Monthly Archives: April 2006

Puikybe ir prietarai

Updated on February 25, 2013 by Elena Greene

Don’t worry, this is still Risky Regencies and you have not been transported to some strange country.

Or only a bit strange—they have, at least, heard of Jane Austen. They even quite cleverly translated the title to keep the alliteration. This is Pride and Prejudice, a copy my mother brought back from her twice-annual trip to Lithuania.

Both my parents emigrated from Lithuania as children. Though I was born in the U.S., my first language was Lithuanian. In fact, I went to kindergarten knowing very little English. Perhaps not the smoothest way to integrate a child into a “new” country, but somehow I managed. I know that growing up bilingual has made other languages (perhaps even computer languages) easier. Still, I sometimes wonder if I can blame my occasional awkwardness with word choices and phrasing on this early linguistic confusion. Or maybe not. Maybe I’m just the Queen of Awkward Sentences, doomed to seemingly eternal revisions. 🙂

Anyway, I find this book and its packaging quite interesting. Though the title is clever the cover art is many centuries off. One would think they could have found something more appropriate. At least it’s not Victorian!

I read the back blurb, and was surprised to see that they gave the entire plot in a nutshell, spoilers and all. If, that is, there is such a thing as a spoiler for a book that’s been around since 1813.

Overall, it makes me happy people all over the globe can enjoy Jane’s genius. I wonder how she would feel about seeing her works in so many translations? Have any of you run across any other interesting translations? What have your experiences been with foreign languages? How do they affect your reading and writing?

Elena, hoping someday there will be Lithuanian editions of her own works
www.elenagreene.com
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee

Posted in Jane Austen, Reading, Risky Regencies | Tagged Book covers, foreign translations, Jane Austen | 5 Replies

Regency Heroes by Diane Gaston Perkins

Updated on February 25, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Let’s face it. I’m in this business for the heroes.

What could be better than spending your days with some hunky gentleman in pantaloons, Hessians, and a coat by Weston, who says things like, “You’ve bewitched me, body and soul.”

Sigh!

The Regency gives us such wonderful heroes. Wealthy marquesses and dukes. disreputable Rakes (as opposed to my Reputable Rake, on sale in May, shameless self-promotion here), corinthians, gamblers, impoverished vicars, and my favorite–

The soldier.

I’m with Mrs. Bennett when, in Pride & Prejudice, she says, “I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well—and, indeed, so I do still at my heart.”

That’s me. Show me a man in his regimentals and I’ll show you a potential hero.

Take a look at these fellows:

Sigh!

Maybe I love military heroes because my father was an Army colonel. I grew up with that whole military mind-set of duty and honor and country. Woke up to reveille. Went to sleep hearing taps. Or maybe it was listening to all those Chivers audiotapes of the Sharpe series, hearing William Gaminara read, “Sharpe swore.”

Writing a soldier for a hero gives so much dramatic potential. The hero faced hardship, faced death, experienced scenes we would find horrific. He’s honed his body to be strong. When he returns to England from war, he must look on the society to which he returns in a whole new light. I think it makes for lots of interesting possibilities.

I have a brazillion books on the Napoleonic war. Three of my favorites are:

Waterloo: Day of Battle by David Armine Howarth. It tells the story of Waterloo from the soldiers point of view.

Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket by Richard Holmes, This book covers everything about being a soldier during that time period.

Galloping at Everything: The British Cavalry in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, 1808-15 by Ian Fletcher. This covers all the major operations engaging the cavalry and discusses some of the controversy around them.

I have another book that makes me sad: Intelligence Officer in the Peninsula, Julia Page, editor. These are the letters and diaries of Major the Hon. Edward Charles Cocks, a man who loved soldiering with a passion that makes the journals occasionally boring. It makes me sad because the war takes his life. Even Wellington grieves his loss.

I’d love to write a series of Napoleonic war love stories, sort of Bernard Cornwell-style but with a really satisfying romance. A lofty dream.

Okay, let’s face it. I just want to spend my days with some hunky officer in regimentals.

Diane

Okay. It’s not Regency but it is Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonides at the Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC. Hey, he’s a soldier, too, right?

Posted in Reading, Regency, Research, TV and Film, Writing | Tagged gorgeous men, Heroes, military heroes | 7 Replies

Favorite animals in literature

Updated on February 25, 2013 by Janet Mullany

or, less high-falutingly, the aaaaw factor.
Isn’t this the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Definitely cuter than Jeremy Northam, smarter than Orlando Bloom, more adept at drilling its way into hazelnuts than Sean Bean and the rest… Muscardinus avenallarius aka the dormouse, aka the hazel dormouse, dory mouse, sleeping mouse, sleeper, seven sleeper, or chestle crumb. Shown at left in one of its typical pursuits, the dormouse spends about three quarters of its time asleep, including a hefty hibernation from fall to spring.

The dormouse is native to Europe and in England lives mainly in wooded areas and coppices in the south. Because of changing agricultural practices and the destruction of ancient hedgerows, the dormouse is now a protected species.

Lewis Carroll immortalized the dormouse in Alice in Wonderland at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, where the dormouse is subjected to various indignities (to keep it awake and either encourage or prevent it from speaking), including being stuffed into the teapot.

Byron (yes, this is the Regency tie-in) made this comment on life:
When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), sleep, eating and willing, buttoning and unbuttoning–how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse.

Inviting your favorite rodent stories and reminiscences, or comments on Shakespeare, St. George and dragons since I’ve just noticed the date and realized any of those would have been a more appropriate post!

Janet
winner of first annual BWAHA award, Series Historical for Dedication

Posted in Reading | Tagged animals, animals in romance, classic novels, classics | 6 Replies

Must-sees and Must-reads

Updated on February 23, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Yesterday I read a movie blog entry by Jim Emerson (which can be found on Roger Ebert’s review site) called “101 Movies You Must See Before You Die.” Emerson says they are not necessarily the “best” movies, or even his favorites, but “the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies.”

It was a very interesting (and very debatable!) list. I think I’ve seen less than half of them. Some of them are favorites of mine (Bringing Up Baby, The Seven Samurai, Wizard of Oz), some I haven’t seen at all but always kinda mean to (The 400 Blows–which sounds oddly like something from Ellora’s Cave–as well as Aguirre The Wrath of God, Battleship Potemkin, Nosferatu, etc), and some are pretty obvious (Godfather I and II, Persona, Rebel Without a Cause). Now, I enjoy movies very much, but since I haven’t seen so many of these does this mean I should never attempt to discuss them? Does it mean I’m less “worthy” as a movie-goer than someone whose favorite movie is, say Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (as it was with an ex-boyfriend of mine)? And what does it say about me that I am a sucker for these “countdown” lists???

Megan’s post about To Kill a Mockingbird also reminded me of all this. One of my favorite books is War and Peace. For one thing, I’m a sucker for long, sad, navel-gazing Russian novels (I definitely DON’T want to know what that says about me!!!). For another, it shows “our” period from a different viewpoint and culture, which I love. But do I think this is a must-read for everyone, and anyone who hasn’t read it is an incomplete person who should never discuss literature? Well–no. Otherwise, the fact that I have never been able to read Moby-Dick would disqualify me.

All this rambling is just meant to ask–what are your personal “must-see” movies, “must-read” books? How did they affect you, or change your life? I think I need to add to my “must-see before I die” list. 🙂

Posted in Reading, TV and Film | Tagged classic novels, classics | 7 Replies

Look Sharpe!

Updated on February 23, 2013 by megan

I posted this press release on my own blog a few days ago, and thought it was newsworthy enough to post here, too (and there are questions for you to answer at the end):

SPEND A SHARPE, ACTION-PACKED SUMMER WITH BBC AMERICA

-Romantic war saga stars Sean Bean–

Every Saturday night this summer, BBC AMERICA takes viewers on a sweeping two-hour journey to a new land, a new battle, and a new set of potential love interests with the epic romantic war saga Sharpe. Created by novelist Bernard Cornwell and starring Sean Bean (North Country), Sharpe chronicles the victories and loves of the legendary fictional Napoleonic war hero, Richard Sharpe. BBC AMERICA is showing the complete fifteen-episode series from the first episode, Sharpe’s Rifles, through to the U.S. premiere BBC AMERICA co-production, Sharpe’s Challenge, shot in India. Sharpe’s Rifles premieres Saturday, May 27, 9:00 p.m. ET/10:00 p.m. PT.

Sharpe’s Rifles begins in 1809 when Sharpe is a scrappy Sergeant. After bravely saving the life of a distinguished Captain, he is quickly promoted to Lieutenant and charged with a company of men slated for a rescue mission in Portugal. Throughout June, BBC AMERICA features channel premieres Sharpe’s Eagle, Sharpe’s Company, Sharpe’s Enemy and Sharpe’s Honor. In July and August, BBC AMERICA features channel premieres, Sharpe’s Gold, Sharpe’s Battle and Sharpe’s Sword and the brand-new, never before seen U.S. premieres Sharpe’s Regiment, Sharpe’s Siege, Sharpe’s Mission, Sharpe’s Revenge, Sharpe’s Waterloo and Sharpe’s Justice.

September brings the U.S. premiere of BBC AMERICA co-production, Sharpe’s Challenge, shot entirely in India. The fate of an empire rests in one man’s hands in Sharpe’s Challenge. Two years after the battle of Waterloo, dispatches from India warn that a local Maharaja is threatening British interests. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date.

For up-to-the-minute information on BBC AMERICA, forthcoming U.S. premieres, art work and news from the channel, log on to www.press.bbcamerica.com.

Seeing this made me think of many, many questions. I love reading the Sharpe series (and have never seen the series, so I am way excited), not so much for its time period (Regency), but for the amazing way Bernard Cornwell has with a battle scene, and his ability to throw in some surprising twists even through the course of what appears to be a normal action-packed novel. His writing is so fluid, and so compelling, I learn history without even noticing it. I’ve read his books set in the Middle Ages also, and he has a Civil War series I’ve gotten a few books of, but haven’t read yet.

So–have you read Cornwell? Do you like his writing? If you’ve read the Sharpe series, is Sean Bean a good Sharpe? What other series (historical or otherwise) would you like to see made into movies? Do you find that once a book has been translated to film that it limits the way you imagine the characters? What’s the best book to film adaptation have you seen? And the worst?

Thanks for answering–

Megan
www.meganframpton.com