A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections by J.E. Austen Leigh My rating: 3 of 5 stars Technically it wasn’t really part of my research, since it is now agreed that this is a very whitewashed, highly edited version of Jane Austen’s life, but it is nonetheless very interesting to read how the biographies and the creation of a very distinct image of Jane all began relatively shortly after her death. I appreciated Caroline Austen and Anna Austen Lefroy’s recollection of their aunt Jane; however short they were. At the risk of sounding slightly sexist, I have to caution readers when perusing the sections of this memoir that…
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The Art of War
The Art of War: Sun Zi’s Military Methods by Sun Tzu My rating: 3 of 5 stars I keep hearing this text casually mentioned here and there, so I was curious and requested it from my local library. It took about 4 months to become available. I was so busy with all my other readings that I totally forgot I had it. I ended up being that person to keep the book past due, because renewing it wasn’t available. In the end, I had to come to the conclusion, that anything related to philosophy isn’t my thing. I ended up having a bad case of anxiety. I should have known…
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The Nest Keeper
The Nest Keeper by Beth Krewson Carter My rating: 2 of 5 stars I received this ARC from Red Coat Publishing and the authors in exchange for an honest review. I had to take a long break from reading this story, in part because of my piling research I have to do, and in part because of the way it made me feel. I’m still quite on the fence about this book and I can’t even decide on the rating. I found the characters drove this story more than the plot, which is great. But I had trouble finding just one character I could remotely like and muster up some…
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The Life of Jane Austen
The Life of Jane Austen by John Halperin My rating: 3 of 5 stars Originally, I had rated this biography four stars, but after a few day’s consideration I have decided to change it to three stars. As part of my research in preparation for my graduate thesis, I am reading a handful of texts with increased scrutiny. I found the biography, generally speaking, very informative. The author explains in his introduction that he decided against footnotes in order to provide the reader with a more continuous reading experience, since footnotes have the tendency to distract and break up the flow of the text. The chapter notes at the end…
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Jane Austen – A Family Record
Jane Austen, a Family Record by William Austen-Leigh My rating: 2 of 5 stars This was another book on my required reading list in preparation for my graduate thesis. It certainly is a family record and it is rather dry. I must confess that I read this biography with a grain of salt and a constant mental reminder that Jane’s immediate surviving family members edited the sections of her letters they used in their published biography of their aunt Jane. Since the initial publication of this biography (by her nephew’s son and grandson) many more of Jane’s letters have resurfaced and the truth came to light that even those sections…
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Searching for Jane Austen
Searching for Jane Austen by Emily Auerbach My rating: 1 of 5 stars I added this book to my required reading list for my research while preparing to write my graduate thesis on Jane Austen and her works. I just closed the book and I am half agony, half frustrated for having read it. The first chapter takes a great stab at Jane’s nephew’s biography on his aunt titled Memoir, attempting to dispel the image of “dear Aunt Jane”; a timid, sweet-tempered little woman, whose main calling in life was the keeping of her house. The tone of this first chapter is that of anger with more than a hint…
