Angieville

Yesterday, Diana Peterfreund linked to a Barnes & Noble blog post highlighting their favorite Jane Austen updates, retellings, adaptations, what have you. Happily, Peterfreund's own For Darkness Shows the Stars was on the list. It set me to thinking about my own favorite Austen reducia. Interestingly, I seem to struggle with Austen updates in book form. I'm not exactly sure why that is. There are an intimidatingly large quantity of them out there, and I know many of them are quite popular. Of those I have read, I notice I tend to fare better with the ones that feature large changes, such as setting them in a fantasy or post-apocalyptic world or removing them so much from their original story lines that it's more an "inspired by" sort of thing than a true dedicated retelling. After scouring my mind, I came up with the following short list of favorites: Novels Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman - a short and sweet contemporary YA loosely connected to  Pride ...

I put off watching this modern web series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for a long time. I think they had already aired around 70 or so episodes when I finally caved and watched the first one. At a scant three minutes and twenty seconds, it wasn't enough to hook me per se. But it was enough to whet my appetite. And so I pressed on and met impossibly adorbs Jane, too legit to quit Lydia, sweet as apple pie Bing, slick as a whistle Wicks, and, yes--some 50 odd episodes down the line--Darcy himself. And I have to say . . . I'm rather fond of the lot of them. I may be wildly a teensy bit partial to Lydia (who completely steals the show) and yeah, okay, to Darcy (who is just beautifully awkward). The series actually branches out across several social media forums and includes the abbreviated, but fabulous spin-offs The Lydia Bennet and Pemberly Digital , thereby highlighting the real genius of the adaptation. All signs point to the entire series wrapping up at an even 100 ...

Okay. So there's a difference between retellings and readalikes, yes? Retellings (which I adore when done well) take the original story and carry it into hitherto unexplored places. Perhaps Mr. Rochester becomes a washed up rock star. Or Beauty becomes a drug dealer's neglected daughter. Robin Hood can actually be a very reluctant, very bad archer indeed. And Captain Wentworth can pilot ships through the sky rather than the sea. Anything is possible. As long as you understand and stay true in some sense to the spirit of the original tale, I am on board. Readalikes (which I avoid like the plague), on the other hand or in my experience or what have you, tend toward the fawning, toward the somewhat less mature forms of imitation. And as readalikes go, the Austen ones seem to be the most prevalent. To be honest, I've never read one. The notion always seemed a bit laughable to me. I've read Austen retellings I've loved, and even a few that rather subtly nod their head ...

I know this is an almost unpardonably early review. But honestly, I waited on it as long as I possibly could before the effort of holding it in caused me some sort of bodily harm. I've been anxiously looking forward to For Darkness Shows the Stars  for going on two years now, and the day an ARC showed up on my doorstep was just a very good day indeed . When a book you've been dying to read finally falls into your lap, do you ever just hold onto it and savor the possibilities? I do. I did with this one for a little while. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I just tear into it immediately. But sometimes I don't. Because sometimes dreaming about it while you're actually holding it in your hands is special, too. So I savored and I dreamt and I started reading and . . . I was gone. My first reaction to finishing it was a sense of complete satisfaction mingled with sadness that it was over. My second was thinking that I cannot wait to see  For Darkness Shows the Stars  work ...

It's covertastic around these parts lately! This time in a very good way. Here you have the absolutely gorgeous cover for Diana Peterfreund 's upcoming novel For Darkness Shows the Stars . My excitement for this post-apocalyptic retelling of Persuasion (yes, you have my permission to swoon from the sheer awesome) has been building for some time now, and I am thrilled to finally see the actual cover. I love it. Love the sweep of the dress, the stars, the font, her hair. Love it all. Your thoughts? For Darkness Shows the Stars   is due out June 12th.

Retro Friday   is a weekly meme hosted here at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! I include roundups from participating bloggers in my weekly post. It's been around five years since I first ran across Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman . And, honestly, when I think about it, I'm fairly certain I got this recommendation from Stephenie Meyer's website way back in the day. I believe she had it on her list of recommended reads and I picked it up based on that and the fact that it had a Jane Austen angle. It seems like there are so many of those these days, but at the time I hadn't read many. I'm very glad I did pick it up, as this is a perfectly delightful, perfectly quick read that entertains and leaves a grin on your face. I still don't see it around very much, but I'm ha...

Sometimes it's hard for me to get going on a Monday morning. So if you could do with a little kick start to your day as well, click on over here and listen to Greg Wise (a.k.a. Willoughby from Sense & Sensibility) read the pivotal scene from Persuasion , in which Anne Elliot reads Captain Wentworth's letter . I think my favorite part is when he pauses and says in that perfectly modulated voice, "I can listen no longer in silence." Yeah. That should do the trick this Monday morning. Thank goodness for Jane Austen. What would the world be like without her? Thanks so much to Diana for the link!

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was a very relaxing day indeed. The weather was nice, the lilacs out back were blooming their little purple hearts out, and my boy gave me a plant he'd been secretly growing in his Kindergarten classroom along with the plant journal he'd been keeping on its progress from a seedling to its present robust state. He's sweet the way only a six-year-old boy can be.  DH gave me an armband in which to put my iPod, along with some spiffy in-ear, noise-isolating headphones so that I might properly listen to my carefully crafted playlists while I bike to work and back. I should probably note that in our home, headphones are the gift of kings. Behold, Aaron's headphone rack: He's sweet the way only a dedicated audiophile who loves me can be.  And lastly my sister-in-law Liza surprised me with a small white bag containing this: (front)  (back) She's sweet the way only a sister & kindred spirit can be.  The quote is (famously) fr...

In light of Tuesday's Armitage lovefest post , I thought it only right to point you to this little gem today. I love it so much I want to hug it. It's not long, but it's guaranteed to brighten your day. Thanks to Larissa for the link! Mr. Darcy & Mr. Thornton have a conversation . . .

Mad over at Under the Mad Hat has written a Twitterfied version of Pride and Prejudice . The hilariously talented lady has titled it "Pride and Twitterverse" and it is, in fact, the entire novel as told through a long series of tweets. Those of you on Twitter are guaranteed to find this one particularly funny. My hat off to you, Mad. This is right up there with Emma Thompson's madly witty Golden Globe acceptance speech for her Sense & Sensibility screenplay. In fact, I think I'll go ahead and include that here for your related viewing pleasure. Enjoy! Edited: I've since been informed there is a Facebook P&P as well as the Twitter one. I should have known....So for all you Facebook peeps, knock yourself out! (It really is hilarious).