Jane Austen July Vlog

[00:00:00]Right. So, hello and welcome back to Books and Things and welcome to another video. Welcome to the second vlog of Jane Austin July.

[00:00:15]So, it's Friday the 10th of July today.

[00:00:17]Um, and I thought I would start off a new reading vlog and tell you what I'm currently reading and what I'm about to start reading. So, I just finished off a physical book yesterday, which I talked about in the last vlog. Um, but I'm currently in the middle of three audio books. Um, so I'm rereading Metal Park by Jane Austin, which is our group read this year, which I'm really, really enjoying so far. I'm then also listening to a Sicilian romance by Anne Radcliffe, um, for my picture on historical fiction book club, um, which I'm really enjoying. I'm very nearly finished with that. I've only got about two hours left. It's an 18th century historical Gothic novel. Um, and it is very fun, if a bit silly. Um, and then I'm also reading The Rushworth Plot by Claudia Gray, which is the fourth book in a murder mystery series following characters from Jane Austin's novels and their kids and so on. Um, and I'm really enjoying that. It's a really fun series I've been very much enjoying so far. And then I thought I would start a new physical book today. Um, I'm off out for the evening. Um, going to see a friend.

[00:01:12]Um, and I will take a book with me to read on the train. And I think I'm going to take Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Burn. This is a novel um a historical novel set in I guess the 1790s um no 1801 um about Jane Austin um and it sort of takes as its premise this sort of myth um that exists within the Austin family about Jane Austin having a romance at the seaside. Um and this I guess is about that. It is quite a short novel. Um it's only about 200 pages and the font is quite big so I don't think this is going to take me too long. I am looking forward to it um because I have really enjoyed Paula Burn's non-fiction about Jane Austin before um specifically um her biography the real Jane Austin and life in small things um and her work of literary criticism the genius of Jane Austin but I haven't read any of her fiction before and also Miss Austin by Jill Hornby which is one of my absolute favorite books connected to Jane Austin um also uses this seaside myth in a different way um and I'm very very attached to what Miss Austin did with this seaside myth. So, I feel like maybe I'm going to read this novel and not love what Paula Burn does with this Austin family myth as much as I love what Jill Hornby did with it. But, I do think it's going to be an interesting read. Um, so I'm looking forward to this and I will, yeah, get cracking with this today and keep you updated.

[00:03:01]Hello again. It is Saturday evening. Um, and I am most of the way through Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Burn. Um, I'm hoping I'll finish this this evening or tomorrow. Um, and I guess when I finished it, I will decide what I feel about it. I feel like right now I don't know how I feel about it. Um, it's quite a short book and I feel like it's trying to do quite a lot of things and whether or not it succeeds in doing all of those things I feel like will be determined by the ending if you see what I mean. So far, I wouldn't say I am getting on with it as well as I get on with Paula Burns non-fiction. Um, I've loved her non-fiction about Jane Austin, but I feel like her fiction writing style doesn't suit me quite as well. There's a lot of quotes from Jane Austin novels woven into the dialogue, which is kind of fun, but I think there's probably too many. I feel like if there were a couple, it would be fun Easter eggs, but I feel like there's a lot of them and so they're slightly taking me out the story. You know, that's very much a personal taste thing. Um, I will see how things come together in the end and then I will decide how I feel about it. Um, meanwhile, I have finished listening to a Sicilian romance by Anne Bradcliffe, which I enjoyed. A Sicilian romance is quite silly and over-the-top. Um, and there are ways in which that means it's a less strong novel. You know, it's not a novel with great characterization or um, a novel that's sort of hard to predict, but it is really fun. Um, and I also feel like Anne Radcliffe is one of those writers that uses like over-the-top situations, um, and uses the Gothic and sort of the melodrama of the Gothic to comment on like gender power dynamics, especially the sort of the like power that um, male relatives often have over young women um, at the points her books are set in the past, but also at the point in time that her books are written um, in the late 18th century. So although her books are like quite silly in many places, there is also like a serious point beneath them a lot of the time. So I did enjoy a Sicilian romance. Um like I said, it was quite predictable. All of the big like twists of a novel I saw coming. Um but it was fun. I've now read three Adam Cliff novels. Um so ages ago I read the castles of Athan and Dun Bane which I barely remember at all and made very little impression on me. Last year I read the mysteries of Adulo. This year I've read a Sicilian romance. Both of those two I enjoyed a lot more and both of them I listened to on audio book. I would say that the mysteries of Udulo I think is the stronger book um and is probably the more interesting book but a Ciccilian romance is very short. I think it must be sort of between 150 and 200 pages. The audio book is um 7 and a half hours long. So it's not a long audio book. Um and I think it's a really good like taste of Angra Radcliff's work. I think it's a really good like representative sample at least of the things I've read by her so far, a Sicilian romance is a really like good example of it. So I think if you're wanting to try some Radcliffe and you want something short rather than the Mischief of Adelfulo, which is a more famous one, then I think a Sicilian romance isn't a bad thing to try. And if you enjoy the melodrama um and the like slight silliness and the um huge romanticization of nature and the like heroine occasionally breaking out into poetry, like if you enjoy all of that, then you'll like the mysteries of Adulo, too. And you could try some of her longer books. Um and if you really don't get on with it, you're probably not going to like her other work, too. Um, that's what I would say about Sicilian romance. So, yeah, not a new favorite, but I did enjoy it. Um, and I will crack on with my other audio books, Mansfield Park and the Rashworth Plot, and also with Six Peaks by the Sea. Um, and try and work out how I feel about it.

[00:06:49]Hello again. It is Sunday afternoon and I did indeed finish off reading Six Weeks by the Sea yesterday evening, which overall I enjoyed. I feel like this book was probably slightly too short and not in enough depth for my taste. Um, basically there's sort of a central plot line and there are two subplots. and the central plot line which is a love story um Jane Austin falling in love by the seaside I thought was really well done um with some fantastic elements and I found the ending of the novel very very powerful indeed but I feel like I would have liked it to be even longer and I feel like the two subplots both felt a little underbaked for me um and I think especially because both the two subplots are looking at like quite interesting social issues at this point in time um in the um very early 19th century I would have liked more Um, it's a very short book. Like, I'm not sure how many words it is, but I wouldn't have thought it was more than like 60 70,000 words.

[00:07:44]Um, and I feel like the content and the subject of the book warranted a longer book. So, I sort of enjoyed the reading experience and like I said, there were some moments, especially of the ending, that I found very, very powerful and I thought were really well done. Um, and I really like the sort of central love story, but I just wanted a bit more. So, I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say it was quite as much to my taste, um, as her non-fiction is. Um and then I have started some non-fiction. Um this morning I started courting disaster. Um it's by Zoe McGee. The subtitle of which is reading between the lines of the Regency novel. Um so this is a really interesting book and it is very good. Um so this is a work of literary criticism which is basically looking at how 18th century novels um look at issues of sexual consent sometimes directly on the page and sometimes through metaphor and through other situations. So for example, if you think about um Mr. Mr. Collins's proposal scene in Pride and Prejudice. Obviously, that's a very funny scene in some ways, but also Mr. Collins asks Elizabeth to marry him multiple times and she says no. And he says, "You obviously don't mean that."

[00:08:47]This is very good. I haven't read any literary criticism for a while. And I genuinely think this is just like excellent, fantastic literary criticism.

[00:08:55]Very, very interesting, very well written, very readable, not too academic, but also like really well done. It is very intense. Obviously, the subject matter is one that is naturally like intense and at times distressing.

[00:09:08]And also, Zoe McGee is primarily talking about 18th century novels, but she's also making a lot of parallels to situations in the modern day. Um, and how issues of sexual consent are thought about today. Um, and like it's quite a tough read. I read 80 pages this morning. Um, which one is actually quite like a big chunk of a non-fiction book for me to read in one go considering I'm predomorantly a fiction reader. Like I think that's testament to how good the book is, but also like it's quite a lot.

[00:09:32]It's quite intense. So, I think I might pause this and start another book and read this a bit slowly. So, I might start How to Lose it all in 10 Days by Sophie Win cuz I feel like that will be fun and cheerful. [laughter] Um, I think I might start that next and read that sort of intermittently with this. Um, but I will say that so far I think this is fantastic. Um, just quite an intense read.

[00:10:16]Hello again. It is Tuesday the 14th of July. Um, I'm still listening to Mans Park and the Rush Plot, both of which I'm still really, really enjoying. I am getting closer to the end in both of them. Well, is that true? I'm nearing the end of Mansville Park, I would say.

[00:10:30]And I am just over halfway through the Rushworth plot. And meanwhile, I am still reading Courting Disaster. Um, I've read like another section of this book. Like I said last time, I do think this is absolutely fantastic. Like just some of the best literary criticism I've read for ages. I mean, I haven't read any literary criticism for ages, but even if I had, it would have been one of the best. Like I don't always find non-fiction this compelling. But it is incredibly compelling and it's really interesting. I've read some of the books that Zo McGee is talking about, but not all of them. But even the chapters on the books I haven't read, I'm still finding absolutely fascinating. Like I said on Sunday, it is a very intense read. Like there's quite a lot of like upsetting, distressing stuff in it. Um but it is fascinating. um and really well done and very very interesting. Um so I am yeah really appreciating this book so far. I did want to alternate it with something a bit lighter. Um so I have also started How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days by Sophie Owen. I have a very nice special edition um that looks very pretty under the cover. I've read the first three chapters of this and I already love it so much. It's so fun.

[00:11:28]It's just so fun. What I love about Sophie Owen's writing is that it's really like astute and well observed um and looks at the Regency period in a really complicated interesting way, but also it's just really good fun. Like it's just funny and witty and entertaining. Um so this book is about a young woman who at the very beginning of the novel receives a proposal of marriage from a man who is in line to inherit a duke. he's going to be a juke and she just feels she can't say no because he's a juke and her aunt and uncle are there in the room. She stumbles over her words and is taken as a yes and then suddenly she is engaged to this juke who she doesn't really know and she doesn't like and she doesn't really want to marry. He wants to keep the engagement a secret for 10 days um and announced at a particular event. Um, so she has 10 days to try and get out of this engagement, but also in order to avoid the anger of her aunt and uncle, um, she decides that rather than breaking the engagement off with him, she's going to try and provoke the future juke to break it off with her.

[00:12:29]So, yeah, I'm looking forward to continuing both of these and switching between them. Um, and I'll do a bit more reading this evening, I hope. But in the meantime, this afternoon, um, I have handled in a freelance editorial project, which is exciting. And while I'm waiting for my next project to land, I need to do some filming. Um, I'm going to film a video about lover's vows and Mantel Park and all the ways in which they connect. Um, so yeah, let me get on with that. I have a very long list of notes, so I think it's going to take me a while.

[00:13:31]Hello again. I have completely lost track of when I last filmed a clip for this reading vlog. Have I spoken about How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days by Sophie Owen yet? I think I have. So far, it is just an utter delight. Um, and just a really, really lovely, joyful, funny read, and I'm so looking forward to continuing with it. Meanwhile, I'm still reading Courting Disaster. Um, which is fantastic. I've made quite a lot of progress with this. Um, I'm hoping I'll finish it off over the weekend. I think it's just a really, really powerful book. Um, really great literary criticism, really tough, difficult subject matter. Um, but so well written.

[00:14:04]um and so important. Meanwhile, I'm still listening to Mansfield Park and the Rushworth plot. Um I'm hoping I'll finish off Mansfield Park pretty soon now, maybe over the weekend. Um because it's Thursday today, so we're nearly at the weekend. And then another thing I have read today um in order to make a video about it was this. This is you are Elizabeth Bennett by Emma Campbell Webster, which is a choose your own adventure um in a Jane Austin theme. So you start off as Elizabeth Bennett um and you make decisions to see whether you can um you know marry for love but also prudently and on we go. I won't talk too much about this in this vlog because I have made a separate video of me going through my choose your own Jane Austin adventure. Um in general this was really good fun. I don't think everything in it worked perfectly but it was a really enjoyable entertaining exercise. Um, and I haven't done a choose your own adventure for, you know, probably decades, not since I was a kid.

[00:14:57]Um, so this was very enjoyable. I have a really busy weekend, so I'm not sure that I'm going to manage to film much over the weekend. Um, but I should have a bit of time to read. Um, so I'm relatively hopeful I will finish off Courting Disaster. Um, and get through another fair chunk of um, the Sophie Owen book. And then I will probably film another clip for this vlog on Monday and then wrap it up then. But I will see how I go and I will check in again soon.

[00:16:14]>> [music] >> Hello again. It is Tuesday, the 21st of July, and I feel like I have not filmed very much at all over the past few days, but I have read lots of things. So, um, to begin with, I finished off both my audio books. To start off with Mansville Park, um, I really loved it, as I always do. It's one of my favorite novels. Um, it's my second favorite Austin after Pride and Prejudice. It's always such joy to reread. Really enjoyed the reread. really enjoyed all the discussions over on the Discord server and it was just a great read. And then I also finished off the Rushworth family plot by Claudia Gray. Overall, I enjoyed this. It's a very good fun series with really interesting characterization. I thought the mystery in this one was pretty good. Um, I didn't guess all of it. Um, but I also feel like I wasn't very surprised by it, if you see what I mean. It's the fourth book in a series, so I feel like I can't say too much about the overarching plot, even though that is the thing that sort of engages me most about this series, I would say, more than the mysteries themselves. I do feel that there are certain elements of the overarching plot that maybe have been dragged out a little too long, and this is the first book I felt that in.

[00:18:00]So, I'd be interested to see sort of what happens in book five in the series, which I know is out, but I'll probably read next in July. I have also finished off one of the physical books I was reading. I finished off Courting Disaster today. Um, and I found this a really, really interesting book. I feel like I've probably already said most of what I want to say about this non-fiction book. Um, but I found this a really fascinating read. Quite a difficult read, especially in the earlier sections. Um, but a really interesting one. The final section in the book is about Jane Austin. um and looks at the way Jane Austin looks at marriage and courtship in her books and how that sort of ties into issues of sexual consent um and sort of how much women's voices are listened to more generally in the Regency novel. Well, maybe one or two things in the sense sensibility chapter that I didn't necessarily agree with. Um but I thought the Mansfield Park chapter was fantastic. Um and overall, as I have said, I think this is a really really interesting non-fiction book. Really worth a read. A tough read, like I said, but just very very good quality literary criticism. And then meanwhile, I'm still reading How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days by Sophie Owen. I have progressed with this, but I'm probably still about a third of the way through. Um, and I hope I will continue to read this for the rest of the week. I'm really, really enjoying this. It's very, very good fun.

[00:19:07]And now that I finished off Courting Disaster, I would quite like to just sit down and read like a massive chunk of Sophie Owen. I think that would be really nice, but I will see how I go.

[00:19:15]Oh, and then the other thing I finished beyond reading is one of the watching challenges. Um, I finished watching The Other Bennett Sister, um, the adaptation of the Janice Hadlow novel, which Nick and I have been watching over the past few months. We are hopefully going to make a video talking about that miniseries and our thoughts together, um, at some point in the next few weeks, so I won't talk too much about it here.

[00:19:34]Um, but I enjoyed the miniseries, but it wasn't perfect for me. Um, but I also would say that the book wasn't perfect for me either, which I think it was for some people. Um, so I have much to say, I guess, but that will come in another video. Anyway, I think I'm going to wrap up this vlog here as we now are twothirds of the way through July and then I will start a new reading vlog um for whenever I start reading um next on audio book um and physically um and for the rest of How to Lose a Lord in 10 days. I hope you're all having a good Jane loss in July. I'm sorry I haven't been able to do more reading sprints.

[00:20:06]Work has just been very very busy um and I just haven't had the time. Um but maybe I might be able to next week. Um I will see how I go. That's all for now.

[00:20:15]Thank you very much for watching and I'll be back very soon with another bookish video.