..than being with Willoughby “who didn’t know what he had when he had it.” I had no other intention …than to pass my time pleasantly … Your sister’s lovely person and interesting manners could not but please me… at first I must confess, my vanity onl...

Novel written by Ada Bright and Cass Grafton There’s something meta about this book mentioning truth is stranger than fiction; Jane Austen appears at the museum dedicated to her, characters are linked across time and bloodlines. If you missed the fir...

It’s painful to read (later) about the friends drifting apart. There is a “restraint” and Lizzy is sure there can never be “real confidence” between them once Charlotte accepts Mr Collin’s proposal. They maintain contact after the marriage: ..their c...

First drafts should be “long and incoherent and hideous” according to Anne Lamott (Bird By Bird). She talks about any writers greatest fear is being hit by a bus and leaving an awful draft behind for people to discover. I think her book is also where...

Mr Bingley has real Labrador energy which comes through so clearly in this adaptation. His watching Jane like an infatuated school boy is somehow adorable rather than creepy. He is very clearly Enchanted to meet her. Jane is modest and doesn’t realis...

…a loss may be sometimes a gain” Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey C28 Austenism: Life Advice from Jane Austen Catherine had never before considered that in losing something you can gain, this is despite all that’s gone on with Isabella. In the General’s...

Catherine is briefly worried Mr Tilney loves someone else (only in the adaptation, not in the book) In the novel when Catherine sees Miss Tilney with Mr Tilney she  “immediately guessed (her) to be his sister” thereby (as Austen disappointedly points...

Willoughby could not hear of her marriage without a pang… he long thought of Colonel Brandon with envy, and of Marianne with regret…he always retained that decided regard …and made her his secret standard of perfection in woman; and many a rising bea...

Review of Emmett by L. C. Rosen In the tradition of Clueless this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma is set in a rich kids high school. In fact Emmet would slide right into Bronson Alcott High; he’s also very like Cher – aware of his privilege, trying...

This is one of the most supremely uncomfortable scenes in any Austen novel (for me, at least). Emma allows her flirting and bad mood to get out of hand to the extent that she insults Miss Bates who, though ridiculous, she should respect. When I last...