Post-Potter summer reading
by HML
Here’s Thing Two, engaging in a little You-Are-There-Reading: we took Corduroy Goes to the Doctor with us for Thing Two’s annual checkup. He lived the story, from being weighed and measured, to examining the doctor’s instruments, and even had a shot. (He likes fancy bandages but is wary of them, knowing full well that they are purchased with pain.) Afterwards he had to read about Corduroy’s adventure all over again, but this time with the wisdom of experience.
Three short books just out this summer are Austenland, Curios, and The Jane Austen Handbook. They’re very different from each other, and all worth a look. Follow the jump for the reviews.
Austenland (Shannon Hale; Bloomsbury) is the story of Jane, a thirtysomething singleton with a string of failed relationships, due in part to her obsession with Mr. Darcy as personified by Colin Firth. A rich great-aunt treats Jane to a three-week vacation at Austenland — an English estate where one immerses in Regency life, and populated with actors who will court you and make your Jane Austen fantasies come true. Jane spends her time trying to determine whether the two men of interest to her are attractive because of the roles they’re playing or if it’s because she’s falling for the real men hidden behind the acting.
It’s a fresh, interesting idea and an appealing summer read. Ardent fans of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries will love it. But while I thought the concept had a lot of potential, I didn’t think it had been fleshed out quite as well as it could have been. I had trouble sympathizing with Jane — why was she ashamed of owning a copy of the P&P DVD? These days, it comes standard issue with that second X chromosome. (The embarrassment comes later, when somebody makes some vaguely Austen-related comment and 20 minutes later you realize you’re still talking and everybody has edged away.) The Regency-as-escort-service didn’t appeal to me, either; meeting and visiting with real guys who are interested in Jane Austen would be great fun, but actors hired to flirt seems rather pathetic. Nevertheless, I recommend it: Austenland is quickly read and fun while it lasts, and would be a fine way to spend a summer afternoon.
The recent literary and film influx of time-travelling, themed resort-attending Jane Austen fans could do with a copy of The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World (Margaret C. Sullivan; Quirk). Caveat lector: Ms. Sullivan is the Editrix for AustenBlog, and I’m a lowly sycophantic minion on the Austenblog staff, so it’s a pretty safe bet I would highly recommend this book. But here’s why (not for an extra helping of gruel at night, as you may think):
Quirk Books, the publisher responsible for The Toddler Owner’s Manual and How to Survive a Horror Movie, is known for sharp, clever, and creative “instruction manuals” and this handbook is a perfect fit. Fans of Jane Austen’s novels and/or film adaptations can find quick answers to questions about day-to-day life — clothing, dining, etiquette, courtship, entertainment, household management and more. Appendices and a bibliography provide a great starting point for investigating specific topics in greater depth. Not only is the Jane Austen Handbook chock-full of information, but it’s so well-presented: easy to understand, entertaining, and just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek in its tone. The Gimlet even read it, nearly running away with the volume like a certain Gloucestershire clergyman, read it all the way through, and enjoyed it immensely.
The only fault with this book is that it’s hard to find in brick-and-mortar stores. Why is this? I’ve seen it at Deseret Book, but the bigger chains don’t seem to be stocking it locally; at least not alongside the other Austen-related books. And that’s a shame, because it’s a delightful resource that will be enjoyed by casual and fervent Jane Austen fans (and their long-suffering Significant Others) alike. It’s well worth looking for, and of course it can always be purchased from Amazon and other on-line retailers. Find it! Buy it! (May I please have my gruel now?)
Last, if you crave one more visit to Borgin & Bourkes, Curios (Richard Marsh; Valancourt Books) may be to your liking. Originally published in 1898 and reissued by Valancourt Books this summer, this collection of seven short stories follows the wary friendship of two rival collectors as they search for antiques, the stranger the better:
Ranging in tone from horrifying to mysterious to darkly comical, these stories follow Tress and Pugh as they come in contact with an array of strange objects, including a poisoned pipe that seems to come to life when smoked, a 13th century severed hand bent on murder, and a phonograph record on which a murdered woman speaks from beyond the grave.
All seven stories are wicked fun, but I think the adventure of the poisoned pipe has to be my favorite. (I won’t say any more about these tales to avoid spoiling the suspense.) Imagine Edgar Allan Poe writing Spy vs. Spy comics, and you have an idea of the weird, sometimes shocking, and darkly funny book that awaits your discovery.
August 4th, 2007 07:54
You have done well, minion. DOROTHY! Gruel for the Cub Reporter! (she said in her best Voldemort voice)
The Curios book sounds like fun! I wonder if JKR found her own inspiration for Borgin & Bourkes and some of the other crazy things there? She’s very well read, and her inspirations come from everywhere.
August 4th, 2007 09:12
Mistress gives Hokey gruel! Mistress is too kind!
Valancourt Books has me hooked. I have to read more Richard Marsh now. He’s great at suspense while maintaining a lovely dry tone. Valancourt’s edition of The Heroine (not Marsh, but heartily endorsed by both Jane Austen and Edgar Allan Poe, and sounds a lot like an over-the-top NA) was originally scheduled to be published this summer, too, but doesn’t seem to be finished yet.
August 5th, 2007 13:34
This one looks like fun: The New Monk:
In this dismantling of the Monk tale by “R.S., Esq.”, Lewis’s Spanish monk Ambrosio is replaced by Joshua Pentateuch, a Methodist minister in London. Like Lewis’s monk, Joshua is renowned for his piety and eloquence. But this monk is willing to sell his soul, not to possess a beautiful woman, but to get his hands on her money…and a juicy leg of mutton.
It sounds most Juvenilia-ish!
August 5th, 2007 23:10
>It sounds most Juvenilia-ish!
Between that and the new NA film, perhaps Becoming Jane should have been about Jane’s inspirational affair with Matthew Lewis?
I picked up The New Monk, along with the two $4.95 books in their bargain basement (or should I say discount dungeon?). All three are short; I’m hoping to get them read on vacation next week.
August 7th, 2007 08:04
that corduroy book is he exact one that i have my kids read before they go to the doctor! they love the part when he stands on the scale and the dr. says “too many cookies corduroy”. they always crack up!