This month I have something exciting coming up; my very
first participation in a blog tour! The blog tour in question is being run by
Leatherbound Reviews, and the book is Haunting
Mr Darcy by Karalynne Mackrory. I haven’t read this yet, though I hope to
get to it soon because it looks excellent.
I loved Bluebells in the Mourning
by this author; it’s such a beautiful, romantic read that I have high hopes
that Haunting Mr Darcy will be a
wonderful book too.
2014 is the bicentenary of the publication of Mansfield Park by my favourite author,
Jane Austen. I read Mansfield Park
in a group read as part of The Book Rat’s Austen in August event last year, which
was of huge benefit to me, because other people’s reactions and thoughts about
the book gave me additional perspectives.
I’d only read MP once before, but I interpreted it very differently than
I had on my first read, so I’ll share my review of it here with you. I saw via My Jane Austen Book Club that Radio 4 will be rerunning a recording of Mansfield Park featuring David Tennant
and Benedict Cumberbatch this month, so I am going to try and catch that if I
can.
I thought that to mark the 200th anniversary of Mansfield Park that I should try and
build some more Mansfield Park-inspired
reads in. This is not as easy as it sounds, as there are so few to choose from!
A good resource for finding such books is Austenesque Reviews, where Meredith
has drawn up some really comprehensive lists. You can see the one for Mansfield Park here. A raid on my
mother’s books a while ago unearthed a copy of Mansfield Revisited by Joan Aiken, which I understand is a continuation
of MP so this month I’ll try and read that. If you have any suggestions for
good MP-inspired reads please let me know!
For my Austenesque read of the month, I will aim to read A Perfect Bride for Mr Darcy by Mary
Lydon Simonsen which I’m sure I’ll enjoy. This one is a Pride and Prejudice
variation, and I believe the variation is that Anne de Bourgh decides to do
some matchmaking between her cousin Darcy and Miss Bennet.
When I planned my reading for this year I hoped to read some
Shakespeare – there are so many references to his plays in books, particularly
the comedies, and I’m only familiar with the ones I studied in school which are
all more on the tragic side (Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet). I’ve never
read any Shakespeare outside a school setting, so who knows how I’ll get on!
The play I plan to read is Much Ado
About Nothing and the version I have has notes alongside the text, so
hopefully I won’t get too lost.
For my contemporary planned read I have a book I picked up a
while ago via my smartphone while waiting for some photocopying in work
(smartphones are very enabling for impulse purchases!). This one is Frigid by J Lynn (who I believe also
writes under the name Jennifer L Armentrout). I’ve never read any of her work
before. This is a new adult read, with two long term friends getting stuck in a
cabin in a winter storm. It seems a bit odd to be reading it when the weather
is warming up but there we go!
I hope you have some good reads lined up for May. It’s the
beginning of reading outdoors season here so I can hopefully get some lunchtime
reading done. Happy reading!
Happy reading! Have you seen the film version of Much Ado About Nothingn with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh? I absolutely love it, though I admit I haven't yet read the play itself.
ReplyDeleteHi Monica! I've never seen it, good to know it's enjoyable, because I don't even know anything about the play. I recorded a version of the play off the TV but I thought I would read it before I watch it, I thought I might understand it better!
DeleteOh Ceri, well done my lovely what a variation, so glad to see some Shakespeare in there. Mansfield Park my next favourite after P&P. I was recently recommended the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout as my TBR list keeps rising. Happy reading look forward to your reviews! (I agree smart phone purchasing is deadly!)
ReplyDeleteI am a little intimidated by reading Shakespeare! But I will give it a go :)
DeleteI've never read anything by Jennifer L Armentrout under either pen name, but she's very popular. If you read Lux let me know what you think of it (not that I need anything else to inflate my wish list!)
Oh quickly I am reading the Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout aka j lynn. I looked into last week, It's what I would call teen romance and the first few chapters I wasn't really getting into it but now, well I'm on book 3 need I sat any more. :)
ReplyDeleteSay!! sorry grammar check
ReplyDeleteYou can't say any fairer than that can you! I generally enjoy reading young adult/new adult but I haven't tried this author yet, glad to hear you've been enjoying her books.
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