Scandalous Women

Here we are in the dog days of summer, or at least they are supposed to be.   Here in New York it’s been raining on and off for the past three days.   Just the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up in your apartment with a good book or movie.   This month, two Austen inspired projects have been released for those of us who either enjoy reading or watching romances set in olden times or who just adore Jane Austen.   Yes, August is for Austen, in 2013. First up is the new non-fiction book AMONG THE JANEITES:   A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom by Deborah Yaffe which an enjoyable look at the Jane Austen fans who read her books religiously, belong to JASNA, love to wear the regency clothes, the very people that the new movie AUSTENLAND lovingly spoofs.   Along the way, she meets a Florida lawyer with a byzantine theory about hidden subtexts in the novels, a writer of Austen fan fiction who found her own Mr. Darcy while reimagining Pr...

Title:   The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things Author:   Paula Byrne Publisher:    Harper Collins Publication Date:   1/29/2013 How Acquired:   Through the Publisher What it’s about:   I came to Jane Austen relatively late in life it feels.   I didn’t read Pride and Prejudice until my senior year of high school.   As a moody teenager, I reveled in the gothic novels of Emily and Charlotte Bronte.   It was actually the film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson that got me interested in reading the book.   I found the movie so delicious and fun that I had to read the book.   Since then I’ve read Northanger Abbey, Emma and Persuasion and I’ve seen almost every single adaptation of all the books.   I’ve even read several biographies but I’ve never really felt as if I knew who Jane was.   She certainly wasn’t the character played by Anne Hathaway in BECOMING JANE that much...