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 I mentioned on twitter while I was finishing my dissertation that I really missed reading classics while doing my MA, especially while on the dissertation. This was the first year of my reading life in which I wasn’t required by school to read actual literature. We read bits and pieces of medieval literature, but I don’t actually like most of that, although I do find it interesting. I actually miss my English major; not really the bit that required me to write papers, but the six to ten books of thought-provoking literature assigned for every class and the space in which to discuss them. As expected, I am back to it, now that I have nothing better to do. I’m working my way through Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, a surprisingly easy and pleasant read, I checked The Warden by Anthony Trollope out from the library, and I’m thinking about reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence since this is Banned Books Week. I signed up for the challenge a while ago, but the library didn’t have either of the two on my mental list (Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange) so I suppose I will have to resort to the one I own!
This has also been review book catch-up week. I have been neglecting a whole lot of review copies, mostly because they seemed like they were going to be slow and/or heavy and I didn’t think my mind would be up to it. As a result, I’m reading them all now, so expect to see a deluge of requested reviews popping up over the next couple of weeks. I’m attempting to try to finish and review all the ones I have before my parents get here on the 15th with my next batch! Right now I’m reading The Fire, which I got from LibraryThing last summer. I know, a VERY long time ago, but since I really disliked The Eight, I haven’t felt like reading it. Now that I know it’s basically a bunch of confusing puzzles, it’s flowing better because I don’t try to figure anything out and let the characters do it for me. I’m also reading a novella every day from the anthology On The Prowl. I won Hunting Ground a week or two ago and while it hasn’t come yet, I want to be up to date with Anna and Charles from Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series before it does, so I’ve read the story here and will be reading Cry Wolf sometime this week. So far the rest of the anthology is hit and miss, but since I bought it, I’m going to read all of it.
I’m afraid I don’t have anything more interesting to report! I meant to go see the Staffordshire Hoard today, but when we got to Birmingham the line was so long we weren’t sure we’d get in before the museum closed. Keith marvelled that so many people were interested in seeing Anglo-Saxon gold; I was thrilled even if it meant I couldn’t go yet. We’re going to get out earlier next weekend. So, expect a recounting of the treasure, with pictures if I’m allowed to take them, sometime in the next couple of weeks. I also went to one of my new libraries and am going to the other one tomorrow, so a Library Loot post will be coming soon!
What are you reading today?
 Courtney Stone is a certified Jane Austen addict. She owns all the books and sinks into them every time she needs comfort, entertainment, or love. When she wakes up in Regency England one morning, with the Austen-like name of Jane Mansfield, she is at first in shock, especially when she is threatened with a mental institution and bled to the point of weakness. Courtney/Jane recovers and begins to settle into Regency life with the addition of the extremely handsome and polite Mr. Edgeworth and his sister. She thinks she recognizes Mr. Edgeworth for what he is, a womanizer just like her ex-fiance who broke her heart by cheating on her. To get back home, Courtney realizes that she needs to unravel the secrets of Jane’s past, including her relationship with Edgeworth, and confront her own insecurities and problems with the men in her life.
I think I expected a little more out of this than I got. The beginning was a little disappointing. First of all, Courtney spends far too long in bed denying that she is actually Jane and fretting about how to get back into her old life, much less fit into this one. When she gets up she is perfectly capable of speaking English with a perfect English accent as well as sewing, dancing, and knowing which fork to use while eating. While this makes her transition easier, it made it harder for me to accept her complaining. Given that the premise of the book was her new life in the England of Jane Austen, Courtney spent far too much time being shocked. She can’t just settle in but I was impatient for the story to get going.
Luckily, I liked the book much better once Courtney got out of bed and assumed Jane’s life. Once that happened, I finally got pulled into the story. The mysteries surrounding the past of Jane and Edgeworth were interesting and I wanted to see why they’d fallen out. I liked Jane’s friend Miss Edgeworth and I enjoyed the development of her character over the course of the book. I also thought that the way Courtney’s memories were interspersed with her Regency life were well done; she reflected on her past at appropriate points and I was curious as to the resolution.
This was a fun, relaxing read. Courtney’s problems are never too threatening, and while we feel sorry for her, we’re pretty sure she’s getting her Happily Ever After. I enjoyed the romance between Courtney and Edgeworth and I wanted to know what had happened in the past so they could settle down for the future. Despite that, I thought the ending was, honestly, a bit of a cop-out, and let me down after what otherwise was a very entertaining story. I enjoyed the book enough, though, to be interested in checking out Ms. Rigler’s next book, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, which takes Jane Mansfield into Courtney Stone’s life. I have a feeling that with both stories resolved, my qualms about the first book will fade away, and I will have the ending that I really, really want.
Recommended for a light, fun read, especially for lovers of Jane Austen or historical fiction.
Available from IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
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