Jane Austen's Books & Adaptations discussion

If you're looking for Sequels or Retellings, there are some really good lists to be found on listopia:

Best Jane Austen Fan Fiction

Jane Austen Sequels and Pastiches

Best Jane Austen Retellings

Austen Inspired

Best Pride and Prejudice Sequels, Variations, Adaptations

Diverse Austen

Legendary Literary Couples Live on in Countless Retellings
GoodReads published this article two years ago to celebrate 2019 Valentine's day. The first couple mentioned is of cource Darcy and Lizzie.

Zuzana, I am curious to know if you have any favourite retellings?

Or sequels?

I tried quite a few, but mostly I am less than impressed (I tend to get very critical when it comes to JA. :)

The few exceptions of modern retellingscI really liked are

- "Lions and Liquorice" by Kate Fenton (1995) which turned the tables and switched the roles bw the sexes. We had a "poor" male Lizzie/Jane as opposed to a rich female Darcy/Bingley.

- Unmarriageable by Sonia Kahmal (2019) = P&P in Pakistan. I especially enjoyed the audiobook narrated by the author and that she made the girls older than the males.

- The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (of course ;)

Here is a great article by John Mullan. He wrote it after Joanna Trollope's Sense & Sensibility (The Austen project) was published. I agree with every word, especially as I hated this retelling with a vengeance. :)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Melindam wrote: "Zuzana, I am curious to know if you have any favourite retellings?"

You know, I am still looking for JA fanfiction that I will love. It's usually abysmal or merely okay. I've found out that I prefer JA non-fiction.

Having said that these are on my shelves or Amazon Kindle/Audible accounts waiting to be read:

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (thanks for the rec!)
Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued by Anna Elliott
Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld
Willoughby's Return: A Tale of Almost Irresistible Temptation by Jane Odiwe
Dancing with Mr. Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House
Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
Jane of Austin: A Novel of Sweet Tea and Sensibility by Hillary Manton Lodge
Polite Society by Mahesh Rao
Love & Friendship: In Which Jane Austen's Lady Susan Vernon Is Entirely Vindicated by Whit Stillman
Sketching Character by Pamela Lynne
Pemberley Ranch by Jack Caldwell
Sanditon by Kate Riordan
Longbourn by Jo Baker (my latest buy - yesterday in local bookshop for 50 CZK - about 2 bucks)

I know, I know. I'm a JA junkie. I don't have much to say for myself except for that I buy Kindle books when they're on sale - so I don't think I spent more than 2-3 bucks a piece. ;)

There's nothing to be ashamed of. ;)

From your list I have already read

- Pemberly Ranch: 3 stars
It was written by a man and the historical setting was unusual and interesting.

- Jane of Austin: 3,5 stars
A nice little take on S&S

- Eligible: 2 stars
It was a weird read. I would have liked it better if it weren't a P&P variation. There were some aspects I liked and was quite put out by others.

I forgot to add another recommendation "Northanger Abbey" by Val McDermid. That was the only book I liked from the Austen Project & gave it 4 stars.

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith was very weak.

----

Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James was an utter bore and she did not even bother to try to make the beloved characters act like themselves.

I have already started Jane of Austin. I need to finish it. It's been nice so far. The only thing that bugs me is the idea that a bunch of potted tea plants are supposedly enough to supply a tea shop. Ha! Anyway, I really like what the author did with Captain Brandon's character.

Anything in common with your TBR? We could buddyread one? But no pressure.

I am on my phone now, so I cannot check. But will do the "compare books" later. :)

But I would like to read "Polite Society" and I would not mind re-reading Unmarriageable.

I am always leery of JA fanfiction. I've had the most luck with fiction about JA or her books (as opposed to retellings/sequels), like The Jane Austen Society. I hated Longbourn and had to stop reading it. :/

Laurie, I tried to read Longborn, but dnf-ed as you did, because I hated it.

I finished The JA Society because it was read by Richard Armitage, but found it boring and annoying.

But I understand your feelings Laurie, I tend to have a suspicious & critical attitude as well, as there are so many attrocious books on the Austen bandwagon.

I also tried a few books that Austen read as well as trying to discover some forgotten classics after her time.

If you enjoyed Emma, I can wholeheartedly recommend "Miss Marjoribanks" by Margaret Oliphant. It can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg.

Miss Marjoribanks is in a way a more successful Victorian granddaughter to Emma. :)

Laurie wrote: "I hated Longbourn and had to stop reading it. :/"

Melindam wrote: "Laurie, I tried to read Longborn, but dnf-ed as you did, because I hated it."

Maybe I should have asked first before buying the book. Nevermind. ;)

Funny about Miss Marjoribanks. It's one of the few Victorian books on my TBR - I think I added it because Katie from "Books and Things" recommended it for lovers of Austen's Emma.
Glad to have it confirmed that it's a worthy Emma's successor.

Melindam wrote: "Miss Marjoribanks is in a way a more successful Victorian granddaughter to Emma. :)"

Adding it to the TBR...😀

I loved Miss Marjoribanks. :)

I would also add another recommendation: The Semi-detached House by Emily Eden.
She was born in 1797 and Austen was a favourite writer if hers and it shows.
It's a really enjoyable read, though contains some unavoidable Victorian anti-semitism. Nevertheless it's worth checking out as there are definitely some resemblance to Austen, even though it does not go too deep.

2 more recs for today and then I'll stop. :)

The Making of a Marchioness (1901) & The Shuttle (1907) by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Both are excellent character studies.
You can check out my quite detailed reviews for them for further details.

I appreciate the recs, Melindam. :)

If you're still game I'd like to buddy read Unmarriageable in December.

I would very much like to read a JA inspired nonfiction for Nonfiction November booktube event. Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards A Portrait Of Jane Austen by David Cecil. It's been recommended to me by several people on booktube as not dry and very "readable".

Zuzana, I am game. Let's do the buddy-read in Dec.

The book by David Cecil has been on my TBR, but unless it's on audible, my budget won't allow me to purchase it on kindle until next year.

Do you have any other JA non fiction already on your Kindle or on your Audible account that you would like to read in November?

If it's Audible I have a couple spare credits, and if it's on Kindle I might already have it.

There's always this in the Plus Catalogue:
Regency Etiquette - The Mirror of Graces (1811); or The English Lady's Costume
Regency Etiquette: The Mirror of Graces
I plan to listen to it someday, but to be truthful I'm not very keen. It's bound to be a bit silly.

Zuzana wrote: "Do you have any other JA non fiction already on your Kindle or on your Audible account that you would like to read in November?

If it's Audible I have a couple spare credits, and if it's on Kindl..."

The David Cecil book is not on audible unfortunately. :(

I just listened in on a bit to this Regency book and I can understand you are not too keen. It does not sound appealing at all.

I have the following non-fiction books about JA (apart from all the novels annotated by David Shepard)

Did you read any of them? And are there any you wouldn't mind re-reading?

From your list I have
Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen,
Jane Austen: A Life
and John Mullan's book (that's the one I did read and very much loved).

From my Audible Wishlist:

The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain by Ian Mortimer

The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern by Robert Morrison

Jane on the Brain: Exploring the Science of Social Intelligence with Jane Austen by Wendy Jones

A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes

The Life and Works of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser

1815: Regency Britain in the Year of Waterloo by Stephen Bates

I can purchase the Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England from my next audible credits. That sounds interesting

Great. Let me know once you get it (or if you change your mind) and I'll buy it, too. As I said it's been on my wishlist for a while and I have credits to burn. Also 8 hours is quite a reasonable length for a non fiction on audio. For (really) long NF I prefer physical books, easier to circle back a re-read earlier passages for reference.

Will get my next credits on 15 Oct.

Will get my next credits on 15 Oct.

I purchased The Visitor's Guide, Zuzana. :)

I did too. Looking forward to the buddyread. :)

Me too. When will we start? In November?

November would be fine. We can start to discuss the book at the weekend Nov 5-7, if it's okay with you.