The Jane Austen Miscellany
You know, one of the best parts of going to the Stratford Festival is the chance to check out the Theatre Store. I always find such wonderful little jems that I never would have even thought of looking for in a book store.
This was one of those jems.
The Jane Austen Miscellany was compiled by Bolton, and includes excerpts from her books and letters; it includes quotes from other people about her and facts. There’s trivia interspersed through it about the fashion of the day, tidbits about the world in general, and facts about Austen’s life. Bolton has put in sections on “Further Reading” with books that have continued Austen’s novels (though I am loath to read them as they probably won’t live up to my expectations), information about movies that have been made from the books, and illustrations by C.E. Brock that had been done for the books in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With all this loveliness in the book, however, my favourite bits are the “Austenian Insults.” Simply wonderful.
I’m going to keep coming back to this book whenever I need my Austen fix but don’t have the time to pick up one of her novels.
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