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That was the Austen Week that was!

Thanks for joining us for a great week of Austen-themed fun! Good wasn't it? I am undone!

If you haven't heard about our fabulous huge Jane-themed competition (HOW?!) you've got until midnight to enter - good luck!

I'm off to practice my swooning... [DS]

BOOK REVIEW: Persuasion by Jane Austen

When I studied Austen at university, we read everything but Emma and Persuasion and yet everyone always tells me Persuasion is their favourite and I felt like I'd missed out. Finally, six years after graduating, I've read it and ... I was a little bit disappointed.

Eight years before the book begins, Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth fell in love. But Anne's family put a stop to their engagement, believing he wasn't good enough for her. At 27, Anne is still unattached when Captain Wentworth comes back into her life.

Of course, it's not hard to predict just what's going to happen, you know full well who will turn out to be a villain, which relationships (or connections) aren't necessarily what they seem and that Anne and Wentworth will end up together, and perhaps that lessened my enjoyment somewhat. But I think the main problem I had was that I just didn't feel emotionally involved. Probably because I didn't warm to Anne. And I'm afraid Wentworth's no Darcy either. (Although I must admit to a small flutter when he made his declaration to Anne - Austen does a good declaration!)

While there is plenty of Austen's deliciously dry wit and beautifully drawn characters - particularly Sir Walter, Admiral Croft and Anne's ridiculously bratty sister, Mary - Anne seemed a little wet and a bit dull and I couldn't quite see why Wentworth had been in love with her for so long.

As with all of Austen's books, Persuasion is as much about money and status as it is about romance, and it was interesting from that point of view, but I didn't feel that it added anything I hadn't already learned in her previous novels.

Despite all of the above, it's still Austen and so it's beautifully written and, to use an Austen-esque term, sufficiently diverting, but I'm afraid it will never replace Pride & Prejudice in my affections.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Like this? Try Emma by Jane Austen

Jane Austen and Harriet Evans

Harriet Evans brings our special Austen Week series to a close in potentially controversial fashion!

“Don't think of Jane Austen and her books as 'classics'. It's as pejorative a word as 'chicklit' is, almost. They endure because they're good - no, great - wholly absorbing stories about women and their lives, the choices we make, the people we love, the things that happen to us."

"No one has done it better before or since. No one makes me laugh in recognition like she does, or bite my lip with sadness. She's the best. That's all there is to it. “

Harriet Evans is the author of Hopeless Romantic and Going Home, both available through Harpercollins.

Jane Austen action figure

Thanks so much to Kim Stagliano for alerting us to this Jane Austen action figure from US company, Signals. 5¼" high, she is demurely garbed and well equipped with a book (Pride and Prejudice, of course) and a writing desk with removable quill pen".

Signals also sells an Austen inspiration bracelet - a cuff featuring Austen's line "Indulge your imagination in every possible flight" in raised letters on brushed silver - and "I *heart* Mr Darcy" shirts. Something for (almost) everyone then!

Related posts: Austen week archives | The Jane Austen Centre | Literary Luminaries book bags

FRIDAY FLICK: Mansfield Park

Long before ITV1 got their hands on Austen, when Billie Piper was but a babe in arms (well, almost), was this 1996 version of Mansfield Park, starring Frances O'Connor and Johnny Lee Miller.

It's the story of Fanny Price, the poor relation sent to live with her uncle and benefactor Sir Thomas Bertram (plus her auntie and distant cousins). But from whence comes all of Sir Bertram's money? (And more importantly, isn't Johnny Lee Miller rather dishy?! )

I have to say, I really enjoyed this film, but (confession time!) I haven't read the book it's based on. (Oops). I understand that some MAJOR liberties have been taken with the text, and that true Janeites (as Austen devotees are known) are still up in arms about it, eleven years later.

If you've never read Mansfield Park, you'll probably find it as enjoyable as I did. If you have read it, watch this at your own risk, people - and perhaps take it with a pinch of salt...

Like this, but more faithful to the original text: The BBC's Pride and Prejudice.

Friday Flick archives | Austen Week archives

THURSDAY TRAILBLAZER: Jane Austen

Did you think we'd pick someone else for Austen Week?! Of course we couldn't...

As romance and chick lit authors have been testifying here all week, Austen is an inspiration to writers everywhere (male writers too, although not that many would like to admit it!) She wrote intelligent, well-plotted satirical novels that are hugely witty and which were often ahead of their time in their political and social themes. She's been called the original chick lit author - and as we all know, that's a huge compliment!

Anyone who wants to know how to write a romantic comedy (with a serious underlying moral) could do a lot worse than to study Miss Austen's six fine novels...

And you you read about why I find her an inspiring person (not just author), over at our new sister site Dollymix.

Read this: The Jane Austen boxed set (I know - cop out! I really couldn't choose...which do you like best?)

Was Jane Austen ugly?

Despite what people have always thought, turns out the nickname 'plain Jane' might not be quite accurate when it comes to Miss Austen.

But who cares what our classic authors look like says Dollymix editor-in-chief Katie Lee in her excellent piece over on our brand-new sister site... I'm sure she'd love to hear your thoughts (as would we!)

Jane Austen and Elizabeth Aston

Our special Austen Week series continues, with Elizabeth Aston, author of Mr Darcy's Daughters, The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy and The True Darcy Spirit. Why does Jane mean so much to her?

Then they stopped, holding hands, and looked down. The girl knelt, and laid a red rose on Jane Austen’s gravestone.

The gesture brought tears to my eyes. The same kind of incredulous tears as when, at thirteen, I finished Persuasion and realized there were no more to read, that Jane Austen had written just those six astonishing novels.

I was influenced by Jane Austen from the moment I was born. My brothers were named after their grandfathers; I was named after the heroine of Pride and Prejudice. So she was destined to be an inspiration to me, as a writer and as a woman: the most clear-headed, witty, satirical, humane and romantic novelist that England ever produced.

We women writers have it easy today, with our education and our opportunities and our computers, and yet we should be enthused and encouraged by Jane Austen’s example. Two hundred years ago, what were the odds that a country parson’s daughter would overcome all the difficulties of her life and write books that generations of men and women would read and be enchanted and amused and enthralled by for the next two hundred years?

But she did.

And the characters from those six novels have been part of my life ever since. "Good evening, Mr Darcy!”

Elizabeth Aston is a passionate Jane Austen devotee who studied English at Oxford. She lives in Oxford and Italy with her family. Find out more about her Austen inspired novels here.

YAY OR NAY WEDNESDAY

Last week, we talked about the huge advances given to celebrity authors - and had a pretty lively debate (-- click that link to check it out!)

This week: some more Austen, in Yay or Nay form this time! Please tell me I'm not the only one old enough to remember Emma Thompson's excellent, Oscar-winning film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility? (Okay, it's not that old, just eleven years... same as Emma, clearly Austen has a revival every decade or so.)

I do love that big-screen version, though. So I have mixed feelings about the fact that Andrew Davies, the man who thought to put Colin Firth in a wet shirt, is making a new version for the small screen. Will it be as good as the film? Better? Or have we had Austen adaptation overload?

Tell us what you think: The new S & S: is it a Yay, or a Nay - and why?

Yay or Nay archives.

[Don't forget it's Yay or Nay day at Hippyshopper, Bridalwave, Corrie Blog, Catwalk Queen, Kiss and Makeup, The Bag Lady, Shoewawa and Shiny Shiny, too!]

BOOK NEWS: Me and Mr Darcy by Alexandra Potter

We're all about the book news this week, but this one is Austen-related. Alexandra Potter's fifth book, Be Careful What You Wish For, was her most popular yet, and her new book - Me and Mr Darcy, due out 28 June - looks likely to seal her appeal.

New Yorker Emily Albright swears off men - none of them can compare to her literary hero, so what's the point?  But then she gets the chance to spend a week in the UK on a Jane Austen tour and she can't resist. Unfortunately, her fellow tourers are ladies somewhat advanced in years and one obnoxious male journalist and Emily's worried she's made a mistake. But then she meets the real Mr Darcy...

Related posts: Austenland by Shannon Hale | Austen Week archives

Don't forget our fabulous HUGE prize package!

Ooh, that almost sounds a little rude (it's the word 'package' - I know, I'm childish!), but I promise it isn't: Jane Austen's maiden aunts would approve!

In honour of our Austen Week, we're running a series of special essays by chick it authors all week - and a really great competition with all this to be won, open to everyone in the UK (unless you work for us, sorry) until midnight on Friday.

If you  haven't  entered yet, don't delay!

TRASHIONISTA RECOMMENDS: The Jane Austen Centre

The Jane Austen Centre is a permanent exhibition in Bath, England, telling the story of the effect that living in Bath had on Jane Austen and her writing.

The website features an online Jane Austen magazine with over 500 articles, a giftshop - where you can buy the Jane Austen Ink (£3.29) and Elizabeth and Darcy soaps (£6.59) pictured - information about the Jane Austen Festival, Regency tea rooms, Jane Austen's Regency World magazine, an online quiz plus a comprehensive list of research relevant Jane Austen related links. Phew.

Related posts: Austen Week archives | Literary Luminaries book bags

TUESDAY THREE: The influence of Austen

You might have noticed it’s Austen Week here at Trashionista and so for this week’s Tuesday 3, we’re looking at three very different books all imbued with the essence of Austen.

The first is a hugely popular novel, The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. The story is simple: six people form a book club and read the works of Jane Austen. Split into six sections - each concentrating both on a different character hosting the book club, and a different Austen classic - we learn about the characters' lives and their relationships with Austen’s books.

Subtitled 'Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece' and edited by the wonderful Jennifer Crusie, Flirting with Pride & Prejudice features a mix of both essays and short fiction. Contributors include Shanna Swendson and Lani Diane Rich on such subjects as the similarities between P&P and Fiddler on the Roof, Bride & Prejudice (the movie) and the eternal appeal of Colin Firth's Mr Darcy.

Finally, an Austen-esque self-help book of all things! Lauren Henderson is a Cambridge University graduate who wrote her second-year dissertation on courtship rituals in Jane Austen, so she's well placed to bring us Jane Austen's Guide to Dating (or Jane Austen's Guide to Romance if you have the paperback!). A mixture of case studies from Austen's novels and real people from the twenty-first century illustrate the educational and entertaining points that Henderson has to make about dating.

Jane Austen and Stephanie Laurens

The next essay in our special Austen Week series comes courtesy of Stephanie Laurens: why does she think so highly of Jane?

The potent magic of Regency-era romances transcends time. To this day there is no more compelling hero than a Regency gentleman, no feistier heroine than a Regency miss - the continuing popularity of Regency romances testifies to this. (There are few women in the world who would turn down a waltz with Mr. Darcy, regardless of whether they can waltz or not. )

Austen invented the subgenre, and countless storytellers, myself included, have followed in her wake. Jane created the stage on which I, a modern-day storyteller, walk – and If Jane Austen hadn't written her books, I can't imagine I would have written mine.

Stephanie Laurens's new novel 'The Truth About Love' is out now.

Jane Austen and Julia Quinn

BOOK REVIEW: Emma by Jane Austen

I wanted to read this ever since I saw (and loved) the 1996 film version starring Gwyneth Paltrow. A couple of years ago, I finally got around to it!

Although not as hyped as Pride and Prejudice, I think Emma is just as good. It's the story of (and this will surprise you) a young woman called Emma - Emma Woodhouse, who lives with her elderly father, who is ill, yet also a terrible hypocondriac (a great combination!) He and Emma love each other very much though, and after Emma's friend and former governess Mrs Weston marries and moves away, they're almost each other's only companion. Except for Emma's sister's brother-in-law (keep up!) that is - the slightly older but very charming Mr Knightley... Then Harriet Smith comes to town, and suddenly Emma has a friend her own age for the first time. She can't resist trying to use her self-proclaimed talent for match-making to try to set Harriet up with one of the eligible men around Highbury... Perhaps Mr Elton? Or even Mr Knightley?...

Emma meanwhile has her interest aroused by charismatic newcomer Frank Churchill - but could he just be playing with her emotions? And is Mr Knightley's constant teasing his way of covering his love for her? (Oh it's Austen, what do you think? Er, I mean, read it and find out!)

Emma's a wonderfully entertaining, intelligent but flawed character (with a lot more guts than Lizzie Bennett). Perhaps most controversially, I think Mr Knightley is a MUCH more interesting and sexy character than old repressed Darcy. Yes, he patronises Emma a little, but she needs someone to bring her down to earth -  and he needs someone to stop him being too serious, which Emma is great at. (Plus, and purists will hate me for saying so, he's pretty darn foxy in the film...)

Rating: 5 out of 5

Like this? Try Persuasion.

*DID YOU KNOW?* Nora Ephron once wrote an essay saying she'd love to be Lizzie Bennett, but she's much more like Emma Woodhouse - flawed, gossipy - but fun.

PS: Check out the new pretty cover - even Austen's been given the butterfly treatment!

Jane Austen and Julia Quinn

All week, we'll be asking chick lit writers to talk about their own Austen obsessions, and how Jane has influenced them…

Julia Quinn got started as a romance author by asking herself: What Would Jane Do?

I was holding a scalpel, dissecting the unfriendly end of a human cadaver, when it occurred to me: I don't want to be Madame Curie.  I want to be Lizzie Bennet.  I want to be Elinor Dashwood.  I want to be Jane Austen.

So I did it.  I ditched medical school.  I threw out my science textbooks.

I glued myself to my computer.  (Surely Jane - practical Jane - would choose a computer.)  And I wrote...

Eleven years later, I'm still writing. I still want to be Lizzie Bennet (I blame Matthew MacFadyen for that), and yes, I still want to be Jane.

But when I sit down at my keyboard and plunk my characters down in a regency ballroom, I get to be a little bit Janeish, and that's good enough for me....

Julia Quinn is the author of the New York Times bestseller ‘On The Way To The Wedding’, and has been compared to Helen Fielding by Time magazine.

Welcome to Austen Week!

In honour of our most fabulous Austen-themed competition, we're making this whole week... yes, you've guessed it: Austen week!

We'll have guest blogs from famous authors on what Jane Austen means to them and lots of Jane-themed twists to regular features... but there will still be book news and reviews from the 21st century too, so there's something for everyone coming up on Trashionista this week - please stick around!