Jane Austen

First, here is a nice biography -

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Austen/Austens-novels-an-overview

Fall 2023, youngest and I were discussing book clubs covering one book a year as a means of reading all the works by a given author over time.

My old classics group did this with Charles Dickens. We added one Dickens to our list, methodically, every year. An assigned Dickens we would read; on our own, it just never got done. We had other categories we targeted for our list each year also. 

Youngest’s book group was attempting to do this with Austen, but then no one remembered to put an Austen book on the list for next year. . .

If by chance you have never read Austen, she is a great idea. I think it is easier to listen to her books in audio format than read the printed page. 

I think this is true of Dickens and Twain also, audio is better.

The kids and I love Austen. And we all agree, there is something about getting one’s ear in the groove of listening to the language, one’s ears/brain adapt. 

 I would not suggest reading Dickens or Twain, one right after the other, one a year is a good pace for those authors, but Austen I might (foreshadowing). 

If you look up Austen books, this (below) is the list that usually appears. I have read all the titles on this list several times each, both for pleasure and for classes and book groups, over the decades.

Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Mansfield Park (1814)

Emma (1815)

Persuasion (posthumously, 1817)

Northanger Abbey (posthumously, 1817)

Late September 2023, loading past read books into the app, I saw this collection (below) listed on Goodreads, new to me.  I found it for free on Audible.  

These are three partial Austen works. The Audible collection is these three incomplete works combined into one recording. 

When I finished William Kent Kruger, I rolled right into The Firm and The Exchange. And then I listed to the incomplete Austin collection (above), and it was a shock to my ears. 

It has been years since I listened to something classic where my ears/brain have to adjust. When I started, the incomplete collection, early November 2023, I was not sure I still had the ability to adjust, but I did. 

I finished the trio of incomplete Austin works (above) over two days, finishing a quilt top (last week’s post).

I had nothing pressing on my reading list. 

I decided while my ears were adjusted, relistening to the whole Austen list, in publication order, was a great idea. 

I think this is first for me. 

I think this is the first time I have read the whole collection, one right after the other, in chronological order. But since my ears/brain were in early 1800’s mode, it made sense. 

I listed to the first three, in very rapid order, one right after the other working on the donut blocks for youngest’s quilt (future post), before Thanksgiving. I didn’t just listen while I sewed. I listened every available second. As in - go away, don’t talk to me, I am listening to my book(s).

So I had to take a forced pause over Thanksgiving to be social, all our kids were home for over a week. I could not listen to any Austen while everyone was home.

I will go back to working my way through finishing the last three novels, in chronological order, soon. I am in the midst of something else right now (future post).

The versions I used, so far, are below. I will add the last three as I finish them. 

They are really lovely. 

Note - I skipped the first section which was a one hour + summary. That is why it reads “Jane Austen & 1 more.” There is a scholarly section in the beginning.  I started with the actual novel.

This (below) would be another great winter project, there are excellent TV and movie options -

Sanditon was finished by screen writers and made into a recent series on PBS. All three seasons have aired. I watched the first part of this series, without realizing it was Austen. I am starting at the beginning and rewatching, soon.

https://www.audible.com/blog/article-best-jane-austen-adaptations#

Note, the movie version of Mansfield Park (below), is adapted from the book. It adds personalities/focuses that are not in the book, for dramatic effect.

The fourth quilt, half square triangles

I refer to this as the neutral quilt. 

It was made by me (October and November 2023) and gifted to oldest/DIL for Christmas 2023. 

It is for their king size guest bed. 

The previous one, for their double guest bed, is here -

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/2023/09/sewing-this-summer.html

Yes, two very different style quilts. 

The blocks are called half square triangles. 

The fabric is all neutral, which was hard to find. Many neutral fabrics have a green or purple undertone.

It is king size. The backing is flannel. The batting is high loft polyester (a first for me, I usually use cotton). The quilting is straight lines, 1.75” apart. The binding is next, it is gray.

Back to the library

Note - 

When I hear people talk about their stacks of books, I CRINGE. These seem to be “to read” stacks and “have read” stacks. Either way, these are mostly purchased books. I CRINGE over their money spent, but mostly over their clutter/piles accumulated. 

Today’s post -

I have been an Audible person for many many years. Here is a photo of the file on my phone, prior to fall 2023. My habit was to just use Audible. Habits can be hard to break (note at the bottom of this post). 

I have had to really adjust my thinking/habits as my reading has increased - dramatically - in 2023. 

Youngest is a big proponent of libraries. 

When I caught up on my Audible archive, and was still  reading 3-4 books per week, youngest convinced me that something had to give. 

So now the file on my phone looks like this -

All this was not an easy change. While I almost never buy a hardback book, and used the library for years, I had a hard time switching (off Audible on to the library systems/apps) for audio books. I had to just make myself do it. 

Now that I have gotten use to them, no problem. 

I think my original difficulty, weaning off Audible, was partially habit/change. I used Audible for a long time. 

It also traces back to having a list. 

When I used to read hardcopy, I borrowed almost everything I read from the library. I was sad that the library does not keep records. A library list of past check outs would have yielded a huge chunk of titles.

Audible provided a saved list of books for years. Now I keep/have/maintain my GoodReads list. 

So I am back to using the library, now thru their apps, regularly.

The third quilt, which is the third 9-patch

When I made the blocks for my BIL’s 9-patch, earlier post, I made a second set of blocks. 

I set them with light fabric and dark corner stones. The blocks chain nicely. 

I love this comparison shot (below), showing the same blocks in the same order, without (left) and with (right) the sashing and corner stones.

Here we are with the quilting and binding -

This quilt was shipped to my nephew Thanksgiving week. He loves it. 

A book list project and Sue Grafton

I wish I had kept a list of every book I have ever read. 

It is impossible to re-create that full list. But I am capturing data on GoodReads now.

When the GoodReads list is mostly complete, the whole list will roll/upload to another app. That app, Story Graph, is the actual goal. It will look at what I have read, and liked, and make author suggestions for me. 

I try to record accurate “read dates” on GoodReads, but that is not always possible. If I am not sure “when”, then I simply enter books as “read” when I think of them. 

Rating the books on GoodReads is easy, there are few books I have read that I do not like. Most of the books on my read list are rated a 4 or a 5. (I wish the app used a scale of 1-10. So I could better designate what I loved and what I really loved.)

Normally, if I do not like a book, I do not finish it. 

Those books I read, but did not like, are most likely book club assignments, detailed in a past blog post. Those are rated a 1. The only two I can remember off hand are The Confederacy of Dunces and Winesburg Ohio, both definite 1’s.

An advantage I have is I tend to read by author. So if a book or author occurs to me, the GoodReads app makes it very easy to check off multiple books by that one author. When I have the author pulled up, all the books listed, I remember which ones I have read. (And I find ones I have missed.)

I thought of Sue Grafton recently. Looking at the nice long list of William Kent Krueger’s books, last Friday’s post, made me think “that is as good a find as Sue Grafton!”.

PS -

If you like mystery style books and she is new to you, her Kinsey Millhone series is a nice long list. 

 

A new author for me - William Kent Krueger

Note - a number of these books (photo below) were free for me on Audible. Most of this collection, I listened thru Hoopla via my local library. 

Youngest read Ordinary Grace in her book group. The club members all really liked it. Youngest called to say this might be a new author idea for me. She was reading more of his books and liked them. 

(I looked up his books while we chatted. I have listed them all below.)

I started with the first stand alone book, Devil’s Bed, at Youngest’s suggestion. It was one of the free ones on Audible. 

Like a recent John Grisham book, The Boys from Biloxy, I was confused when I started Devil’s Bed. 

I thought maybe it was my age. I wondered if I needed a character chart/list. 

I called youngest, she said it was just as confusing for her. And she said it did not matter, those characters all fade into the background and the story emerges. 

I really liked all three of the stand-alone books. I devoured them, one right after the other. They were all very different topics/stories. Excellent writing, in my opinion. 

Then I read a recent publication - The Levee 2023 - which was excellent.

I started on the main series (below). I was very happy to have a new author with a nice long list. 

“Order of Cork O’Connor books. The story of Corcoran O’Connor started in Iron Lake, and it is a series of nineteen novels.”

• Iron Lake (1998)

• Boundary Waters (1999)

• Purgatory Ridge (2001)

• Blood Hollow (2004)

• Mercy Falls (2005)

• Copper River (2006)

• Thunder Bay (2007)

• Red Knife (2008)

• Heaven’s Keep (2009)

• Vermilion Drift (2010)

• Northwest Angle (2011)

• Trickster’s Point (2012)

• Tamarack County (2013)

• Windigo Island (2014)

• The World of Cork O’Connor (2016)

• Manitou Canyon (2016)

• Sulfur Springs (2017)

• Desolation Mountain (2018)

• Lightning Strike (2021)***

• Fox Creek (2022)

***information from online - “It is worth mentioning that Lightning Strike is a prequel story, and it is set before the events of the first book. This means that you can start with Lightning Strike and continue in chronological order, but it’s always better to read books as they were published.”

The second quilt, made with the leftovers from the first quilt, also a 9-patch

There is an earlier post with a quilt I made for my DIL this summer. 

I made a second quilt, mostly from the leftovers, for one of my husband’s brothers this fall. 

I made the blocks very slowly over three weeks in August. 

My daughter organized the blocks for me. She likes to lay out the colors. 

My long arm quilter quilted it for me. 

Grisham

I have been working on a book project, future post, which has inadvertently caused me to look back through book lists of authors I have read for years. 

Looking at John Grisham’ list, I realized I had missed short story collections. 

I started listening to the first story in this collection,  August 2023 - 

And realized the first story was a continuation of an earlier short story from another book. 

So I stopped and found the original story.

Next, I went back to Sparing Partners and listened to the rest of the story titled Homecoming. 

Then I listened to all the rest of the stories in both books. These were all good, I like collections of short stories. (One of these books is read by John Grisham himself.)

I also listened to The Boys from Biloxi, August 2023. 

Oh my goodness, it took a little time to settle into this book. The first section is necessary background, but made me feel detached from the story for just a bit. Again, I thought I might need a character chart. When it moved into the main characters, it was captivating. Super well written, interesting/very good. 

Note - John has a new book, The Exchange, October 2023.  It is the second book in a series. The first book, The Firm, was published in 1991. I am rereading The Firm prior to reading the new one. 

I have included a list of all Grisham books below, I have read almost all of them, there is a note below listing the ones I skipped. 

If you like legal type stories and somehow have not read this author, it is a nice long list. Here is another author that when I run out of other ideas, I could go back thru all of them. I think they are all on my Audible account.

Yes, many of the earlier books were made into movies. 

Note -

I skipped Sooley/coming of age/basketball, Bleachers/football coach, and Playing for Pizza/football.

Standalone Novels

● The Pelican Brief - 1992

● The Client - 1993

● The Chamber - 1994

● The Rainmaker - 1995

● The Runaway Jury - 1996

● The Partner - 1997

● The Street Lawyer - 1998

● The Testament - 1999

● The Brethren - 2000

● A Painted House - 2000

● Skipping Christmas - 2001

● The Summons - 2002

● The King Of Torts - 2002

● Bleachers - 2003

● The Last Juror - 2003

● The Broker - 2004

● Playing For Pizza - 2007

● The Appeal - 2007

● The Associate - 2009

● The Confession - 2010

● The Litigators - 2011

● Calico Joe - 2012

● The Racketeer - 2012

● Gray Mountain - 2014

● Rogue Lawyer - 2015

● The Rooster Bar - 2017

● The Reckoning - 2018

● The Guardians - 2019

● Sooley - 2021

● The Boys From Biloxi - 2022

Pie crust protectors

I make quiche at least once a month. It is a very simple recipe. I use frozen pie crusts (regular, not deep). 

These is a great make ahead dinner or brunch. Everyone in my family can eat it happily. 

Middle took a quarter home for her dinner (below). 

That side was broccoli and cheese (and 4 eggs and 1/2 cup skim milk). 

The other one was cheese, mushrooms/onion/sautéed with Pam sprayed pan (and 4 eggs and 1/2 cup skim milk). 

The crusts are baked for 8 minutes empty, first. And then 50 minutes full, both at 375 degrees.

Pie crust edges can burn easily without protection. Aluminum foil is very hard to use on pie crust edges for me, my hands. 

I bought 9” reusable protectors from Amazon. I have seen 10” at my local hardware store. 

This might be a great gift idea, but absolutely have to get the right size protector based on the pan size they use. 

Elizabeth Strout

Note - this link contains “if you liked Elizabeth Strout, consider these” suggestions.

https://lititzlibrary.org/elizabeth-strout-read-alikes/

When my niece read Harry Potter, she had a big chart in her room where she made notes of all the characters. 

As I read the Elizabeth Strout books, I kept thinking I should have done the same. The characters are intertwined, reoccurring, and related. 

Reading the books one right after the other is probably enough for the average person. The books definitely need to be read in order. 

In the fall of 2020, I listened to the Olive books.

Olive Kitteridge (2008)
Olive, Again (2019)

I enjoyed them very much. 

Then over the summer of 2023, I listened to the four Lucy books, one right after the other, and really loved them. I was very sad to finish this series.

There are three additional books also - 

I listened to The Burgess Boys before I started on the Lucy series this summer. This was smart. Some of the Burgess characters are mentioned in the Lucy books, one character overlaps predominately. 

After I finished the Lucy series, I read Amy and Isabelle and then Abide by Me. And discovered these had mentions of overlapping stories/characters too. 

In my opinion: 

Read the stand alone books first, in publication order. 

Olive series should be second, in publication order.

And then read the Lucy series last, also in publication order.