Jane Sighting - Out of the Easy

"Darcy or Gatsby," said Patrick.
"Oh, come on. Can't you do any better than that?" I scoffed. "That's obvious. Darcy."
"I just don't see why women love him so much. He's so uptight. Gatsby's got style."
"He's not uptight. He's shy!" I insisted.

--later in the chapter--

Charlotte grinned. "Josephine, men just don't understand, do they?"
"Not at all," I agreed. "For example, Patrick asked if I would rather marry Gatsby or Mr. Darcy." "No, he didn't! Who in the world would choose Gatsby over Darcy?" Charlotte caught on and turned to me. "Josephine - Ethan Frome or Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Galbes?"

--Out of the Easy, Chapter 8

Jane Sighting!

Jane Austen made a few appearances this week on Jeopardy.

I took a short video of the one appearance.

Jane Sighting - Again on Jeopardy

I always love when a Jane Austen answer comes up on Jeopardy. This one was on the easier side (I judge by how quickly my mom can answer the question).  

I tried to find the trailer, but couldn't find it in my quick search. If anyone can find it please send it our way!

Thank you to Tracy who sent the link:

Jane Sighting - Pride V. Prejudice by Joan Hess

This sighting is just side swipe of similar titles and I know some of our members enjoy cozy mysteries (and I think enjoy this series).  Book #20 in the Claire Mallory series by Joan Hess is Pride V. Prejudice:

Here's the description from the publisher:

Claire Malloy, for as long as she can remember, has been the local bookseller and owner of the Book Depot and the widowed mother of teenage Caron, who frequently speaks in ALL CAPS. But her life has changed dramatically in recent years. Claire has married her longtime beau, Deputy Police Chief Peter Rosen. Still the owner of the Book Depot, Claire has passed the day-to-day running of it on to her very efficient employees. With Caron inching ever closer to college, there's but one thing that remains steadfastly unchanged—Claire's astonishing ability to attract, find, or even just randomly stumble across trouble.  

Summoned for jury duty, the prosecutor on a murder case, harboring a grudge against her husband, decides to humiliate Claire and dismiss her. Having done so in spectacular enough fashion to make the local news, Claire decides that revenge will be the next dish she serves. She hunts down the defendant in the case, a woman accused of murdering her husband, and offers to help prove her innocence. And not just because Claire wants to humiliate the prosecutor. There are only two problems. One—the defendant is looking guiltier by the minute. And two—the worst day imaginable has finally come: Claire's dreaded new mother-in-law is coming to visit and life in prison is starting to look good.

Jane Sighting - One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean. Book 2 in the Rules of Scoundrels.

I have to say this was one of my favorite Jane sightings because it wasn't a woman admitting to reading novels, especially those by A Lady.  In this scene Pippa and Cross are entering gaming hell where Cross is an owner, the door man is against letting Pippa in since she isn't a member. 

Aariel returned to his book, ignoring them both. Pippa tilted to see the book in Asriel's hand. Her head snapped up,  eyes meeting his in disbelief. "Pride and Prejudice?" (pg 177)

There is some more back and forth about her not being a member and she comes close to breaking a rule she doesn't know about (it's a rule we learn about in book 1). Asriel says some snippy things and Pippa, not one to be outdone returns fire with:

She tried, nonetheless, with a wide, friendly smile. "I do hope we shall meet again. Perhaps we could have a reading club of sorts. I've that one." She leaned in. "Have you reached the part where Mr. Darcy proposes?"

Asriel narrowed his gaze on Cross. "She did that on purpose."

Pippa shook her head. "Oh, I did not ruin it. Elizabeth refuses." She paused. "I suppose I did ruin that apologies." (pg 178)  

I'm really enjoying this series. It's connected to a previous series by MacLean called Love by Numbers. If you enjoy regency romances and you haven't read these yet I highly recommend them! 

Jane Sightings - Literary Clergymen and a Mr. Knightly Reference

First up on July 8 there was another Jeopardy appearance! It was the Double Jeopardy Round in a category called Literary Clergymen and was the $400 answer:

In this Jane Austen novel, William Collins is a minister who has designs on Elizabeth Bennett

The first person to ring in got it correct!

Our second appearance was in a book I'm reading for school called Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Seagal.

Here's the set up, Ilka spends quite a bit of time with the Shakespeares and she kind of has a bit of a thing for Leslie Shakespeare, but it seems more of an admiration thing right now. She goes out to dinner with Nat who they kind of have this thing when he's separated from his wife. They all work together (Nat, Leslie, and Ilka) and during a conversation with Leslie, Nat admits that he's got a thing for Ilka. Leslie gets kind of possessive of her and it's all kinda weird.

"Why  should he get huffy?" asked Ilka. "When Jane Austen describes Mr. Knightly, one of the things she tells about hims is that he is sensible.  Leslie is a sensible man."

"And that turns you on," said Nat. "The beauty of common sense escapes women with less imagination." 

I don't know about you, but a sensible man, one like Mr. Knightly, would be really nice to have in my life.  I can be quite insensible so it would be a nice even balance.

Have you seen Jane out in the world? Send us your sightings at cnjjasna {at} gamail {dot} com

Jane Sighting: Two Sightings!

First up there was an appearance of her novels on Jeopardy on Monday:

Double Jeopardy Round
Category - Mashed-Up Book Titles
Answer - "Mansfield Abbey"
Question - What are Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey?

The first person to ring in got it wrong, I really think she knew the answer but had a brain blank moment.  The second person to ring in got it right.

Second sighting:

A play on P&P in a chapter title in the book And One Last Thing ... by Molly Harper.  The title was called "First Impressions or Pride and Panties."  In the chapter our leading lady is sitting out on the deck of her cabin in nothing but a t-shirt and panties when her new neighbor makes an appearance and she freaks and makes a lasting first impression.  Like Mr. Darcy our leading man has some preconceived ideas about our leading lady and since both of them are prideful it makes for an very interesting encounter and book.

This book isn't a retelling of P&P but the chapter kinda had a big of the P&P feel.  It's a cute, quick, read and I think perfect for summer.

Happy 4th of July. I hope you all enjoy your weekend.

If you've seen Jane out in the world, let me know.  Send an email to cnjjasna {at} gmail {dot} com.

Jane Sighting - The Collector by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts has mentioned Jane Austen characters before in her Inn Boons Boro trilogy, naming a room in the hotel and a ghost after Elizabeth and Darcy. In The Collector she again references this famous couple in comparing the love of two secondary characters. Julie and Luke were sweethearts that got married young and got divorced young. Neither has really gotten over the other, so when their respective best friends meet up as the main characters in this novel they get a second chance at love.

Julie and Lila are discussing Julie and Luke when Julie admits she's loved Luke since she was fifteen. Julie mentions that it's romantic, that it's Elizabeth and Darcy romantic.

Amelia's Confession:
I kinda cringed when I read this, I get the reference she was trying to make and I understand that using E&D makes more sense for the novice JA reader but...nope. Julie and Luke are Anne and Wentworth romantic. Instead of writing a letter to declare his love after they have been reunited, Luke, a baker, bakes an absolutely delicious muffin for Julie. Every morning when he wakes up (extremely early) he bakes something for her to find in the kitchen when she wakes up a few hours later.

Jane Sighting - Mansfield Park mention

“…a relatively new novel called Mansfield Park was intriguing…”
-link to book listing but I can’t recommend reading it!

 There are a few things that bother me about this statement. Maybe they bother you too, maybe they don’t and you are now muttering “Amelia get over yourself.” So I’ll apologize.

The first thing that bothered me upon reading this is the relatively new part. As we know Mansfield Park was published in May of 1814 by Thomas Egerton and later republished in 1816 by John Murray. So this statement would work if the story was set within a year or two of the publications years. However, the majority of the book takes place in 1820.   I think it would have worked better if the author had chosen either Northanger Abbey or Persuasion both of which were published in 1818.

The second thing that bothered me was the use of intriguing to describe Mansfield Park.  I enjoy the novel and can think of many words to describe it but I can’t think of it as intriguing. Intriguing’s definition is “arousing one’s curiosity or interest; fascinating.” To me this sounds more like Northanger Abbey!

What do you think?

Does anyone else think that it’s great that so many authors want to mention Jane and her works in their works, but wish they would do a bit more research? 

Jane Austen Sighting - Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

I just started to listen to the audiobook of Piper Kerman's story about the 15 months she served in federal prison.  On her first night in prison Piper finds a copy of a Jane Austen novel and it brings her a sense of comfort in her strange new surroundings.

This got me thinking about part of our conversation at our last meeting, about the life of Jane's works.  Why is she still popular?  I don't know if I could have answered this a week ago as clearly as I can now.  

Jane is still popular, because she's a comfort to those of us who love her work.  We pick up one of her novels and it feels as if we are meeting up with old friends we hadn't seen in awhile. I take comfort in the friendship of Jane and Elizabeth, Catherine's curious nature, Mr. Woodhouse's panics about everything, the enduring love Wentworth and Anne, the protective nature of Edmund, and the ridiculousness of Marianne. 

What is it about Jane that comforts you?

Jane Austen Sighting - Shadows (A Lux Novella) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I had a novella sitting on my Kindle App and I finally got around to reading it, (from reviews it seems that I should have probably read book #1 in the series before reading book 0.5).  Anyway...it seems that most books set in high school seem to mention a class that is reading Pride and Prejudice. I didn't read it in high school, I would have liked to have found Jane earlier than college but *shrugs*

Here's what I found:

Class discussion centered on the themes in Pride and Prejudice. Love was the main topic. 

“What can you learn about love from Pride and Prejudice?” Mr. Patterson asked, sitting on the edge of the desk. “Lesa?” 

“Besides the fact courtships took forever back in the day?” Tossing thick curls off her shoulders, she shrugged. “I guess love is only possible if it’s not influenced by society.” 

“But Charlotte married for money,” Kimmy reasoned, as if that were something to be proud of.

“Yeah, but Mr. Collins was an idiot,” Lesa said.

“A rich idiot,” someone else said.

Lesa rolled her eyes. “But that’s not love—marrying someone for money.”

“All good points,” Mr. Patterson said, smiling. “Do you think Austen was being a realist or cynical in nature when it came to the theme of love?”

And then Daemon's deep, smooth voice said, "I think she was pointing out that sometimes making decisions based on the heart is stupid." 

Bethany closed her eyes.

"Or she is showing that making decisions based on anything else ends badly," Dawson replied, voice even. "That true love can conquer anything." (Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout)

So who do you agree with - Daemon or Dawson? Was Austen being a realist or was she being cynical?