Three Great Reads for Jane Austen Fans

I'd like to continue my Jane Austen theme from last week (see my review of Longbourn and my feature of The Pursuit of Mary Bennet) by introducing you to three more recent books inspired by or celebrating Austen.

Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins's Jane Austen's England (Viking, ISBN-13: 9780670785841) is a fascinating look at everyday life in England at the turn of the nineteenth century. I am particularly drawn to this book because of the authors' reliance on firsthand records. They scoured "letters, diaries, travelogues, accounts of criminal trials and newspapers" to bring Austen's world alive. The variety of witnesses--the clergy, a man of means, a poor woman, husbands and wives, and tourists--gives us a wide perspective on social customs, politics, the military, the economy, and day-to-day chores. The chapters cover major events, such as births and weddings, as well as everyday concerns, such as childhood, religion, and fashion. I plan to read this book in stages, one chapter/issue at a time, so I can fully absorb the material. Jane Austen's England will appeal not only to Austen fans but also to those interested in history, culture, anthropology, and English customs.

Did you know there was a Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA)? Author Deborah Yaffe, a lifelong Austen fan, first joined the organization when she was barely a teen. Her recent book, Among the Janeites (Mariner Books, ISBN-13 9780547757735) brings to light the many faces of the modern-day Austen enthusiast. Relying on personal interviews and her own observations and participation in events, Yaffe offers a journalist's perspective on Austen's continuing popularity in the twenty-first century. From websites to YouTube spoofs, blogs, and clubs, Austen has found a surprisingly active presence in social media. Off line, fans watch Austen-inspired movies and mini-series, devour the abundant spin-offs, partake in Austen-based tours of England, attend $5000-a-head balls, and buy patterns to make their own period clothing. As one would expect from a diverse group of people drawn together for a single purpose, being a Janeite is not without its drama, but the Austen community has also been a source of friendships and bonding for people all over the world. Entertaining and informative.

I am endlessly curious about contemporary takes on Austen's novels, and for reasons I haven't investigated, Sense & Sensibility seems to be one of the more popular foundations for reimaginings. Joanna Trollope's modern-day version (Harper, ISBN-13: 9780062200464), complete with mp3 players and cell phones, tells the story of the Dashwood sisters after they've fallen on hard times. Staying true to Austen's plot, Trollope's job, as part of the Austen Project, was to modernize the details just enough to bring a twenty-first-century perspective to the story. What's particularly interesting to me is how many themes of S&S remain important today: family duty, the power of money, and the effects of making bad choices in love, for example. On the other hand, what was shocking behavior in the early 1800s is not so bad today, but social media makes it so much more difficult to hide our mistakes. So Trollope was faced with making believable changes that would ring true to both die-hard fans and new readers while retaining the enduring essence of Austen's beloved novel. I'm looking forward to both this version and the entire Austen Project series.