Tag: Jane Austen

Aunt Jane’s Marriage Advice to the Young and Romantic

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The Novels of Jane Austen

Portrait of Jane Austen, from the memoir by J....
Portrait of Jane Austen, based on a sketch by Cassandra Austen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. – Pride and Prejudice


Anybody who knows me knows how much I love Jane Austen, considered by many to be the greatest female writer of the English language. It was just a matter of time before I would feature her on my blog, and since 2013 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice it seems appropriate to do so this year. Pride and Prejudice was my first Austen novel; I read it for the first time about 15 years ago and since then have tried to read one Austen novel every year. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Pride and Prejudice is a book that I think every Christian should read, but it is one of my all-time favorite books and I do highly recommend it. Rather than review one of Austen’s books in particular, I decided instead to write about the main subject that runs through all of her books – marriage. Continue reading “Aunt Jane’s Marriage Advice to the Young and Romantic” →

What Does Lord Grantham Like to Read?

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Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My newest “guilty pleasure” has been the PBS series “Downton Abbey.” It’s really just a classy version of a soap opera, but the characters, script and story lines are extremely well-done and really draw the viewer in. My mom-in-law and I breezed through the first season in a week or two, then jammed through the second season online so we could be all caught up in time to begin the third season, which just began here this month.

Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham
Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham

Anyway, my quote of the week (1/21/13) comes from Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, talking about his New Year’s resolutions. He commented that one of his goals has been to read all of Dickens’ works, and that happens to be one of mine as well. Bonneville said,

Literature is the lifeblood of everything, really, in terms of inspiration and nourishment of the soul. So each year, I get Dickens off the shelf and say, “This is the year.”

I am proud to say I have gotten quite a bit closer to that goal than Bonneville has! Keep at it, Hugh!

Besides Dickens, my other personal favorite is Jane Austen. I’ve read all of her novels more than once and just keep rotating through them by reading one Austen novel every year. Is there a certain author whose complete works you plan to or have read?