Just some random thoughts this week ~ no rhyme, no reason ~ from a dictionary on the gentleman’s collar to a review of the latest book about Dickens….

• Fashion thoughts:  everything you ever wanted to know about the gentleman’s collar

 

• Regency romance:   A Wallflower Christmas” (St. Martin’s, 2008 ) by Lisa Kleypas:  this historical romance takes readers to England’s Regency period, where a young innocent abroad, under pressure from his father, must choose between love and duty

 

•  Some thoughtful review questions for Pride & Prejudice at http://apbaionedoda.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-materials-for-pride-and_07.html

 

• treat yourself to a visit to Factual Imagining, a blog about film adaptations of English history and literature, and scroll through the last few weeks of posts about Austen-related movies and various other costume drama news !~ there is even an interesting deleted kiss between Elinor and Edward (the Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant version) on YouTube!

 

• Food & Drink in Regency England by Laura Wallace (an outdated page, but with some great recipes]

 

• An article in the New York Times “Book Club Trouble Often Has Little to do with Books”  – the highs and lows of these gatherings, and how even the suggestion of an Austen or a Trollope title can send people scurrying to the door! [I know this to be true … it has happened in my book group!]

 

• Another book on Dickens:  see this book review in the NYTimes:

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS: How Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits, by Les Staniford [Crown, 2008]

• 

  The Man Who Invented Christmas

 

• READ THIS before you buy any books this season:  Michael Dirda at the Washington Post on The 10 Commandments of Book Giving

 

• Gifts for the Bookish at Book Hunters Holiday blog

 

•  this is really cute:  Austenbook on Pride & Prejudice

• the Janeite Supply Shop at Cafe Press offers all manner of shirts and buttons, and signs and bags, all to do with Jane or Darcy or Knightley or Henry Tilney….

 

• Laurel Ann and Ms. Place trade off on views of the book Two Guys Read Jane Austen…. they want your views on why “real men are not afraid to read Jane Austen” ~ click here to give your opinion.  And see our own Janeite Kelly’s review of the book here

 

• And for some ideas for that “manly” man in your life, especially those most deserving ones who read Jane Austen, head over to The Art of Manliness for their Manly Holiday Gift Ideas ~ there are some great ideas and more in the many comments…