Thanks to TLC Book Tours and Axios Press I have one brand-new copy of As Always, Jack to give away! Click here to read my review of this lovely, moving memoir!
The Rules:
We're going to make this super-easy -- all you need to do in order to enter is leave a comment on this blog post and a valid email address -- your.name (at) domain (dot) com.
This drawing will be open through July 31, 2012, and the winner will be announced in a blog post on Wednesday August 1, 2012.
Thanks to publisher David C. Cook's generosity, I have one brand-new copy of Glamorous Illusions to give away! Click here to read my review of this fantastic novel!
The Rules:
We're going to make this super-easy -- all you need to do in order to enter is leave a comment on this blog post and a valid email address -- your.name (at) domain (dot) com.
This drawing will be open through July 15, 2012, and the winner will be announced in a blog post on Monday July 16, 2012.
Shipment to US and Canadian addresses only (sorry to international readers -- I will try my best to have a world-wide giveaway soon!).
Today I am thrilled to welcome Laurel Ann Nattress to the blog to help celebrate the release of her first book, Jane Austen Made Me Do It! Laurel Ann is the genius behind Austenprose, one of the premiere destinations in the blogosphere for all things Jane Austen-related. I'm honored and thrilled for the chance to partner with her to celebrate her newest writing venture.
Without further ado, please welcome Laurel Ann! (Giveway information at the end of this post!)
Hi Ruth, so after over two weeks on my Grand Tour of the blogosphere in celebration of the release of my new Austen-inspired anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It, I am finally here with you at Book Talk & More. We both share an affinity of Jane Austen and the many movie, television adaptations and spinoffs that have been produced in the last fifteen years, so I thought I’d write today about some of my favorites.
The demarcation line in the world of Jane Austen-inspired films and mini-series can be drawn decisively at the 1995 airing of the A&E/BBC five hour mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. We can credit its screenwriter Andrew Davies for exposing Austen to a wider audience with his more energized and sexed up interpretation of Pride and Prejudice. The landmark production not only included complete passages of Austen’s witty dialogue, but the provocative plunge into the Pemberley pond by Colin Firth as Austen’s hero Mr. Darcy, who emerged not only dripping wet, but a romantic icon of Nonpareil. We have seen a steady stream of movie and film adaptations since P&P 1995, some more successful than others. Here are some of my favorites:
Clueless (1995)
Screenwriter/director Amy Heckerling’s pitch perfect modernization of Austen’s novel Emma, is now a cult classic. A very young Alicia Siverstone stars as Cher, a privileged high-school teen living in Beverley Hills who spends her days shopping for designer clothes, playing match-maker to her friends or looking for a boyfriend. The Valley-speak language was totally rad.
Cher: Wasn't my mom a total Betty? She died when I was young. A freak accident during a routine liposuction.
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan make a delightful Mr. Darcy and Lizzy Bennet in Nora Ephron’s loosely-based P&P comedy where two New York book retailers, one an independent “Little Shop Around the Corner” and the other a mega chain Fox Books “hate each other at the office but fall in love over the Internet.”
I love the scene where Kathleen describes Austen’s language, “Confession: I have read Pride and Prejudice about 200 times. I get lost in the language–words like thither, mischance, felicity. I’m always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are really going to get together. Read it – I know you’ll love it.”
Lost in Austen (2008)
Writer Guy Andrews and director Dan Zeff’s clever spin on present day Londoner Amanda, played by Jemina Rooper, who is lost in Austen, literally, by being magically transported into the novel Pride and Prejudice. The scene where Elliot Cowan as Mr. Darcy ironically emerges from the Pemberley pond dripping wet is indeed a postmodern moment for us all!
I enjoy these modern takes on Austen because they are so creative and funny, paying homage to their inspiration and at the same time entertaining. I hoped for something similar in my new Austen-inspired anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It. I think that my authors who chose to do contemporary pieces closely matched the tone and energy in these effective Austen-inspired movies in their rom-com’s and parodies. Here is a description of their stories:
“The Ghostwriter,” by Elizabeth Aston
Sara, obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, is jilted by Charles, who can’t compete with Mr. Darcy. His parting gift is a lock of Jane Austen’s hair. Sara wakes the next morning to find a strange woman sitting on the end of her bed. A figment of her imagination? No, it’s the astringent ghost of Jane Austen. On a mission to restore the reputation of forgotten Gothic author Clarissa Curstable, Jane Austen saves Sara’s career and brings Charles back before taking herself off into the ether, but there’s a price to pay, as the couple discover when they wake up to find another ghostly visitor at the end of the bed. It’s Jane’s friend, Clarissa – and she plans to stay.
“Faux Jane,” by F. J. Meier (Frank Delaney & Diane Meier)
A rich young American actress anxious to marry an English Lord buys a “signed first edition” of Pride and Prejudice as a gift to impress his rare book collecting mother – which, of course, is a fake. The actress’s friends are the story’s two protagonists – a fashionable New York photographer and her chic-restaurant owner husband – they’re Nicola and Charles Scott. The story mirrors many of the snob and society nuances excelled in by Jane Austen – on whom the restaurateur, Charlie (as his wife calls him: he’s “Charles” to everyone else) is encyclopedic. With the help of their butler-manservant, a former hood named Uncle Julius, Charles and Nicola crack the fraud.
“Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!,” by Janet Mullany
It’s 1964 at the height of Beatlemania and the girls of Cleverton High School in England are out of control. Julie Morton, the most junior staff member, finds herself supervising three of the school’s worst offenders, and the resulting conversation about Sense and Sensibility starring the Fab Four gives the girls insight into Austen’s novels and teaches Julie something about her own choice in men.
“When Only A Darcy Will Do,” by Beth Pattillo
Elizabeth Brown hopes her bootleg tour of Jane Austen’s London will bring in some quick extra cash, but when a real-live Mr. Darcy shows up for the tour, her day takes an unexpected turn. Elizabeth has very real problems. Her father’s lost everything in the economic downturn, her parents have split up, and she has no idea where she’ll get the money she needs for grad school tuition. Her afternoon with Mr. Darcy, though, shows her that even in the midst of turmoil, happiness can arrive in the most unexpected ways.
“Me and Mr. Darcy, Again…,” by Alexandra Potter
Mr. Darcy is every woman’s fantasy. But what happens when he becomes one woman’s reality? In 2007 Emily traveled from New York to England to go on a Jane Austen-inspired literary tour. There she met and fell in love with Spike, an English journalist.
She also met Mr. Darcy… Or did she? She can never be sure if it really happened, or it was her over-active imagination. Now, four years later, she’s had a huge row with Spike and is back in London nursing a broken heart. And there’s only one person who can mend it. Mr. Darcy….
“The Mysterious Closet: A Tale,” by Myretta Robens
In the wake of her most recent failed relationship, Cathy Fullerton takes an extended vacation in a converted Abbey in Gloucestershire, England. Ensconced in the Radcliffe Suite, a jet-lagged Cathy mistakes a walk-in closet for a Vaulted Chamber, a clothing rack for an Instrument of Torture and an accumulation of cobwebs for her True Love.
“What Would Austen Do?,” by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway
Fifteen-year-old James Austen always thought Jane Austen was for people like his mom – people who read stuff, old people. But when he mistakenly signs up for a country dancing class, James realizes that all kinds of girls actually read Jane Austen. If he wants to figure out why, he’s going to have to actually…read the books.
“Intolerable Stupidity,” by Laurie Viera Rigler
Well hidden from the ordinary world, in a little-known corner of jurisprudential hell known as the Court of Intolerable Stupidity, a legal drama of literary proportions unfolds. The plaintiff is none other than the most famous romantic hero of all time, Mr. Darcy. The defendants are the authors who dared write sequels, adaptations, and inspired-by’s of his Creator’s most beloved work, Pride and Prejudice. One of those works, whose author was tried and convicted in absentia, is so popular that its salacious swimming-in-the-lake scene has resulted in Darcy’s being forced to endure a perpetual state of shivering wetness in a transparent white shirt. For when Darcy’s adoring public isn’t throwing water on him, his umbrella breaks in the midst of a downpour. And now, between the zombies and the vampires, Darcy and his wife Elizabeth are at their wit’s end. So is defense attorney Fritz Williams, who not only fights a losing battle in a kangaroo court ruled by Darcy’s tyrannical aunt, the Honorable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but also his secret infatuation with prosecuting attorney Tawny Wolfson. Who has her own secret: a hopeless addiction to the illegal miniseries that she is supposed to abhor.
“A Night at Northanger,” by Lauren Willig
Our heroine, Cate Cartwright, is part of the cast of “Ghost Trekkers”, currently filming at one of England’s most haunted homes, Northanger Abbey. Naturally, Cate knows there’s no such thing as ghosts. It’s all smoke and mirrors for the credulous who watch late night TV. At least, that’s what she thinks… until she meets the shade of one Miss Jane Austen during one fateful night at Northanger.
There are also an additional thirteen stories ranging from Regency to mystery to paranormal. I hope readers will have as much fun reading Jane Austen Made Me Do It as I did editing it.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts here today on my favorite Austen-inspired movies Ruth. The exciting thing is that we can all “suppose as much as you chuse; give a loose to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford” and see where the new movies and books take us.
Cheers, Laurel Ann
Editor bio:
A life-long acolyte of Jane Austen, Laurel Ann Nattress is the author/editor of Austenprose.com a blog devoted to the oeuvre of her favorite author and the many books and movies that she has inspired. She is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, a regular contributor to the PBS blog Remotely Connected and the Jane Austen Centre online magazine. An expatriate of southern California, Laurel Ann lives in a country cottage near Snohomish, Washington. Visit Laurel Ann at her blogs Austenprose.com and JaneAustenMadeMeDoIt.com, on Twitter as @Austenprose, and on Facebook as Laurel Ann Nattress.
Enter a chance to win one copy of Jane Austen Made Me Do It by leaving a comment by November 14, 2011, stating what intrigues you about reading an Austen-inspired short story anthology. Winners to be drawn at random and announced on November 15, 2011. Shipment to US and Canadian addresses only. Good luck to all!
******
Laurel Ann, thank you SO much letting me join your "Grand Tour"! Good luck, everyone!
I haven't hosted a book giveaway since April. April. This is tragic! In hopes of remedying this shocking lack of bookish swag, I'd like to give away one copy of The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz. Here are the details:
About the book:
Roxanna Rowan may be a genteel Virginia woman, but she is determined to brave the wilds of the untamed frontier to reach a remote Kentucky fort. Eater to reunite with her father, who serves under Colonel Cassius McLinn, Roxanna is devastated to find that her father has been killed on a campaign.
Penniless and out of options, Roxanna is forced to remain at the fort. As she spends more and more time with the fiery Colonel McLinn, the fort is abuzz with intrigue and innuendo. Can Roxanna truly know who the colonel is - and what he's done?
Immerse yourself in this powerful story of love, faith, and forgiveness set in the tumultuous world of the frontier in 1779.
Leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address: your name (at) domain name (dot) com
For an extra entry, post about this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook and leave a separate comment telling me you've done so with the link.
Entries will be accepted through midnight Tuesday 8/30/11 and the winner will be announced Wednesday morning 8/31/11.
Open WORLD-WIDE!
Good luck! (I just have to add, if you're not reading LifeWay's Fiction Blog, A Novel Bookshelf, you're missing out! I am thrilled that today Rachel is sharing my review of The Colonel's Lady with her blog readers!)
Well, well, well...somehow the entire month of March went by and not one book giveaway to be found on this blog. It's past time to remedy that oversight, methinks. :) I have one copy of Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews up for grabs this week. Here are the details:
About the book:
An epic story of love and forgiveness, suffering and restoration...
When her beloved grandfather Isaac dies, Dinah must follow his final command: travel to Job's household to marry his son. After Job's world comes crashing down, Dinah finds herself drawn to this great man brought low. What will she risk to fight for his survival?
Mesu Andrews weaves an emotional and stirring account of Job and Dinah. Love Amid the Ashes breathes life, romance, and passion into the classic biblical story of suffering and steadfast faith.
You can read my review of Love Amid the AshesHERE.
Giveaway Details:
Leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address: your name (at) domain name (dot) com
For an extra entry, post about this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook and leave a separate comment telling me you've done so with the link.
Entries will be accepted through midnight Sunday 4/10/11 and the winner will be announced Monday morning 4/11/11.
Open to US/Canada only this time - money's a little tight this month. The next giveaway will be open world-wide. :)
Because it's Monday, and it's Valentine's Day, and because I heart my readers, I thought it would be fun to have another book giveaway! This time one copy of Stars Collide by Janice Thompson is up for grabs.
About the book:
Kat Jennings and Scott Murphy don't just play two people who are secretly in love on a television sitcom - they are actually head over heels for each other in real life. When the lines between reality and TV land blur, they hope they can keep their relationship under wraps. But when Kat's grandmother, an eccentric star from Hollywood's golden age, mistakes their on-screen wedding proposal for the real deal, things begin to spiral out of control. Will their secret be front-page news in the tabloids? And can their budding romance survive the onslaught of paparazzi, wedding preparations, and misinformed family members?
From the soundstage to a Beverly Hills mansion to the gleaming Pacific Ocean, Stars Collide takes you on a roller-coaster tour of Hollywood, packing both comedic punch and tender emotion.
Leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address: your name (at) domain name (dot) com
For an extra entry, post about this contest on your blog or Twitter and leave a comment telling me you've done so with the link
Entries will be accepted through midnight Sunday 2/20/11 and the winner will be announced Monday morning 2/21/11
Open worldwide, but here's the deal - if I ship worldwide on a book giveaway, then the next two giveaways are US/Canadian addresses only, since I sadly can't afford to ship to far-flung corners of the world every couple of weeks. *wink*
Since it's Monday, and since I have several blogs in various "draft" stages that need to be completed (including, but not limited to, a review of Downton Abbey Part Four - how fabulous was that?!, reviews of episodes 4 and 5 of Primeval, and a couple of book reviews), I thought it entirely appropriate to mark the last day of the first month of 2011 with a book giveway. One copy of Irene Hannon's latest, Fatal Judgment, is up for grabs.
About the book:
U.S. Marshal Jake Taylor has seen plenty of action during his years in law enforcement. But he'd rather go back to Iraq than face his next assignment: protection detail for federal judge Liz Michaels. His feelings toward the coldhearted workaholic haven't warmed in the five years since she drove her husband - and Jake's best friend - to despair...and possible suicide.
As the danger mounts and Jake gets to know Liz better, he's forced to revise his opinion of her. And when it becomes clear that an unknown enemy may want her dead, the stakes are raised. Because now both her life - and his heart - are in danger.
Full of suspense and romance, Fatal Judgment is a thrilling story that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.
If you'd like to win a copy, simply leave a comment on this post with your email address: your name (at) domain name (dot) com
For an EXTRA entry, post about this comment on your Facebook, blog, or Twitter, and leave a comment telling me you've done so.
Entries will be accepted through Sunday, 2/6/11, and the winner will be announced Monday, 2/7/11. Good luck!
Blog housekeeping note: I've removed the challenge buttons from the right sidebar. It was all getting to be a bit too much for me. *wink* You can still find all the challenge details on the Reading Challenges page.
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