HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! MARY LYDON SIMONSEN, WRITER

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen?

I can answer that question in one word: poorer, both literally and figuratively. Long before I became a writer of Jane Austen re-imaginings, I was devotee of her work. I first met Jane Austen while reading Pride and Prejudice in my senior high-school English class. Although required reading, I thought it was the best book I had ever read, and I kept looking around the class to see if everyone was as enthusiastic as I was. They weren’t, but I hope that has changed. (I once had a professor tell me that his favorite novel was Silas Marner: “It is a fantastic novel if you aren’t exposed to it too young.”) I am sure that was the same difficulty for my classmates who, at seventeen, were thinking of other things, like what to wear to the prom or getting their driver’s license.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! MONICA FAIRVIEW, WRITER

A Serene Place like Jane

Facebook, twitter,

cell phones bicker

Noises, images,

videos flicker

Streams of data

Flowing by

Everything happening

My, oh, my

No time to pause

No time to think

No time to fill your pen

With ink

Sound bites frommy life

come tumblingpast

Jumbled impressions

Nothing can last.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! P.O. DIXON, WRITER

What would my life have been like without Jane Austen? 

My life is nothing at all as it was before I started immersing myself in Jane Austen’s novels. Because of Jane Austen’s legacy, I am an aspiring writer, and because I have effectively organized my life around my writing, I find myself asking the question every day of what would my life be if not for Jane Austen. I’d like to think my priorities have changed for the better. Even though I have long desired the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it, I now work more hours than ever before. But, here's the thing: I love it.

I often say that I arrived late to the game, for my initial exposure to Jane Austen was in 2007. For the first time in my decidedly career-centric life, I saw the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film. Finding it too spellbinding for a single viewing, I watched it over and over again. I needed to know much more about the brooding hero. I then read the novel, along with several excellent 'what-if' books that told the story from Mr. Darcy's perspective. One day, I came across a link to the online Jane Austen fan fiction community. From that point on, my life has never been quite the same.

My love of Jane Austen and Jane Austen fan fiction rekindled my passion for writing and sharing stories, which was a favorite pastime when I was in high school. Then I went off to college and save an occasional poem, my writing passion faded. It would be several decades where writing and even reading held not the least bit of interest to me. Not that I didn’t read. Give me a technical manual or a financially themed book, and I would devour it cover to cover. I loved that sort of thing. I rarely allowed myself the time to read for pleasure. Even today, I have shelves of technical books (which I plan to

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! SALLY SMITH O'ROURKE, WRITER

My mother was somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t a reader. I was a true tom boy, hanging by my knees from the swing set, climbing trees, playing ball, riding bikes. Sitting around reading seemed such a waste of time. In an attempt to change that mom gave me ‘Forever Amber’ by Kathleen Winsor. She thought I might like it because I enjoyed history. Set in Restoration England the book covered politics and fashion as well as the black plague and the Great London Fire.

I enjoyed Forever Amber but it didn’t really spark my interest in reading more. My mother’s next attempt came on my fifteenth birthday when she gave me a beautifully bound copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! NATALIE RICHARDS, BLOGGER

What would your life have been without Jane Austen? 

I can honestly say that my life would be completely different if Jane Austen was not a part of it. I wouldn’t be a book blogger, for one, since I started just so I could review Austenesque novels (though I now review everything). Without my blog, I wouldn’t have met so many amazing people, some of whom have become good friends and many of whom share a common love of all things Jane Austen. Aside from blogging, Jane Austen has never failed to make me smile, even on the most difficult of days.

Trying to imagine my life without Jane Austen is like trying to imagine a life where I’m not me. She is directly to blame for my overly-developed romantic streak, my love of ballroom dancing and my obsession with polisyllabic words and flowery phrases. So many of my memories of the past seven years, since the first time I watched the Pride & Prejudice mini-series, have involved her works in some way. Mr. Darcy was my first love, and Captain Wentworth was my second, embodying all of the romantic ideals a teenage girl could wish for.

So, what would life be like without Jane Austen? Dull, very dull indeed. It hardly bears thinking of, don’t you agree?

Natalie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! VALERIE LAWS, WRITER

MY LIFE WITHOUT JANE AUSTEN  

If the ‘Men in Black’ popped in and zapped Jane Austen and her books out of my brain, it would be like having a large number of friends torn out of my address book, or unfriending me on Facebook. I’ve read her books so many times, her characters are real to me, like friends, relatives, or even annoying workmates or neighbours you can at least laugh at or gossip about. Though she’s very much of her time and class, Austen’s books are populated with people we can recognise in any age. And to lose my knowledge of her language, her use of comedy, beautifully crafted words of wisdom, that would be tragic indeed. For Jane herself is like a friend, who enjoys a goss about the people down the road, sees and enjoys absurdities, and the problems we all face - particularly women. It’s always good to re-read her novels and remember that ‘the past’ wasn’t all tight-laced Victorians, but that before them were the Georgians, lustier, earthier, despite their formal manners: cheeky, demanding, daring, sinful and knowing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! WHAT WOULD OUR LIVES BE LIKE WITHOUT YOU? A 24 HOURS' CELEBRATION & GREAT GIVEAWAY

Are you ready for a great celebration? Jane Austen's 238th birthday deserves a really grand event so here we are, ready to enjoy the fun for 24 hours!  A real marathon filled with lovely guests and brilliant posts. Last but not least, you'll have the chance to win several amazing Austen - related prizes in a giveaway contest that will be running until December 23rd and will be open internationally.

I've asked quite a few Janeite friends to contribute their answer to a simple question: What would our lives have been like without Jane Austen? 

I hope you also want to contribute your own answer in the comments or if you prefer, just wish dear Jane your personal "Happy Birthday!". The more posts you comment,  the more chances you'll have to win one of the wonderful gifts in the rafflecopter form below. 

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... MELANIE KERR, AUTHOR OF FOLLIES PAST + GIVEAWAY

First of all Melanie, welcome to our online book club. Would you mind to introduce yourself to our readers?

Thank-you, I am thrilled to have this chance to talk with you. I am a long-time Austenite as well as a lawyer and a mother of two little boys. I make my own Regency costumes and force my friends to drink tea out of china cups.  I have just released my first novel, Follies Past: a Prequel to Pride and Prejudice.

Of course, my first question is:  “When was your first encounter with Jane Austen and how was that?

A friend gave me Pride and Prejudice in university, about 15 years ago. She had read it in a literature class and thought I would like it. She was right -  I couldn’t put it down. When I look back on it, I remember sort of imagining it in a modern setting, because I didn’t have any references for the aesthetic of the period. I hadn’t seen any of the movies and didn’t know what anything would have looked like. I have, over time, come to love all Jane Austen’s work, and to develop a fascination for the period, which is consistent with my lifelong love of petticoats and pastoral imagery, but my first encounter with Jane Austen didn’t involve any of that, and I loved it anyway.

“Follies Past: A Prequel to Pride and Prejudice”  has just been released.  How would you invite our Janeite friends to grab their copy and read it in about 50 words?

Before Darcy came to Netherfield, refused to dance at Meryton or laid eyes on Elizabeth, he rescued his sister from certain peril at the hands of the infamous Mr. Wickham. This is that story, knitted together with characters and histories of my own invention and all told with love and reverence.

 What was your intent at rewriting Wickham and Georgiana’s story?

One of the great things about Jane Austen’s storytelling is the way she ties everything up into a deeply satisfying ending. We all want the books to go on and on, but extending the characters and the plot after the final chapter felt to me like interfering with that perfect ending. And it would all  have to be speculative. Nobody knows what happens after the close of a book, but Jane Austen herself tells

VIDEO INTERVIEW: JOANNA TROLLOPE, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY? A NOVEL ABOUT MONEY

Shot on occasion of the first event in the series Hidden Prologues at Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury Street, this video features Joanna Trollope. The English author analizes Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility after publishing a rewriting of the novel in a contemporary setting. Do you agree with her when she says that Sense and Sensibility  is about love but also about money? I do, honestly. What about her analysis of Marianne? Isn't it interesting? Marianne is a typically Romantic character and I agree with Ms Trollope when she recognizes Rousseau's influence in Austen's characterization of the younger Dashwood sister. But I don't want to give away too much.  Now it's time to watch the video. Looking forward to your comments. 

Read a chapter from Joanna Trollope's Sense and Sensibility
Debating The Austen Project (podcast)

TESS QUINN, ‘TIS THE SEASON! …for COOKIES! AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Thanksgiving being later this year, the whole holiday season has seemed to just suddenly appear out of nowhere!  It hit me yesterday – attending first Sunday of advent services and coming home to open the inaugural box on that Advent calendar that has been sitting on my counter for weeks calling to me – that it’s time to break out the holiday cards and start baking and planning menus and decorations and renewing all the wonderful family traditions that this season brings.   If I close my eyes, I can smell the spice-laden kitchen and the welcome heat of the oven that receives a continually rotating array of goods for baking. 

Cookies are my specialty – I generally make anywhere from sixteen to twenty different varieties every year at this time, and I have a tradition for that as well.   I pore over my recipe files and books for a week or two, picking out the family favorites that simply must be made, and finding several more new ones to try.  Then I go through them all to make up a grocery list, purchase the supplies and spread them all out on my kitchen table within easy reach.   The measuring cups and spoons and whisks and mixers and all the paraphernalia of baking line up on the counter ready for duty.   I start on a Friday evening right after work, making up several different batches of dough that can be refrigerated for baking later.  Then I rinse out the mixing bowl to start on another right away.  Early on Saturday morning I am back at it, baking the previous night’s efforts while I make up more batches of dough.  The extra warmth of the kitchen at this time is always welcome.  And the smells – ah! the smells!  Chocolate, of course.  Cinnamon.  Raspberry jam.  Vanilla extract, and toasted almonds or hazelnuts. Coconut, and caramel and… sugar.  They all merge together into a welcoming balm that brings contentment even in the bustle of activity – aromatherapy at its best!

MEET AUTHOR KATHERINE REAY AND HER "DEAR MR KNIGHTLEY" - GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Dear readers of My Jane Austen Book Club,

I’m so delighted to be here and to share a bit about Dear Mr. Knightley. This story is the compilation of Samantha Moore’s letters to an anonymous sponsor (Mr. Knightley) who has awarded her a grant to journalism graduate school. And while Sam studies fact, she must lay down fiction – her hiding place.

While we love reading Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs and other favorite classics, Sam lives within them. Growing up in the foster care system, Sam learned to avoid pain, strife and loneliness by “hiding” behind her best friends – Elizabeth Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, Jane Eyre... But now this habit is beginning to hurt her and others (as all hiding does), including another young foster kid, Kyle. And that shocks Sam – that she could be an adult who hurts a child.

So the journey begins… And we are invited along through Sam’s increasingly private letters to Mr. Knightley. And believe me, these letters take us on quite a ride. Nothing comes easily to Sam. She struggles to find her own voice, wondering if she has one at all. And the letters almost make us believe we’ve got a first person view to into her world, but we don’t. It’s even better. There’s a delicious layer we see that Sam can’t – there is what she is willing to tell Mr. Knightley, what she tries to withhold and how she interprets events – any or all of which can look to different to us than to her. The epistolary format allowed me to really explore Sam’s limited perspective and twist it about occasionally. I especially loved playing with Mr. Knightley’s anonymity, Josh’s subtle selfishness and Professor Muir’s feistiness.

JANE AUSTEN'S BIRTHDAY - WHAT WOULD OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN WITHOUT JANE AUSTEN?

Dear friends,

Jane Austen's birthday is coming soon, in two weeks,  and, as we did in the past few years, we would like to celebrate the occasion here at My Jane Austen Book Club. Let's  share our love and esteem for our beloved author! You are all invited.  Don't forget it, write it down in your agenda and, on 16 December, drop in from time to time: I'll be posting all day long.

You  readers will have the occasion to meet again old Janeite friends and,  maybe,  make new ones. Moreover,  there will be prizes to win in a great giveaway. Does it sound fun enough?

I've asked many friends to share their love answering  the question: "What would my life have been without Jane Austen"? 

I'll be the first to answer in a short post which will open the event at 0.01 a.m. GMT on Monday night, 16 December 2013.

Lots of other contributions will ensue for 24 hours,  along with a great giveaway contest that will end on 23 December and will be open internationally. Will you join us? Will  you answer the question yourself? You can do it in the comments you'll leave below the posts you'll like the most here at My Jane Austen Book Club or you can decide to post about the event on your own blog. Write to me if you want to join the fun or use our graphics on your site. 

I hope everything's clear but, if it isn't, just remember to stay tuned and check up My Jane Austen Book Club facebook page for updatings.

Credits to talented Cecilia Latella for the lovely banners of the event. She is also the designer of the graphics of my blog. Have a look at her page.

THE AUSTEN PROJECT: JOANNA TROLLOPE DEBATES HER "SENSE & SENSIBILITY" IN LONDON

Joanna Trollope will be the first in a series of leading authors to unveil the hidden back story to their latest book, with the launch of a new monthly literary salon curated by Radisson Blu Edwardian.

Held at the group’s Bloomsbury Street hotel in London, a literary hangout throughout its history, the evening event on 4^thDecember will see Joanna unpick the literary DNA of her new novel, a reworking of Sense and Sensibility. 

Joanna Trollope's reimagining of Jane Austen's novel (1811) is part of The Austen Project, which pairs six bestselling contemporary authors with Jane Austen’s six complete works: Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion and Mansfield Park. Taking these well-loved stories as their base, each author will write their own unique take on Jane Austen’s novels. The Austen Project will continue with Val McDermid’s reworking of Northanger Abbey in Spring 2014 and Curtis Sittenfeld’s Pride & Prejudice in Autumn 2014. 

The event curated by the Radisson Blu Edwardian will be hosted by writer and journalist Sam Leith, the Hidden Prologues salon will welcome up to 30 guests to hear authors read from their own work and from another book that inspired them, before joining a discussion about the issues that emerge.

DARCY'S TALE - MEET AUTHOR STAN HURD, INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY

First of all Stan, let me welcome you to our online book club. I’m really glad you’re here to introduce yourself and present your new book to our readers.

Thank you very much for having me. I think yours is one of the most appealing and impressive websites devoted to the works of Jane Austen, and I marvel at how you manage to keep it up with all your other jobs: wife and mother, teacher, and two other blogs! Well done!

Well, thank you very much, Stan. Blogging is a very engaging but very rewarding hobby for me. Now let’s focus on you, instead and of course, my first question is:  “How did it come that you decided to write your own version of Pride and Prejudice”?

My introduction to Jane Austen was the Keira Knightly / Matthew Macfadyen movie in 2005; I was in my 50’s then. I was caught immediately, even though most Austen fans think it one of the worst versions ever made; I began reading all her novels, followed by the rest of the movie and TV productions. When I ran out of those, a friend introduced me to another trilogy. While I was at first delighted simply to be back in the world created by Jane Austen, subsequent readings left me unsatisfied (I should say that I wolf down new books like a starving man at his first meal; then, once sated, I go back to savour it with a more discriminating palate). The Darcy in that series, while certainly well-written, bothered me enough that I felt the need to attempt it myself; I almost felt as if someone of my acquaintance had come off badly in the press, and that I needed to correct it. The one thing that troubled me most was that this Darcy did not, to my mind, act the way a man really would. Then I went back to P & P and asked myself if Austen’s Darcy could be more fully imagined in the way I would expect a man to act; and, to no one’s surprise, I’m sure, I found that he could. Over time, what had started off as a purely personal quest to fill in the gaps Austen left for us, turned into a larger project.

HOW TO SPEAK LIKE JANE AUSTEN AND LIVE LIKE ELIZABETH BENNET - MEET AUTHOR KAELYN CALDWELL + BOOK GIVEAWAY

First of all Kaelyn, welcome to our online book club. I’m really glad you’re here today to introduce yourself and your new book to our readers.

Thanks so much for having me!

Of course, my first question is: How did it come that you decided to write about Jane Austen’s world?

I became enamored with the BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice miniseries … to the point that I was watching it multiple times each year. I couldn’t figure out why a woman of “sense and education” would repeatedly watch the same movie again and again (and again!) … and then it occurred to me: Being able to hear the language of Jane Austen and see the lifestyle of Elizabeth Bennet was just so pleasurable – beyond even what the novel could provide. That’s when I decided to “translate” Austen’s language and Elizabeth’s lifestyle for contemporary fans.

How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet, A Pride and Prejudice Primer: Your Guide to Livelier Language and a Lovelier Lifestyle is available as an ebook. How would you interest our Janeite friends in your book in about 50 words?

I would say: If you can’t get enough of Pride or Prejudice in book or movie form, you can now put down the novel and step away from the DVD! How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet makes it easy to incorporate Austen’s lively language and Elizabeth’s lovely lifestyle into our everyday lives.

SUE POMEROY, NEW FILM IN THE MAKING ABOUT JANE AUSTEN

In this 200^th anniversary year, there have been some wonderful events and also all manner of hype surrounding Jane Austen.  The controversial rewriting of her six finished books in a modern idium - the auction of her ring ... could it be saved for the nation? - new medical details of her final illness - her portrait on the new £10 note - much drama and a firestorm of interest but what of Jane herself?

Let’s not overlook her or what she achieved in her short life at the expense of fortune and marriage to find the freedom to write six novels. Join the timely celebration of Jane Austen (this year) by really getting to know her and her world.

My main motivation for making this film, Jane Austen – Overcoming Pride and Prejudice is to get to the heart of Jane Austen, her achievements, and the challenges she had to overcome to find the inspiration and independence to write her six novels.

 I’ve watched the growing fascination with Jane and her work with mixed feelings, because her individual journey is in danger of being lost sight of in the clamour of popularity.  She lived in a different world with different rules, and her unique contribution in the field of English literature redefined the place of women within that society.  

JANE LARK, THE THEATRE JANE AUSTEN ATTENDED IN BATH - THE ILLICIT LOVE OF A COURTESAN BLOG TOUR

The author Jane Lark, included a Theatre Scene in her debut novel The Illicit Love of a Courtesan, and shares with us the research she undertook of a Georgian theatre which Jane Austen attended in Bath

The Theatre Royal in Bath was opened on 27^th October 1750 but at the time it had no boxes. When it opened the space was simply a stage and the audience watched from a sloped floor which rose by roughly seven feet from the front of the Theatre to the back.

The elite who visited Bath must have still thought the then new Theatre a bit less than genteel in comparison to the venues they frequented in London. They could not reserve a space nor escape the local less well born who might attend. But still they managed to engineer an improvement to their theatre visit. They would send their servants to theirearly and have them stand in a space and then arrive once the play had started. Of course that meant disturbance for everyone else as people forced a path through the crowd to get in and their servants then forced back through the crowd to get out. And let’s remember there were probably at least two dozen or more aristocrats or gently born patrons reserving spaces.

THE RED CHRYSANTHEMUM BLOG TOUR - A LETTER FROM MR THOMAS BENNET & DOUBLE GIVEAWAY

Greetings, Maria Grazia! Thank you for hosting a stop on The Red Chrysanthemum Blog Tour. You suggested a discussion of writing Mr Darcy or about the letters that propel the plot forward. There is one person in both my novel and Pride and Prejudice who has strong opinions about correspondence, so I took the liberty of prevailing upon him to post in my place. Thankfully, for once his return message was sent in a timely manner!—

Linda Beutler

Mr. Thomas Bennet

Longbourn, Hertfordshire

November 1, 2013

Dear Maria and your kindly readers,

  

You will notice this missive comes to you having been written on the Day of the Dead, when those of us who have passed-on return to watch you still living parade in skeletal regalia. In my case, I merely revisit my library or look over the shoulders of that most strange breed of creature, the Jane Austen Fan Fiction author. It was while communing with a new friend amongst them, a Mrs Linda Beutler, that the lady asked me to provide some wisdom regarding letters in her diverting new book, The Red Chrysanthemum.

    It has not escaped my notice there are some amongst you who do not hold me in a favourable light. Whatever faults you attribute to me are probably deserved. It is true, I am not a patient husband, and prefer the solace of my own company to the noisy antics of my two youngest daughters. Of my middle daughter, I readily confess myself at a loss as to how to encourage Mary to expand her small-mindedness. However, I accept credit—there is no blame—for how brilliantly my two eldest daughters have managed their lives. Whilst with Jane it can only be said her mother and I managed not to mar what was from infancy a sweet and happy nature, with Elizabeth I am proud to say I protected her from her mother’s excesses and supported Lizzy’s every inclination to improve herself through the knowledge of nature and extensive reading.

JANE ODIWE, TIME TRAVELS WITH JANE AUSTEN: PROJECT DARCY + GIVEAWAY OF A SIGNED COPY

Maria, thank you so much for inviting me to talk about my new book, Project Darcy, and share an exclusive sneak peek!

When I first read about the fact that there’d been an archaeological dig at Jane Austen’s childhood home, I couldn’t help thinking that it would make a marvellous setting for a novel. The idea of a group of volunteers, from all walks of life, coming together in secret to discover all sorts of interesting possibilities about Jane Austen’s first twenty five years of life at Steventon Rectory, really fired my imagination. I wanted to combine a modern story with undertones of Pride and Prejudice alongside a tale in the past, and having written one timeslip novel, I couldn’t wait to get started.

Ellie, Jess, Martha, Cara, and Liberty, are five friends just leaving university, and all have their own reasons for volunteering for the dig. They arrive at Ashe, just a couple of miles from Steventon and are going to be staying at Jess’s godmother’s house - Ashe Rectory. What none of them realise is that this house has its own connections to Jane Austen’s past in a very special way as the house where she fell in love, but for one person, in particular, being haunted by a particular young man has life-changing consequences!

Here’s a little excerpt - the girls have arrived at the house where they’re staying, and immediately, Ellie senses the enchantment of the place.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... A LOT OF PRIDE AND SOME PREJUDICE BY PETRONELA UNGUREANU + GIVEAWAY

I'm always surprised and happy to find Austenite friends loving Jane and her works just all over the world. And when they decide to write fan fiction and want to share their fondness and their achievements I'm always glad to let them share here at My Jane Austen Book Club. Today I'd like you to meet and welcome Petronela Ungureanu from Romania. Read an excerpt from her "A Lot of Pride and Some Prejudice" and try to win 2 e-books in the giveaway contest linked to this post  (see rafflecopter form below).

Maria Grazia

Read an excerpt 

-    “My dear miss Clairon I am mortified, I cannot explain how such an abominable mistake could have been produced. Please allow me to apologize profusely, I intend to take drastic measures for this unforgivable negligence.

Lord Salisbury was indeed very mortified, since the luggage of his guest, Miss Clairon, had been misplaced, and the old governess was purple with embarrassment. Lord Salisbury was ceaselessly waving his short chubby arms like he was trying to express the magnitude of his regret, yet Miss Clairon seemed to be unmoved. Through the peephole of the dining room’s door, Portia was observing with tremendous amusement the entire  commotion from the hall, when she suddenly realized that she was not alone. She turned around in a startling rush and she saw a tall, imposing man observing her with an amused expression on his face,. There was no reproof in his eyes, just a cheerful flicker of extreme diversion. When he spoke, his voice was kind and his tone excessively polite.

-    Were you listening at the door, Madame, or were you looking through the peep