Welcome to Litsy!

Between pick & so-so but rounding it up to pick thanks to the essays by Amy Heckerling & A.S. Bryant & Ignes Sodre & because I got behind & sped read the last half & that isn‘t fair to those authors. It‘s a mixed bag of essays & many were of drier content & more academic than my attention & mood wanted this month, but I appreciate the different viewpoints & ways to look at my favorites as well as my less-loved of Austen‘s books.
#pemberlittens

1. C S Lewis
2. David Lodge & Donald Greene
3. Any that said she doesn't write about historical events 🤣
4. No

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I didn‘t love all of these essays, rolled my eyes and skim read a few, and completely disagreed with some, but overall this was a pick for me. Nonfiction essay collections in general are not my jam, but I do love to read about how people love or admire Jane Austen.

Thanks for leading us, Jenny!

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#PemberLittens

Overall, I enjoyed this read with the #PemberLittens. I didn‘t connect with all of the essays, but there were some real gems. Many of the Mansfield Park essays gave me a new appreciation for that novel. I also really enjoyed Woolf‘s takes on Austen‘s earlier and unfinished works.

Final questions will be posted next week, but 3 ⭐ for me too.

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This book reinforced the reason I don't generally enjoy short stories and essays: they're too uneven! Just as I'm getting into an author's voice or point of view, the very next page brings something plodding and pedantic- qualities that some of these essays had in abundance. However, I did enjoy the reflections from Virginia Woolf, Alain de Botton, JB Priestley, and Amy Heckerling, and I'm glad to have read this and explored many views on Jane!

Posting this early as I'll be in London most of tomorrow.

No question this week but I found the above interesting - I know my rating of Emma increased on my 3rd re-read!

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Went ahead and finished, because I could. And I got a bingo (likely my only one this month)! I liked this book better in the past, but I don‘t think I ever read it all through before. As with most collections, some were better than others (I question the “great” writers in the subtitle), several had errors that bugged me. Still glad to have read it all. #PemberLittens #BookSpinBingo

And again - JA‘s first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, not Pride and Prejudice. 🙄
#PemberLittens

And how, my dear Eva Brann, can Mr, Knightley be Emma‘s brother-in-law if she has no sibling? Isn‘t that the very basis of the relationship at the heart of the book - that Mr. Knightley has watched Emma grow up from such a close distance because they are family? (Hence my main objection to Emma, actually) She might act like a spoiled only child, but she isn‘t.

Kind of tired of these “experts” getting the details wrong in these essays.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I think 33 essays was a lot 🙈 There were too many pretentious essays that I zoned out reading. But the ones I did find very interesting were the essays written by C.S. Lewis, Donald Greene, Amy Heckerling, and A.S. Byatt & Ignes Sodre. Thank you @jenniferw88 for hosting this buddy read with the #pemberlittens !!!

Thought I'd compile a list of Austen's books I think is the most romantic - feel free to share yours!

#PemberLittens @sprainedbrain @ravenlee @DebinHawaii @Bookwormjillk @MeganAnn @Amandajoy @Eyelit @kspenmoll @Kdgordon88 @mklong @Chrissyreadit @inthegreensandblues @Vansa @Ruthiella @mom2bugnbee @Andrea313 @Crinoline_Laphroaig @MaureenMc @sb3626 @Lcsmcat @ScientistSam

Jenni, I think I can guess your answer to this question! 🤣🤣🤣 I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with you though, as I think Emma is.

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This refers to Anne Elliot & Fanny Price, but what about the 1995 Sense & Sensibility scene where Elinor realises she can marry Edward Ferrars after all? Surely that's a reaction of triumph?

@sprainedbrain @ravenlee @DebinHawaii @Bookwormjillk @MeganAnn @Amandajoy @Eyelit @kspenmoll @Kdgordon88 @mklong @Chrissyreadit @inthegreensandblues @Vansa @Ruthiella @mom2bugnbee @Andrea313 @Crinoline_Laphroaig @MaureenMc @sb3626 @Lcsmcat @ScientistSam

I‘ve been skipping around and not keeping up with the schedule, but I‘m fixing that today.

I think Martin Amis and I just became best friends in this paragraph about Pride & Prejudice. 😂

#PemberLittens

I've gotten pretty behind the reading schedule for the tagged book, but I gained some ground today, including several essays on Mansfield Park, a book I genuinely love. Alain de Botton came closest to capturing the reasons why I love it ("certainly Fanny has no elegant dresses, has no money, and can't speak French- but by the end, she has been revealed as the noble one"), while Amis' essay made me want to throttle him and scream obscenities.

My answer: I think Edmund is probably an introvert in a family of extroverts, so got most of his manners through books, and his time at school/university training to be a vicar. Yes I realise Lady B is lazy, but she must have been extroverted when younger in order for her to catch Sir Thomas. There's also a theory that she's unwell: https://www.austenauthors.net/lady-bertram-mansfield-park-thyroid-hypothyroidism...

#PemberLittens @sprainedbrain ⬇️

I finished early because I was tired of slogging through and couldn't stand spending 3 more weeks with it.

#PemberLittens discussions are so much better than these ramblings of a bunch of Lady Catherines. Our love of Jane always shines through.

A couple of questions this week. My answers, yes I do, and I'd love to see Antonia Hodgson tackle one, probably Persuasion.

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C S Lewis's essay is my favourite so far.

⬆️⬆️⬆️ THIS, 100% THIS ⬆️⬆️⬆️!

People need to remember that her books were PUBLISHED in the 1810s, BUT when she was WRITING the first 3 (S & S, P & P, NA) it was in the 1790s. WHY ARE THERE SOLDIERS IN MERYTON (P & P)? BECAUSE WE WERE UNDER THREAT OF BEING INVADED BY NAPOLEON!

#PemberLittens @sprainedbrain @ravenlee @DebinHawaii @Bookwormjillk @MeganAnn @Amandajoy @Eyelit @kspenmoll @Kdgordon88 @mklong @Chrissyreadit @inthegreensandblues @Vansa

#Pemberlittens @jenniferw88
When reading Kingsley Amis Essay 'What Became of Jane Austen?' my 1st thought was 'Who the 🤬 is Kingsley Amis'

Wikipedia: By his own admission and according to his biographers, Amis was a serial adulterer for much of his life. And the above is a famous picture of him. Apparently he was 'Great' British Author who was horrible person and a racist.

My response to his essay about Mansfield Park - 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻

I think this is the truest thing I've read in this book. Our #PemberLittens discussions, even when it's something we don't like in Jane's Novels, come at it with a love of her writings.

The so called 'Serious' contributors to this book come off as pretentious Lady Catherines

One in particular in this section of the #BuddyRead annoyed me enough that it gets it own Post coming up next.

@jenniferw88

Been pretty MIA this week as work is overwhelming already & then I rolled out a new virtual leadership workshop.

This morning I splurged on brunch delivery of Mexican Street Corn 🥑 toast & an iced oatmilk dirty chai latte. Well worth it. 😋 Tried to read my section for #PemberLittens but got sidetracked, took a nap & then answered #sundaybuddyread discussion questions. Going to try to get back to it, but it‘s definitely a lazy Sunday. 😵

Nothing really stood out for me in this week's reading, so I'm leaving this as open-ended as I can for you to say anything about it!

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I‘m hoping to re-read my least favorite Austen novel with the #Pemberlittens this year, but based on my first impressions when I read it a few years ago, I heartily agree with W. Somerset Maughm when he writes,

“In Mansfield Park the hero and heroine, Fanny and Edmund, are intolerable prigs, and all my sympathies go out to the unscrupulous, sprightly and charming Henry and Mary Crawford.” 😂

Thanks for the tag @Andrew65 😊. I‘m hoping to make good progress in these two books this weekend. 🤞 #WeekendReading

This line/interpretation (for reference Henry and Catherine‘s marriage) really bothers me. I agree JA is often poking fun at Mrs Bennet, but there is a genuine affection between the two. And Mr. Bennet is not without his faults. But most of all without their marriage we would not have the Bennet sisters and our beloved Elizabeth. I do believe that JA knew that some odd matches were necessary to balance personalities. #pemberlittens

My early Monday Morning Me Time with #PemberLittens & @jenniferw88 #BuddyRead.

Jane's niece Fanny - Lady Knatchbull had me ?.
But ending with this made me ?:
"Make friends with this quiet but brilliant woman, this superb artist in fiction, and you have made a friend for life."

Just one question this week, and follows on from the essay I didn't like - NA is my fave, and my answer is it definitely is one of her 6 novels. #PemberLittens

@sprainedbrain @ravenlee @DebinHawaii @Bookwormjillk @MeganAnn @Amandajoy @Eyelit @kspenmoll @Kdgordon88 @mklong @Chrissyreadit @inthegreensandblues @Vansa @Ruthiella @mom2bugnbee @Andrea313 @Crinoline_Laphroaig @MaureenMc @sb3626 @Lcsmcat @ScientistSam

#PemberLittens
I happened to read this essay the same day as this chapter of S&S, and Watt has the wrong context for Marianne‘s response. It‘s not the horse reproof, it‘s Elinor telling Marianne she shouldn‘t have gone to Mrs. Smith‘s house with Willoughby with no companion and no proper introduction to Mrs. Smith.

#PemberLittens @jenniferw88 I found a wrong statement in the tagged #BuddyRead:
'... it's possible to read everything she wrote: Six completed Novels, three unfinished ones, three volumes of juvenilia...'

It's 7 Completed, 2 Uncompleted (The Watsons & Sanditon). I think writer considered Lady Susan as Uncompleted when it's actually Completed just Not Published.

Anyhow it has me planning a Yearlong Read of everything. 🤓

#ayearofjaneausten

My reserve has arrived! #pemberlittens

Monday Morning is my time w/ this #PemberLittens Readalong hosted by @jenniferw88.

Enjoyed Chapter on obtaining Vol 2 of Juvenalia . But the rest of these are just to pretentious for my sake. Feels like 'Let me the Scholar explain things that you the reader are not smart enough to understand.'

Particularly disagreed w/ critiques of Northanger Abbey film & book. NA is satire and when you take it too seriously you miss the point. And the fun.

Managed to get this first section of this read tonight for #Pemberlittens So far I am enjoying it & reading the different perspectives of authors on Jane Austen‘s work. Heading over to answer @jenniferw88 ‘s discussion questions before calling it a night. Weekends are much too short. 😬

This group read for any Austenites is being hosted by @jenniferw88 . I‘m really enjoying this book- it has already given me an awareness of context and perspective I had not considered, and the essays bring me into Janes world, but from different directions. #pemberlittens

First check-in #PemberLittens! 🤗🤗🤗

A couple of questions from what I found interesting in this week's reading. Feel free to answer them or ask your own, or share other quotes/thoughts.

@sprainedbrain @ravenlee @Bookwormjillk @MeganAnn @Amandajoy @Eyelit @kspenmoll @Kdgordon88 @mklong @Chrissyreadit @inthegreensandblues @Vansa @Ruthiella @mom2bugnbee @Andrea313 @Crinoline_Laphroaig @MaureenMc @sb3626 @Lcsmcat

Picked up some library holds today. #Pemberlittens #RIPJoanDidion

This just came in the mail today, & I'm excited to dive in with other #Pemberlittens! @jenniferw88

Excited to get started with the first essay tonight. #pemberlittens

Opting not to do Sense and Sensibility again, but an looking forward to both #WanderingThroughWutheringHeights and exploring Austen's impact with both of these #pemberlittens reads.

Oh the Blessed silence of an empty house. Husband who's been on vacation since Dec 23 is back to work. Nibilings left after 2nd long holiday weekends. And while I dearly love them all I'm throughly enjoying finally getting to sit down with this #PemberLittens #BuddyRead hosted by @jenniferw88.

I wish this book was available as ebook because it has so many wonderful quotes.

Intro - E.M. Forrester (Page 25 in my copy)
⬇️

Starting off the new year with an ambitious stack- a handful for the #PemberLittens, another #PersephonePick, and The Power Broker to kick off the #ChunksterChallenge. Plus Leroux's Phantom, just 'cuz I want to. #CurrentlyReading #WanderingThroughWutheringHeights

A reminder that @jenniferw88 and the #PemberLittens have a #BuddyRead in progress of A Truth Universally Acknowledged. See Jenny‘s original post for more information. Discussion will be on Sundays starting January 9th, and everyone is welcome!

On the 3rd Day of Christmas “Do not be a spoilsport and a prig, James."
#janeandthetwelvedaysaofchristmas

And our copy of A Truth Universally Acknowledged - 33 Reasons Why We Can't Stop Reading Jane Austen arrived! We're excited #PemberLittens Readalong starting January 1st. Hosted by @jenniferw88 & @sprainedbrain

#PemberLittens! @jenniferw88 is hosting the #buddyread of this book and has come up with the above schedule so that we get it all read in the time frame.

The first and last weeks have 5 essays.

I'll be checking in every Sunday (starting on the 9th), but feel free to post thoughts, quotes etc throughout the week and tag me.

Obviously you don't have to follow the schedule if you don't want to!

Hi #PemberLittens, I'm hosting the buddy read of this book and have come up with the above schedule so that we get it all read in the time frame.

The first and last weeks have 5 essays.

I'll be checking in every Sunday (starting on the 9th), but feel free to post thoughts, quotes etc throughout the week and tag me.

Obviously you don't have to follow the schedule if you don't want to!

@sprainedbrain can you tag the Littens interested please?

#Pemberlittens

Our democratically chosen book about Jane for January/February 2022!

I‘ve seen a couple of variations on the title and cover, but this looks fun!

Anyone interested in leading the buddy read/discussion, please speak up! I‘m off to order my copy. 😉

@Tamra one more for you! This is less scholarly than the Cambridge, but still really good. And some of it is “real” criticism, too, in addition to more general audience essays. I used both of them in my MA work, but this one was more enjoyable.

A Pride and Prejudice reference; Litsy is soo cool!!!

When I checked the updates on my phone, look what I saw, this adorable little write-up!

If you ever need a reason to pick up an Austen book (besides them being UH-MAZING!), this book offers 33 people‘s #opinions on why Austen is so popular in our modern times. I liked some essays more than others, but overall it was an enjoyable read!

#150PnPCoverParty