If you can tell, I’ve been reading/listening to Sense and Sensibility this week. The audio book has been my work companion all week. ☺️
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I feel like the white rabbit 🐰
It’s been just a little over three months since I last posted here. Before I had never let more than a month go by. I had planned on some time off over the holidays. Probably January off with nothing, but then January turns into February and that turns into March. So here we are.
I’ve slowly been getting my reading groove back and am currently working my way through When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt by Kara Cooney. So far it has been an interesting and good read. Also appropriate for women’s history month.
There have definitely been some starts and stops, with some duds in between the gems that I have found, but there have been some good things this year so far. One thing that I think has helped me with some of my reading issues (most of which seem to be starting something and losing interest in it) has been my discovery of Kindle Vella. It’s stories in chapters at a time. The anticipation for some of the stories I have gotten attached to is fun and has kept me going back each week for their updates. This is also similar to how things were published historically. For example, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell was originally published as a serial by Charles Dickens in his magazine Household Words.
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
Jane Austen- Pride and Prejudice
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Just a few historical highlights for you… Please note that this list is in day-of-the-month order and so will not be in year order. Also, I don’t have something for every day, just a few little tidbits. I hope you enjoy!
I hope you have enjoyed my little snippet of history. A couple of days had a few too many interesting things to add to the list. Apparently, the month of December is very busy historically.
“I go into my library and all history unrolls before me.”
Alexander Smith
Any of you who have been following me for a while will have realized that I clearly have issues with schedules. Even those that are self-imposed. 🙂
But one reason that I haven’t posted much recently, or at least with any type of schedule, is that I haven’t been reading much this year. Or finishing the books I start, anyway. I have started so many more than I finished it’s not even funny. It has definitely been a year of unfinished books. However, I did have a few books that have been standouts so far this year. I wanted to list some for you. Some of these have already been on here but some are new, so this is really just an update on what I have already posted previously. I may do another similar post at the end of the year but I think December will mostly be devoted to Christmas.
And into the library she goes to lose her
Unknown
mind
and find her soul
As I said I have a few stand-out books so I am just going to make you a little list here of some of my favorites from this year so far and what I am currently reading.
Ok, I think that’s a good list. It doesn’t cover everything, by any means, but it has some of the favorites that I’ve had throughout the year so far. One other addition that I hope to start before the end of the year is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell published in 1855. I have seen the mini-series a couple of times and really enjoyed it but never read the book. Of course, this can be said about many books but this is one that I have thought about reading for a while.
As I said earlier, I may do another short post later in the month but not unless there are some drastic changes between now and then. Maybe I will get my reading mojo back soon. I hope to have a couple of Christmas posts out this month and so, on that note, I will see everyone later! Thanks for reading! 🙂
Jane Austen is a much-loved author. This is a truth that is, as she would say, universally acknowledged. Jane began writing at a young age what would be called her Juvenilia. A compilation she eventually created of her early poems, stories, and plays written for her family. However, she eventually would turn her passion into published works.
Throughout her books, from Pride and Prejudice to Emma, Jane’s narrators offer a good deal of social commentary on the customs of the time. While there is an ongoing debate on whether her books are, in fact, romance novels or just social commentary, I believe that any book can be a multitude of things. Jane was writing, for the most part at least, about the social customs surrounding courtship and marriage. These rules were something that, although she never married herself, all young people would have been familiar with. And so, in reading her books, they would have also been familiar with the woes, heartbreaks, and joys in some cases that the characters go through in each of the books. The marriage plot was expected in books for them to sell. Romance novels were then and are still not exactly looked at in the best light. Usually by those who don’t read them.
By 1815, although Jane had never put her name in her books, she was slowly beginning to be known as their author. Jane enjoyed the fame as her books began to sell out multiple times over. One of her many fans was the Prince Regent who “suggested/ requested” a dedication in her next book. So in her next book, Emma, he got his dedication. Jane was “never, in fact, persuaded that His Highness actually read Emma or had any notion of her “exquisite touch.” Her final finished book was Persuasion (although she did revise Northanger Abbey at this time, too). It was somewhat different from her other books; an older female character than usual and the storyline didn’t follow her normal patterns either. She seemed to be revising her style somewhat but she was also beginning to have failing health at this time. She had started working on Sanditon but it was left unfinished when she died. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published after her death.
“Her legacy is not a piece of reportage from the society of a particular past, but a wise and compelling exploration of human nature.” Jane Austen’s books are still read today and her characters are vibrant creatures that are just as interesting today as when she first wrote them. It may take a little more for us to understand today when we read them than it did for contemporary readers who would have been familiar with what she was writing about.
A note to readers: I plan to have more in this later but probably after the new year. if you read the next post you will see partially why this post has had such a delay. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Teacups Upside Down 