lostbronte

A quiz and quote filled romp, May 31 2003

Whether you enjoy Austen for the gentle ways of the Regency era or for the sauciness of intelligent, modern heroines like Elizabeth Bennet, you'll love this book. In other words, whether you shop at Crabtree and Evelyn or the MAC counter, whether you're a professor of English or a bodice-ripper novel lover, you'll appreciate Tyler's fun, civilized and witty quote boxes, Austen quizzes, and short essays on the characters and novels of Austen. The book opens with a quiz, "What kind of Jane fan are you?" that sets the tone for the remainder of the volume. Even the lesser known works of Austen, like Sanditon and Lady Susan, get treated here. It's worth consulting for a serious essay… Read more

Not as sexy as it could be..., May 31 2003

As a true devotee of Jane Austen and a Cosmo subscriber, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the premise. While Austen's simmering-beneath-the-surface scintillating dialogue just begs to be sexed up for modern readers, this book doesn't quite do the trick. The less-than-perfect ear for Austen's language weighs it down. An ongoing gag about the exact placement of the scenes within the novels (the authors pretend that the sex scenes have been expunged and hidden until now) is more clumsy than fun, because the authors take excruciating care to make the insertions precise. I think a flight of fancy would have been more fun, a free exposition on the themes, language and characters of the novels,… Read more

Invaluable for the beginner, May 30 2003

This book enabled me to set up a thriving herb garden on the balcony of my apartment. It offers recipes for herbal breads and teas, instructions for making potpourri and drying herbs, and detailed but not complicated advice on setting up an herb garden, as well as detailed breakdowns on the care and usage of more than 50 herbs. Although a complete plant novice who has ritualistically sacrificed almost every houseplant I've ever owned, I visited the garden department of a hardware store with this book under my arm and got myself started. The ratings that Smith gives each herb are especially helpful--ease of care, herb yield, attention required, and ability to grow in containers. I highly… Read more