The Jane Austen Challenge

If I did this right.... Everything Austen  over on Stephanie's Written Word  blog and I heard about this from someone on Book Blog on ning.com,  the author of the blog has challenged Austen lovers to six solid months of Jane Austen themed things. 

I am going to do this.  Yes I am going to do this.

Okay so my 6 things are....  

1. Read Mansfield Park and do a comparative of the movies with the book
   
2. Read The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James (which has been in my to read pile for almost a year)
3. Review Becoming Jane the movie
4. Locate and read Mr. Darcy Vampyre (how did I not know about this book?)
5. Review the men in Austen's novels (that will be a tall order)
6. The Jane Austen Book Club.... do a review and comparative of the book and movie with a twist... 

And I will add one or two extra items just incase I have a difficult time....   Locate and read a copy of Jane Austen in Boca.

Locate and read one of the other Jane Austen spin offs. Which of course will have a review.  

Locate and review a copy of Bride and Prejudice. 

Locate and review a copy of Clueless (it's been 12 years since I saw that film)

The challenge starts tomorrow July 1 2009 and runs until Jan. 1 2010. 

Wish me luck. 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -Review

Well it took some slugging through as the middle seemed to get away from it's self for about 10 chapters, then when we hit the part where Lydia runs off with Wickham it got back on the right foot.  I can only guess that the re-author of this new classic, got bogged down with the actual love story end. 

I have said this before on my other blog  that I thought it was a joke when I first heard,  but it's not.  

P&P&Z  reads like a lost script of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel, and I could not keep the idea of Mr. Darcy being played by the actor David Boreanaz (as the evil Angelus) out of my head. 

It's got all the romance we have come to love of P&P, and the witty one liners we have come to love of BTVS.  

The idea of Lady Catherine having a personal team of Ninjas is a riot in itself, but the idea that cauliflower is the perfect trap for zombies, I would not have thought.  

So many things that have left people wondering about the characters over the years are addressed in this version of the story. (Lydia being infact the town tramp and Mrs. Bennet making a move on Mr. Dacry in a subtle way)

Most of the minor characters have been given all new endings (Wickham being injured to the point of needing someone to change his depends) and a few personality traits are added to the major characters (Darcy being violent) but the story holds up. 

I can not wait to see the movie version of this  and the next offering from Quirk Classics.

How You Play The Game by Jimmy Gleacher

I bought this a few years ago, and read it without retaining anything.  It was a new idea, Guy Lit.  

I just flipped through it again trying to remember something, anything about it, held the hardcover book in my hands, read the inside cover, looked at the photo of the author, and read the recommendation by Gwyneth Paltrow on the back. Yeah, like I said read this few years ago without retaining anything.

This is about a guy who has had a bunch of bad relationships, not just with the women in his love life, but with his dad and the people around him in general. He has an affair with an older woman,  and hunts down myths of his neighbourhood.

The book is written like a bad paced script for a tv show. Short pages, or are they long paragraphs? with alot of point form speech. 

I just could not get into this story the first time around, trying to re-read it is not going to happen. 

Mr. Darcy....

One of my Jane Austen groups online, is talking about Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.

Someone actually said we need more men like him.

Um...he's fictional!  Men like him do not exist in real life, nor do I believe they ever really did. Not to the extent he's written to be.   I think we put Mr. Darcy on too much of a high shelf. 

It's no wonder so many of us out there are having relationship issues, we were fed a solid diet of Mr. Darcy our entire lives. No man can live up to him. 

Guy Lit

Okay so the topic of Guy Lit came up.  Salamandergrey was on the phone with a male friend in Toronto and the topic went to books where in they started to discuss the new wave of Guy Lit.

So now we are on a mission to find books in this category.   Leave us a comment if you have any suggestions for us. 

Resistance is futile

A Vampire For Christmas

I have said before that I am more then disappointed in the sudden rise in coffin style stories. It gets a little confusing trying to find the dividing lines as of late for book sections. The fact the romance department has crossed over into the dark side would be good expect for the fact that almost everything is considered paranormal now.

With that said, I picked up a copy of Holiday with a Vampire 2. This is the second year Harlequin Romance has devoted a Christmas issue to vampires. This issue has two short novellas.

I read the first story in this issue "A Christmas Kiss" by Merline Lovelace and found it to be lacking in so many areas.

The fact it was a novella was it's first weak point. The story just didn't get a chance to develop into anything worth caring about. The characters were very one dimensional and stiff. The fact that it pulls from the idea of the overly used references of Vampire Masquerade made it dull and rehashed.

I will let you know when I read the second story in this book.

"The Vampire Who Stole Christmas" by Lori Devoti, the second novella in the book Holiday With A Vampire 2, is by far a better read.

We are treated to the idea of a Guardian Angel falling in love with a Vampire.

The topics of betrayal, lust, self esteem, and despair are the elements used to weave this short story. Unlike the first half of this issue, the characters have more depth and characteristics that make them likable.

When you meet your other half light and dark attitudes will balance out the best of each other.

Originally posted on my Chapter's Profile Dec. 2008

Blood is the New Black

This book was promoted as being "Devil Wears Prada with Vampires" and it lives up to its name. Not a horror story, or even a mystery but straight up chick lit. The main character is given a job at a fashion magazine for the summer, it is a job she really didn't ask for and not sure she should be doing. But since her mother was a top designer she really has no choice it's been set in stone. All her senior staff have strange habits, they sleep all day, party all night, never eat, and never use the bathroom. Throwin a few gossiping coworkers, a lot of sunglasses and did I mention a few bloodless bodies and we have a really funny take on an old topic. What I would like to know is there really a StakeOut.com?



Posted originally on Alucard's Rose Oct. 6 2007

Thunder Bay Book Club

Yes it's been a topic of much questions and little answers on the official Chapters' website for the community.

I am going to just say freal the rules and take things into my own hands.

If you are in the Thunder Bay area and want to have a book club leave me a comment here or on my Chapter's profile or the Thunder Bay Chapters Book group.