The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

Twenty-four-year-old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loans and still living at home with her two sisters-beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no idea The Lizzie Bennet ( Read more... )

What I'm Reading Now: The question is rather: What am I not reading? Per usual I requested too many books from the library. Of course, the moment you do that you crave a book from your personal TBR pile. #bookwormproblems

In no particular order:

• War and Peace (of course)
• Anna and the French Kiss: I recently attended an author panel on teen love ( Read more... )

Longbourn by Jo Baker

In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at ( Read more... )

Emma by Jane Austen: An Annotated Edition
Edited by Bharat Tandon

Having read Emma a few times to date, even I would’ve thought I’d run out of things to say by now-but not so. Ever since I discovered this annotated series from Belknap Press, I’ve been snapping them up one by one: firstly, because they’re beautiful, elegantly designed books, and ( Read more... )

What I'm Reading Now: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. Although I’m not usually into books with a time-traveling theme (after reading a few of Diana Gabaldon’s books, I thought I was done), the writing is atmospheric and moody, reminding me a bit of Daphne DuMaurier.

What I'm Reviewing Next: I have to tackle a review for The Emperor of Maladies ( Read more... )

I had a more elaborate post in mind, but when it came down to it, I just wanted to say one thing, really: Thank you, Ms. Austen. Two hundred years later, your story about a gentleman with not a little pride and a woman with lots of prejudice is still a joy to read. I am very lucky to have discovered it when I did, and I know I’ll keep rediscovering ( Read more... )

An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan

As a young woman, clever, self-reliant Lydia Templeton scandalized society by rejecting Lewis Durrant, the county’s most eligible bachelor. Ten years later, Lydia has no regrets and, having concluded that matters of the heart need no longer trouble her, is quite happy to remain unwed.

But others still seek Lydia’ ( Read more... )

While America waits for the election results (and while I sweat out 30 lbs in anxiety), I will launch into a highly scientific analysis: I present the leading men of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Click to view

George Wickham
"Hot swim team coach" sounded better on paper than in reality. Although the Wickhams on film (1995 and 2005, specifically) aren't exactly that ( Read more... )

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Once one of the most prosperous landowners on the Islands, the Luddite North family has fallen on hard times: the crop this year has been poor; debt collectors have been hounding them for payments; and the servant underclass, known as the Posts, are leaving the estate in droves. Though her haughty ( Read more... )

Persuasion, An Annotated Edition

By Jane Austen
Edited by Robert Morrison

I always knew Persuasion was Jane Austen’s last and most romantic novel, but until this annotated edition, I never fully appreciated how it was also the most radical. In her earlier, lighter novels, Austen has always subverted the patriarchal institution of marriage, by having ( Read more... )