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.
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? (There are no limits of time period.)
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 would turn to for the perfect getaway read. (Remember: Time period is no limit--let your imagination go wild.)
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.
Post your answer on my Twitter feed with the hashtag #Readathon.
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 open to the US, UK, and Europe. 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!
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.
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.
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...)
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.
There is a new book just out that is so brilliant I have to share it with everyone.
From my Goodreads shelf:
The Journeys of John and Julia in Chapter One: Genesis by Aurelia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"Get ready for the adventure of your life. This masterful debut novel will have you turning pages long into the night and contemplating them well after the story ends. Or shall I say begins? For "The Journeys of John and Julia: Genesis" is but the first installment of what promises to be a brilliant series. The author weaves a shimmering tapestry with words, populates it with unforgettable characters, and ushers us into a world that is by turns magical, frightening, and ultimately empowering."
And if you're a Heroes fan like I am, this blurb from Heroes creator Tim Kring will really send you over the edge:
“Imagine a life off the grid and all the comforts it offers to a teenager. When John and Julia, the 13-year-old heroes in this cool new series find themselves without signal in ‘backwards’ Cedarwood Ridge, it becomes apparent that they need all their energy to battle unspeakable evil forces while receiving superhero-training by a collective of magical beings. All totally useful stuff, since their and our entire future may be at stake. Anyone who is a fan of ‘Heroes’ will definitely enjoy Genesis.”
By the way, what I didn't mention in my own review is that the characters in The Journeys of John and Julia also have really good taste. In fact, one of the characters is curled up with Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. And you know what? Jane from Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict stayed up all night with The Journeys of John and Julia. And so did Wes. It's a perfect book for a young lady from 1813. And a guy from 2011. And kids and teens like Wes's teenage niece Emma, who's been telling all her friends to read it.
As Jane Austen put it in Northanger Abbey:
Alas! if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?
The official online home of JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT, the new Ballantine anthology of Austen-inspired fiction, is live at janeaustenmademedoit.com.
JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT is a collection of stories by 24 authors and is edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose.
Some details from the publisher:
In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise; and one story from a debut voice, the yet-to-be-revealed winner of the Jane Austen Made Me Do It Short Story Contest.
