Follow Friday #49

Thanks to Parajunkee and Alison Can Read for hosting Feature and Follow Friday every week!

Todays question:

Q: Share your favorite literary quote! 

    .

 A: That's really a hard one. There are so many quotes that I love.

From Stardust by Neil Gaiman:

“A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?"
Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now that's a question.”

From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

From The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

"All get what they want; they do not always like it." 

Those are just a few of mine. What about you guys?

Author Guest Post - Lana Long

Why I Love Jane Austen

A Guest Post by Lana Long

 

I can sum it up in one word: escapism.  Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy reading books that deal with hard-hitting issues—issues that are real and difficult—but for the most part watching one nightly newscast can provide enough reality to last a few weeks. When it’s late at night, the kids are sleeping, the dog is sleeping, the husband is sleeping, everything is real quiet and the day’s activities are slipping into memory, I want to spend my last waking minutes in a world that’s interesting, satisfying, and nice.

That is why I love Jane Austen.

The social propriety of Austen’s works fascinates me. All of Austen’s novels struggle with the hierarchy of society.  In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy fights his feelings for Elizabeth because she’s not quite up to his social standing. In Persuasion, Anne pines for her lost love because she allowed her family to convince her that Wentworth isn’t good enough. In Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby leaves Marianne when the risk of lost fortune becomes all too real. Willoughby is not a hero, and in the end Marianne comes to see that love doesn’t need to burn bright and hot to be real. Society tries to deflate these characters, tries to ruin their chances at happiness, but they fight through it and come out stronger, better off, and at peace. All except Willoughby, but that lout deserves what he gets.

That is why I love Jane Austen.

The physical world of Austen’s novels is like a mythical place to me after growing up in the 20^th century western United States. In Austen’s world, people live in houses the size of apartment buildings. They travel by coach, horseback, or they walk. If they’re wealthy enough, they summer in the country, winter in London, and vacation or convalesce in Bath. Servants take care of the family (don’t insinuate to Mrs. Bennett that she can’t afford a cook), drive them from place to place, work the land, and take care of the estate. Quaint villages and abbeys sustain small communities. Without wealth, people become isolated in their communities due to the time and cost to travel from one place to another. The characters in Austen’s novels—affluent or not—find ways to traverse this world and allow the reader to glimpse the countryside, the city and everything in between at the dawn of the nineteenth century in England.

That is why I love Jane Austen.

In Austen’s novels, the family structure and the roles of men and women are so foreign but at the same time so simple. What would it be like to spend all day sewing, playing the piano, reading, drawing, or walking in the garden? At the same time the women find themselves helpless because they aren’t allowed to learn anything besides these activities. In Sense and Sensibility, Elinor is powerless to find a way to care for her sisters and mother after her half-brother inherits her father’s estate and doesn’t care for his sisters as promised. Emma‘s friends, the Bates, live off kindness and a small living, because Miss Bates never married and her father is deceased. It’s not necessarily easier for the men. If you’re not the oldest son your choices are limited to clergy, military or another profession deemed acceptable by the gentry.  Still, these people fight against the rules of gender and birth order. They are funny, kind, caring... frustrating and irritating, but they are always likeable and I cheer their success and mourn their losses, even Emma. And most of all, there’s a happy ending; our heroines and their friends find love and peace, and their foes find discomfort and an unfulfilling future.

That is why I love Jane Austen.

So why did I choose Mansfield Park for an adaptation out of all the Austen works? First, it’s a great story. The story is of Fanny Price, a young girl, coming of age away from her immediate family, who is too poor to rear all of their offspring. Fanny is required to uphold expectations set upon her by her caregivers, her wealthy aunt and uncle, but she is never to be rewarded for living up to those expectations because her true parentage is lowly. She’s in love with a boy, her best friend, who’s falling in love with someone else and by all of society’s rules unattainable even if he was available. The story felt ripe for a modern Young Adult novel. 

That is why I love Jane Austen.

Second, well, I hadn’t seen Mansfield Park retold. It would take your hands, my hands and twenty of our closest friends to count the number of times Pride and Prejudice has been adapted. I’m not complaining; I love it. Other Austen works need the opportunity to be discovered through modern retellings as well. As a teenager I read Emma because of the movie Clueless.  Jane Austen’s been gone for almost 200 years and we still read her novels and draw inspiration from them because they are truly great stories.

 

And that is why I love Jane Austen.

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Finding Favor is priced at just 99 cents as part of its special launch week sale. Pick up your copy on either Amazon US or Amazon UK now, and don't forget to stop by and participate in the special release week contests.

Our big launch week prize basket includes:   Journal with a cover inspired by Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (as is this novel), note cards with an orchid design (Favor's favorite flower), a hard cover edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (Ethan's favorite book), and a cool pen (who doesn't love cool pens?). CLICK HERE NOW TO ENTER!

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About Lana Long

 

As a devoted fan of young adult novels herself, Lana Long is thrilled to be gracing the YA world with her first novel, Finding Favor. Many years of daydreaming and several writing classes and workshops have contributed to the development of Finding Favor as well as to her inevitable future books. Through her experiences at Lighthouse Writers in Denver, the Big Sur Writing Workshop in California, and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference, she has learned an amazing amount about writing novels.

Although writing serves as a relaxing process, Lana is also grounded by her family, by her work as a church treasurer, and by volunteering at her kids’ elementary school.

She hopes that her books provide readers with the same entertainment she herself finds in YA novels. If you enjoy a good coming-of-age story featuring enthralling characters, check out Finding Favor and read more of Lana’s thoughts at www.lanalongbooks.com.

Review & Giveaway - Finding Favor by Lana Long

What’s more important: friendship or freedom?

In the eight years since seventeen-year-old Favor Miller’s father died, she’s had to endure her reluctant, self-righteous guardians the Browns. Every day for eight years, they've reminded her that she doesn't fit in, that she’s not one of them. Every day for eight years, she’s eagerly awaited the day when she’ll finally be free to live her life her way.

On the eve of high school graduation, Mr. Brown ambushes Favor with the offer of college funding and a to-die-for summer internship–with the one stipulation that she must discontinue her friendship with his son, Ethan.

Accustomed as she is to sharing everything with her best friend, this is one secret Favor must keep in order to protect Ethan. The distraction of his new girlfriend, her growing friendship with his older brother, and her need to understand her family history, add in further complications.

As Favor debates signing the contract, she must decide if she’s willing to give up her best friend in order to pursue her dreams. Will she have to stay in the place she’s so desperately wanted to escape in order to make the right decision and get what she really needs?

I'm a huge Jane Austen fan. Which played a part in deciding to read Finding Favor by Lana Long. Mansfield Park by Austen is part of what inspired this novel.

Favor's father died when she was young. His old college roommate gave Favor a home and has agreed to help further her education and make her "dreams" come true... as long as she does one thing. She has to sign a contract by her 18th birthday promising that she'll stay away from his son, her only friend in the world it seems, Ethan.

The Browns are well off and kind of hoity-toity. Their saving graces are their sons, Ethan and Tom. Ethan has been Favor's best friend since the moment she entered the home and Tom becomes her new ally when it seems Ethan has found something better to occupy his time with. The daughter, Madison, however, is stuck up and as snobby as they come. She doesn't hesitate to put Favor in her place and remind her just exactly where she came from and that she is in no way shape or form an actual part of the family.

First off.... I want to say I was a bit put off by the fact that there seemed to be no typesetting in the copy I received. The font was incredibly large and the letters actually ran off the bottom of the page and on to the next. I also found a typo in the first few pages of the story which didn't get my hopes up about the rest of the novel.

I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book.

I was sad for Favor. She was basically reminded on a regular basis that she was an orphan but from the time she was little she had Ethan. It was her and Ethan against the world. I had a friend like that when I was young. It was me and him. We were joined at the hip. Until we weren't. We grew up and grew apart like Favor and Ethan seem to be doing in this story. And it breaks her heart because aside from the gardener and some of the staff that work for the Browns, she literally has no one. No one to take care of her or that she can talk to. She lives a very lonely existance and it was just so sad. I could relate to her and being able to do that really drew me in to the story.

The Browns irritated me from the word "Go". Mr. Brown seemed cruel and heartless and completely detached from any semblence of humanity and I just assumed Mrs. Brown was him but female. I like it when I find out I'm not always 100% correct. It makes me feel better. Madison was a spoiled little rich girl and I've known too many of those in my life to really have any sympathy for her. At all. Period. She felt like she was entitled to everything in the world and everyone owed her something. Total snob. I stayed away from people like that in school.

Tom was the big surprise for me. Based on the early description of him I assumed (again) that he was just a spoiled (but good natured) rich boy who had everything handed to him. And again, I was pleasantly surprised. He turned out to be quite the onion with layer upon layer and it was great every time a new side of him was revealed.

This was a good story to read overall. Barring the frustrations right at the beginning, I liked it. A lot. In a small.... teeny tiny sort of way, it reminded me of the relationship between Bella and Jacob and Bella and Edward in Twilight. Tom being Jacob and Ethan being Edward. Please don't let that stop you from reading it, that's just what I thought of when I pictured the relationships between the main characters. My brain goes funny places when I read.

I would recommend this probably to anyone 16 or over. It was a fast read and had a good plot that moved along nicely. The characters were well rounded and I enjoyed "getting to know them". I'm pretty sure that if you open this one up you will too.


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My Favorite Book Romance

Ok, Valentine's Day is over and all the gooshy mushy stuff is on clearance at the grocery stores.

I thought I'd drag it out just a LITTLE bit longer with my absolute ALL TIME favorite book romance. Hands down. It's not Edward and Bella from Twilight... or even Jacob and Bella (although I do favor Jacob over Edward). No... my favorite book romance of all time is Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. I love the book. I love the movie. Their relationship is just amazing.

How many of us have started off on the completely wrong foot with someone. And it leaves a sour taste in our mouths and we just can't stand the sight of them. Blech.

Until one day you're looking at them and they're not so detestable anymore. Maybe it was just a simple gesture that started the change. Maybe a smile or a joke that they told. Maybe you dropped something and they helped you pick it up and all of the sudden you might not hate them as much as you used to.

Soon the person you hated is your friend. Or perhaps the one you hated has started to invade your heart and you can't really do anything to stop it. Before you know it the one you couldn't stand to look at is the one you don't think you can live without.

I love Elizabeth Bennet because she is extremely bright, witty, and has a fire in her that I wish I had. Mr. Darcy is the epitome of a gentleman despite his proud nature. He is well spoken and has this huge heart. He doesn't seek to change Elizabeth. He just wants to be with her. He knows she's considered "middle class" to his "upper class" but even in a time when that's supposed to be the deciding factor in many romances, he ignores it and lets his heart fall for her anyway. And while she tries as hard as she possibly can not to let him affect her in any way because she thinks him too proud and arrogant, the wall she's placed around her heart to keep him out starts to crumble.

I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.

In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

Follow Friday #45

 

 

Thanks to Parajunkee and Alison Can Read for hosting FF every week.

 

It's been a while since I've done one of these, and for a bit I couldn't figure out what my answer would be, but here ya go.

 

Q: Activity! Who do you want to be? If you could choose any character from a book. What do you think that character looks like and what do you have in common?

 

A: At first, I wanted to say Hermione. Because, let's face it, she's awesome. She has awesome friends. And she gets to go to Hogwarts. But I thought some more and decided on Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. It's hard not to picture her as Keira Knightly from the 2005 movie. She's not described fully aside from her eyes and her hair, but I'd imagine she'd be pretty (the book says as much). Not drop dead gorgeous, but pretty in a quiet sort of way, if that makes sense. She's smart and quick witted. And hey, she snags Mr. Darcy. Who wouldn't want to be in her place?

 

 

What about you guys? Who do you want to be? 

Review - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

In keeping with the Pride and Prejudice theme (check out the giveaway for Experience by Meg Kerr!) I decided to write up a review for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Seth Grahame - Smith tags along with Jane Austen in this one to bring you a classic story with a gruesome twist.

It had been months since she had seen Charlotte, and kind months they had not been, for her friend's skin was now quite gray and marked with sores, and her speech apallingly laboured.

Ah yes, poor Charlotte. Stricken and practically decomposing before your very eyes. But Lizzie, ever the kind friend, still visits her.

"Wady Caferine very respectable...sensible woman," groaned Charlotte, "and most attentive nay-bah."

I'm sorry, but just trying to say that in my head the way it's written, I can't help but laugh. I absolutely loved this book. It was funny and familiar at the same time. The "unmentionables" were a great addition. We find Lizzie and her sisters very learned in combat and martial arts while still trying to maintain the pretense of being proper young ladies of the time.

And check out Lizzie's refusal of Mr. Collin's marriage proposal:

"You forget, sir, that I am a student of Shaolin! Master of the seven-starred fist! I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so. May, were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I am persuaded she would find me in every respect ill qualified for the situation, for I am a warrior, sir, and shall be until my last breath is offered to God."

It's even illustrated!

I highly suggest picking this up. If you're a fan of "Unmentionables" or Pride and Prejudice. I wasn't sure how much I would like it compared to the actual P&P... but I was delightfully surprised at how much fun it was to read.

You could also check out the prequel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. This one is written by Steve Hockensmith. I have not had a chance to read it so I can't attest to its contents, but it looks like it would be as interesting as the first P&P&Z. Also by Steve Hockensmith is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After in which tragedy befalls Mr. Darcy when he is bitten by an unmentionable. He is not immediately beheaded by his lovely wife. Instead she seeks a cure in London. Sounds like fun times. I haven't read this one either.

Covers Around The World

Ok, so this one may not be ALL around the world, it's just been published SO many times and has so many different covers that I wanted to share them. It's one of my favorite books. We're talking about Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.

This is the cover on my copy:

This one I love simply because I adore Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. I love his voice, his hair, his face... ::cough:: but yeah, I like this cover.

This one I like because it's simple and beautiful:

And here are some more of the covers that I enjoy:

Ebook Edition:



This one I just think is cute:

Beautiful:

Ummm.... not sure how this one works with the story....:

Ok... and just because I want to... lol... here's Pride & Prejudice & Zombies:

Follow Friday #15

  Q. Name 3 authors that you would love to sit down and spend an hour or a meal with just talking about either their books or get advice on writing from?
A. Geez... I don't know if I could pick just 3. I would probably have to go for JK Rowling, CS Lewis, and JRR Tolkien. And for someone who's name isn't on their books as just initials, I'd have to add in Jane Austen as well. And MAAAAAAAAAAYBE Christopher Paolini. I know that's more than 3, but I don't do well having so few favorites.

Pride & Prejudice

I absolutely adore Pride & Prejudice. I love love love it. From Lizzy to Mr. Bennett to Mr. Darcy to Jane. They're all just absolutely wonderful.

That being said, I know there are multiple movie (even TV series) versions of this amazing classic. And I have to thank my brother for giving me my absolute FAVORITE of all time. Now, I love Colin Firth. I think he is a phenomenal actor. But the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice is just all that and a bag of potato chips (buffalo ranch even) if you ask me. I adore Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen is just to die for. Not to mention the scenery is breathtaking as is the soundtrack.

Which version is your favorite?