Lost In Austen

There's no doubt about it. It does you good to get away. Having worked a fortnight without a break (including his birthday!), hubby finally managed to snatch a couple of days off, ostensibly initially to take me to a hospital appointment because I'm a wimp, but once that was done we pondered on what to do.

Sat in a supermarket car park, we put a smartphone to good use and five minutes later had a couple of nights booked in an Inn down in Hampshire. Where we are, it's less than a couple of hours drive but far enough away to feel like a break.

I'd been wanting to visit Jane Austen's house again for some time. The last time was many years ago and I knew that there was much more to see now, plus with it being the 200th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice, it just seemed right.

Jane Austen's house, Chawton

 

 

I have some more pictures to post of this trip which really turned into a bit of an Austen pilgrimage, which isn't a bad thing, including the church near her now-demolished childhood home, where her father, and then brother were rectors. It was all really fascinating, and relaxing and the latter is really the point.

 

Yes, I have a book to write, a course to finish and some articles to get together, and novels to edit but it's important to look after your health, and your relationships too. And sometimes it's nice just to escape for a day or two to give the mind, body and soul batteries a bit of a recharge.

 

Have a good week, and happy writing! 

 



First Impressions

I love Jane Austen. It's no secret. I wonder what else she would have written, had she lived longer. And what would have happened had she not changed her mind over that marriage proposal after all. It's quite possible - and fairly likely - she wouldn't have written anything at all. Can you imagine?!

I know I'm a bit late with all this, as Pride & Prejudice's birthday was last week, but life happens so there we go. But there's been an awful lot written about this most favourite of novels, so I'm not going to add to everything that's already been printed other than to say, 'It's fabulous and I love it!'.

My post this week is more to ask as to how many copies you tend to have of your favourite novels? I'm actually rather a fan of 'Persuasion' and may even dare to consider it as my favourite of them all. Whilst Mr Darcy is delightful, Captain Wentworth is rather a sweetheart (Rupert Penry-Jones' portrayal of him in the adaptation hasn't hurt this perception, I'm not going to lie!).

And last week, I was jolly spoiled to be treated to a copy of this wonderful book in the 'Everyman Library' binding. I adore these bindings, although I do prefer the older ones when they were just black and white, rather than the picture ones they put on them now. But that aside, it's the actual binding that make these books a delight. There's just something so enjoyable about turning the pages in these hardbacks, that it enhances the read even more. It's my third copy of 'Persuasion' - but does that matter? And what I would like to say is that I adore my hubby for not saying 'but you already have that one...twice!'. In fact, he bought it for me, knowing I've been looking for it for a while. He understands that it's not just about 'a book'. It's an experience.

I was also happy that when I mentioned it was my third copy to the sales assistant, he gave me a smile and the kind of look that says 'I understand', which made me fairly sure it wasn't just me.

Is it just me? I'd love to hear how many copies you have of your favourites!

Back Home Again

As John Denver would have said, I'm Back Home Again. We finally took a much deserved and much needed break after several years of not having one. And nope, it wasn't some sun soaked island in the Tropics, it was something far more interesting!

We took a bit of a literary break. Sort of. Having booked off just under a week to mooch about, we set off early on a Monday morning to visit The Harry Potter Studio Tour. I had no idea this even existed until a short time ago when I saw a scrapbook page about it on Shimelle's blog. It only opened in June this year and features some of the actual sets, props and technology used in the enormously successful films. One point that had me erring on the decision as to whether to go or not was the price. It is expensive to get in. Much too expensive. The only reason we did it was because this was our first proper break in 7 years.

Once inside, there is a lot to see. We didn't opt for the audio tour headphones that you can borrow (for a fee!) or the guidebook and found that we didn't miss out. There are a lot of information boards and videos around that give you plenty of guidance. It's well done and fun and even if you're not a total HP nut, it's very enjoyable. But there is that price, and this extends to the gift shop - which is huge! Everything was over priced and, in my opinion, not great quality at all. Throughout the week we visited several other places and all their items were about half the price of the items at this tour. With the amount of people that will go through that tour, and buy items, I think it's a little on the greedy side to charge £28 for an entrance fee for a 3 hour tour. But, having said all that, it was interesting, and fun and if you want to treat yourself, then I think you'll enjoy it.

Throughout the week, we visited Chatsworth, which I can't recommend highly enough. I'd wanted to see it for years, it having been alluded to being the 'Pemberley' Jane Austen had in mind when she wrote Pride & Prejudice. Then of course, it was used for that very setting in the 2005 film of the very same. We spent about 5 hours there, and had a really lovely day. It's a beautiful house, with a real feeling of being a home, despite its size, and the gardens are wonderful, even this late in the year.

Other points of interest were Lyme Park, another 'Pemberley', this time in the BBCs 1995 version, as well as the Bronte Parsonage. This was full of interesting bits and bobs, such as Charlotte's glasses and some clothing - goodness, she had the tiniest feet! It really struck us that we were walking around a house that held such incredible talents, but that all their lives were cut so short, and so tragically. The day we visited, it was a misty, Autumnal morning with a definite chill in the air - all of which seemed to add to the atmosphere of the house. Leaving Haworth we drove over the moors and, although it wasn't the most ideal weather we had in mind, it was easy to imagine Heathcliffe, Cathy and Jane Eyre running across these landscapes.

One of our visits had less of a literary bent, but was nonetheless interesting if you find yourself in Yorkshire on a rainy day, and this was the National Media Museum. We'd been watching 'Who Do You Think You Are' the evening before and Alex Kingston went to the museum to find out more about her grandfather, who had been a photographer. It had the most amazing collection of photography paraphenalia, and has a great amount of information not just on that, but on film, the internet, tv and video games. And for anyone who grew up watching Playschool, let's see if you can name any of these....

Right, well I was going to upload a photo there but it seems Blogger now doesn't want to let its users put images in via the HTML method now, having already seemingly disabled the 'Compose' method some months ago. Come on, Blogger! Get it sorted, please!

So, having dallied about with Harry Potter, Jane Austen, the Bronte's, we came to the conclusion that all the places we went to were well worth a visit, but out of everything, I think Chatsworth comes top of my list.

If you're reading this, thanks for your patience with the gap. Apart from the break, there are some other background things going on, but I'm hoping to get back into the blogging swing alongside them.

Also, the lovely Carol has given me a 'Super Sweet Blogging Award' - thank you, Carol! I will be passing this on via a post shortly!

I'd love to hear if any readers have visited some of the places mentioned above, and what they thought of them. Feel free to leave a comment below! Thanks!

Favourite Authors - And Finding New Ones

I've a few favourite authors - the standards, like Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte but also more contemporary ones like Janet Evanovich, Jasper Fforde (although apologies to Mr Fforde, I am a little behind on his books at present), and, although he's slipped in my rankings a bit now, I had always bought Harlan Coben's books until the last one. I just didn't find 'Caught' as gripping as the previous ones and with the transition from Myron Bolitar to Mickey, it's just not really in my immediate realm of interest. Although I don't think that, with 50 million books in print, Mr Coben is really going to be too disappointed that a dot in England has 'gone off' his books a bit.

Another one that I read if I see it but no longer search for - at the moment - is Jennifer Crusie. I don't even remember how I came across this author but the first one I read of hers was 'Welcome to Temptation' which I totally loved - and have in fact read a few times. She has several others, but more recent offerings have been collaborations and whilst I'm not as critical as some of her literary 'hooking up' with other authors, such as Bob Meyer, I confess I enjoyed the earlier stuff more.

That's why I'm always excited to find a new 'favourite' author - and I seem to be now able to add another to the list in Carole Matthews. To coin a phrase, I realise I am a little late to the party with this one but I'm excited anyway. I actually went to the library to get out a Jilly Cooper - I confess I have never read one and thought I ought to, just to see what all the fuss was about. She always seems a fun and nice lady when I've seen her interviewed, and she's a big animal lover which goes a long way in my book. But when I pulled out the only one they had of hers, it was like a breeze block! And then in the front there were several pages of 'who's who'. I don't have the best concentration in the world as it is - if there's a plethora of pages about who's in it, I may well be floundering! I admit it. I panicked and put it back. Sorry, Jilly. I will try again another time, I promise.

So, what was I to do then? I have a tonne of books at home on the TBR shelf, but I was at the library then, and felt the need to get my little card beeped and walk away with a new book in my paws. I mooched up and down until my eyes landed on 'The Difference A Day Makes' by Carole Matthews. Being a Writing Magazine subscriber (and if you aren't and want to write, you should be!), I'd heard of Ms Matthews as her writing career was boosted into being by winning a short story writing competition hosted by said magazine. In short, she gives us lesser mortals hope. The book blurb mentioned a London family moving to Yorkshire and acquiring chickens, sheep and so on...I was sold.

I tootled home with the book and have just finished it. It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. It's great fun but also deals with emotions, not enough to make you depressed, but enough to bring tears to your eyes (and cheeks, and chin if you're as much of a wimp as me!).

In short, I have a new author to add to my list of faves - and that makes me smile!

Any favourites that you have I should know about? I'd love to hear!

50 Shades of Go Away?

Is it just me, or is anyone else a little teed off with not being able to turn around without bumping into this book, or something related to it?

As always, there are fads of things, and I'm pretty sure this is just another one as the reviews I have seen aren't actually all that good. Possibly the subject matter is more the draw for some than the quality of writing. I can't comment on it personally as I haven't read it, and frankly, don't have an inclination to. Several years back when Dan Brown was the rage with his Catholic Church conspiracies, I decided to try The Da Vinci Code, just so that I wasn't slating it without basis. I wasn't. It was dreadful. In my opinion, anyway. When dialogue needs to be held up with scaffolding, then personally I don't think that's such a great book. But the huge hype was much the same and people bought it by the droves because it was the trend.

The other issue with this latest trend is that publishers are frantically looking elsewhere to see what they can sex up and sell as Erotica. And, apparently, they have no boundaries, because they are going for the Classics! Yes, on your local bookshop's shelves shortly will be erotic versions of truly wonderful books like Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Jane Eyre - all great favourites of mine, and perfect just as they are! The relationships in them are of their time, although the feelings are just as relevant today. The moral and expected standards of the time heightened any emotions between the characters, exactly because they weren't able to just act on it! That's what makes us think - Oh! But he's nuts about you and he can't tell you! It drives us to keep turning the pages to see if he ever does get to tell her that - or her him.

Taking these wonderful classics and throwing them into the Erotica field is wrong in my opinion. I have absolutely nothing against the genre - but I think this is publishers taking an easy way out. There are plenty of great authors out there writing new erotica novels. Give them a chance instead!

I'm not slating 50 Shades of Grey, because I haven't read it. If you have, and enjoyed it, great! I'm just not a great fan of bookshops and publishers putting all their eggs onto one bandwagon - and trying to ruin wonderful books as they do it.