Jane Austen

Persuasion by Jane Austen: Week 1

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Lee is on page 25 of 260

Chapter I – III

I met and surpassed my minimum goal of 1 chapter this week, yay! I actually managed to slog through the first 3 chapters. Though, I think it might have been made easier by the fact that I have read those three chapters several times before. I am officially at the point of the book where I usually give up on Persuasion and go on to reading something less irritating.

I deeply hate Anne’s father… I was literally groaning aloud to myself as he ranted about navy men!

In this post I explained my plan to finally work my way through Jane Austen’s Persuasion (the only book of hers I don’t like at all).

At the end of each week, either Friday or Saturday, I will post an update of my progress and any thoughts, should I have them.

Friday 56: August 4, 2017

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The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are simple:

  • Grab a book, any book (I, personally, prefer to use my current read.)
  • Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
  • Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
  • Post it

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Most unwilling was she to awaken from such a dream of felicity, to comprehend all the unhappy truths which attended the affair; and for some time she refused to submit to them.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays: August 2, 2017

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What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:

  1. What’s the name of your current read?
  2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
  3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

  1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
  2. His pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that extatic delight which alone could sympathize with her own, was estimable when contrasted against the horrible insensibility of the others; and she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment. She was perfectly disposed to make every allowance for the colonel’s advanced state of life which humanity required.
  3. Only in theory. And if I could leave whenever I chose!

Musing Monday – Except It’s Wednesday… Oops!

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So Musing Monday wasn’t actually posted on Monday on the source blog, so I didn’t intend to do it this week, but I happened to be over there and saw that it had been added and would give me the chance to talk about two different things I wanted to blog about. So here is Musing Monday/Wednesday:

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Has a book ever made you crave a specific type of food?

I wish I could read Jane Austen’s Persuasion, but… I have literally never been able to get past the first few chapters before I was ready to bash my head against a wall!
However, I think I’ve come up with a solution, which is lucky because I’ve got reading Persuasion as one of my 2017 goals.
Starting this week, I’m going to read one chapter a week of Persuasion. When I’m in the last four chapters I’ll read two a week. By the end of the year I’ll have finally finished Persuasion after years of trying!

Has a book ever made you crave a specific type of food?
YES! THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT THIS!
So if you’ve ever read a fantasy novel, you will know what I’m talking about when I mention their food. This does apply to everything they eat, but especially to the food the characters eat while traveling.
There’s just something about the way authors describe the bread and the salted meats and the fresh game and THE FUCKING HUNKS OF CHEESE! Nothing like a good ol’ fantasy novel to get me wishing I was gnawing on a hunk of cheese like a rat!
My favorite fantasy novels that include things like this are the Tales of the Kingdom books by Cynthia Voigt.

WWW Wednesday: August 2, 2017

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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This is a reread for me. I read it about 10 years ago, so I figured it was about time for a second round.

I remembered the story pretty much perfectly, but I had lost some of the nuance of the experience. For instance, I had forgotten how it felt like almost every conversation Elinor and Marianne have feels like borderline fighting!

I don’t like this one as much as Pride and Prejudice, but all of Austen’s works are good. I do think this one could do with a bit more snark though!

The main thing I’ve discovered during this reread:  I knew Marianne was dramatic, but it seems so much more over-the-top this time around!

Recently Finished:  The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
I picked this book up for a booklr Read-A-Thon. I was too tired to keep reading a classic novel, and this one practically jumped off the shelves screaming to be read! (Not…you know…literally. I would have run away.)

It was the perfect one for Read-A-Thon. An quick, easy read, which was still engrossing enough to make me forget I was about to fall asleep!

I saw on Goodreads that the author is working on a second novel in the same genre, which I plan to keep an eye out for.

I wrote a review for this one, which you can read here!

Reading Next: The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson
(Little Blue Envelope, book 2)
I figure my next book should be a fluffier sort of read. And since I read the first book in this duet ages back, it’s probably past time to get to this one!

I may actually start this book before I completely finish Sense and Sensibility if I find myself needing a break from the somewhat denser writing style.

Teaser Tuesday: August 1, 2017

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One consolation however remained for them, to which the exigence of the moment gave more than usual propriety; it was that of running with all possible speed down the steep side of the hill which led immediately to their garden gate.

– Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, page 40

Version:
Hardcover, Everyman’s Library Classics, #51, 367 pages
Published March 1992 by Everyman’s Library (first published 1811)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

July 2017 Wrap-Up

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Rating:  ★★★★★
Reading Dates:  July 6 – 11
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Regency Snark™
Least Favorite Thing:  Lizzie’s mom is even more annoying in the books than she is in the screen adaptations and I had completely forgotten that. That is, she’s just as annoying, but she’s more long-winded in the novel.

I know a lot of people find classics dull, and granted there are quite a few incredibly dull classic novels, but this book is worth a read. There are many scenes that had me laughing out loud and calling other people to read a bit to them so they could appreciate it too.

My Posts About Pride and Prejudice

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle, book 3
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  June 29 – July 17
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  “It was 6:21.”
Least Favorite Thing:  Casual racism…yikes.

I should be posting a Raven Cycle post soon to talk about the series as a whole.

As for this one… The Unmaker gives me anxiety, I love all the Pynch, and Maggie really didn’t do Henry Cheng justice. Oh, and I’m proud of the Gray Man.

My Posts About The Raven King

The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Reading Dates:  July 30 (read it in a day for the Read-A-Thon)
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Witchcraft meets midwifery 🙂
Least Favorite Thing:  The freaking elders, like, fuck those dudes AND their bitchy wives…

I’m working on a review, hopefully have it up soon. I do definitely recommend this book. It’s easy to get through, but don’t expect a lot of action.

*** Update: I posted the review! ***

My Posts About The Beast is an Animal

July 30th Read-A-Thon Wrap-Up

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Oh, man, I enjoyed that! I’m actually glad I was only able to sleep 2 hours so I could participate in the Read-A-Thon all day long! (That is, I’m glad I remembered there was a Read-A-Thon after a few hours of staring at a wall wondering why I was awake…)

As for my goals, I said I would love to finish a whole book, but that all I really wanted was an entire day of reading. I’m happy to say I met both those rather vague goals!

I read the entirety of The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale and made progress (if a bit slower than I’d have liked) on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

Time Started:  9:16am
Time Ended:  11:59pm
Pages Read:  463  (The Beast is an Animal – 352 pages; Sense and Sensibility – 111 pages)

I took 2 breaks for meals, 2 for surfing the net to give my sleepy brain a break from reading, and 1 to have a chat with my husband after he finally got of work (most of the chat was about The Beast is an Animal anyway).

Thanks again to Mary @books-and-cookies for the fun Read-A-Thon! I hope we have another one soon!