Monthly Archives: February 2011

Jane Eyre

Updated on February 26, 2011 by Elena Greene

Maybe I’m still living under a rock, so apologies if this has been discussed here before. I just found out about this new version of JANE EYRE, starring Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska and due out in theatres on March 11.

But I won’t get my hopes up too much. I’ve had a rough relationship with JANE EYRE on film. I have liked all the actresses who’ve played Jane but too often the casting of Mr. Rochester or some other factor don’t quite work for me.

The 1943 version (Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine) version captured some of the feeling of the book but tampered too much with the plot and dialogue for my taste.

I have not seen the 1970 (George C. Scott, Susannah York) version. How did that happen? Should I look for a copy?

The 1983 (Timothy Dalton, Zelah Clarke) miniseries was pretty good, I thought, but he came off a bit too handsome for Rochester. I find this cover amusing, relegating the title character to the background!

As for the 1996 (William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg) version, all I can say is I like Hurt much better in other roles.

I had high hopes for the 1997 movie with Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton, but I was disappointed. I like both the actors but the film felt rushed to fit a target length.

Finally, I loved the 2006 miniseries with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. It is easily my favorite adaptation.

Hopefully this new version will be at least as good. Check out the trailer. What do you think? Which versions will it have to contend for to be your Favorite Jane Eyre Adaptation?

Elena

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Jane Eyre | 10 Replies

Secondary Food

Updated on February 25, 2011 by megan

So finally I was able to open up my current document and do some writing. It felt good, and I want to do more of it.

But then there’s this whole job thing, so we’ll see about that.

Anyway, meanwhile, a friend recommended a book that sounded really great, so I got a copy and started reading it on my lovely subway commute (I should just start calling it the LSC, since I am so appreciative of it, since I get to read). It is great. It is phenomenally up my alley.

But it’s secondary food.

Let me explain. Back in college, I had a friend who was the result of a German woman marrying a Japanese man. A made in World War II relationship. My friend, let’s call him Mr. Axis Power, told me how in the beginning of their marriage, his mom would cook all sorts of things–German things, of course–for her husband. She’d ask him how it was, and he would say, “It’s good, for secondary food.”

This baffled her. She kept trying, doubtless serving all sorts of delicious schnitzels, and roesti, and big meat dishes. Still–the only praise she received was “good for secondary food.”

Eventually, the two figured out the problem; for him, being Japanese, rice was primary; all other foods were secondary.

So back to me. For me, romance is primary; all other genres are secondary. I am loving this book, but it’s not compelling me to read as it would if it were an equally fantastic romance. It’s good–for secondary food.

And so my next book after I finish this one (The Devil You Know by Mike Carey, btw) will be a palate cleansing primary food, a romance carefully chosen from the stack.

And hey, any day where I can equate books and food is a good one, right?

Megan

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Megan, Secondary Food | 9 Replies

What am I reading/writing anyway?

Updated on February 24, 2011 by Janet Mullany

First some news–my next book about Jane and the Damned is coming out in October and now has a title, Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion. I’ve also seen the cover but I can’t show it to you yet. Cool! This illustration is my favorite still from the book trailer of Jane and the Damned.

Following last week’s post about the pros and cons of different historical periods it seems only natural (to me anyway) today to delve into subgenres. Lucky us, we have so much choice in the sort of books available and the merging of once-discrete subgenres. It can be confusing! So here’s a field map to some scenarios and how they’d play out.

Hero wears

Quietly elegant clothes made by London’s top tailor. You know, the exclusive one only the Big Guys know about.
Pants so tight you really don’t notice anything else and a shirt that unbuttons all the way down
Subtly scented oil
Quietly elegant clothes made by London’s top tailor but cut to accommodate the wings or any other little (or big) extra(s) and/or martial arts weapons

Heroine wears

Demure sprigged cotton, bonnet, gloves, the whole shebang
Red satin with a dozen tiny buttons down the back etc.
Subtly scented oil
The usual sort of Regency stuff but with many hidden pockets for stakes, knives, martial arts weapons

They go for a walk in the woods.

He picks flowers which she and her chaperone squeal over with delight
Not much walking going on here
Even less here
A possible declaration of love is thwarted by an attack by the creatures of darkness

He retires to the library to

Sigh gently over a half-composed poem and figure out how best to serve the needy and poor on the estate
Above, pants optional. Some of those tenants are very needy.
Enter the orgy room through the false bookcase (note: they’re all false. No time for reading in this world!)
Plan strategy to eliminate creatures of darkness

Hero and heroine ride together in a carriage

When the chaperone falls asleep, they allow their hands to touch for one precious, poignant moment
Athletic goings-on strain the framework of the carriage
Above, but chaperone, coachman, and postilions join in
Fierce fight as creatures of darkness or whatever swarm over the vehicle

When they arrive in London, the heroine agonizes over whether she’ll receive

Vouchers for Almacks
Invitations to soirees full of hot, young, single Dukes
Invitations to orgies
Invitation to summit to fight off creatures of darkness, which are now becoming tedious to me and will catch a mysterious virus and slink back to whence they came

The heroine becomes pregnant after

The marriage night, thank you very much
About page 35 but she doesn’t realize it until everyone else has, including the exasperated reader
Pregnant? I don’t think so
Hero assures her the creatures of darkness are vanquished. But wait…

Your suggestions?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion, Silly Stuff, subgenres | 3 Replies

Presidents’ Day – Things I Didn’t Know

Updated on February 21, 2011 by diane

Today is Presidents’ Day, a National Holiday celebrating the birthdays of our two greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (No, it is not just an excuse for some really good sales!).

I decided to look into how Washington and Lincoln might “intersect” with our England, if not just the Regency and to tell you things I learned that I didn’t know (or remember) from my American History school textbooks.

Washington, as we all know, was Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, leading the American victory over Britain in the Revolutionary War. The pivotal battle in the American War of Independence was the Battle of Yorktown, when Washington’s army defeated Cornwallis’s British Army. Cornwallis died in 1805, but certainly his life affected the Regency.

Things I didn’t know:

Cornwallis wasn’t just a bad guy, as I thought in elementary school. In fact, he took leave from the Revolutionary War to be at the side of his dying wife.
Cornwallis wasn’t perfect, though. He did not exactly approach the defeat of Yorktown as a gentleman. Instead, he feigned illness and sent his second in command to formally surrender his sword to Washington.
He did redeem himself in the eyes of Britain, though, going on to become civil military governor in India and Ireland and bringing about significant changes. In Ireland he helped to bring about the Act of Union, and in India, Permanent Settlement.
Half of Washington’s army at Yorktown were French soldiers under the command of Rochambeau.
Washington, who could not tell a lie, sent fake dispatches to Cornwallis’s superior in New York, convincing him that the American attack would be on New York and not Yorktown.

Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, a year before “our” Regency time period and his leadership during the American Civil War made him one of our greatest presidents, but, in looking into how his life might have intersected with Britain, I discovered things I did not know.

Things I didn’t know:

Lincoln was almost involved in a war with Britain.

Confederate president Jefferson Davis sent two special commissioners to Great Britain, James M. Mason and John Slidell, to England and France as part of a plan to involve Great Britain into a war with America. As they were crossing the Atlantic, an American Captain, Charles Wilkes (who turned out to be a Confederate spy, which shows how convoluted this period of US history was), stopped the British ship on which they were passengers and, with no authority from anybody, had the two commissioners taken into his custody. Known as the Trent Affair, all of Great Britain rose up in outrage at this illegal act. War fever was at high pitch and British men were enlisting in the army in great numbers to sail to America and right this wrong.

Queen Victoria’s Prince Albert was instrumental in averting this war.

The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, wrote a harsh ultimatum to President Lincoln, basically threatening war. When this letter reached Queen Victoria for approval, she sought her husband’s advice. Prince Albert, ill with the fever that would take his life soon after, rose from his bed to draft a less volatile missive, one that would not provoke war. It was his last political act.

Lincoln was almost involved in a world war.

During the time of the Trent Affair, Russia was the enemy of England and France. The Czar of Russia sent a fleet of warships to New York and his admirals had instructions to report to President Lincoln if Great Britain did indeed declare war on the US. Who knows what the outcome of that war would have been for the world? Russia and the US on one side; the Confederacy, Great Britain, and France on the other.

Thank goodness Queen Victoria listened to her husband.

Ain’t history grand? What historical facts have surprised you recently? What are you doing this Presidents’ Day?

I have a new contest on my website.