A Cup of Tea & Biscuits

I will never get bored of claiming that, to me, one of the greatest love stories ever written is Pride & Prejudice. So far every companion novel, and the so called prequels and sequels, I've read, all recount the love story from different perspectives, hence, I was rather curious to see what a mystery novelist would make of it! Death Comes to Pemberley  written by  P. D. James , author of the Adam Dalgliesh  mysteries, was published in 2011 - I mention this because her first novel Cover Her Face  came out in 1962 and she, the author - Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, is 91 years of age! Why is this significant to me? Personally, she is the oldest living author that I've read. Anyway, the book. The book is about the murder of Captain Denny, whom we know to be George Wickham's comrade-in-arms and, quite possibly, only male friend. Set primarily in Pemberley and the surrounding woods, the story begins with a recap of the events in Pride & P...

If the reality that I've read nearly 10 Austen spin-offs (I will not take into account the Austen books I have read this year), of which 8 are based on P & P, in 9 months doesn't cement the fact that I am addicted to Jane Austen, and Mr. Darcy is my idea of a perfect gentleman (and my man, of course), then I don't know what will. Though Jules Verne is undoubtedly the one who opened to me the gates of literature, Jane Austen will always be credited as the one who held me, inspired me, and fascinated me. This, not just because she is one of the best authors ever, or the fact that she had strong feminine lead characters - being a feminist I quite naturally like that -, but more because of her way with words, which I am sure all book nerds will agree with. And because I am such an addict and Austen nerd, and because I love the English language and mannerisms of the 19th century, I've always been a bit wary of reading spin-offs. Some have disappointed me hugely, others h...

For anyone, who is as obsessed with P & P as I am - and I'm certain there are many - the most natural thing is to wonder, after you've read P & P, what was going on in Darcy's head. What's his side of the story? His point of view, his opinions? Jane Austen told us one of the greatest love stories (I'm going out on a limb here, but I dare you to refute me) through the heroine's eyes. While Elizabeth is a practical and generally sensible story teller, it might seem very biased. Just the story-telling part of it. And because I like Mr. Darcy more than I like Elizabeth, for all the obvious reasons, I've always wondered, from probably my second reading of the book over ten years ago, what exactly was he thinking? This book, Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer , came out soon after the BBC adaptation of the classic. There are way too many around, if you ask me, and very few live up to the expectation. Many try to mimic Miss Austen because there is no other...

Alright! I confess! I'm a Jane Austen addict and I'm obsessed with Pride and Prejudice! Mr. Darcy is my drug! There we go! Out in the open! :) My 3rd P & P 'sequel' in less than a month and definitely the best one I've read so far! Written by Abigail Reynolds, Mr. Darcy: The Last Man in the World branches off from the middle of P & P, from Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth. Why does sensible Eliza agree to marry disagreeable Mr. Darcy? Because he kisses her, assuming in his arrogance that she would not refuse him, and is spotted by Colonel Fitzwilliam. Darcy believes Elizabeth returns his love, while she has agreed to marry him only because she believes she has been compromised. Elizabeth begins her married life with much discontent, despite Darcy's constant attentions. He bestows upon Mrs. Darcy, mistress of Pemberly, all his love, admiration and respect and strives to be a good husband to her. He does, however,  ask her to cut off correspondence ...

Pride & Prejudice has been, quite resolutely, my favorite book of all time. It has never wavered from its number one position in the past fifteen years - from the time I first read the abridged version of Jane Austen's masterpiece. I have great respect for the author and have loved each of the characters more every time I've read it (my watching Colin Firth play Mr. Darcy just sealed my romance of the character). Consequently, I ended up reading a bunch of sequels, and diaries, and most 'accompanying' novels. (I will speak of them in later posts). Most recently, however, I read Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange , and all I can say is - :0, seriously?! The story begins towards the end of Pride and Prejudice, just before the wedding ceremonies of Jane and Elizabeth Bennett to Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. It is all good and nice, keeping with the customs of the early 19th century. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy then embark upon their wedding tour. Instead of g...