Congrats, Sheng! I will be sending the prizes tomorrow.

***

Thanks to those who participated and wanted to participate (but didn’t make it on time, you know who you are). Reading Jane Austen novels has been challenging and fun. I must admit that if not for this online book club, I have probably read only one (or none at all) Austen novel to this date. It is generally good to have a reading schedule/a virtual group to read with. Our book club now exits with this one. But the Jane Austen Book Club page will remain. Feel free to link back whenever necessary.

Who will read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? I will.

Thanks, everyone and enjoy the rest of the week!

I have just finished reading and watching (luckily there’s an an ongoing sale at Virgin Megastore) Pride and Prejudice. No spoilers here. Can I just say that I liked it a lot? This is definitely Jane Austen’s finest novel. I enjoyed the exchange of arguments between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. For me, Elizabeth Bennet is one of a kind in her generation.

***

The contest is still on for Pride and Prejudice readers. You may submit your entry on or before May 3, 2009. Details here.

(Photos and prizes from The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, UK)

We read Love, Friendship and Other Early Works last month to warm up for our last novel (how time flies), Pride and Prejudice. The latter is the most celebrated among Jane Austen’s novels. I know most of you already read/re-read it, are still planning to read it and have seen the film adaption. I’m yet to read.

To culminate our reading for the online Jane Austen Book Club, we’re holding this contest which is open to anyone who has read Pride and Prejudice. You need to write a review on your blog about this novel and (a) link back to this post and to the online Jane Austen Book Club page and (b) email the link to your post to witsandnuts (at) gmail (dot) com.

You may submit your entries on or before May 3, 2009, Sunday. The winner will be drawn via Randomizer and announced on the following day. Prizes (Mr. Darcy eco bag, leather bookmarks, and silver Jane Austen pen) will be sent via registered mail.

Happy reading!

Reading some books will require a certain amount of patience to finish it. You will not be easily drawn but eventually the story will pick up. I was not indeed out of focus while I was reading Northanger Abbey. But I had to pull A LOT of patience in order to reach the end page. I’m technically a week behind its (February) schedule.

The story is about Catherine Morland, who used to be tomboyish and bloomed as she reached the prime of her teen life. As she desired to have new acquaintances, she joined family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen Wood to Bath for a few weeks. She willingly attended balls and there she gained new acquaintances. Later on, she became friends in particular with Isabella Thorpe and her brother John who fancies her, and Henry Tilney whom she likes.

As the story progressed, it was implicitly mentioned that Catherine is engrossed with the novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. Hence, when she was invited by General Tilney (Henry’s father) to Northanger Abbey estate, her imagination kicked in. Associating the General to the death of his wife. From there, the story built up. The complications followed and as predictable the ending is, against all odds, Henry proposed to Catherine.

The story is different from other Jane Austen novels. The theme is lighter, unique because of the mystery, and IS less engaging to boring. Applying the law of exceptions, not all novelists and artists will come up with excellent works. There will always be something inferior. And count Northanger Abbey as one of them.

This novel is far behind Sense and Sensibility which Kayni, Sinta, Jeanny and I did like.

For March, we’re reading Love and Friendship, and Other Early Works.

(a) Power Plant Cinema presents The Audrey Hepburn Film Festival from February 11 to 15. Screenings at 7pm and 9pm at Cinema 4.

Wednesday, February 11: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7pm), Charade (9pm)
Thursday, February 12: Sabrina (7pm), Paris When It Sizzles (9pm)
Friday, February 13: Funny Face (7pm), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (9pm)
Saturday, February 14: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (7pm), Roman Holiday (9pm)
Sunday, February 15: Roman Holiday (7pm), Robin and Marian (9pm)

Call +632-8981440 to 41 for more details.

(hat tip: Jane Chua)

Since I’m not there, I have to settle for option number 2. I’m glad I have a DVD of Hepburn flicks. I might do a marathon this weekend to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday, etc.

(b) Dessert Comes First invades the airwaves. The person behind one of my favorite food blogs will be hosting a food talk show on Mellow 94.7 FM from 8pm to 10pm every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. There’ll be spontaneous talk centered on one food topic for the first hour. Then there’ll be guests from the food industry in the next hour. For the premiere broadcast on February 11, guests will be Oliver Ong and Rory Johnson, co-founders of Chicago Popcorn Shops. I’m so glad they will have live streaming here.

(c) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This really shocked me.  That’s an insane but awesome book cover! This will feature the original text of Jane Austen’s novel coupled with scenes of zombie action. It sounds funny, isn’t it?. But I’m sure this will be a hit. Expected to be released by April 16 this year. Incidentally, our April novel for the Jane Austen Book Club is Pride and Prejudice. Great timing.

(Photo source)

I’ve been ‘flipping through’ the pages of the free e-books since we started with our online Jane Austen Book Club. However, I didn’t think twice when I saw this Austen pack containing Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. The 25% price slash was too strong to resist. After all, this contains Austen’s most known novels (and had film adaptions, too). And I know you would agree that the real book is still better.

This month’s novel, Sense and Sensibility is among the books that you can judge by its title. The striking chapters all happened with the comparison between sisters Elinor and Marianne, on how they dealt with life and emotions in particular. The writing was good, but I was not comfortable with the story line’s predictability. In the first few pages, the clues were explicitly mentioned that Elinor had the sense,

Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counselor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart; her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.

While sensibility is more depicted in Marianne’s part,

Marianne’s abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor’s. She was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent. The resemblance between her and her mother was strikingly great.

In the some parts though, Elinor’s sensibility screamed especially when she found out Edward’s engagement with Lucy. I’m not going to divulge much as I’d like to hear your thoughts (and review) about this.

In real life, I think it’s real hard work to balance sense and sensibility. In one way or another, each one of us made not so wise decisions. And when we look back at these, we can’t believe we’ve been like that. That makes us say, ‘I’m glad I’m back to my senses’.

You may check here the reading schedule.

Congratulations to Kayni for winning the Jane Austen journal and pen. Her entry is a twist drawn on the epistolary novel, Lady Susan:

Reginald to Lady Susan,

The spell is back. Amidst all the rumors and that your heart already belonging to Sir James Martin. I, your Reginald, is still spellbound by you. In your last letter, you mentioned how your heart’s lonely even with the company of Mr. Martin. I am here, been here, always. I know you must have heard about Frederica, but she is no match to your kindness and caring. She doesn’t hold the qualities that you do. My family have fought me in this decision, but my heart have been captured by only you, Lady Susan.

I am willing to meet you anywhere.

Yours,
Reginald

Since there was only one submitted entry as of 25th of December, the other prize (the special edition JA calendar) will be awarded to one blogger-JA book club member, based on randomizer results. Those who have blogged about the four featured novels in the online Jane Austen Book Club qualified for one point for each blogged (novel) review:

JMOM: Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, Lady Susan (4 points)
Sinta: Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park (3 points)
Jeanny: Persuasion, Emma (2 points)
Renin: Emma, Mansfield Park (2 points)
Odette: Persuasion (1 point)
Sheng: Persuasion (1 point)
CandyQ: Emma (1 point)

Congratulations to the winners! The prizes will be sent to you via postal mail.

We will read Sense and Sensibility for January 2009. Click here to find out the reading schedule and/or schedule of next contest.

(Please submit your entries on or before 25th of December 2008)

This month, we’re taking a break from the monthly reading of Jane Austen novels. I’m giving away these lovely items to two winners.

Do you love to scribble? Here’s a lovely hardback Jane Austen edition journal to keep your random thoughts.

Whoever gets the journal automatically wins this classic pen. A Swiss made silver ballpoint pen which writes in blue ink. The pen itself bears an image of Jane Austen, plus it has ‘Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)’ printed down the side. It comes in an attractive box, bearing the same image; a detail from the engraving commisioned by J.E Austen-Leigh for the frontispiece of his ‘Memoir of Jane Austen’, in 1870.

The second winner will have this charming calendar for 2009 by English Literary Classics. Each month features a Jane Austen quotation and an illustration from one of her novels.

How to join?

(a) ANYONE (member or non-member) who has read any of the four featured novels (Persuasion, Emma, Mansfield Park, Lady Susan) in the Jane Austen Online Book Club may join.
(b) Make a twist about any chapter, story line from ANY of the mentioned novels (e.g. Fanny Price ending up with someone else instead of Edmund, in Mansfield Park).
(c) Blog about the twist and link back to this post (will earn 2 points). If you don’t have a blog, you may submit your entry to witsandnuts@gmail.com (earning 1 point).
(d) Submit your entry on or before December 25, 2008, 11:30 PM Pacific time.
(e) Winners will be drawn via randomizer.

Happy scribbling, everyone!

Lady Susan is one of Jane Austen’s less popular novels. It was surprisingly a short read, a 36-page for the e-book that I had. It’s epistolary, as the novel is written through a series of letters from different characters. I honestly enjoyed the story form. It’s interesting to follow and see how the story progressed from Lady Susan’s letter to her friend, sister-in-law, and many others.

The other way to see it is like reading a novel through gossiping through exchange of letters. I found myself laughing out at some point. I enjoyed the descriptions, details, formation and transition of judgment for Lady Susan as she tried to manipulate the people around her including her daughter. I like this novel for its difference with the other writings of Austen. The main femme character is true-blooded deceitful and can compete to the reel and real world’s bitches.

As Mrs. Vernon wrote to her brother,

Well, my dear Reginald, I have seen this dangerous creature, and must give you some description of her, though I hope you will soon be able to form your own judgment she is really excessively pretty.

***

I agree with Sinta that October’s novel, Mansfield Park film adaption is a lot better than the novel. On the other hand, JMom and I preferred Fanny Price’s than Emma’s characterization.

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This December we are taking a break from the monthly reading. It’s time to chill out for some Jane Austen items. We will do a twist. Yes, that’s how the December contest will look like. I’ll be announcing the mechanics in the next post.

(Photo source)

Originally uploaded here.

Mansfield Park, our third novel for the Jane Austen Book Club, is a better read than Emma. The story started so right, as if intending to touch a soft spot in a reader. Fanny Price came from a poor family and was sent to live with her well-off relatives in Mansfield Park Estate. It’s like a Cinderella story for the sole point of view of coming from rags to riches, with the variation of having wicked cousins (minus Edmund) and a bitchy Aunt Norris.

An initial major unacceptable part for me was for Fanny having a crush-turned-to-love for her elder cousin, Edmund. I soon convinced myself that this fiction was set ages ago (18th century). Oddly, there was a point that I wanted her to end up with Henry Crawford especially when he tried his best to win her by meeting her biological family at their humble abode. She could have really fallen for Henry (who in the latter part had an affair with Maria, Fanny’s elder cousin, when she rejected his proposal) as the story progressed if not for the mind-boggling trust issue. It’s a dealbreaker when you are being pursued by someone who is claiming and trying to prove that he’s no longer a bad guy. Truly, trust is love’s first cousin.

While in those times that marriage is more indicatively a business, it is surprising that Fanny’s mother reminded her that she married for love. Her mother, trapped at having several children in a nearly hopeless situation, still not persuading Fanny to marry just to save them from poverty. In the end, Edmund confessed that he loves her and apologized for being so blind to this truth.

I don’t know, but personally I think Fanny is too good to have ended up with Edmund. Seems like she reserved herself for him right from the start. Although there’s actually no better man other than him in the story. I prefer the more acceptable ending of she being married with someone who is not her relative. Of course, neither to settle with a half ass guy.

I’ve also seen the 1999 film adaptation. Some parts differed from the book. While some Jane Austen fans dislike Mansfield Park primarily because the main character, Fanny, is shy, timid, lacking, self-confidence, physically weak and sort of annoying (because she is always right): boring, as you may call it, very different from other main character in Austen’s novels, but for me, it was absolutely an enjoyable piece whether you read or see it, whichever you prefer.

And yes, this remains to be my favorite line:

But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.

As an aside, I was particularly interested in this book because it was mentioned in Book 3 (Eclipse) of Twilight Saga.

(This is my entry for the Jane Austen Book Club October novel, Mansfield Park.  Our November read would be Lady Susan.  Click here for complete reading schedule.)