Everything Austen X Two (our first mini-challenge)!

The lovely Laurel Ann from Austenprose has come up with a fabulous idea for all of us Everything Austen participants – check out Everything Austen X Two! She is raising the ante of my proposed six Austen inspired books or movies for the Everything Austen Challenge to twelve (more like a maxi-challenge than mini-challenge)! That’s two Austen inspired books or movies a month. Plus, crafty endeavors can be included on your list (just see the gorgeous stitching project Mary Kathryn is working on below). 

Feel like taking this challenge to another level? If so, here is how  you do it!

If you are already signed up with the Mr. Linky on this post but have decided to increase your challenge list to twelve items, there is no need to re-sign up on my blog - just stop by Austenprose and leave a comment on this post to let her know you are participating!

Otherwise, if you are just now deciding to sign up, follow the protocol for  signing up on this post with a list of either the initial six Austen-inspired items or twelve! Then just stop by Austenprose to let Laurel Ann know that you are in for doubling your list.

Please note that you are under no obligation to increase your challenge list – if you are comfortable with six items for the next six months, then just keep your list as it is. If you do feel like taking on more items, just know that you will be in the running for a copy of a book or movie of your choice from the Austenprose reading/viewing list!

Remember, the deadline to sign up for Everything Austen (regardless of whether you will be reading/watching/crafting six or twelve Austen-inspired things) is July 15th! I will announce our first challenge winner (a DVD of Lost in Austen) on that day!

Also remember that you can now find on the top of my blog a tab entitled Everything Austen. Make sure that each time you write a post about the Everything Austen challenge on your blog (other than your original list) to stop back here and click on the Everything Austen tab and use that Mr. Linky to link to your posts, that way everyone can follow along with your progress!

Creative use of old books

Have you guys seen this great Etsy crafter who calls herself Spoonful of Chocolate? She makes beautiful handbags from recycled books. Check out what she created with a two different copies of Pride and Prejudice!

Or another version of Jane Austen’s classic (I know you Everything Austen participants will appreciate it).

Arent’ they lovely? According to Spoonful of Chocolate no pages were harmed during the purse making process. She takes gently used books (and only uses the covers) then takes the sleeve and wrap it back on to the fully intact book and donates that to a Refugee Center in Arizona.

She has many different designs, include the ones below from Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.

 To see more designs, check out her Etsy shop here.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

Today is the first day of the Everything Austen challenge (there is still time to sign up – check here for details)! To kick off the challenge, I’m reviewing Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict below. The author, Laurie Viera Rigler was so enthusiastic about Everything Austen that she mentions the challenge on her website and will be writing a guest post and having a giveaway here later this summer! Thanks so much Laurie!

We’ve also almost hit the 100 mark for participants, which I am thrilled about (I had hoped to get at least 50 people involved, so I’m amazed that it is almost double). Thanks again for signing up!! Remember, you can now find on the top of my blog a tab entitled Everything Austen. With the exception of your initial sign-up post, each time you write a review from your challenge list on your blog please click on that tab and use the Mr. Linky there to link to your posts, that way everyone can follow along with your progress!  Thanks!

Imagine yourself waking up in a different world, in a different body, during a different time period. Might be kind of confusing, right? For Jane Mansfield, a young lady living at her parents estate in England during 1813, confusing is only the half of it. One morning Jane wakes up to find herself in Courtney Stone’s body, in a small apartment in LA, in the year 2009. Frightened by the fact that her body and her voice are not her own, Jane not only is unfamiliar with the modern world, but also has to deal with some of Courtney’s problems (including her job as an assistant, paying bills and driving a car). Then there are Courtney’s girlfriends Paula and Anna, who believe Courtney’s strange vocabulary is due to her obsession with all things Austen in combination to the head injury she sustained recently. Also there is sweet Wes (who is disliked by Courtney’s girlfriends after they accuse him of covering for Frank, who was engaged to Courtney and who cheated on her). Between navigating the minefields of Courntey’s life and trying to figure out the bizarre dating rituals of men and women in the year 2009, Jane is beside herself.

Jane, a lady used to embroidering and serving tea all day, now has to make her way in modern America. Soon she is drunk with her new found freedom, but between memories which are not her own and emerging feelings for Wes, Jane isn’t quite sure what world she really belongs to anymore and is having a hard time figuring out how to get back to her real world, or if she really wants to.

Parallel to the story told in Laura Viera Rigler’s first book, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, in which Courtney wakes up in Jane’s body in 1813 England, Rude Awakeninigs of a Jane Austen Addict  is a fun read. The plot chugs along steadily and there are plenty of cute and funny moments to keep this book a light read.

I do not know how I have come to be in this time, in this place, in this body. But I do know that any place where there are six novels by the author of Pride and Prejudice must be a very special sort of heaven.

I also have to point out how grateful I am to the author Laurie Viera Rigler. In January I read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. I really enjoyed the book, but was left flabbergasted by the ending (in my opinion it left too many unanswered questions). I was hesitant to pick up her newest book, thinking that I might in fact be disappointed again in the ending. Boy, was I surprised! Not only did I feel like she wrapped up the storyline nicely, but afterwards I read the last few chapters of Confessions and felt that it too now made more sense!

All in all, both Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict are fun books for any Austen fan and if you’ve added these to your challenge lists, then I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Everything Austen – My List

First, I just wanted to let all of you know that I have personally visited each blog that has signed up for the Everything Austen challenge. I’ve also tried to leave a comment, with the exception of blogs that only allow Google account members to comment (and one or two blogs that I wasn’t able to submit my comment, no matter how hard I tried)! So if I didn’t leave a comment on your blog, I apologize. I do know that you are there and appreciate that you have decided to join in!!

I’ve been so busy with getting everything ready to kick off my Everything Austen challenge (including arranging giveaways, setting up guest posts and getting reviews written) that I nearly forgot to compile my own six things for the challenge.

I’ve noticed that a few of you have gotten creative with your challenge list. Just check out Tildesquilts who will not only be making three recipes from The Jane Austen Cookbook, but will also be starting on a ”Fassets of Austen” quilt!

Now on to my personal challenge list! I’ve added more than six items, that way I can be a little flexible.

To read:

• The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James – this book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time, so I plan on picking it up for this challenge. According to the author’s website, her second book The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte will be on sale very soon!
• The Plight of the Darcy Brothers by Marsha Altman – I read Marsha’s first book in her Pride & Prejudice series The Darcys and the Bingleys and really enjoyed it (you can see my review here). I’m now looking forward to continuing the story with her newest book, to be published this August.
• Pride, Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith ’cause Zombies are too cool!
• Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster – I used to love those create your own adventure books as a kid and I think this sounds like fun!
  Mr. Darcy, Vamprye by Amanda Grange - Have you seen the book cover? I just love it.
• Sense & Sensibility – I’ve only seen the movie (gotta love Emma Thompson) and would love to compare the two.

To watch:

• Bridget Jonse’s Diary – it’s been awhile since I’ve watched this one.
• Sense & Sensibility – this one I can watch over and over and over…you get the picture!
• Lost in Austen – just because it is so darn cute!

Check back here on Wednesday, July 1st for the official kick off of Everything Austen and my review of Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict.

Everything Austen – more details!

Wow, I am so pleased with the positive response I’ve gotten to my Everything Austen Challenge! My hope was to get at least fifty people signed up and am happy to say that after just a few short days that goal has nearly been reached! If you haven’t yet signed up, there’s still time. Even though the challenge officially starts on July 1st, the deadline to sign up has now been set for Wednesday, July 15th, so make sure to write up your introductory post with the six Austenish things you are committing to and include the link on Mr. Linky on my original post.

You can now find on the top of my blog a tab entitled Everything Austen. Each time you write a post about the Everything Austen challenge on your blog, please stop back here and click on the Everything Austen tab and use the Mr. Linkythere to link to your posts, that way everyone can follow along with your progress!

I’m also happy to tell you that I’ve had a great response from publishers and authors about this challenge and will be hosting quite a few giveaways over the next six months, so make sure to either follow me on Twitter (@SWrittenWord- hashtag #everythingausten) or subscribe to my blogs feed so you don’t miss out on anything. There will also be at least one mini-challenge hosted by Books and Bards in August that I am really excited about! If you are interested in hosting your own mini-challenge for Everything Austen, please e-mail me at wordblog(at)optonline(dot)net and we can discuss.

Remember,  just for signing up for Everything Austen you are automatically in the running to win Lost In Austen on DVD. Here’s another glimpse of the British mini-series:

Introducing the Everything Austen Challenge (with prizes)!

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know I have a fondness for all things Austen. There are plenty of books and movies available to satisfy any Austen fan. Whether it’s a novel about the Bennet sisters fighting zombies, a TV mini-series in which a modern day British girl swaps places with Elizabeth Bennet or Colin Firth’s unforgettable portrayal of Darcy, Austen is all around us. Even if you haven’t read any of Jane Austen’s novels, mostly likely you’ve seen some of the movies or heard about all the Austen-themed books available today.  

 

I am so excited now to introducing my very first challenge!! The Everything Austen Challenge!

The details! The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010)! All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge.

What is considered Austen-themed? Obviously, any of the books Jane Austen wrote herself count, so if you’ve been contemplating reading one of her novels, now is the time! Or, maybe watch the different movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. You could even try reading one of the many sequels written by various authors or listen to one in your car on your way to work. Truly, the list can be endless! All you need to do is pick six Austen-themed items to read and/or watch to participate. Note that you can mix it up a bit – maybe commit to watching three movies and reading two books – or if your TBR pile is huge, pick out six movies you would like to watch – YOU DECIDE!
Also, you can combine this with another challenge. For example, if you are going to participate in Carl’s RIP challenge this fall, maybe add Northanger Abbey to your list. Or read a couple books during the next Dewey 24 hour read-a-thon.

Here’s the most fun part – now you get to rifle through your bookshelf, DVD collection, or visit your local library or indie bookstore to find some Austenesque items!

How you can sign up! Grab one of the challenge buttons above and write a post detailing what six Austen-themed things you are going to do over the next six months. Then come back to this post and click on Mr. Linky. Then just link directly to your introductory post and not just to your blog’s home page. If you don’t have a blog but would like to join anyway, just leave a comment on this post. 

Check back often! Everything Austen will officially begin on July 1, 2009 with my review Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. On that date, I will put up a a tab at the top of my blog entitled Everything Austen. This is the place where a list of all the participants  (along with links to your Everything Austen updates and posts) will be. This means that each time you have a post relating to the Everything Austen challenge (with the exception of your first sign-up post) you should leave a comment there with a link to your post. Be sure to check back often to see who else is reading and watching Austen!

Talk about it on Twitter! I’ll also be tweeting (my Twitter ID is @SWrittenWord) about the challenge using hashtag #everythingausten so make sure to follow me for updates and information.

Stumped as to what six things you would like to pick for this challenge? Take a peek at the below list for some suggestions (you don’t have to pick from the lists below – just thought it might be helpful):

Any of Jane Austen’s novels

Movies based on Austen novels:
Pride & Prejudice BBC version
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Sense & Sensibility
Emma
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
Persuasion

Austen-themed movies:
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bride & Prejudice
Clueless
Lost in Austen
The Jane Austen Book Club
Jane Austen in Manhattan

Books & Movies based on Jane Austen’s life:
A&E Biography: Jane Austen
Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
Just Jane by Nancy Moser
Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence
Cassandra and Jane: A Jane Austen Novel by JillPitkeathley
Becoming Jane movie

Sequels to Pride & Prejudice:
The Darcys and the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater
The Plight of the Darcy Brothers by Marsha Altman
The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Mary Street
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll

Austen for the twisted (Vampires & Zombies):
Pride, Prejudice & Zombies by Sean Grahame-Smith
Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

Books inspired by Austen works:
Jane Austen for Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray
Me & Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret C. Sullivan
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride & Prejudice by Kate Fenton
Pride, Prejudice & Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan
Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo
Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson
The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O’Rourke
Lost in Austen: Create your own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster

For some more inspiration, check out these Austen blogs:
Austenblog
Austenprose
Jane Austen Reviews
Jane Austen Today

What’s in it for you? Other than reading great books and watching fun movies, as an added incentive just for signing up for the Everything Austen Challenge you will qualify to win a copy of Lost in Austen on DVD! If you haven’t yet seen this British TV miniseries, then you are in for a treat! Take a look at the video below to see the trailer for Lost in Austen. To win, post about the Everything Austen Challenge on your blog and sign up with Mr. Linky by July 15th. I will pick a winner at random from all the participants.

More prizes! I will also be offering prizes over the next six months, so check back often to see what Austen-themed stuff I have up for grabs for the participants!

 

The Time Traveler’s Wife Movie!

YAY! The trailer is finally here (and thanks to Marg for posting it first)! Below is a peek at The Time Traveler’s Wife, coming to theaters August 14th. You can visit the official movie website here.

This was one of my favorite books and I just can’t wait to see it come on the big screen! I’m not a big Eric Bana fan (too many HULK flashbacks) but have to say that he seems to fit this role nicely. Now my only dilemma is whether I should try to re-read the book before the movie, or wait until afterwards…

The Sugar Queen

My husband knows when I’m reading a book that has touched me in some way. Usually he will hear my say “ohhhh” or sigh really loud and realizes that what I’m reading must be something very special. I did this a lot with The Sugar Queen.

Written by Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen is the “sweet as honey” story of Josey Cirrini, a woman in her late twenties who describes herself as a pale, plain and slightly plump woman. She lives in a big Victorian house with her aging mother Margaret and a superstitious housekeeper Helena in the North Carolina town where she grew up. Known by everyone one in town as the daughter of the late great Marco Cirrini, Josey also had a reputation of being an unruly child. She also harbors two secrets – a crush on Adam, a handsome extreme skier turned mailman and a stash of candy hidden in the back of her closet. She lives a Rapunzel-like existence, mostly taking care of her mother, who due to her own relationship with Josey’s father, harbors bad feelings against her daughter.

One day her world is turned upside-down when she opens her closet for a sugary treat and is surprised to find Della Lee Baker inside. Della Lee is a local waitress, in her late thirties and is a rough and tumble kind of gal who shows up in the closet claiming she needs a place to hide. Josey and Della Lee are two unlikely friends, but quickly realize that they have one thing in common – they are both unhappy.

“Della Lee, you’re living in my closet, you’re blackmailing me over candy, and you are currently wearing sixteen articles of clothing. It’s amazing to me that you think I have problems.”

With encouragement from Della Lee, Josey soon finds herself branching out of the house, befriending Chloe, who just broke up with her boyfriend and has another quirky trait – books appear to her when she most needs them. Whether next to her on the couch, in the middle of the hallway or even at work, books appear everywhere (with the exception of the bathroom, since books are naturally leery around water).

Sounds like a strange little story, doesn’t it? As it turns out, The Sugar Queen is full of quirky characters and even some magical happenings, but in the end turns out to be a real heart-warming story. With plenty of descriptive language, it’s easy to get sucked into this book:

She stuck her head out and took a deep breath. If she could eat the cold air, she would. She thought cold snaps were like cookies, like gingersnaps. In her mind they were made with white chocolate chunks and had a cool, brittle vanilla frosting. They melted like snow in her mouth, turning creamy and warm.

I truly loved this whimsical book.

In the back of The Sugar Queen, there is a section where Random House Reader’s Circle asks the author “why do you think your books have struck such a cord with readers? ” Sarah Addison Allen replies “maybe because the books explore the magic of the ordinary. Everyday things are magical, we just take them for granted. Apples. Candy. A good haircut. Books. Community. Family. Friends. A small gift. A letter in the mail. Falling in love.”

Just be careful when you read this book, you may get a cavity after devouring this sugary sweet story.

For more information about The Sugar Queen and the author’s other book Garden Spells (which I haven’t read yet but will be soon) or her newest book to be published early next year, check out her website here!

Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully

One of my favorite things to do in the evening is to sit down with my girls and read to them. With my oldest now seven and a reader herself, we have a lot of fun picking out books together. When I received Julianne Moore’s newest book, Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully, I asked Leah if she wanted to read it. Her answer was a big YES and so we snuggled on the couch and read the story of Freckleface Strawberry.

Freckleface is scared of dodgeball (and to be quite honest, who ever came up with the idea for this game anyway- I mean, did any of us really like dodgeball?).  She also fears the school bully Windy Pants Patrick. Freckleface, who attends the early bird program at her elementary school, now has a really big problem. It’s raining outside and that means one thing – heading into the gym to play dodgeball. And of course Windy Pants Patrick has the ball. Freckleface now has to figure out how to face both of her fears. Summoning the courage to stand up to the dodgeball bully, Freckleface Strawberry realizes that maybe the things she’s most afraid of aren’t all that scary after all.

First, I have to say that the illustrations, drawn by LeUyen Pham, are super cute, colorful and quirky. Freckleface Strawberry is a sweet, spunky character who has a vivid imagination (one of her favorite games is playing imaginary monster who rules the solar system). Even so, as with children of all ages, Freckleface has big worries (for this character her fears are directed towards dodgeball and school bully). The story itself encourages kids to face their fears and not be frightened of new experiences, which I think is a really nice message.

While at Book Expo America I was lucky enough to meet Julianne Moore. She was very nice (we quick chatted about how both our two children are the exact same ages apart) and she signed a copy of this book for my girls. I like this video, in which Julianne explains why she enjoys writing for children.

Would you like to see what other bloggers have said about Freckleface Strawberry? For tour information and the complete schedule, visit the tour home page.

My local Indie

I haven’t written much about Independent bookstores here on my blog because, quite frankly, I hardly ever visit them. There isn’t a bookstore in the town I live in, independent or big box, so when I do venture out to purchase books I have the tendency to stop by Borders, which is conveniently located a hop, skip and jump from one of my favorite stores.

Today though I made the conscience decision to drive in the opposite direction and instead visited Mendham Books. I’ve been to Mendham Books a handful of times (most recently to hear author Kate Jacobs speak) and found it to be a real friendly neighborhood bookstore. I’ve decided to do my best to focus my book buying on local, independently owned bookstores from now on.

 

But what has caused this change of heart? Well, according to Indie Bound, there are many reasons to buy from your local neighborhood bookseller.

• Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
• Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
• More of your taxes are reinvested in your community–where they belong.
• Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
• Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.
• Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
• Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.

These all seem pretty reasonable reasons to shop locally. I especially like the idea of helping the environment and the fact that local businesses are more inclined to give money to charity.

Do you buy Indie? Is there any specific reason why (or why not)?