Category: Reviews
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Two Women, A World Apart
Two books give me joy in the New Year. The first, by Sarah Emsley, is The Austens, a novel about Jane Austen’s relationship with her sister-in-law, Fanny Palmer Austen. The second, by Rebecca Romney, is Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, nonfiction about women writers who shaped the English author. Both works are part of the onslaught of…
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Hearts Unspoken & What Opportunities Await
I’m thrilled to announce that my newest Pride and Prejudice variation, Hearts Unspoken, is now available wherever eBooks are sold. Book Premise: When Miss Elizabeth Bennet accepts a position as the paid companion of the mistress of Pemberley, would she have chosen differently had she known what lay ahead? Mr. Darcy, an honorable man, who…
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How Important is Editing?
Have you ever read a book that caused you to pause and say ‘What?’ When you read that sentence, did you wonder why I asked the question? Well, I asked it because there have been occasions when I have thought or said that very thing. What? Why I said or thought it is because what…
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North and South at Times Wanders Off Course
Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South is often described as an “industrial” Pride and Prejudice. Written a half-century after Jane Austen’s novel, Gaskell’s book features an intelligent, independent woman and a self-made man so confident he makes Darcy look indecisive. The protagonists clash every time they meet but are also attracted to the intellect and spirit…
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“Show Don’t Tell” is B*!!$#1t – Just ask Jane Austen
According to publishers, writing coaches, editors, and English professors all over the world “Show, Don’t Tell” is a fundamental rule in storytelling. The underlying theory is that it encourages writers to immerse readers in their narrative through vivid descriptions, actions, and dialogue rather than relying on direct exposition of the characters’ thoughts, actions, and motives.…
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The Centrality of Self-Knowledge in Austen, a Guest Post from Pamela Aidan
The importance of self-knowledge or self-discovery in Jane Austen’s novels is not likely to be contested as it is a feature, perhaps THE feature that appears in all of them to one degree or another. My personal favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, has as its hinge the incident of Darcy’s ill-fated proposal at Rosings which…
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Reviews? Didn’t we just talk about those?
I’ve had a lot of time this month to think about reviews. It turns out that while my eye is safe and sound, it is taking its own sweet time about getting better. That has taken me from a lot of fun stuff like reading, writing, fulminating, expostulating, and throwing things. It has in turn…
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Because I Love to Give Value Here …
HOW TO GET LEGITIMATE READER REVIEWS This is a column not only for (a) readers (how to get to read and review ARCs of new books for free) but ALSO for (b) writers. (How to get more, and often more professional, book reviews). Let’s start with the readers. Here, I think you have to be…
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A Little Reviews Preview
My eyes grow dim, I cannot see.I have not brought my specs with me Actually in this case, my eyes really are growing dim. We’re no longer terrified of a detached retina, but I have been ordered by the eye doctor to take it easy. So instead of a comprehensive review of book reviews on…
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Good Reads for Austen Lovers
This being my first blog for Always Austen, I thought I would provide a little of my background. I am your basic unemployable English major who ended up in high tech, returning to literature—and Jane Austen—after many years in the corporate world. I have two distinct areas of interest. The first is Jane Austen’s development…