Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo by Christiane F. My rating: 5 of 5 stars I had to prepare a presentation on Bydlowska’s Drunk Mom in my creative non-fiction course and this book (titled Station Zoo in English) was mentioned by the author. I was curious about it, since growing up in Berlin I kept hearing it mentioned, yet I never knew what it was really about. Whatever somebody could have told me about it would not have been enough to caution me on the journey I was about to embark upon. The book resonated with me on a very personal note, because part of Christiane F.’s story took place in…
-
-
The Postcolonial Jane Austen
The Postcolonial Jane Austen by You-Me Park My rating: 2 of 5 stars Part of my ongoing research in preparation for my graduate thesis. It is always unfortunate and a little annoying when books turn out to be non-referencing when researching one’s topic. But regardless of my personal feelings with respect to the time I used perusing this text, I found it rather confusing and lacking any distinct focus and direction. I remember taking a postcolonial literature course back during my undergraduate years with a professor named Austen, kind of ironic, right? The prof was nice enough and very enthusiastic about the topic and I really tried my best and…
-
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa My rating: 3 of 5 stars As part of my ongoing research for my thesis I primarily focused on the section that dealt with Jane Austen’s friendship with Anne Sharp. I was excited to read this book and had high hopes to find little pieces of information that could be truly beneficial for my thesis. I ended up being disappointed. It did discuss the friendship that had not really been mentioned by anyone else, but the research and evidence provided is lacking. Barely any quotes are used and the ones that…
-
Representing Women and Female Desire from Arcadia to Jane Eyre
Representing Women and Female Desire from Arcadia to Jane Eyre by Marea Mitchell My rating: 1 of 5 stars Part of my ongoing research for my graduate thesis. I’m really not quite sure what this was supposed to argue or communicate. I thought the summary was very misleading, since it says it will examine women and female desire from Arcadia to Jane Eyre not comparing other works of classical literature to Arcadia. Most of the time I had no clue what was going on and noticed that the section focusing on Austen’s Pride & Prejudice talked more about Darcy and Bingley than truly committing to the concept of women and…
-
Jane Austen at Home
Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley My rating: 2 of 5 stars This biography was suggested by my thesis supervisor as background information for my thesis topic. I had started reading it the previous summer, but had to stop due to time constraints and because the hardcover edition available from my local library was a bit too cumbersome. I ended up buying a paperback edition while visiting Bath, England in March. It was a stop and go sort of journey with this book and I am on the fence about my opinion of it. I’m completely torn and wondering how much detail and example of my split opinion I…
-
A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
