Product Description

"For Reading Jane Austen, to those who love her, is like mounting with wings as eagles: we cannot tire."
-G.B. Stern

Customer Reviews (1)

Jane is my essential life companion...
The Jane Austen Companion to Life is a delightful, beautifully illustrated little tome. It makes me smile each time I open it. The characters come alive through the lovely drawings, and I often open it just for a fresh perspective to start a new day. Just what I expected. I highly recommend it to Austenites! ... Read more

Product Description
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." --Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

There was never a more astute chronicler of the hits and near-misses of love than Jane Austen. Now, she helps readers discover their inner heroines and get the guy in this witty book of romance and dating strategies.

Utilizing wisdom inspired by Jane Austen's novels, from Sense and Sensibility to Pride and Prejudice and beyond, author Lauren Henderson creates an indispensable guide for navigating the all-too-mystifying dating scene. Harnessing the triumphs and pitfalls of Austen's classic characters, Henderson shows how qualities like honesty, self-awareness, and forthrightness always win the right man -- and still let you respect yourself in the morning.

A completely new and amusing approach to dating, Jane Austen's Guide to Dating includes insightful personality quizzes that reveal which Jane Austen character you -- and your mate -- most resemble. Armed with this knowledge, you can learn what to do if you're a Lizzie, but the object of your affection is a Bingley. You can even find out how to gain the clearheadedness and confidence that Anne Elliot had and almost lost in Persuasion.

Full of wit and truly useful advice that has stood the test of time, Jane Austen's Guide to Dating will help readers overcome the nonsense and find the sense (and sensibility) to succeed in a lasting relationship. Fans of Jane Austen and newcomers alike will delight in this fun, fresh, and audacious guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Enjoyable and Helpful Read
An enjoyable book that every person dating needs to read. The part of the book that struck me most was only be with people who bring out the best in you. How sad that we have to teach that concept, but I think so many people would be much happier if they followed that one simple concept. You do not have to have read Austen's books to follow the concepts (but really, why haven't you at least read Pride and Prejudice?), the author gives you enough info to follow along, coupled with real life examples of her concepts. Thoughtful, well-written ideas that assist anyone dating or anywhere where you find yourself interacting with people. Like, you know, the planet.

Have some manners, please.
A time honored read for every young person. A bit encrypted at first but there is a lot to learn. Spend the time and read the whole book. Jane Austen's words still hold treasures even in today's crazy world.

I liked this more than I thought I would!
I never thought I would like Jane Austen. I had looked upon her as a Victorian "Chick Lit." Romance author in the same vein as our modern day Mills and Boon or Harlequin writers.

This brings me to author and self confessed Jane Austen fan Lauren Henderson, who is the author of "Jane Austen's Guide to Dating".

I'd first seen Lauren's book when browsing through book catalogues and thought "How could "Old World" principles apply to the modern day?"

Turns out Lauren has discovered a revelation, you can apply old-fashioned values and morals to modern day dating. In fact the principles are also relevant to people already in relationships.

Lauren discusses different situations of dating in a light, mature way using Jane Austen scenarios, then she explains how the principles apply today. Her examples use both male and female perspectives, so it has not been written exclusively from a female point of view. Both sexes can learn a lot from this book.

The most valuable thing I learnt from this book was "don't judge a book by it's cover. Open it up and peruse what is on the inside, just as with people it may surprise you and you might even learn something.

If you have a penchant for reading dating books, throw all the other dating books you own out and get this one. It is the only one you need.

good premise that falls short
I am a big Jane Austen fan and that was the best part of this book: the examples from Austen's novels.The rest of the book read a lot like pop psychology and I have to agree with the other reviewer that commented on the "bar hopping, and sleeping around" aspect to many of the examples; a bit of a turn off for me.Some good analogies, and the woman can write.

Great gift for that single English Major
Bought this for an English teacher friend and she loved it.Makes some good points and is humorous just like Jane Austen herself. ... Read more

Product Description
Why are we so fascinated with Jane Austen’s novels? Why is Austen so universally beloved? The essayists in this volume offer their thoughts on the delightful puzzle of Austen’s popularity. Classic and contemporary writers—novelists, essayists, journalists, scholars, and a filmmaker—discuss the tricks and treasures of Austen’s novels, from her witty dialogue, to the arc and sweep of her story lines, to her prescriptions for life and love.

Virginia Woolf examines Austen’s maturation as an artist and speculates on how her writing would have changed had she lived another twenty years, while Anna Quindlen examines the enduring issues of social pressure and gender politics that make Pride and Prejudice as vital today as ever. From Harold Bloom to Martin Amis, Somerset Maugham to Jay McInerney, Eudora Welty to Amy Bloom, each writer reflects on Austen’s place in both the literary canon and our cultural imagination. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

Something to Dip Into
This compilation of 33 authors' views of Jane Austen isn't something to simply sit down and plow through.It is better used as a dictionary of Jane Austen criticism.

Most of the names won't be immediately familiar, but there is work by Eudora Welty, E. M. Foster, C. S. Lewis, and Virginia Woolf.(I'm particularly grateful for the inclusion of the C. S. Lewis' essay.)

Overall, a good source of constructive thought concerning Jane Austen and her work.Not something to read at once, but certainly good for the occasional read.

How Do We Love Jane Austen?Let Us Count the Ways...
OVERVIEW:
A Truth Universally Acknowledged is a collection of essays from literary scholars, contemporary authors, literature professors, critics, novelists, playwrights, and academics, to name a few.Some of these writers are men and others are women, some are at the beginning of their career and others are at their apex, some lived during the nineteenth century while others are alive during the twenty-first century.In their individual essays each writer ponders, analyzes, evaluates, explains or enumerates the reasons why they read, reread, and admire the novels Jane Austen.Some do it very formally with a lot of academic jargon while others casually praise, celebrate, or defend their love for Jane Austen.The essays range from three pages to thirteen pages in length and cover all six of Jane Austen's major novels including several of her minor works as well.

MY READING EXPERIENCE:
I read this compilation over the span of three months, reading two to three essays a week.I decided to put a post-it on each essay's first page, so I could leave myself some notes reminding me the themes and topics addressed in each essay.In addition, I found it helpful to give each essay a rating on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.Here is a breakdown for each rating: 5 stars (seven essays),4 stars (thirteen essays),3 stars (nine essays), and2 stars (four essays).
My average rating was: 3.69

MY ASSESSMENT:
Some of my favorite essays were ones that brought new understanding and insight to Jane Austen's novels.I greatly enjoyed C. S. Lewis's analysis and comparison of various Austen heroines, and how he illustrated the similarities in Catherine's, Marianne's, Elizabeth's, and Emma's periods of disillusionment and periods of awakening.In addition, I took pleasure in A. S. Byatt's and Ignès Sodré's conversation about Mansfield Park and family relationships.Moreover, I was delighted with Donald Greene's systematic rebuttal of Jane Austen's so-called "limitations."

However, there were some essays that weren't as enlightening and at times felt a little on the heavy and pedantic side.In addition, some writers seemed to focus a bit too much on themselves and not enough on Jane Austen.I was a little disappointed with one writer's narrow observation of Edmund and Fanny as odious prigs, and I didn't care for another writer's argument that Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland are incompatible and their future happiness improbable!

While some may grumble about some of the essays in here being old and outdated, I found that aspect pleasing and I am delighted to have all these essays conveniently located in one tome.However, I would have enjoyed a little bit more diversity amongst the writers, perhaps including writers from different cultures and countries would have added more variety.(Jane Austen is all over the globe!)Furthermore,some of the essays were a little too similar to each other and felt a bit too redundant.There seemed to be an abundance of essays on Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, but not very much said about Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility.

CONCLUSION:
A Truth Universally Acknowledged is wonderful compilation that can be appreciated by die-hard Janeites and new Austen admirers alike.You don't have to be an Austen scholar to enjoy this novel!I recommend this anthology for any Jane Austen fan who is interested in delving into some critical or scholarly work.

Austenesque Reviews

Personal, academic, light, probing, insightful......
Why do readers like Jane Austen? Many reasons exist. Some readers are drawn to her focus on romance and courtship, others to her comedy or craft, or to her portrayal of the lost world of early 19th century England. Others like myself are especially appreciative of the values that imbue her writing, and how her characters develop through reflection, self-confrontation and commitment to their own principles, eventually earning the reward of their chosen partner.

A Truth Universally Acknowledged is a diverse collection of 33 essays about Jane Austen's novels, by writers of the past and present. Included are such notables as Eudora Welty, C.S. Lewis, Virginia Woolf and Jay McInerney, as well as such lesser-known authors as Rebecca Mead, Brian Southam and Susannah Todd. Many essays focus on specific novels. Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility receive the least attention, whereas Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Persuasion each merit half a dozen essays.

The tone and approach vary - scholarly, light, personal, literary, psychologically probing and insightful. Although few readers will relate to all essays, most are likely to discover a number which are particularly meaningful to them.

My own attraction to Jane Austen is most related to her portrayal of heroines of integrity. Elizabeth, Catherine, Emma and Marianne are spirited and gregarious. Although imperfect, they are capable of facing themselves and learning from their mistakes. Elinor, Fanny and Anne, on the other hand, are less spirited, more self-controlled, and long suffering. Yet Austen honors them, rewarding not only humble self-recognition, but also patience and enduring love.

Inevitably, the essays which I most appreciate in this volume are ones which focus on the internal values and development of Austen's heroines - values which I believe are not celebrated enough by our 21st century society. My favorite essayist? C.S. Lewis, particularly for his discussion of passages of awakening and self-recognition in four heroines. "All four heroines, painfully though with various degrees of pain, discover that they have making mistakes both about themselves and the world in which they live," wrote Lewis. "All their DATA have to be reinterpreted."

Another favorite is James Collins, who in "Fanny was Right" insightfully discusses the three other heroines, Fanny, Eleanor and Anne, and their struggle "to live with integrity in the corrupt world." A lesson of Austen, says Collins, is that "it is possible to have moderation and deep feelings, good dinners and good poetry."

Likewise, I enjoyed Donald Greene's essay which defended Austen against critics who found her writing to lack passion or be irrelevant today. "She values honesty, decency, clear-sightedness, emotional responsiveness in whatever class they occur," Donald Greene wrote. According to Greene, her heroines combine reason and passion; her novels DO concern such very real and universal issues as death, sex, war, poverty, religion (morality) and guilt. "Jane Austen is one of the great portrayers of guilt -" says Greene, " - guilt and its consequences in the way of misery; guilt and its redemption by remorse, self-examination, acquisition of new insight, expiation."

Of course I did not relate to all the essays in this collection. I disagreed with Susannah Carson's judgment of the Catherine/Henry romance, and was annoyed by Kingsley Amis's description of Fanny Price and Edmund as "morally detestable." According to Amis, Fanny wears "a cloak of cringing self-abasement" disguising the fact that she is a hypocritical "monster of complacency and pride."

Some writers here even committed the sacrilege of viewing Darcy as an arrogant bore. Others such as E.M. Forster and Janet Todd seemed to me to have little to say, whereas Brian Southam was too academic, and Amy Heckerling's essay on Emma and Clueless was inane.

In conclusion: Most readers of Jane Austen, especially those who have read at least half of her novels, are likely to appreciate A Truth Universally Acknowledged. Some essays will delight and enlighten; others will bore or antagonize. At least we have a wide variety, reflecting the fact that Austen appeals to readers of many temperaments and speaks to us on many levels. What more can we ask for or reasonably expect in such a collection of essays about Jane Austen's writing?

A Truth Universally Acknowledge
My initial thought was that if one enjoys reading Austen, then the question as to why we enjoy her work is probably already known.Yet, this is the type of ponderance in which most literature classes are dedicated.Clearly, aside from simply reading Austen, it is sometimes helpful to disect certain portions to better understand the delicacies of the craft.I recommend this volume to any student of literature, creative writing, or siimply for the love of Austen.

The real Jane Austen Book Club!
I have just indulged in a week of Jane Austen.It's so good for the soul; I really should make it an annual tradition.I read one of the six original novels, a contemporary update of one of the novels, watched cinematic adaptations, and finally delved into this wonderful book of literary criticism.I'd been holding off, wanting to be just a bit more steeped in Janeism before I tackled it.I've been so looking forward to diving in based merely on the wildly distinguished list of contributors.

There are renowned literary critics like Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, academicians like John Wiltshire and Janet Todd, classic novelists like Eudora Welty and Somerset Maugham, and contemporary novelists like A.S. Byatt and Jay McInerney.There's even a token filmmaker, Amy Heckerling!There is no hyperbole at all in the assertion that these are 33 (34, really) great writers.One name is more impressive than the next, and I've barely scratched the surface.

Based on the diversity of the contributors, you would be correct in suspecting the diversity of the essays in this collection.Some deal with the author herself, or the time in which she lived, others the entirety of her work, and some focus on a single novel.My first thought was to read the more general essays first and to then focus on the contributions specific to a novel after I had just read or re-read it, so that the particulars were very fresh in my mind.Now that I've been reading the essays, Austen's work, and the work of others inspired by Austen at roughly the same time, I don't believe my approach need be that rigid.Reading some of the essays on Emma while still reading the novel gave me great insights that I might not have come to or appreciated on my own.

I'm refraining, in this review, from pulling out quotes from the essays, but only because I wouldn't know where to start.There hasn't been one yet that wasn't infinitely quotable.Where's a highlighter when you need one?Some of the essays are more academic in tone than others (many have endnotes), but they are all smartly-written, challenging, and elucidating on this eminently worthy subject.This collection of essays will surely become a cherished reference I delve into over and over as I continue to enjoy Ms. Austen's timeless works the rest of my life. ... Read more

Product Description
The broader Regency period 1795-1820 stands alone as an incredible moment in fashion history unlike anything that went before or after. It was the most naked period since Ancient Greece and before the 1960s, and for the first time England became a fashion influence, especially for menswear, and became the toast of Paris. With the ancient regime deposed, court dress became secondary and the season by season flux of fashion as we know it came into being, aided and abetted by the proliferation of new ladies' magazines.

Such an age of revolution and innovation inspired a flood of fashions taking influence from everything including the newly discovered treasures of the ancient world, to radical new ideas like democracy. It was an era of contradiction immortalized by Jane Austen, who adeptly used the newfound diversity of fashion to enliven her characters, Wickham's military splendor, Mr. Darcy's understated elegance, and Miss Tilney's romantic fixation with white muslin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A little glistening jewel of information on British fashion during the Georgian and Regency periods
"Revolution had changed the world and fashion had dressed it accordingly." Sarah Jane Downing

It is hard for me not to think of a Jane Austen movie adaptation and not remember how fashion influenced my enjoyment of the film. Some of my most vivid memories are of Elizabeth Bennet walking the verdant countryside in her russet colored spencer jacket in Pride and Prejudice 1995, Marianne Dashwood spraining her ankle and being carried to safety by Willoughby in her rain drenched white muslin frock in Sense & Sensibility 1995, or Mary Crawford ready to pounce like a black widow spider in her cobwebby evening dress in Mansfield Park 1999. Much of how we perceive Regency fashion today is from film costume designer's interpretations of the fashions during Jane Austen's time. I admit to admiring the fine cut of a gentleman's tailored redingote or the elegant flow of a ladies formal evening dress as much as the next Janeite, but am totally clueless about why and how fashion changed so drastically since the heavy brocades, embroidered silks and powdered wigs of pre-revolutionary France.

As an introduction to Georgian and Regency fashion, this slim 63 page volume answered many questions and gave me a better understanding of the evolution of fashion, its importance in society and how English style influenced the world. The chapters are neatly broken down into seven significant categories: The Age of Elegance, The Rise of English Fashion, A Fine Romance, Beau Brummell and the Great Renunciation, Rousseau and Fashion Au Natural, Reticule and Ridicule, and After the age of Elegance. Throughout are beautiful (but small) images from original sources such as the popular women's fashionmagazines Ackermann's Repository and La Belle Assemblée, portraits by the leading painters of the day Sir Henry Raeburn, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Sir Thomas Lawrence, and photographs of vintage clothing from the era. Interspersed throughout the text are references to Jane Austen, her family and characters in her novels to tie into a description of clothing or styles. A brief index at the back allows for quick reference by topic, person or place.

As part of the popular Shire Library series, FASHION IN THE TIME OF JANE AUSTEN is a little glistening jewel of information on British fashion during the Georgian and Regency periods. For the novice historian it will inform and whet your appetite. For the veteran it will be a great refresher. For each, you will appreciate Downing's straight forward presentation of material and her handling of the sense of the ridiculous that fashion can take by including Gillray caricatures and comical anecdotes. From the perspective of a Jane Austen enthusiast, Downing does state some eyebrow raising facts that to my knowledge have yet to be proven. As much as the Austen descendants would like the "Rice portrait" to be of Jane Austen, even my rudimentary knowledge of Regency fashion styles and math calculate the portrait to be much later than the 1792-93 range evaluated by experts, and the James Stanier Clarke portrait of a lady with a fur muff could be Jane Austen, but we shall never know for sure. (Best to say possibly Jane Austen to be safe and raise your credibility.) A small quibble in an overall splendid little treasure trove sure to please the Austenista in all of us.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

size is not everything!
I bought the book for specific purposes. I needed material that could be related to Jane Austen's living time. My only concern was about the size of the book - so tiny, I thought! But it was a great surprise, in the best way! The book not only contains a LOT of information, but also a lot of really good pictures that makes possible not only understand the behave of that time but visualize it. So, I truly recommend it!

Useful Book for Janeites
Ever since I learned that this book would be coming out in the spring, I couldn't wait for its arrival. The title alone told me that it was tailor made to my interests. Slim and more a monograph than a book, Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen's 62 pages are jam-packed with information and images. Some of the material that author Sarah Jane Downing wrote about was familiar, but much of it was new. While I finished the book in two sittings, I know I will be using it frequently for future reference.

Until the Napoleonic Wars, France had influenced fashions in Britain and Europe. It was the custom of messengers known as les grandes couriers de la mode to deliver the latest French fashions to the great courts of Europe in person. Wearing designer creations, their costumes were analyzed from head to toe and then tried on and taken apart. Patterns were made from the resulting pieces. People who visited cities and returned home were plied with questions about the latest trends in fashions by those who stayed behind. Soon, fashion journals appeared showing images of fashions, home furnishings, and architectural plans, and new styles trickled down to even those who lived in the farthest reaches of England.

The French Revolution marked a radical shift from the elegant, wide-skirted brocade gowns so prevalent for most of the 18th century to the streamlined, body-hugging, empire-waisted silhouettes of the Directoire Period that were inspired by classical antiquity. Wide hooped skirts were still worn for appearances at court, but gowns became simpler, narrower, and more vertical. In fact, the change in dress silhouettes was so dramatic that such a radical shift in style would not occur again until the flapper era and the jazz age over a century later.

Jane Austen's books were written during the narrow time frame when empire dresses with their high waists, short sleeves and décolletté necklines reigned supreme in the fashion world. When long sleeves were introduced in evening dress, she wrote Cassandra:

"I wear my gauze gown today long sleeves & all; I shall see how they succeed, but as yet I have no reason to suppose long sleeves are allowable. Mrs. Tilson has long sleeves too, & she assured me that they are worn in the evening by many. I was glad to hear this. - Jane Austen, 1814"

Male attire also went through a dramatic change. Ruffles and ornate brocaded fabrics gave way to intricately folded neckcloths, simple shirts, stark jackets and leg-hugging breeches. The emphasis was on the neckcloths, but not the shirts, which were sewn by women, not tailors. Jane was known to be an excellent seamstress, and she wrote about completing a batch of shirts for her brother Charles: "[I] am to send his shirts by half dozens as they are finished; one set will go next week," and "In Mansfield Park Fanny price works diligently to ensure that her brother's linen is ready when he goes to sea." - p 13.

There are so many other interesting tidbits of information. Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen discusses accessories, underwear, half dress, full dress, court dress and more. I wish a timeline had been included of when hems were raised and when they became decorative; precisely how the Napoleonic Wars affected fashion in both England and France and who influenced who and when; and when waists when up, then down, then up and down again. Another quibble I had was with the book's cover, which John Pettie painted in 1887. With all the lush images and paintings available of regency misses and their chaperones and suitors, why choose a Victorian painting?

Definitely mixed
One does not expect comprehensive detail in one of the Shire albums, but one does expect what is there to be accurate. This book has absolutely wonderful illustrations (some, unfortunately, uncredited), but the text is mixed.Seems to have been written in a hurry, and without adequate verification.For example, Ms. Downing writes of men's fashion, "it was the 'battle between broadcloth and silk' as Balzac had termed it in 1798."Since Balzac was born in 1799, he clearly was looking back when he wrote this, rather than writing it in 1798!And, however much the Austen family wishes that the Rice portrait (p. 11) is Jane herself, that is extremely unlikely. A teen-aged Jane, even a fashion forward one, would not have dressed like that in 1792-93. The portrait is almost certainly someone of the next generation.

The price of the volume is low, so it worth buying for the pictures alone, but please do further research before accepting what is in the text. ... Read more

Product Description
Jane Austen's complete novels, collected together in one comprehensive volume, now published with the complete set of Hugh Thomson's famous illustrations.

Comprises the complete text of: "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", "Emma", "Northanger Abbey", "Persuasion", "Lady Susan", and "Love and Friendship".

This collection allows readers to explore the development of one of the English language's greatest writers, following her development from the farcical comedy of "Love and Friendship" and "Northanger Abbey", via her most popular work, "Pride and Prejudice", to the masterpiece "Emma", and the considered romance of "Persuasion". A unique collection of the finest and most perceptive love stories ever written.

Hugh Thomson first illustrated Jane Austen's works in the 1890's; his illustrations are prized for their wit and liveliness. The illustrations in this edition have been photographed directly from the original books, and digitally retouched for enhanced clarity.

Copies of the original Hugh Thomson illustrated edition of Pride and Prejudice, from which these illustrations are taken, are highly prized by collectors, and valued at up to $10,000. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Mr. Darcy be Darned!
Somehow, I managed to miss reading the Jane Austen novels throughout my youth.As a 34 year old woman, I've developed a bucket list of sorts, and on the top of that list is reading the complete works of Jane Austen.This book has all of the novels in one.While a bit cumbersome to hold (I'm a night, just before bed reader) I make due with it by folding it back over itself.So far, I've read Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. Both are completely accurate and perfect. LOVE Jane Austen!

Wonderful Buy
To get straight to the point; this book is a great buy.I read a few reviews where the font was criticised, however I found no problem with it at all. The printing paper is of great quality- none of that type which gets faded and yellow, and also the book's cover is just beautiful.

All of my favourites are in the book as well as the added bonus of "Love and Friendship." I admit, I had some doubts about this purchase at first, especially due to the fact that the chapters do not start on separate pages, so if a chapter finishes on one page, then the new chapter continues on the same page. However, this issue is minor and does not detract from the fact the it's a great buy.

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery
Jane Austen. Her name is practically synonymous with classic, understated romance, as well as comedies of manners with a subtle, sly sense of humor.

And Austen's "The Complete Novels" brings together the full complement of her finished novels, from the little-known "Lady Susan" to the classic bestseller "Pride and Prejudice" (and everything in between). This collection is flled with lovably flawed heroines, beautiful formal prose, and some rather unconventional love stories.

"Pride and Prejudice" become a problem when Elizabeth Bennett takes a dislike to the handsome, aloof Mr. Darcy -- and her prejudice against him builds after he sabotages her sister's love match, and the charming Wickham drops some shocking claims about Darcy's nastiness. But when scandal hits the Bennett family, Darcy may be their only hope. And "Sense and Sensibility" clash when the two Dashwood sisters, smart Elinor and romantic Marianne, both fall in love -- one with a man she can't have, and the other with a guy who may be horribly unsuitable.

In "Persuasion," Anne Elliott was once engaged to the impoverished sailor Frederick Wentworth, but was persuaded to break it off. Now he's returned as a wealthy hero... and Anne still loves him. "Mansfield Park" is shy Fanny Price's's home, along with the rich relatives who usually treat her as a servant (except for her kindly cousin Edmund). But when the flirtatious, fashionable Crawfords arrive in the neighborhood, it unbalances the lives of everyone at Mansfield Park.

And "Northanger Abbey" is a fitting location for Austen's spoof on gothic romances, in which the hyperimaginative Catherine Moreland is taken under the wing of the Tilney family, and especially handsome Henry -- and learns a lesson about the difference between fantasy and reality. "Emma" is a frothy romantic comedy about a rich, somewhat spoiled young lady who tries to arrange the lives of people around her so that everyone is happy (except nothing is that simple!).

And as an addition to Austen's main body of work, this edition includes the novella "Lady Susan," who is sort of the evil sociopathic twin of Emma -- a brilliant and manipulative widow who seduces, plots and schemes. And "Love and Freindship" is a hilarious spoof of gushy romantic literature.

Except for "Lady Susan," each story is a love story, tempered with some clever commentary on the society of Austen's day (example: entailment, which plays a part in several plots), and a biting, sharp-edged wit (the mockery of the toadying Mr. Collins and the obnoxious Elliott family).

And despite the formal stuffiness of the time, Austen painted her stories vividly --powerful emotions and vivid prose ("The wind roared round the house, and the rain beat against the windows"), as well as deliciously witty dialogue ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But she also weaves in some intensely romantic moments as well ("Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death...").

Austen also had an interesting range of heroines -- quiet ones, melodramatic ones, intelligent ones, naive ones, and mildly spoiled ones who think they know best. But each one has a major character flaw that must be overcome before she can find true love and happiness. And she has an equally fascinating range of love interests -- quiet soldiers/sailors, sexy charmers, blunt gentlemen, andand especially the smart, sexy Mr. Darcy (who has a flaw of his own to overcome alongside Lizzie).

Jane Austen's "Complete Novels" draws together all her finished novels, and let readers explore the mannered society and obstacle-filled love lives of her heroines.

Great for the Price
This book is exactly what it says it is; 8 Jane Austen books in one.There are a lot of words on the page in 2 columns with very little margin, it's true, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying it.I've read 2 of the books already, even late at night, and had no difficulty whatsoever.So if you want an inexpensive way of acquiring all of Jane Austen's works, than this is it.If you want something that looks pretty and you can hand down to your grandkids, than you should probably buy each book separately.

For Bookworms
As said in other reviews; Small font. Written in columns. Very word packed. Chapters, and the actual different books, hard to find.
LOVE it!! 582 pages with 8 books in it. Perfect for a bookworm! ... Read more

Product Description
New chronology and further reading; Tony Tanner's original introduction reinstated

Edited with an introduction by Kathryn Sutherland. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Could be better.
The only real complaint I have is about the quality of the book. The price was not bad, the arrival time was magnificent. Unfortunately, the quality of the used book was not accurately described. This book has major cosmetic damage - including: binding being taped on, massive bends and scars on the cover, pages written all over, stains, etc. It is in Fair condition, if that. If I had known that this was the shape the book was in, I would have just bought a brand new copy.

I can't finish this story.
This is the second time I have read this book, and I just can't finish it.I purchased "Murder at Mansfield Park" and had to remember the characters.Unfortunately, it's just too boring.I'd like to take Fanny and knock some sense into her.Tell her to be more human, more tolerant, more likeable.However, that's how things were back in Jane Austen's time.Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, were not as hard to get through.I will not waste my time on Murder at Mansfield Park.

My least favorite Austen novel
Mansfield Park is probably my least favorite of Austen's works. I disliked or felt indifferent about most of the characters in the book for most of the story, and while it does have some themes which could be considered important for the times, I felt that those same themes were treated better in some of Austen's other novels.

Everybody likes to go their own way
Even the best authors in the world sometimes put out something that... well, isn't up to their usual standards. For Jane Austen, that book was "Mansfield Park" -- her prose is typically excellent, and she weaves a memorable story about a poor young lady in the middle of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. But put bluntly, Fanny Price lacks the depth and complexity of Austen's other heroines.

As a young girl, Fanny Price was sent from her poor family to live with her wealth relatives, the Bertrams, and was raised along with her four cousins Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia.

Despite being regarded only little better than a servant (especially by the fawning, cheap Mrs. Norris), Fanny is pretty happy -- especially since Edmund is kind and supportive of her at all times. But then the charming, fashionable Crawford sibilings arrive in the neighborhood, sparking off some love triangles (particularly between Maria and Henry Crawford, even though she's already engaged.

And the whole thing becomes even more confused when Henry becomes intrigued by Fanny's refusal to be charmed by him as the others are. But when she rejects his proposal, she ends up banished from her beloved Mansfield Park... right before a devastating scandal and a perilous illness strikes the Bertram family. Does Fanny still have a chance at love and the family she's always been with?

The biggest problem with "Mansfield Park" is Fanny Price -- even Austen's own mother didn't like her. She's a very flat, virtuously dull heroine for this story; unlike Austen's other heroines she doesn't have much personality growth or a personal flaw to overcome. And despite being the protagonist, Fanny seems more like a spectator on the outskirts of the plot until the second half (when she has a small but pivotal part to play in the story).

Fortunately she's the only real flaw in this book. Austen's stately, vivid prose is full of deliciously witty moments (Aunt Norris "consoled herself for the loss of her husband by considering that she could do very well without him"), some tastefully-handled scandal, and a delicate house-of-romantic-cards that comes crashing down to ruin people's lives (and improve others). And she inserts some pointed commentary on people who care more about society's opinions than on morality.

And the other characters in the book are pretty fascinating as well -- especially since Edmund, despite being a virtuous clergyman-in-training, is an intelligent and strong-willed man. The Bertrams are a rather dysfunctional family with a stern patriarch, a fluttery ethereal mother, a playboy heir and a couple of spoiled girls -- Maria in particular develops a crush on Henry, but doesn't bother to break off her engagement until it's too late. And the Crawfords are all flash and sparkle: a pair of charming, shallow people who are essentially hollow.

"Mansfield Park" suffers from a rather insipid heroine, but the rest of the book is vintage Austen -- lies, romance, scandal and a dance of manners and society.

Not a bad book - just not phenomenal as I had expected
I wanted to love this book - of course I wanted to - I wanted it to have the magic of Austen's other work. Sadly, I was disappointed. It is absolutely not a bad book - just not a phenomenal one as I had expected. The plot and the characters come across as far too didactic and judgmental and perhaps even (gulp) a tad anti-feminist. I'm trying to rethink the book so that I can reach any other conclusion - I'm trying to remember it was a product of its times - yet, I haven't been able to come around yet.

Would I recommend this book for you? Are you hoping for another Pride & Prejudice or Sense & Sensibility? Well, then no. Are you looking to enjoy Austen's lavish prose, intricately developed characters, and an accurate depiction of what women realistically could strive for in the early 19th century? Then absolutely, you'll love this book. ... Read more

Product Description
With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work. Now, with the BBC's superior adaptation, this captivating story is sure to win the hearts of countless new fans.

Beautiful, smart, rich-and single-Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegée, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It's such a happiness when good people get together
"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition" is a suitable heroine for Jane Austen's lightest, frothiest novel. While "Emma" is not nearly as dramatic as Austen's other works, it is an enchanting little comedy of manners in which a young woman with the best intentions meddles in others' love lives... with only the faintest idea of how people (including herself) actually feel.

After matchmaking her governess Miss Taylor, Emma Woodhouse considers herself a natural at bringing people together. She soon becomes best buddies with Harriet, a sweet (if not very bright) young woman who is the "natural daughter of somebody." Emma becomes determined to pair Harriet with someone deserving of her (even derailing a gentleman-farmer's proposal), such as the smarmy, charming Mr. Elton. When Emma's latest attempt falls apart, she finds that getting someone OUT of love is a lot harder than getting them INTO it.

At around the same time, two people that Emma has heard about her entire life have arrived -- the charming Frank Churchill, and the reserved, remote Miss Jane Fairfax (along with rumors of a married man's interest in her). Emma begins a flirtatious friendship with Frank, but for some reason is unable to get close to Miss Fairfax. As she navigates the secrets and rumors of other people's romantic lives, she begins to realize who she has been in love with all along.

Out of all Jane Austen's books, "Emma" is the frothiest and lightest -- there aren't any major scandals, lives ruined, reputations destroyed, financial crises or sinister schemes. There's just a little intertwined circle of people living in a country village, and how one young woman tries to rearrange them in the manner that she genuinely thinks is best. Of course, in true comedy style everything goes completely wrong.

And despite the formal stuffiness of the time, Austen wrote the book in a languidly sunny style, threading it with a complex web of cleverly orchestrated rumors and romantic tangles. There's some moments of seriousness (such as Emma's rudeness to kind, silly Miss Bates), but it's also laced with some entertaining dialogue ("Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way") and barbed humor (the ridiculous and obnoxious Mrs. Elton).

Modern readers tend to be squicked by the idea of Emma falling for a guy who's known her literally all her life, but Austen makes the subtle relationship between Knightley and Emma one of affectionate bickering and beautiful romantic moments ("If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me").

Emma is a character who is likable despite her flaws -- she's young, bright, well-meaning and assured of her own knowledge of the human heart, but also naive and sometimes snobbish. She flits around like a clumsy butterfly, but is endearing even when she screws up. Mr. Knightley is her ideal counterpoint, being enjoyably blunt and sharp-witted at all times. And there's a fairly colorful supporting cast -- Emma's neurotic but sweet dad, her kindly ex-governess, the charming Frank, the fluttery Miss Bates, and even the smarmy Mr. Elton and his bulldozing wife.

"Emma" is the most lightweight and openly comedic of all Jane Austen's novels, with a likable (if clueless) heroine and a multilayered plot full of half-hidden feelings. A lesser delight. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

In retrospect, a very good book
After viewing several versions of Jane Austen's works, it seemed that reading at least one was overdue.Since I had just seen the latest Masterpiece Theater version of Persuasion on PBS, that seemed a likely choice.The possibility of two problems loomed as the book was purchased:First, the book and the taped version would probably have major differences.Second, Having been written 200 years ago, the style would also be different, more narrative than action, for instance.I was to discover that sentence structure was also very different.(Although I have read many books in this style in my lifetime, the popular style today is, of course, more fast-paced and active in comparison.)

I was quite right about the pacing and the style.At first, it was a difficult read, taking more concentration than modern popular fiction requires.But as the machinations of the Elliott family and their kin unfolded, I was drawn into the story.How could Sir Walter be so oblivious to Anne's favors?How could Anne have listened to Lady Russell and rejected Wentworth's proposal eight years earlier?How could anyone have wanted to wed Anne's sister Mary whose ailments and spells are so blatantly self-serving?And would a man of Wentworth's personality, station, and eventual rise wait eight years to marry in an era when marrying well was so important to the upper and upper-middle classes?

All of the shenanigans listed above and many more are documented in detail in the book.There is no way one can get the same flavor of scheming and hoping in a play or film.At least I've not seen one that accomplished that.It is tough going sometimes for the modern reader.However, it is well worth the effort.Seeing society as Jane Austen did is one of those experiences one can most often get only from books.I'm glad that I picked up this one and now plan to read more of her work:Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma among them.It should be an interesting summer.

A second chance at love
In Jane Austen's time, young women were taught that it was practically their duty to "marry well" -- someone of at least equal social/financial standing.

But if a woman turned down a suitor for being poor, she ran the risk of losing the man she loved. That's the problem for Anne Elliott, the heroine of Jane Austen's final novel "Persuasion" -- a delicate romance that takes place AFTER the romance, rejection and heartrending sorrow. There's some slight roughness around the edges, but the story and the characters are simply brilliant.

Eight years ago, Anne Elliott was engaged to the handsome, intelligent and impoverished sailor Frederick Wentworth, but was persuaded to dump him by the family friend Lady Russell.

Now she's twenty-seven (ancient by the time's standards), and her vain father Sir Walter is facing financial ruin. So he decides to relocate to Bath and rent out the vast family estate -- and it turns out that the new tenant is Frederick's brother-in-law. Of course, Anne still loves Frederick, but he doesn't seem to feel the same, especially since he's rumored to be interested in some younger, flirtier girls.

And Anne's worries increase when she joins her family in Bath, where her father is attempting to live the lifestyle he feels he deserves (since he's a baronet). His heir, William Elliott, recently reestablished contact with his relatives -- and he seems very interested in Anne. But Anne suspects that he has ulterior motives... even if she doesn't realize how Frederick truly feels about her.

It's pretty obvious that Jane Austen wrote "Persuasion" late in her life -- not only is Anne Elliott older than her other heroines, but she seems to have been more sympathetic to women who bowed to society's "persuasions." This was the last book that Austen wrote before her untimely death, and it was only published posthumously.

As a result, the book can be a little rough and the story is rather simple. But Austen's writing is still intense and powerfully vivid. Her prose is elegant and smooth, and her dialogue is full of hidden facets. The half-hidden love story of Anne and Frederick is among Austen's most skillful writing ("I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever"), and it's virtually impossible not to be moved by it.

And Austen went out of her way to praise the self-made man, who got ahead through merit instead of birth (something that bugs Sir Walter). She also pokes holes in social climbers, vain aristocrats ("Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did"), nasty family and false friends.

Anne herself is a very rare heroine, both then and now -- she's past her designated "marriage" years and would have been considered a lost cause. But she remains remains kind, thoughtful, quiet, intelligent, and as time goes on she starts to appreciate her own judgement instead of being "persuaded." And Captain Wentworth is a vibrant portrayal of a strong man who worked his way to the top, but had to do so without the woman he loved.

Jane Austen's last finished novel is a little rough in places, but the exquisite beauty of Frederick and Anne's love story is simply staggering. Truly a masterpiece. ... Read more

Product Description
Jon Spence's fascinating biography paints an intimate portrait of Jane Austen. "Becoming Jane Austen" gives the fullest account we have of her falling in love with the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy, a relationship that was more serious and enduring than previously believed and one that had a profound effect upon her life and her art. The elegant narrative examines Austen's other emotional attachments, building a picture of her world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in "Becoming Jane Austen", Jane herself is the heroine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

reads like a family tree
I am a jane fan, this book reads like a family tree.Some parts are interesting, but not like i thought it would be.

Seeking her fortune....
BECOMING JANE AUSTEN by Jon Spence is the biography upon which the 2007 film was based. I must admit that while I disliked the film at first, I have since come to appreciate it after viewing it on cable television innumerable times. The movie Becoming Jane captures the poignancy of the great author's first and only love which would haunt her life and novels until her death at the age of forty-one. The book, however, fleshes out the depth of the influence which the clever, charming Irishman Tom Lefroy had upon Jane's psyche. Taken from upon an exhaustive study of the letters and writings of Jane Austen and her family and friends, much of what the author concludes about Jane's emotions and her relationship with Tom is speculation, but intelligent speculation.

I am impressed by how the constant theme of money arises throughout the book. How vital it was for a young lady to have some kind of a fortune or dowry in order to marry well, unless a wealthy man chose to marry her for love alone. Without a fortune and an offer of marriage, a young woman would have to earn her own living, either as a governess or a teacher or by learning a trade. Jane chose to earn an income by her writings. While earlier portrayals of Jane present her as a lady of leisure writing for pleasure and the good of humanity, Jon Spence meticulously shows that Jane took on writing not just for love of her craft but as a business venture. While she never enjoyed the full pecuniary reward of her labors during her lifetime, the legacy Jane left to the body of English literature is surely beyond price.

Biographical fact. Not like the movie.
Spence gets Austen's life to us in a dry, factual way. The movie took these facts, put them in a blender, embellished, and made a wonderful flick. However, if you wanted to get this book as a read of the movie, you're out of luck. Hollywood SHOULD get their facts straight. I don't blame Spence for that. He just lucked out that someone took his book, gave him money, meanwhile making a lovely (if quite fictitious) 'based on' biography.

Best Bio of Jane Austen
A life-long Jane Austen fan, and one who re-reads her books frequently, I have also read several of the most noted Jane Austen biographies, and have found this to be by far the best, most thorough, most intriguing. Spence, a Professor of English literature, clearly spent a great deal of time as a detective, readng family letters, diaries, and published memoirs of family members.He does not beat the reader over the head with "Jane Austen as a proto-feminist" as some biographies have done; but he also recognizes and make clear the female perspective in that era, the Regency era of England.Woman were not yet as overly protected and made to appear as childlike as they would be in the upcoming Victorian age, but for a woman of a genteel family, as Austen was, it was expected she would marry, or if not, she would spend her life living with her parents or after their deaths with married siblings, and being of help to her large extended family.Instead, Austen seems to have accepted her "spinster" status at quite a young age, and aside from fulfilling all the duties of the spinster aunt in a very large family, she also began, from childhood on, to write quite seriously.The publication of her first book, under the the name of "anonymous", caused a great stir, became a hugely popular book, and soon her anonymity was destroyed and she became an early celebrity.This biography presents her in the context of her time and in her role within her large extended family--other biographies have,in my opinion, seemed to present her as a postmodern woman writer would be seen, that is, as an individual, with freedom and the ability to make choices.Austen was typical of her times, and was outwardly conventional and self-effacing.Her later celebrity, as Spence points out, coming shortly before her early death, led to several relatives writing memoirs about their famous relative. Unfortunately,most of these were written in Victorian times with a Victorian view, and made every attempt,consciously or not,to present Austen as the Victorian female ideal that she never was.A worthwhile biography to read, for anyone who loves Austen's works, and one which is well researched, veryreadable, and without an agenda.
NOTE: a movie was made of this book---please avoid it.

Good background reading for the Jane Austen fan
This is an accessible biography of Jane Austen for the general reader, but the author includes a lot of genealogical information, maybe more than one needs,about Jane's parents, grandparents, cousins, etc.In addition there's the story of Jane's own romance with Tom Lefroy, which is the centerpiece of the movie Becoming Jane.The movie has some incidents in it that are not in this book; for example, in the movie, Jane elopes with Tom and then changes her mind and goes home.Apparently that didn't really happen. In reality, she waited for him for three years while he was in law school and he didn't come back to marry her.

Jane had two more marriage proposals, one of which she briefly accepted before changing her mind.Apparently at some point she decided she did not really want to be married at all, and she devoted herself seriously to the craft of being a writer.This was, however, some time after she had already published Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice, both of which were written when she was quite young.

After finding out from this book that Jane wrote Mansfield Park and Persuasion later in life, as an "older" and more experienced woman, I was inspired to read them again. They are a bit darker than her earlier works.That used to put me off, but now I understand that they are this way because of her greater understanding of the often tragic situation of women in her time.She was apparently particularly upset at the way her brothers repeatedly impregnated their poor wives, so that the women gave birth every 18 months or so, and then finally died of exhaustion.One gets the impression that she was rather glad she never married.

Another interesting thing I learned from this book was that Jane Austen hated cities and could only work well on her writing in the country. I know the feeling.Learning this about her made me feel better about the fact that I think I work better at my projects in the quiet and isolation of the country.I had always thought that was something weird about me. ... Read more

Product Description
Pride and Prejudice
The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, moral rightness, education and marriage in her aristocratic society of early 19th century England. Elizabeth is the second eldest of five daughters of a country gentleman landed in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, not far from London.

Though the story's setting is uniquely turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of 'most loved books' and still receives considerable attention from literary critics. This modern interest has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen's memorable characters or themes.

Emma
Emma Woodhouse, aged 20 at the start of the novel, is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency England. She lives on the fictional estate of Hartfield in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her elderly widowed father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and only critic is the gentlemanly George Knightley, her neighbor from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and the brother of her elder sister Isabella's husband. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr. Weston, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

These Recordings are Abridged
These recordings are abridged. I have a reading of Emma on 11 CDs. This collection does it in 2. This is a drawback, and it is not evident from the description. The box only mentions it on the back at the lower left although it would be evident from the CD count, I suppose.On the plus side the set includes an unabridged reading of The Watsons, and a CD of readings of Jane Austen's letters, both of which I have not seen elsewhere available in audio.I was looking for Sense and Sensibility on CD. It is her, abridged, in a 2 CD set, also. I'm torn between opening the box, i.e. accepting the item, for the Watsons and Letters, and to hold my S&S desires until I can find a full version; and sending it back. Watch for a further review if I open the box.

Ok, I did open it and listened to the Watsons (unabridged), Sense & Sensibility (abridged) and Pride and Prejudice (abridged). Here's the deal: You don't read Jane Austen for the plot. You read it because of Jane Austen's writing. You listen to it for the same reason. This means there is nothing at all to recommend an abridged version.Here's the problem in a nutshell. At one point in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet regrets all of the saucy speeches she ever made to Mr. Darcy. We regret them too, but for a different reason. She wishes Mr. Darcy had never heard them. Had he been listening to the abridged version, he never would have heard them because they were all cut out.Parts of the abridgement make no sense at all. When Ms. Bingley says Elizabeth is one of those women who curry favor with men by running down members of her own sex in the abridged version, this makes no sense whatever because we have not heard the conversation that led it to it in the novel.

I do not recommend buying this set at all. Had I not opened it, I would return it. There is no point in an abridged Jane Austen. That said, I note this is the only audio version of Sense & Sensibility I can find, except the Project Guttenberg rendition which seems to have each chapter read by a diffent volunteer - a reading that is not up to the performance standard of the professional sets.It is also the only audio version of the Watsons, and the excerpts from what seem to be the early practice sessions of a young Jane for an epistolary novel.These are presented as leters by Jane Austen, but I don't believe that is accurate in the sense ofletters being written to someone else. These are letters which practice writing on a brief topic, and they have interesting echoes in her published novels. They are not the equal of any of the writing in the novels, however.

I should probably give this set No Stars, but I don't think that's an option. So, 1 star for the otherwise unavailable material.

Jane Austen at her best
Who can fault a production of Jane Austen's seven best books for almost free?Nice layout, easy to read.A "go to list of books" should be on the menu of all book collections such as this.In this book you have to "go to the beginning" and then click three pages forward to get to the list.As in all Kindle books I've read, the "Location" numbers at the bottom of the page have no meaning to the user. It would be nice to have these numbers bear some relationship with relative location in the book, especially in a collection of books stored as a single "book."

Kindle-Specific Review - AGB
This is a Kindle-specific review by AGB.

Value for money: excellent bargain set of the six great Austen novels, plus the juvenile "Lady Susan".There are some Kindle-specific faults that readers will want to beware (though fewer than in other competing Complete Sets).

Presentation and Format: The pages display cleanly, with the text set fully justified (as Kindle definitely prefers).Two quibbles. First, the Chapter Lists referred to below are set to the left margin and can be difficult to select with the Kindle trackwheel and silver bar way over to the right (temporarily increasing the font size to pick a chapter is a work-round).Second, emphasis within the text that would usually be italicized has been poorly done:"Mr. Bennet, how _can_ you abuse your own children.....".Ugh!

Cover etc.: there's a simple cover for the whole set, but no covers for the individual novels.

Opening Linked Table of Contents: there is a proper opening linked ToC and - most usefully - each novel commences with a list of links to the individual chapters.
(Note: the "Linked ToC" enables you skip to predetermined points in the file - individual books, chapter openings etc.Without a good one, a long or very technical work can be tiresome to navigate on the Kindle.)

Metadata
("Metadata" refers to some hidden coding that publishers insert into the text file to enable Kindle to list and display correctly the essentials of the book - Author, Title etc. Kindle owners are able to correct indexing errors - which are very, very common - via a 3rd party software program called "Mobi2Mobi", but is both annoying and time-consuming to have to do so. )

Author: this is set incorrectly, and will Author Index the book under "J" for Jane not "A" for Austen.
(General Note: although Kindle displays author names in the form "Bram Stoker", in order for him to be positioned in the Kindle Author List under "S" for Stoker rather than "B" for Bram, the Metadata must be set by the publisher in the form "Stoker, Bram".)

Title: displays and indexes properly.
(General Note: although Kindle knows to ignore an opening "The" in a title, it simply takes the first proper word in the metadata title to index the book.Publishers often include words - e.g. "World's Classics:... " - before the proper title of the book that lead Kindle to place it misleadingly in your displayed Title List.)

Search: works properly.
Lookup: works properly.
(General Note: for reasons I don't yet quite understand, a number of Kindle format books - usually at the less expensive end of the range - don't allow Search or Lookup to work properly.)

Jane Austen Collection - Abridged
I started listening to this audiobook series "Sense & Sensibility" and was disappointed to find out that it is abridged.This should really be in the product notes so people will know exactly what they are spending their money on. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains all of Austen's exant Juvenilia, from the earliest burlesques to near-mature fragments. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a grown-up's bath book
The madcap stories and parodies in this collection will have you sputtering with laughter. Any fan of Jane Austen will be guaranteed to adore this book.

But, there is a bonus benefit to this particular edition. When I received my copy in the mail, I was a little startled, because the book weighed a ton, and each of its pages was thick and nearly laminated. The cover looked like it was produced on a dot-matrix printer from clip art, and it had the overall appearance of being a pre-release edition. There was even an apologetic note from Amazon, saying that this was the best available edition, and if I didn't like it I could return it, etc. But, I soon realized that this 'bad' plastic edition had a wonderful advantage - I could take it in the bath with me, and it didn't even get damp. There's something very zen about laughing like a maniac while in a hot bathtub. I wholeheartedy recommend the experience to you. ... Read more

Product Description
Explains Austen's methods, motivations, and morals

The fun and easy way(r) to understand and enjoy Jane Austen

Want to know more about Jane Austen? This friendly guide gives the scoop on her life, works, and lasting impact on our culture. It chronicles the events of her brief life, examines each of her novels, and looks at why her stories - of women and marriage, class and money, scandal and hypocrisy, emotion and satire - still have meaning for us today.

Discover
* Why Austen is so popular
* The impact on manners, courtships, and dating
* Love and life in Austen's world
* Her life and key influences
* Her most memorable characters ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Lighthearted Reference
If I have to sit and read a reference book about history, please at least make it interesting and enjoyable.Jane Austen for Dummies does just that.It's informative, well written, has a touch of humor, and weaves Austen's characters in and out of the manners and times of the day.In any event, if you want simple explanations as to Austen's life, the political times, mannerisms, homes, marriage, courting, and every other aspect of the world you often wish you could be part of, it's an enjoyable read.All I can say, is I certainly understand now why it was so important for a woman to marry well!Love and marriage seemed to be the one thing that made the world go around.

Excellent Austen Resource
As a former student of Dr. Ray's, I have long wished that I could call her up at odd hours to ask her about something she said in class.With this book, I no longer have to wish, nor do I have to wake her from sleep.In this guide I found all the fantastic information that Dr. Ray shared with us in the two classes I took about Austen all laid out nicely in easy to digest sections.For years I told my friends that Dr. Ray knew Ms. Austen better than Ms. Austen knew herself, and while that may not be entirely true, it captures the amount of information you will find about Ms. Austen, her world, and her stories.I would highly recommend this for the Austen student, fan, and newcomer.

Wonderful reference of Jane Austen
ane Austen For Dummies by Joan Klingel Ray, PhD, Grade: A

I loved this reference book! The author did such a great job on explaining the things of Austen.

Here are the sections:

Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist

This part introduces Jane Austen and the era she lived/history of what was going on at that time in her world, and authors that inspired Austen in her writing.

Part II: Austen Observes Ladies and Gentleman

We learn all about dancing, courtship, and the business of marrying (along with some other tidbits). I loved this section! There's been so many things I haven't understood about her books and now I do!

Part III: Living Life in Jane's World

This section talks about women's limited roles and rights during her time, what being a gentleman entailed for men, home life, manners, and religion. This section really gets to the heart of the thoughts and ideas of her characters, the roles they played and why.

Part IV: Enjoying Austen and Her Influence Today

This section talks about reading her books with new insight. She also mentions the various adaptations of her novels to the stage, screen, and television and talks of authors who've been inspired by Austen.

Part V:The Part of Tens

She gives bounteous lists of places to visit, Jane Austen books to read, and her favorite Austen literary characters!

She packs so much information and yet makes it very readable and enjoyable. Plus she repeats many things so you don't forget what you've learned! This is one I will be putting on my to-buy list for quick reference as I reread all of her novels again!!!

What you need to learn about Jane Austen
I generally do not like the "For Dummies" book series, but I had already read two disappointing biographies on Jane Austen and this book seem to have a lot of good reviews so I bought it.First let me clarify, this is not a biography but rather an very fascinating look into the Jane Austen's world.The book is very well organized and well written book that lets you understand where Jane Austen was coming from when she wrote her famous novels.You will learn about the social mores of the day, the places Jane grew up and visited, the people she in her social circle and other things that influence her writings. This is a great book for a beginner or someone who has seen the movies based on Jane Austen's novels and wants to learn more about that time period in which she wrote.I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Great read!
I only have two Austen novels under my belt, but I decided to read this book to help my understanding of the world and manners of her novels: the significance of dancing, the rules of talking to each other, how people courted and decided to marry, even the etiquette of letter-writing, and much, much more! It was so helpful, and as much as it is a helpful book, it is a really enjoyable read as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Emma has long played matchmaker for her friends and believes her own heart immune from the lures of love. This is a fascinating, hilarious coming-of-age tale of one woman seeking her true nature and finding true love in the process. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It's such a happiness...
"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition" is a suitable heroine for Jane Austen's lightest, frothiest novel. While "Emma" is not nearly as dramatic as Austen's other works, it is an enchanting little comedy of manners in which a young woman with the best intentions meddles in others' love lives... with only the faintest idea of how people (including herself) actually feel.

After matchmaking her governess Miss Taylor, Emma Woodhouse considers herself a natural at bringing people together. She soon becomes best buddies with Harriet, a sweet (if not very bright) young woman who is the "natural daughter of somebody." Emma becomes determined to pair Harriet with someone deserving of her (even derailing a gentleman-farmer's proposal), such as the smarmy, charming Mr. Elton. When Emma's latest attempt falls apart, she finds that getting someone OUT of love is a lot harder than getting them INTO it.

At around the same time, two people that Emma has heard about her entire life have arrived -- the charming Frank Churchill, and the reserved, remote Miss Jane Fairfax (along with rumors of a married man's interest in her). Emma begins a flirtatious friendship with Frank, but for some reason is unable to get close to Miss Fairfax. As she navigates the secrets and rumors of other people's romantic lives, she begins to realize who she has been in love with all along.

Out of all Jane Austen's books, "Emma" is the frothiest and lightest -- there aren't any major scandals, lives ruined, reputations destroyed, financial crises or sinister schemes. There's just a little intertwined circle of people living in a country village, and how one young woman tries to rearrange them in the manner that she genuinely thinks is best. Of course, in true comedy style everything goes completely wrong.

And despite the formal stuffiness of the time, Austen wrote the book in a languidly sunny style, threading it with a complex web of cleverly orchestrated rumors and romantic tangles. There's some moments of seriousness (such as Emma's rudeness to kind, silly Miss Bates), but it's also laced with some entertaining dialogue ("Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way") and barbed humor (the ridiculous and obnoxious Mrs. Elton).

Modern readers tend to be unfairly squicked by the idea of Emma falling for a guy who's known her literally all her life, but Austen makes the subtle relationship between Knightley and Emma one of affectionate bickering and beautiful romantic moments ("If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me").

Emma is a character who is likable despite her flaws -- she's young, bright, well-meaning and assured of her own knowledge of the human heart, but also naive and sometimes snobbish. She flits around like a clumsy butterfly, but is endearing even when she screws up. Mr. Knightley is her ideal counterpoint, being enjoyably blunt and sharp-witted at all times. And there's a fairly colorful supporting cast -- Emma's neurotic but sweet dad, her kindly ex-governess, the charming Frank, the fluttery Miss Bates, and even the smarmy Mr. Elton and his bulldozing wife.

"Emma" is the most lightweight and openly comedic of all Jane Austen's novels, with a likable (if clueless) heroine and a multilayered plot full of half-hidden feelings. A lesser delight. ... Read more

Product Description
With the same sensitivity and artfulness that are the trademarks of her award-winning novels, Carol Shields explores the life of a writer whose own novels have engaged and delighted readers for the past two hundred years. In Jane Austen, Shields follows this superb and beloved novelist from her early family life in Steventown to her later years in Bath, her broken engagement, and her intense relationship with her sister Cassandra. She reveals both the very private woman and the acclaimed author behind the enduring classics Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. With its fascinating insights into the writing process from an award–winning novelist, Carol Shields’s magnificent biography of Jane Austen is also a compelling meditation on how great fiction is created.Amazon.com Review
It's a perennial source of frustration to Jane Austen's admirers that so little is known about her quiet existence as an unmarried woman seeking an outlet for her ferocious intelligence in genteel, rural England at the turn of the 19th century. Carol Shields, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for The Stone Diaries, has already proved herself a writer who can convey large truths with an economical amount of material, which makes her an excellent choice as Austen's biographer. Shields's brief but cogent text makes persuasive connections between Austen's novels and her life (the plethora of unsatisfactory mothers, for example, and the obvious sympathy for women barred from marriage by poverty and from careers by social custom), but she never forgets that fiction expresses first and foremost an artist's response to the world around her, not actual personal history. In fact, Shields argues, it may well have been Austen's sense that the novels she loved to read didn't provide a very accurate picture of the society she knew that fired her own work. Her merciless portraits of the economic underpinnings of marriage and family relations are in many ways more "realistic" than male writers' dramas of battle or females' fantasies of romantic bliss. As for her life's lack of incident, its one major disruption--her parents' move to Bath--prompted a nine-year silence from their formerly prolific daughter. Shields gleans as much as she can from Austen's letters, while remembering that they too gave voice to a persona, not the whole truth, in order to delineate a quirky, sometimes cranky, sometimes catty woman who was by no means the perfect maiden lady her surviving relatives sought to immortalize. An Austen biography will never be as much fun as an Austen novel, but Shields does a remarkably entertaining job of discerning the links between the two. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

A very nice overview of the life of Jane Austen and her works.
This is a wonderful book on the life of author Jane Austen. While there is something of a tendency to sentimentalize--and therefore in my opinion trivialize--Austen, Carol Shields seems to have found a nice balance between the "romance" of being Jane Austen and the realities of her life in which I found resonance.

While I have read most of the novels more than once, I have to admit that I knew little about Austen except what I came across in forwards and Wikipedia.It was nice to have a more compact and focused source of information on her life.Apparently there is little other than the author's work, a few letters and some family reminiscences to draw upon by way of biographical material.Even these seem to have been edited, intentionally and unintentionally, by members of her immediate family who desired to present a united front and a good image of Austen's life and relationships.

Ms Shields has managed to pull together the biographical sources and a critical and reasoned reading of the novels to create an image of the woman and her evolution as an author.While relying heavily on the novels, especially toward the end of the book, she notes too that the fictional characters were not simply carbon copies of the author herself or of her family and friends.She also shows the degree to which the author was in fact aware of her abilities and of her growth as an artist, despite the long delay in her ultimate recognition by the publishing world and the public in general.As she notes however in her summation, "What is known of Jane Austen's life will never be enough to account for the greatness of her novels, but the point of literary biography is to throw light on the writer's works, rather than combing the works to re-create the author.The two "accounts"--the life and the work--will always lack congruency and will sometimes appear to be in complete contradiction (p.174)."In truth, I doubt that even a gifted psychiatrist could manage to dissect the life and character of Austen--or any other great author--to the extent that the quality of their literary productions is entirely explicable.As with every human being, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

A very nice overview of the life of Jane Austen and her works.

brilliant biography of Austen with a refreshing look at her works
A short and engaging biography of the beloved author that deals not in mundane details or idle speculation, but in attempting to draw a portrait of Jane, her life, and her works. Refraining from drawing tedious or melodramatic parallels between her life and her work, the biography instead attempts to understand how a spunky, quiet, reclusive spinster, alone in the country at a time of female repression and the birth of the novel as an art form, was able to write some of the most beloved, extraordinary, realistic, psychological novels of the English language. Jane was definitely a member of the suffering and unappreciated genius club. Part biography, part literary criticism, this book is a great read. Grade: A+

A Bit Disapointed
I enjoyed the first 10-20 pages because I'm hungry for any kind of info on Jane Austen. But I soon grew tired of Shields' speculations about Austen's feelings, motivations, choices, etc. She spends a lot of time trying to tie Austen's novels and characters to events in Austen's own life and after a while, it just started to feel like amateur psychology --more like a HS or college paper on Jane Austen than a well-researched biography (especially since it seemed like Shields relied primarily on other biographies, as oppposed to digging around on her own.)
I wouldn't recommend this one at all.

Concise and Insightful...
Carol Shields' 2005 "Jane Austen: A Life" is a short read at under two hundred pages, but her economical writing style packs an intriguing biography of Jane Austen into those few pages.Shields examines the limited biographical material on Austen from the perspective of a successful fellow writer.Her narrative tracks in parallel the known events of Austen's life and the composition of her novels.Inevitably, Shields must fill in the limited record with informed speculation; the result is an enjoyable and thought-provoking book.

Shields finds that Jane Austen, like many writers, depended on continuity and security in her personal routine to enable her creative skills.Shields thus explains the decline in literary output beginning with the move of Jane's parents to the city of Bath from her childhood home and ending only when Jane and her sister and mother finally settled into Chawton House nine years later.

Shields delves into Jane's family relationships, suggesting that her relationship with her mother was an awkward one.Shields also puts more shades of nuance into Jane's intense relationship with her sister Cassandra than is found in most biographies.We tend to see Cassandra now as an appendage to Jane's story, but Shields suggests the reverse may have been true for much of Jane's life.

Contrary to the family biographies, Shields finds that Jane Austen knew much disappointment in her life.She was unlucky in love.She failed to marry, and never had her own home and family.Her failure to marry also doomed her to a life of genteel poverty as an adult, and an unhappy status as a poor relation within her extended family.Validation of her writing skills in the form of publication came late.The result, Shields surmises, was a woman who was sometimes bitter, feelings not entirely masked by the ferocious weeding of her correspondence at her death.

Shields provides brief but insightful commentary on the men who had a romantic interest in Jane Austen, including Tom LeFroy, Samuel Blackall, and Harris Bigg-Wither.She is frankly skeptical of the story told by Jane's sister Cassandra about a seaside romance with an unnamed young man in either 1801 or 1802.

Shields' narrative notes Jane's evolving writing skills throughout her life.Her status as an innovator in the genre of the novel, still new in Jane's day, is documented, as is her ability to artfully capture some truths about the world in which she lived and so acutely observed.

"Jane Austen: A Life" is very highly recommended to fans of Jane Austen as a short but fascinating read from the point of view of another author.

Clear and Concise
Jane Austen: A Life by Carol Shields is a brief yet comprehensive biography of Jane Austen's life. It is written in a simple and engaging style which few readers will find any difficulty in reading. Not unfamiliar with Jane Austen, I occasionally found myself in slight disagreement with some of the author's conclusions, but overall, I was surprised and pleased by the quantity of information presented in such a clear and concise manner. Carol Shields touches on the major events of Jane Austen's life and uses these events to shed a little light on each of Jane Austen's novels as well as her minor works and some of her juvenilia. I would recommend Jane Austen: A Life by Carol Shields to anyone looking for a non-intimidating introductory biography about Jane Austen. ... Read more

Product Description
The eagerly anticipated sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Laurie Viera Rigler's debut novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, was a hit with fans and critics, and a BookSense and Los Angeles Times bestseller. Its open-to-interpretation ending left readers begging for more-and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict delivers. While Confessions took twenty-first-century free spirit Courtney Stone into the social confines of Jane Austen's era, Rude Awakenings tells the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter from Regency England who inexplicably awakens in Courtney's overly wired and morally confused L.A. life.

For Jane, the modern world is not wholly disagreeable. Her apartment may be smaller than a dressing closet, but it is fitted up with lights that burn without candles, machines that wash bodies and clothes, and a glossy rectangle in which tiny people perform scenes from her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. Granted, if she wants to travel she may have to drive a formidable metal carriage, but she may do so without a chaperone. And oh, what places she goes! Public assemblies that pulsate with pounding music. Unbound hair and unrestricted clothing. The freedom to say what she wants when she wants-even to men without a proper introduction.

Jane relishes the privacy, independence, even the power to earn her own money. But how is she to fathom her employer's incomprehensible dictates about "syncing a BlackBerry" and "rolling a call"? How can she navigate a world in which entire publications are devoted to brides but flirting and kissing and even the sexual act itself raise no matrimonial expectations? Even more bewildering are the memories that are not her own. And the friend named Wes, who is as attractive and confusing to Jane as the man who broke her heart back home. It's enough to make her wonder if she would be better off in her own time, where at least the rules are clear-that is, if returning is even an option. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

cute
Apparently there's a, well, not really a prequel, but, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book is a continuation of another-- Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Being the rebel that I am, I read the second one first. Actually, my parents gave me the second one for my birthday, and I had no idea...

Wow, sorry for the babbling! I guess my point is that I just finished reading this one and it was cute. I didn't have to have read the first one first, I could keep up with the events in the book without the prequel. The first one is about a 21st century independent woman, Courtney Stone, going back in time to the Regency Era, and this one that I read concerns the woman she kicks out of her body, Jane Mansfield, who leaves 1813 and enters the leftover 2009 body.

There's the usual amazement at the "carriages without horses" and the ignorance about how to use a phone, but it's told in Jane Austen language, so the reader really feels as though she's inside Jane Mansfield's head (well, actually Courtney Stone's head, since Jane is inhabiting Courtney's body...wow that's confusing...). The characters that surround Jane are amusing; the punkish type Paula with pink and blue striped hair and Frank, the two-timing flirt who claims to want "Courtney" back. I liked Deepa, too, but sometimes I felt their relationship went beyond friendship and I almost felt as though Jane would have to deal with a lesbian crush as well...which would have definitely put a twist on the story!

While this book will never be in the same caliber as actual Jane Austen novels, it was entertaining enough to keep me on the couch reading. I enjoyed the storyline and though it sounds like it could be confusing, it's not. The style is flowing and concise and really shows Jane's confusion and awe in this fast-paced technical world. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood makes a movie out of either or both of these books. Hollywood, if you're listening, call me, I'll write the screenplay. ;)

Delightful Sequel
Enjoyed this sequel much more than the original "Confessions".I believe it was due to the main character herself.Jane Mansfield was a much more likeable person than the original heroine Courtney Stone.When Jane finds herself in Courtney's body it makes for some entertaining situations.And yes the time travel thing is very mystical and the memories is a bit lame excuse for not dealing with issues like how to use a remote, or drive a car but as entertaining escapism (which is why I read) it was a nice blend some of my favorite things: Jane Austen, her novels, Lost in Austen, Pride & Predjudice (both book and DVD).

Not as good as "Confessions..."
Just finished listening to this book last night and am soo glad to have it over with. The first book, "Confessions of a Jane Austin Addict" was very enjoyable but this book went on & on and by the last cd I was feeling depressed that it wasn't ending & was just hanging on to finish it. I recommend the first but not really this one.

A fine and funny saga ensues, perfect for Jane Austin fans
An outstanding work of fiction, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austin Addict is funny and intriguing and tells of one Courtney Stone, a modern girl caught in Jane Austin's era. It offers the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter from Regency England who awakens in Courtney's fast-paced modern LA life, and finds herself challenged by technology and romance alike. A fine and funny saga ensues, perfect for Jane Austin fans.

A must for Austen fans
I couldn't put this book down, along with its predecessorConfessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Very much in the Jane Austen style and feel, with a character almost straight out of one of her books landing pell mell in modern times.Engaging and believably in accordance with Austen's writings. ... Read more

Product Description
Whether you've read Jane Austen once or read her yearly, or if you simply yearn to be Elizabeth or Mr. Darcy, this new Bedside companion will be a perfect match. Janeite and newcomer alike will revel in the entertaining capsules of each of Austen's beloved novels, along with information on such important subjects as white soup, carriages, what happened at the ha-ha, and, of course, all those characters we love to hate. In the spirit of Austen, maps, puzzles and quizzes are provided--including the one and only Jane Austen aptitude Test. The reader is taken on location to Steventon, Jane Austen's childhood home, to Bath, the city she was happy to leave, and elsewhere. Also included is an interview with Karen J. Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club. An Austentatious work, indeed! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Quick Jane Austen Fix
This is a great book for just opening up at any page and reading.Good book.Great to take along while waiting for a plane or bus.Or just about anything.

Fun book for any Jane Austen fan
In a time of books and movies that just try to capitalize on the success that Jane Austen's works are having, Adams' Companion is a lighthouse of risible splendor that brings fun to any gathering of fans of Jane Austen.
I look forward to giving my mother, a great Jane Austen scholar herself, a copy of this book for Mother's Day; I just know that she will love it! There are many types of Jane Austen fans and all can enjoy all sorts of different aspects of Austenian information.
Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who can read English, even to those who can't but would like to learn to read English.
: )

A great gift for Mother's Day -- or any day!
I was moved and impressed by this book.Clearly, the authors admire and care about the many aspects of Jane Austen's novels.You can share their joy and delight in all things Austen!This book would make a great gift for Mother's Day (I have four deserving mothers in mind who will love a chance to escape into Jane Austen's world). Busy moms can pick it up for a few minutes, and always find something enjoyable in it.This is a book I have at my bedside, and I highly recommend it for those readers who have a passion for Jane Austen.And for those who are new to Jane Austen, "The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen" is a great introduction!

A Companion's Companion
Thanks to the authors for this engaging read. Filled with Regency facts to help us better understand some of the nuances of Jane Austen's novels, the book transitions effortlessly to modern takes (i.e. JARPing) on our favorite author, her family, her books, and her fans.For those of us who consider Jane Austen a "constant companion" this book is a welcome addition and can be enjoyed by scholars and non-scholars alike.

More than a Companion
This book was a delight to me, an enthusiastic reader of Jane Austen (and Proust, and Georgette Heyer, and Patrick O'Brian). While it is designed to be picked up and put down with short essays on different topics, I couldn't put it down at all and it came with me on the subway, to bed, and on line at the bank - and I had to wrest my copy from the hands of an interested friend along the way. I chuckled along with the wonderful discussions of all things Jane as they related to movies, books and contemporary as well as historical life, and was particularly happy to be introduced to books and movies I had never read or seen. The writers brought me some of the comfort Ms. Austen has bestowed over the years, and I thank them! ... Read more

Product Description
Elizabeth Jenkins presents this biography of Jane Austen, providing insight into the subject and her works. ... Read more

Product Description
Advice delivered with sense and sensibility just in time for the major motion picture Becoming Jane

Women have looked to Jane Austen’s heroines as models of appropriate behavior for nearly two centuries. Who better to understand the heart of a heroine than Austen? In this delightful epistolary “what if,” Austen serves as a “Dear Abby” of sorts, using examples from her novels and her life to counsel modern-day heroines in trouble, she also shares with readers a compelling drama playing out in her own drawing room. Witty and wise—and perfectly capturing the tone of the author of Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice—Dear Jane Austen is as satisfying as sitting down to tea with the novelist herself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A fun escape for any Janeite
Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love is a fun little book that is written in the voice of Jane Austen giving advice on love and life to current day females. This book made me smile, it's a well written tribute to Jane Austen that I think most fans of hers would enjoy.

The book starts in 1816 where Jane Austen is finishing off the last sentence of Persuasion when her niece comes in with letters for her. Women write to Jane asking her for advice on life and love.
Jane gives some sound advice, while making references to her novels as well as to the people in her own life, such as her sister. There are also several Austen novel quotes throughout the book.
I finished this book in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I laughed out loud at a few of Jane's comments. Especially when Jane refers to gothic novels like Wuthering Heights.

do think that the author catches Jane's voice well, and this book is a fun escape for any Janeite looking for a quick and entertaining read.

'By the bye, I have recently made a survey of your circulating library, where I was astonished to find volumes containing enough conduct guides to stretch, if laid end to end, from Bath to Southampton. It is evident that my Emma is not the only clueless female.'


Author Patrice Hannon really does give some good advice through the voice of Jane.
The questions are very specific and the answers are thought out and very well written. You can see how knowledgeable the author is concerning Jane Austen's work as well as her private life. She even refers to Austen's lesser known works such as Lady Susan and The Watsons. I recommend this book to any Jane Austen fan. It is a quick and sweet Austen fix.

The Best Austen Advice Guide Around
The construct of this book is a clever one: Hannon creates fictitious letters from modern women asking for advice on a range of issues, from low self-esteem and dysfunctional families to premarital sex and cohabitation, beauty tips and personal finances to, of course, marriage. She then responds to these very modern queries in the voice of Jane Austen herself--a voice that Hannon captures with near perfection. By drawing upon examples from all of Austen's work to illustrate her advice, as well as creating a fictional narrative that sheds light on Austen's life, Hannon displays her impressively in-depth knowledge of Austen and her novels. Hannon's work is infused with Austen's spirit, and her analysis of scenes, characters, and themes--both major and minor--from all of her novels is a treat for any Austen fan.

Yet the most important, and certainly the most valuable, aspect of Hannon's work is the advice she provides to soothe the woes of her modern-day correspondents, woes to which many a modern female will certainly relate. In contrast to the Austen advice guides that adapt Austen's ideals to fit twenty-first century manners and mores, Hannon preserves Austen's eighteenth-century mentality--and morality. And, amazingly enough, her advice is perfectly relevant and much more sensible than any reconstruction of it could ever be, as she stresses the importance of integrity, propriety, and poise, among many other virtues, with graceful wit. Austen fans will find Hannon's work a treasure trove of quotes, characterizations, and reminiscences from Austen's novels; and all readers will recognize the universal relevance and wisdom of Austen's ideals.

Jane would be pleased . . .
I would highly recommend this book to all readers; you do not need familiarity with Jane Austen's works. Patrice Hannon does an excellent job of bringing Austen's voice to present day and she writes in an entertaining style. Hannon's answers to the Dear Jane Austen letters are filled with wit and much wisdom that's pertinent to today's women. Advice such as ". . . women simply do not let their imperfections erode their opinion of themselves . . ." self-confidence and self-respect are key. And my favorite: "The best way to ensure your success is to be content in the present reality." What else is there? Great book!

I was utterly charmed.
It is very obvious that Patrice Hannon has taught English literature, and in particular Jane Austen, because of the idea and execution ofthis book.I found myself utterly charmed by her Jane Austen "voice".

At first, I was a little hesitant about how I would bridge the time-span gap for Jane Austen giving advice on life and love to twenty-first century heroines.Hannon herself advises readers (in the Author's Notes) to not "dip in" and read sections out of order but to proceed in an orderly fashion so that the framework of the book can be revealed in a very particular way.I had a dilemma.Should I follow my inclinations and read Chapter Five, A Heroine Knows a Hero When She Sees One--Or Does She? first, as I wanted to?Or should I follow the advice of the person who actually put this book together from concept to print?Luckily for me, I decided to follow her advice and I read it all the way through for my first, but surely not my last, "dip".It is sound advice.A reader needs to understand who's who and what is happening to and around "Jane" in order to keep from being confused.

Jane Austen is still living in the early 1800's.The letters are all from would-like-to-be heroines who are living in the twenty-first century.How was this possible?I still can't answer that question.The final page and a half of the book may be an explanation.But then, maybe not.Two friends could have some really good conversation over that.I'm looking forward to it!

Austen gets letters from modern young women asking her very specific questions of how she or her heroines would have dealt with problems they are encountering now.All the answers come from Austen's real life experiences or from her writings and the experiences of her characters in all her books.Once I caught on to the technique used, it was absolutely fascinating for me to read the question and then try to figure out which examples could be used to supply the answer.I wasn't always right but it was fun to try.Ms Hannon has a vast knowlege of the Austen books.She uses passages from those books along with "Jane's" expanding on the subject to give advice to would-be heroines.I don't think she ever used the same example twice.It was phenomenal.The writing is in the style of Jane Austen and rings wonderfully true.If this author had not been able to "sound" like Jane Austen, this would have been a painful book to read.Because she was "being" Jane, I learned historically accurate facts concerning her life.It was as if I was reading a biography only lighter, friendlier, smoother.

There are chapters on character, family, friends, being in the world, knowing a hero when you meet him, s_x, marriage, beauty tips, money and happy endings.The questions asked in the correspondence are very, very real and current for today's woman.The answers are all taken from people and situations which existed almost 200 years ago and yet they are woven together in such a way that the 200 year old answers still can and do apply to now, to today.I hope lots and lots of young women (and even men can benefit from this advice) will read this advice and take it to heart.Obviously Ms Hannon has seen these problems played out before her in modern settings.She just used a rather original way to give out good, sound advice.

Highly, highly recommended.Even if you don't think you need the advice, read it for the total immersion in the life and thoughts and characters of Jane Austen.Two things which I came away with that surprised me very much, I need to go back and re-read Northanger Abbey.And maybe I need to give Fanny Price another chance too!

A wonderful experience for the true Jane Austen fan
DEAR JANE AUSTEN: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon
October 3, 2007

Rating:4 Stars

Here's a must-have for Jane Austen fans and fans of good literature everywhere.DEAR JANE AUSTEN is a collection of fictional letters written by Jane Austen to women of the 21st century who write to her for advice on love and other related topics.Patrice Hannon, an expert on all things Jane Austen, has done an excellent job in creating these letters in the same voice and writing style that one has come to recognize.Topics addressed by Miss Austen including tips on extra-marital sex, finances, etiquette, family matters, and how to recognize the special man that may become ones future husband.

DEAR JANE AUSTEN is a very short book, approximately 150 pages in length, but I didn't find it a fast read.This does not read like a contemporary book but as if it were written in the 1800's.But don't let this stop you. For the true Jane Austen fan, this is a definite must-read.Run to your nearest bookstore or order it online.You will not regret it, as it was a very enjoyable experience. ... Read more

Product Description

“Wonderful . . . not only scholarly but indecently entertaining . . . her prose rings with good sense, affection, and humour.”—Daily Mail

Mention Jane Austen and you’ll likely incite a slew of fervent opinions from anyone within earshot. Regarded as a brilliant social satirist by scholars, Austen also enjoys the sort of popular affection usually reserved for girl-next-door movie stars, leading to the paradox of an academically revered author who has served as the inspiration for chick lit (The Jane Austen Book Club) and modern blockbusters (Becoming Jane). Almost two hundred years after her death, Austen remains a hot topic, and the current flare in the cultural zeitgeist echoes the continuous revival of her works, from the time of original publication through the twentieth century. In Jane’s Fame, Claire Harman gives us the complete biography—of both the author and her lasting cultural influence—making this essential reading for anyone interested in Austen’s life, works, and remarkably potent fame.

Customer Reviews (16)

Essential Reading for Austen Fans
It's hard to believe there was a time when Austen wasn't revered, idolized, copied, mashed up and didn't suffuse our entire popular culture and exist as a worldwide phenomenon.But Jane's Fame makes it clear that Austen's reputation grew remarkably over the years, and for that alone, it's worth reading.Ignorance about Austen is suprisingly present even in writers you'd think would know better, like Jodi Picoult, who claims kinship with Austen as a "popular novelist."That claim's deflty examined on The Huffington Post:

[...]

Essential reading for Austen fans
We live in a world so suffused by Austen that it's hard to imagine there was a time when she wasn't as well known as she is today, let alone celebrated, idolized, revered, copied, mashed up, and turned into a commodity.Filled with the fascinating twists and turns of Austen's changing critical reputation, this book should be read by Austen fans as well as people who claim, to know about her, like Jodi Picoult: [...]

Loved It!
This is book for anyone who is die hard Austen fan (like myself). Yes, it is a biograpy and it starts with the typical beggining of a biography (She was born on xyz in town abc, her parents were...)etc.

The book traces Jane Austen as young woman in Hampshire England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries who wishes to become an author to after 200 years after her death, becoming the second most known English writer, other than Shakespeare.

I loved it, it just reconfirmed everything I have ever believed as a fan.

Mostly Disappointed
I was all ready to love this book, and there are parts that I did mark so as not to lose. The first is on pages 69-70, a comment exploring how Austen "gave away more about how women think and behave than any previous writer." In passing, there are also some good brief remarks (for example, that Benjamin Disraeli, who said that if he needed to read a good novel he would write one, had nonetheless read Pride and Prejudice 17 times). But on the whole the author seemed to go into the greatest detail on matters that to me seemed tangential and to skim the surface on things I wanted to hear more about. This may be due to Austen having both a popular and a literary following and the resulting difficulty of knowing how to satisfy both. I think the book leans toward the interests of the first. Harman tells us that the earliest biographical writings about Austen by her family members were largely embroidered and not that reliable--and then for some reason we get a multi-page guided tour of each point these tainted sources supply. On the other hand, there is only a one-sentence mention (on page 182) of the first time that Austen was viewed as having pioneered the great tradition of English novel writing (as F.R. Leavis assessed it). If you are interested in what this or that scholar or writer added to our understanding of her books, you're mostly out of luck. Tony Tanner, whose introduction to the old Penguin edition of Pride and Prejudice was so highly esteemed that it was reprinted in the back of the new edition even though a newly commissioned introduction by another writer appeared at the front, is mentioned only once in a list of Austen scholars who have had insightful things to say about Jane. Well, great, but just what were some of their insights? This probably sounds harsher than I mean it to. Harmon seems to be addressing an audience of mostly general readers and not going very fully into the contributions of a century or more of literary study.

One other example: Emma Thompson said in writing the screenplay to Sense and Sensibility that the sentences in the novel itself were sometimes hard to adapt to spoken screen dialogue so she resorted at times in her script to excerpts from some of Jane Austen's letters to make comparable points--that the letters employed an idiom more suited for the screen. There's no mention of that in the book. Harmon discusses the Ang Lee/Thompson movie in about a page--mostly to say that casting Hugh Grant was an attempt to cash in on the success of Four Weddings and an Funeral, and Harmon also mentions the publication of Jane Austen's correspondence in a longer section elsewhere. Of course you can't cover everything in a 200-page or so book, but getting those two topics together more deeply would have addressed a real need here--that at times the book is maybe a bit rushed and skimming the surface of things.

Thorough, very thorough
I enjoyed this book.It was informative and occasionally entertaining.Clearly, a lot of research went into it (there are about 30 pages of notes and sources), but parts of it felt overly drawn-out, as though the author wanted to mention every source she used, even when they said essentially the same thing.All this made it a bit repetitive at times as well.The first part is a biography that seems to say over and over how little is actually know about Jane Austen.But it is well-written so most of this is forgivable.The first and last chapters were my favorites (there are only seven in the whole book).The first chronicled the dates that Austen's books were written and published, not at all the same order.And the last focused on recent attempts to capitalize on her popularity with movie adaptations and fan fiction.Unfortunately, despite the lengthy bibliography Claire Harman loses some of her credibility near the end when she cites Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued as one of the "most intelligent" sequels.

One word of caution, the author assumes that anyone reading this book is fully acquinted with the plots of Austen's novels.If you haven't read all of the them and are concerned about spoilers, you may want to finish Austen's works before you read this. ... Read more

Product Description
Sure, we've read the novels, but what do we really know about Jane Austen herself...Who was the Irishman who stole her heart? Why was their affair doomed? Which Austen heroine most resembled Jane herself? Who were the real Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy? In "101 Things You Didn't Know about Jane Austen", readers learn the answers to these fascinating questions and much, much more. As evidenced by the ongoing spate of Austen-inspired films and novels - from the most recent remake of "Pride and Prejudice" starring Keira Knightly to the bestselling novel "The Jane Austen Club" - fans of this celebrated novelist can never get enough Jane Austen. Written in an engaging, easy-to-read format, this lively guide to all things Austen is sure to please romantics everywhere - and just in time for "Becoming Jane", the new film about Jane's own star-crossed love life! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

All things Jane Austen, Please!
I really love this book.It gives so much context to the things Jane Austen wrote about and a look into her private life.Wonderful, for those who love all things Austen.

Not quite 101 things.
In fact, as a Jane Austen fan since college, I already knew all 101 of these things.

If you're new to Jane Austen and want a glimpse into her life, this book is great.Well written, accurate, intelligently organized.But if you've soaked up everything Jane Austen you can get your hands on, there's no new information in this book.Thus, the 2 starts.I was hoping for something new!

Now I Know 101 more Things About Jane
A delightful little book about Jane Austen - a welcome addition to myJane Austen Library.
If you are like me, avid toknow more things about this Romantic Writer, this wil bring you interesting tidbits,perhaps, not included in other books about Jane.

Terry

Great little companion book
I'm a fan of Jane Austen and can't seem to get enough books and movies associated with her. I have several books on her life and the times in which she lived. Each one has its own unique quality and information. "101 Things You Didn't know About Jane Austen" did not dissappoint me. It's a little treasure book of Austen facts.

Just to give you an idea of what you will find in this book, here are a few of the many chapters which are included:
*Bloodline of a genius
*Jane's education
*The other writer in the Austen family
*What did Jane really look like?
*Was Jane Austen a snob?
*Love at first sight
*What do Austen's novels say about beauty?
*What killed Jane Austen?

This book is compact and easily carried along on a walk in the park, or a trip. I have enjoyed my copy and keep it in my purse for those little quiet times alone.

Title is misleading
I am surprised at the other glowing reviews.If you've read Austen's six major works, you know probably 90% of what is in this book.It is NOT things you didn't know about Jane Austen (or, as the back cover asserts, "long-kept secrets of literature's leading lady"); rather it is themes/ideas/character traits from all of her books thrown together and sorted.I expected to read trivia about Austen's life; I did not expect most of the book to be about the characters she created.If you were to remove all the quotes from the six novels (never mind the letters and juvenilia ), I'd guess it would reduce the content by half.I'm a huge fan and have read the majors repeatedly, so entire sections on similarities in the characters of different novels was, frankly, boring. To be fair, there were lots of tidbits about Austen's life, but if you've read a biography of Austen, you'll know all of these. ... Read more