Things I Wanted To Blog About At the Time

Things I Wanted To Blog About At the Time: A Collection by BB.

These blog entries were written in full, usually in my car whilst driving to and fro from said place of employment quite eloquently in my head. (Really, I need to get a voice recorder, because I write sooooo well in my head. So much me for writing the great American novel.)

• Coffee Taste Tests. I participated in an online taste test of Starbucks VIA ready brew packets at Marilyn Brant's blog, Brant Flakes. Here is where I fully admit to drinking instant coffee most mornings. And here is where I fully endorse the Starbucks VIA packets. It is by far the smoothest, best tasting instant coffee I have ever tried. This from someone who isn't the biggest Starbucks fan. But should I find myself inside a store and they finally come to MN (only available in NY, Chicago etc. right now), I have a sneaky suspicion that I'd need to purchase one.
• Lady Susan Soiree Finale. Finished participating in the online read of Dear Jane's Lady Susan at Austenprose. It was a delightful group conversation! And there are some great moments and quotes in LS. Here are just a few of my favorites, with this link from the Soiree of more quips and quotes.

"I take London in my way to that insupportable spot, a country village." Lady Susan, Letter 2

"Where there is a disposition to dislike, a motive will never be wanting." Lady Susan, Letter 5

"There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person predetermined to dislike acknowledge one’s superiority." Lady Susan, Letter 7

"In short, when a person is always to deceive, it is impossible to be consistent." Mrs. Vernon, Letter 17

• Grocery Shopping @ Super Target. Thinking that the party-line that T employees are told to tell guests is "Yep, I'm having trouble getting that in." Seriously. I was told that 4 times last weekend. Isn't the point of a Target run to not have to go to Cub, too? But lo and behold, the last 2 or 3 times I've attempted to grocery shop at Target, I've had to go to Cub, too bc T was out of things I needed (and needed that day, mind you!). One word: Nrrrrrrr.

• Finally did another Everything Austen Thing. Planning on posting about it later. YAY! (Ok, there have been lots of Austen things in my life, but this was one from my official list.)
  

JA in NYC

Having survived the first day of school, I am already dreaming of getaways. Thanks to the ladies at Austenprose for mentioning this one. Can someone say 3 day weekend in NYC--The Morgan Library and Museum, a Bway musical and kicking around Manhattan? (Of course, I'd have to get on a plane...hmmm, I'll just admire the lone image online. Sigh/Gulp.)

The Morgan Library and Museum upcoming exhibit: A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy from November 6, 2009 to March 14, 2010.
A bit from the description of the exhibit: "The Morgan's collection of Austen manuscripts and letters is the largest of any institution in the world and includes the darkly satiric Lady Susan, the only surviving complete manuscript of any of Austen's novels." Click on the link above to read more about it.

A Soirée with Lady Susan

This week and next I am participating in A Soirée with Lady Susan at AustenProse. The soiree divides Lady Susan up into four segments, and those partcipating are reading and blogging about it.

For the event, I splurged with some birthday funds and purchased a print copy of Lady Susan since I didn't own one already. (While Austenprose offered some options for online reading and audio versions, I am a print nerd. What can I say?) I was so sure that I'd read it before, but after starting it I am an ashamed Janeite! I have no recollection of reading LS before.

Austenprose touts LS as "Jane Austen’s delightfully wicked novella." Written in epistlatory form, LS is delightfully wicked; nothing like other Austen works or main characters and intriguing because of that fact. One can't get enough of Lady Susan. It’s hard not to like her or want to understand her. If I can feel that way about her, it is no wonder that so many of the other characters in LS feel the same way. She has this way of captivating her audience that makes her such an intriguing villainess.

Questions from letters 1-11: What is she up to? Who is she after? Can the reader believe anything they read from Lady Susan? Does she really mean what she says about her own daughter? Is she really that callous? Is she just a coquette or a woman full of more artful wiles? What kind of woman is Alicia Johnson, Lady Susan's confidante?

Stay tuned for more Lady Susan and her delightfully wicked ways.

Lady Susan Manuscript on Display

Janeite Alert Having To Do With Lady Susan:

If you would like to gaze upon Jane Austen’s manuscript of Lady Susan, don’t miss the new exhibit at The Morgan Library in New York, A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy opening on November 6, 2009 through March 14, 2010.

If anyone plans a trip to NYC and goes, you have to let me know!