Total Jane Austen Immersion

I returned home from a long hard day at work and needed a fix. So I googled Amazon and ordered the 10th anniversary edition of Pride and Prejudice 1995 ($19.99) and Clueless, DVD ($5.99 - I already have both VHS tapes).

Ah, I felt better. But wait! I'd forgotten about the books I'd received these past few weeks: The six fabulous Jane Austen reissues from Oxford World's Classics (see image on left) with their introductions, annotations, and bibliographies; and two sequels from SourceBooks: The Ladies of Longourn by Rebecca Ann Collins and Pemberley Shades by D.A. Bonavia-Hunt.

Uh, oh. When I ordered my new videos tonight I'd forgotten that just this last weekend I'd replaced my old VHS BBC Jane Austen series with six spanking new DVDs, plus a new DVD of Persuasion 1995 .

So many new Jane items! So little time to read or view them all! You can order your own DVD's for as little as $9.99 each, and even less if you are willing to order used DVDs. To view a complete list, see Laurel Ann's post from a few days ago, Janeite Shopping Alert.

Posted by Vic, Ms. Place (Can you spot me in my 90's navy and white sailor dress in the photo at top? See the shoulder pads? Uggh.)

Seen On the Blogosphere

And the Winner of an Oxford World's Classic Jane Austen novel IS! ... Gisselle Mehment, whose favorite Jane Austen character is "Probably Marianne Dashwood, but I do love some of the minor characters like Mrs Jennings, Mr Palmer, and Mr Collins. They all make me laugh and so ridiculous!" Great answer, Gisselle

Please send me your email address and the Jane Austen novel you would like to receive at janeaustensworld at gmail dot com. Thank you ALL for participating. This was one of our most fun and successful contests yet. And thank you, Nigel, for the inspiration.

(Please note: Names are written on slips of paper, which I draw randomly from a hat.)

The Thames Park National Trail takes you on a walk from the Flood Barriers all the way to the source of the river. If you click on each stage (click on title of post then on each stage), you will see photos of such areas as: Greenwich to the London Eye, Barnes Bridge to Embankment, Putney to Richmond, Staines to Windsor, Tilehurst to Cholsey, Abingdon to Oxford, etc. Viewing these photos is like taking a virtual tour of the Thames. Included are walking distances. For those who are lucky enough to be in the vicinity, this site is priceless.

Victoria Magazine Quotes Jane Austen

Melissa, a fan of our blog, sent this tip: The July/August edition of the (Bliss) Victoria magazine, on pages 24-29, used quotes from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility to highlight the magazines "Favorite Things" article. Thanks, Melissa!


Horse and Hound

mentions that the Alton Horse Show was established in 1894. "One of its founders was the Pride and Prejudice author Jane Austen's brother Edward Knight*.

The horse show's organisers say that for the past four years it has continued to flourish by piggy-backing on to the much larger Alton Agricultural Show, sharing insurance, health and safety and staffing costs with the larger event." Click on the title to read more.

Comment: *Edward died in 1852, so it would have been hard for him to found a show that was established in 1894. One suspects that the show took a different form earlier. Does any one know?

New Jane Austen Sequels are Coming:

Gwyn Cready, author of Seducing Mr. Darcy, which is coming out soon, offers news and information on her website and blog. Click here to enter her sites.

And Jane Odiwe has just announced on her blog that she has completed Mrs. Brandon's Invitation, a sequel to Sense and Sensibility. Something tells me we are going to have a spectacular winter curling up by a cozy fire and revisiting Marianne and Elinor.

Posted by Ms. Place

Contest Reminder

Only two days are left for a chance to win the Jane Austen book of your choice (Oxford World's Classic trade paperback edition). Click here to leave your comments! Read my review of Pride and Prejudice here.

Seen on the Blogosphere

Austenprose and Ellen and Jim Have a Blog Too are cowriting book reviews of the new Oxford World's Classics reissues of Jane Austen's novels. Their diptych review is of Sense and Sensibility, the first of Jane Austen's novels to be published. In honor of these new Oxford editions, this blog is running a contest in which the winner gets to choose their favorite Jane Austen book as a prize. Click here to enter the contest.

Jane Odiwe's Blogspot features the scenes and settings from Jane Austen's novels and movie adaptations. She intersperses her posts with her drawings and paintings. Nicely done, Jane! And congratulations on getting your book, Lydia Bennet's Story, published with SourceBooks in October.

Click here to read the exchange of letters between Lucy (Ms.Place) and Lydia Wickham (Jane).




Girlebooks is now offering free e-texts of Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. You can choose several ways to download these books - as an Adobe PDF document, plain text, kindle format, Microsoft reader, or eReader PDB. As the site says, "We publish ebooks by the gals. But much more than a simple ebook resource, Girlebooks aims to make classic and lesser-known works by female writers available to a large audience through the ebook medium."


Austen Blog features an interesting post about Meryton. The comments are just as informative and are definitely worth reading!


Book Club Girl spoke recently on Talk Radio with Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict author Laurie Viera Rigler . Click on the widget to listen to the interview.
Posted by Ms. Place

Contest: Win a Jane Austen Oxford World's Classic of Your Choice

Nigel has been enjoying the Jane Austen Season in Australia. In his blog he asked the following questions. (Click here to read his answers.)

If you would like to play along and answer the questions in the comment section, you will have the chance to win a new edition of a Jane Austen novel published by Oxford World's Classics. The winner of this contest will have an opportunity to choose their favorite Jane Austen novel. You have until midnight July 5th to answer the questions below. We will draw the winning name from a hat. My answers are in the comment section. (I changed one of Nigel's questions, since "shag" is not a term commonly used in the U.S.) Simply copy and paste the following in the comment section:

1. Who is your favorite Jane Austen character?

2. Who is your least favorite Jane Austen character?

3. Who is the sexiest Jane Austen character?

4. If you lived in 1806 who would you most like to be?

5. An Austen hero is: a soldier, sailor or gentleman?

6. Who is your favorite Jane Austen villain?

7. What is your favorite Jane Austen location?

8. What is your favorite Jane Austen pastime?

9. What is your favorite Jane Austen quote?

10. What would be one major critique of Jane Austen's work?