find in my library network. For example, “The 3rd Sister” about Margaret Dashwood and one about the 1st year of the Darcy marriage.

Do you have any favorite Austenesque/JAFF books to recommend?


The Man who loved Pride and Prejudice by Abigail Reynolds. Set mostly in Cape Cod!!!

Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken.

The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz...Persuasion set in Boston!

Mary Jane Hathaway’s “Jane Austen takes the South” series...especially with the Civil War echoes. I wasn’t aware of one of the battles she mentions in the Persuasion version. Then, the battle came up in a book that the Civil War book club was reading. What a fun coincidence about the battle showing up like that in two separate mentions.

Any that you haven’t read, but you are oh so curious to try?

The soon to be three part Jane Austen marriage series by Collins Hemingway. I love JAFF books about “the author” and minor characters too. Has anyone taken JAFF to Africa or South America? (I know there’s a non-fiction South America book that I enjoyed, “All Roads Lead to Austen” by Amy Elizabeth Smith). The poles???(Austen in a very very cold climate!).
Not that I know of. I know Austenesque and JAFF has made it as far as India and Egypt and Australia, but haven’t seen any in Africa or the South Pole. But you know, I could definitely see an African village retelling. I’m sure they have their Miss Bates, Mrs. Jennings, and Miss Bingleys as much as the next place.

I understand that you enjoy Civil War history. Ha, you fooled me. I would have thought a Bostonian would love Colonial and Revolutionary War History the best. I visited once a few years back in January for a quick pass through on my way to a conference in Maine, but had to see the Old North Church, Bunker Hill, and Old Ironsides (yep, it was a tad brisk, but worth it). I love Old North!!!! As I’m writing this, I’m a hop, skip, and jump away from it. Oneth by Longfellow’s poem….
So how did you come to enjoy the Civil War era and what do you like best about it?

Ms Blazer assigned me Rutherford B Hayes in the third grade President’s unit. Hayes was wounded multiple times in the Civil War. About the same time, one of my Dad’s friends had a big “Timelife” Civil War book with great battle maps. I was fascinated. I think that the Civil War was the last war when one individual person could make a difference in battle…not just the overall commanders...Hayes while a minor league Colonel most of the war(he wanted to be remembered as a “good Colonel”)...he was a hero at a few minor battles. And my other big Civil War hero is Maine’s Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain...Gettysburg… 2nd day...Little Round Top...‘Nuff said.
Me too! Me too! But erhmm, sorry to interrupt.
In both cases...they were nearly 40, had growing families and were on the move in their chosen professions (law, academia) They didn’t have to go fight but they went not knowing anything really about war...and both performed so very well.
Your comment at the Revolutionary War certainly had me thinking...for me...being so very parochial….The high point of the Revolution for me was fight at Old North Bridge in Concord!! I grew up 13 miles by bike from the Bridge! (sorry Lexington, I don’t count you!). After Concord….my interest in the Revolution kinda fades. Whereas, the Civil War has so many avenues to explore...many big questions to argue about and that (sadly!) are relevant today ...although I avoid the gory stuff as much as I can.

Any favorite books on the Civil War? I’ve read both Shaaras and Shelby Foote so I’m always on the spy for more to like.
My Civil War book club is reading the “The Killer Angels” this month!!! Loved the movie and it was my introduction to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.-

Favorite books about Civil War…..
Lincoln and His Admirals by Craig L Symonds (I love Lincoln’s cracky Sec of Navy Gideon Wells...kinda reminds me of John Knightley! Sadly...I’d like to be more like George Knightley but actually more like cracky John Knightley)…. anything by James B McPherson.
Another book….”The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War” by Don Doyle.


It’s amazing what stats can tell one and GoodReads helps with stats by allowing for members to create dedicated shelves. Since we were just chatting about Kirk’s reading habits, Wanna know what his shelves show about his reading habits in regard to America’s Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Austenesque reading that we discussed? How about it Kirk, what do the numbers say?

Since 2012 (with some from prior years too):

91 Civil War books
19 Revolutionary War books

Lol....and Jane Austen books.....222!

And for comparison, here’s mine:
14 Civil War books
9 Revolutionary War books
Aaaand 278 Jane Austen books.


Back to Austen. Sorry for the whiplash, there. I understand you are part of a reading group (book club!) called Austen in Boston. Would you share a bit about that?


Austen in Boston: A Jane Austen Book Club was started by someone else in Spring ‘09. They met three or four times and then stopped meeting. I joined in Jan ‘10...I suggested we read a book and the prior organizer left! I and another person co-lead it for the 1st year and then she didn’t want to organize any more (she wanted us to read all of Dickens...YIKES!!! No, no, no!!!!). AiB meets once a month in public spaces/outdoors. All books are allowed...except for the three very twisted English Sisters!!!!

I (and too infrequently others) post 3 items a day on Facebook. Once a week I post a recap of the posts on Austen in Boston website: https://janeausteninboston.wordpress...., FB, and Twitter too.

I’ve never participated in a book club or reading group so I’m curious. What’s it like being involved in a real life reading group?

One of the benefits of “book clubbing” is that my reading list has been expanded (I have a very very narrow range of things I like...sadly true in music and art too). Several books that I would never read...were chosen and some I really enjoyed much more that I thought I would. Naturally, the flip side is that there are some books I try to get through because they are being discussed but would have abandoned very early in the reading.

In both Austen groups I’m in (AiB and the JASNA MA reading group), I’ve been involved for six plus years. So, you get to know other’s likes and dislikes fairly well. AiB, as organizer, I can keep us on topic at least most of the time. JASNA MA….not so much, which can be frustrating at times. Most of us get along well too...but there are a few exceptions. AiB meets outdoors when the weather allows! For “Gone with the Wind” (I didn’t actually want to read it but….), we met on a spooky Boston harbor island (Georges Island...home of Civil War prison Fort Warren).

And here we are at the shelter. How is your cat buddy back home doing? Any fun anecdotes to relate?

Handsome Wilbur P Force poses well for the camera

Wilbur P Force is a ton of fun. He got a clean bill of health recently!!! Time for more photos! I walk with him in the building hallways...where occasionally he runs into other Apartments (he has an open door policy)!!!!

They have complimentary Kuerig variety pods to do up a cup if you would like something to warm you up. Oh, and those glazed oatmeal raisin cookies are to die for, but pretty much all the goodies laid out are a safe bet. I’ll just be looking over this little lady here who is giving me the evil eye which in cat language could mean anything as you well know.

Ah, healthy oatmeal raisin cookies! Lol, I prefer slightly sweeter cookies...especially cookies with chocolate something although I’m slightly allergic to chocolate.
You’ve come to the right place, enjoy the spread of goodies they have.

Sofa Starters:
Africa or Asia? Africa….I wonder if anyone has set Jane Austen’s stories in Africa?
Splinter or blister? OUCH!!!! Having had problems with both….no comment! Interesting...in Persuasion it is key for Anne Elliot that Mrs. Croft is unable to walk with Admiral Croft do to a nightmarishly large blister.
Colonel Fitzwilliam or Admiral Croft? I love love love Admiral Croft...2nd favorite male Austen character (only behind Mr. Knightley)....between giving up the “wheel” driving….the not telling the Musgrove sisters apart...the mirror comment. And sadly I have gout like Adm Croft(and Mr. Allen and Jane’s brother Edward).
Mexican or Italian? I’m half Italian!
Mozart or Tchaikovsky? Ralph Vaughan Williams #1 especially his The Lark Ascending. I listened to it on the way driving from Somerset (friend’s house) to CHAWTON!!! Took the train to Box Hill on a later trip and only after found out that the poet who wrote the poem Lark Ascending, George Meredith, resided on Box Hill. RVW lived in his middle years in Dorking and grow up about 6 miles from Box Hill!
RVW is followed by Sibelius and then Beethoven. I don’t care much for the two listed (me not answering the question)...but at least Peter T has the 1812 Overture.
Green or Yellow? Yellow! I was actually wearing yellow just before I came to visit you….for fallen cyclists and for safer streets. I also love Yellow in July for the leader of the Tour de France. Orange is my favorite color. I sometimes type “favourite colour”!
Soccer or Baseball? Baseball is my favorite major sport. GO SOX! I like Soccer and have recently been watching the English Premier League. It was great to get on the Leicester City bandwagon last Nov. after my girlfriend went there for a conference. And there’s the whole Richard the Third angle to Leicester. And I love Alex Morgan and have read her books.
Star Trek or Harry Potter? I hate Star Trek having been called “Capt Kirk” growing up. I got into Harry Potter 3yrs ago (GF recommendation!) and I love love love Ginny Weasley. Channeled her recently when some kids were yelling and screaming outside in the wee years…..”Shut it” I yelled!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Kirk.
Thanks for all you do, Sophia!!!

If Kirk isn’t hanging out here on GoodReads, you can find him at:
Austen in Boston (AiB) FB(three somewhat dull posts a day) and Twitter(mostly retweets from around the Austen world and beyond) @AusteninBoston
Mr Mason and Fans FB (mostly daily pictures of Yorkshire), @MrMasonFBAbbey(live tweeting Poldark and Mercy Street) on twitter
Lol, I’m personally also on Twitter (much more random) @irktown00