Introducing Jane

And you thought I was going to introduce the newest member of our family! Not quite, but almost. Much to everyone's surprise, Baby did not get a Jane Austen name; so there is no Jane or Emma or anything of the kind. Instead there is Laura now almost 8 weeks old. (Gasp! Has it really been that long-or longer- since I've logged on to blog?)

As any good Janeite would do, one of Laura's first storytimes in the hospital was a short recitation of the characters and plot of Pride and Prejudice. She listened attentively and I am sure was working on memorizing the names.

Shortly after coming home, when Laura was about 2 weeks old, she and I sat down to watch a movie I am ashamed I had not had a chance to see yet--Becoming Jane. I know, I know. I am red faced with shame, that I hadn't seen it. Somehow we missed it in the theatres and well, excuses, excuses...But really, could there be a better way to introduce Jane Austen to your infant? It is, of course, best to start with a bit of a biography of the author.

So, we watched. We laughed. We cried. And I said, "Well done." And Laura said, "Gah." Which, I think translated to, "I like Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy." Really and truly, a fabulous movie, and you can't help but wonder what parts may be true to the history that we don't know about JA. It warranted a big sigh when it was done and if it hadn't needed to go back to the library, we would have watched it 20 more times. I'd write something more critical right now, but that was a solid month ago and with the lack of sleep and my mommy brain (aka no memory), that's all I have for now.

I also have on my nightstand the book that inspired Becoming Jane. The book, Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence. I started it this summer and to be honest, put it down for some more fan fiction and never got back to it. Guess I'll have to get back to it and see if I can make my way through it. Until then...