You pierce my soul...

I am currently rereading Persuasion by Jane Austen for the second time, and following the blogs of others rereading too, it is like being in a virtual bookclub .  As well as Persuasion being my favourite Austen book, Anne is my favourite Austen heroine.   I envy Annes restraint and generosity of spirit.

Persuasion is a subtle art of genius.  Things unsaid can be detected by what the characters describe not what is heard, not easy in a novel, so much easier to show in the filmed adaptations.  It is a mature book which bears out the fact that it is Austens later work and reflects her own loves, losses and disappointments.  Except in Persuasion she writes the romantic happy ending that I am sure Austen would have liked for herself.

I'll let Cassandra, Janes sister, have the last word.  Cassandra wrote in her own copy of Persuasion, which is now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, "Dear, dear Jane!  This deserves to be written in letters of gold."

http://booksasfood.blogspot.com/2011/09/he-ought-not-he-does-not.

http://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/persuasion-week-2-emotion/

http://vintagereads.blogspot.com/2011/09/louisa-musgroves-fall.html

It's hotting up!

My book shop on Etsy is starting to warm up in time for the word that I refuse to utter until October!

My lastest sale was to a lady in the US, who bought a copy of Baedeker's Northern Italy and asked me to ship it to her wedding planner in Florence, Italy.  It sounds very romantic, I would love to know what part the book is playing in the proceedings.

Brighton-ing up a day

This last weekend we went to Brighton for the day

we walked along the pier

ate fish and chips

enjoyed the stoney beach

watched a fishmonger empty his scraps into the sea, and the frenzy of gulls that ensued

checked out the street art in the lanes

browsed amongst some of the more unusual shop offerings

ate Brownies and Sherry Trifle ice cream at our favourite cafe - Scoop And Crumb

I recommend it

Twitterature

I thought I would do a Twitter style book review of my summer reading, keeping each one to 140 characters or so.  Here goes;

Please Look After Mother - Kyung-Sook Shin.  Haunting tale of a rural Korean family taking Mother for granted, until she disappears. Her family reflect on her contribution to their happiness.  Wonderful.

The Painted Veil - Somerset Maugham.  A beautifully crafted story about the turbulent life of a young married English woman who has an affair in Colonial China.  Such a pleasure to read, I loved it. 

Red Tails In Love - Marie Winn.  Terrible title.  True story of birds & their human followers in New York's Central Park.  Red Tail Hawks nesting outside Woody Allen's apartment. Charming tweet Lit.

Shakespeare - Bill Bryson. Bryson fleshes out the few facts we know about the Bard with his usual vim and humour.  Did you know Shakespeare's work contains 1st recorded use of 2,035 words? Rollicking.

Shakespeare's Wife - Germaine Greer.  Greer sweeps aside hackneyed 'facts' that appear to be based on misogyny, & dares to say, what if Anne Shakespeare was a woman of substance? Scholarly and bold.

The Slap - I felt like I needed to slap someone after wasting my time with this turgid nonsense. Less about a slap, more about crude & unsympathetic soap-style story lines & characters.  Don't do it kids!

If I had to pick a favourite it would be The Painted Veil.