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An Assembly Such As This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan - Delightful!

This is actually a review of Pamela Aidan's Trilogy: 

An Assembly Such as This (on sale at Amazon for $4.63 right now!)

Duty and Desire

These Three Remain

These are all part of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series.  This is my second favorite retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  My first favorite retelling is Mr. Darcy's Diary  (my review of it is here) which feels like getting to see the original work through an additional camera in each scene.  This series is like watching the deleted scenes of the original.  Most of what happens in these three books takes place when Darcy and Elizabeth are apart.  

Summary from the back of the book: "Setting the story vividly against the colorful historical and political background of the Regency, Aidan writes in a style comfortably at home with Austen but with a wit and humor very much her own. [book 2] When Darcy pays a visit to an old classmate in Oxford in an attempt to shake Elizabeth from his mind, he is set upon by husband hunting society ladies and ne'er-do-well friends from his university days, all with designs on him - some for good and some for ill. He and his sartorial genius of a valet, Fletcher, must match wits with them all..." 

Language: B+

Characterization: A+

Plot: A

Revisit vs. Rehash: A+

Hooked: A+

Nit Picky Things: A+

Wonderful Moments: A

Originality: A+

The moment I was hooked: A+

Language: Nicely written and I didn't need a dictionary.  

B+

Characterization: The characterization is wonderful.  The addition of several characters such as Fletcher the valet, Lord Brougham the chum from school and Mrs. Ansley as Georgiana's chaperon seem to fit in perfectly with the characters I had come know from the original.  Georgiana and Bingly have a more symbiotic relationship in these books with Darcy.  

The second book introduces a lot of new characters at once.  Both times I have read this series I have considered writing them down to keep them all straight.  I never did and regretted it later.  But maybe you can hold more in your brain than I can.  If you can, you really don't need to tell me.  Just know that before I had Max, I could remember stuff.  At least I think I could...

The character of Darcy is so wonderfully guarded and calculated and yet unhinged all at the same time. He is humbled at times without being humiliated.  I am always disappointed when an author tries to manipulate Darcy into a big mushy Hallmark card blurb who has an all out personality change vs. the aloof gentleman who grows to become the kind of man Elizabeth Bennet can love.  Aidan defiantly does the latter of the two.  And she gives Darcy plenty of reasons for his haughtiness.  

(Aside: When Colin Firth was playing Mark Darcy in Bridget Jone's Diary the director kept telling him to play the roll "more haughty!" When he asked about why, she said something to the effect of, "women love it."  I am mildly offended and yet totally see the director's point.  There is something lost that is very appealing if Darcy's aloofness disappears.  And if you are totally confused - Bridget Jones is an updated and looooose version of P&P.  Firth was cast as Mark Darcy because of his role as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 1995 BBC/A&E mini series version of Pride and Prejudice.  What?  I watch the director's cut of movies on the DVD's.  THIS is the stuff readily available in my brain.  Not my kids' birthdays.)

A+

Plot: This book compared to the original Pride and Prejudice is like watching a swimming race.  One person is swimming freestyle and one person is swimming butterfly.  Their destination is the same...but the process of getting there sure looks different.  This trilogy has just enough of the basic story of Elizabeth and Darcy to make the plot feel comfortable.  And you know how it will end.  But the getting there is very different in book 2.  Book 2 would be almost unbelievable on its own. (As would The Empire Strikes Back or Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for perspective's sake).

At the end of each book: there are some discussion points, ideas to enhance a book club experience and a Q&A with Pamela Aidan.  There were a few moments in book 2 where I thought certain plot choices were weird.  However, each time I read the Q&A at the end of the book, I totally appreciated what Aidan was doing.  She really thought out her plot and characters well.  

A

Rehash or Revisit: No rehashing.  Brilliant.  

A+

Nit Picky Things: None that stand out.  That is pretty good because loads of stuff bug me.

A+

Wonderful Little Moments: I really enjoyed the letters back and forth between Darcy and Georgiana (especially when they were lightly poking fun at Caroline Bingly).  The not so subtle reference to a book about a widow and her 3 daughters and their Sensibilities.  And Darcy holding on to those threads. You'll have to read the book to know what that is about, but really, it is lovely.  Romantic without being sticky sweet.

A

Originality: I have read several re-tellings and quite a few follow ups to Pride and Prejudice (about 10 versions) and this series has some political and historical references that I have never read in any other novel.  Whether they were accurate or not, I care little about, because I enjoyed them a great deal.

A+  

The moment I was hooked: The first page.  Aiden starts the action as Darcy descends from the carriage at the Assembly in Meryton.  I liked that she started with action verses explanation.

A+

If this were a movie, I think it would be rated PG13 due to some mystical stuff in book 2.

I really really enjoyed these books.  Totally in my top 3 Pride and Prejudice spin offs.  Mr. Darcy's Diary, Mr. Darcy Takes and Wife and this series.    

I am sending my copies to my friend Stacey Kingman.  I am super excited to see what she thinks of them. She is the one who recommended Mr. Darcy's Diary to me. 

If you have read these books - I'd love to hear what you thought of them in the comments!

Using A Christmas Carol in Homeschool

We are super excited to go and see A Christmas Carol in 3-D next week.

(If you haven't seen Up or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in this new 3-D...let me just say, it is amazing!)

I've been thinking of ways to incorporate the movie into our lessons without killing all the fun of going to the movie for the kiddos.

Here is what we are doing:

1. I am reading the original story to them.  (I always assumed I had read it before....but apparently not).

2. The kids are reading an abridged version.

3. They are making a chart comparing the different versions of the story: the book, the abridged children's version, the special they saw on tv last year (we call it the Jon Luc Picard version...but really the one where Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge), and the new movie.  This chat will serve as the pre-writing exercise for writing a compare/contrast paper.  (David will write a page, Alex will write a paragraph and Max will write a few lines...each to their abilities.)

4. I will have them draw pictures and write about how they would have presented each ghost if they were writing the story.  

5. We will read about Charles Dickens himself - most likely just on line.  

6. We will talk about what life was like during that time period.

7. We are going to play a few games (like those usually featured in the movies..."Tight as a drum..or you uncle Scrooge's purse."

8. They will pick their favorite scene to make a diorama out of.

9. We are working on public speaking a little bit - so I will probably have them present their project as one of the characters.

10. We will put up our Dickens Christmas Village I have been slowly collecting for the past 17 years.  The kids get into this process so much more than I ever would have thought.  They are often the ones to point out Scrooge's house shouldn't be so close to everyone else's, etc.

Every one of these things will be met with mild groans by my kids...except for going to see the movie. They never want to actually do any work.  But their complaints are mild.  I am just going into this knowing I will probably have the most fun.  And that is totally ok with me:)

Feel free to load me up with any additional great ideas.

Oh Christmas Tree

Random musings on our Christmas Tree

1. Nov. 1 at our house = the tree goes up.  

2. It really doesn't make me less thankful at Thanksgiving to have a tree up.  In fact, my thankfulness abilities have never been impeded by any sort of foliage...real or otherwise.  

3. We put up the tree so early because I just love everything about the Christmas Holidays.  I love wrapping gifts, I enjoy decorating, I like visiting people and entertaining and making deformed gingerbread houses that mysteriously fall apart during the night.....all of it.  I like it all so much so that I don't want any of those fun things to stress me out.  I don't want to get stressed out over wrapping gifts.  So I spread it all out.  Putting up the tree is first.  

4. If someone sees my tree up, they immediately (unless they know me know me) think they need to tell me all the reasons their tree isn't up yet. Not that I am so into myself that I don't care...but I really don't think about when other people put up their trees.  I know I have a slight nut case thing about me.  I know it isn't really normal to do 42.5% of the things I do.  

5. When people complain about the trees being put up in stores before Halloween...it makes me smile on the inside.  I then get to tell them it used to be my JOB to go to K-marts, Targets and Wal-marts in the Hinesville, Savannah and Richmond Hill, GA areas to set up displays for companies.   I really enjoyed it. It didn't exactly use that Furman English BA or the teaching certification at the time...but I could fluff and set a pretty tree really fast.  Not to mention, I knew where every bathroom was at any of those stores.  

6. It took a lot of wearing John David down over the years to get him excited about the tree going up this early.  He brought it up and checked all the lights for me last night - no complaints:)  

7. We all love the smell of a real tree...but due to the variety of allergies at our house, our tree is artificial...and pre-lit.  (And does not require most of my knowledge gained from the extensive tree putting together experience I have.  But there it sits, in my brain.  Taking up space.  I think this is why I can not remember stuff now.  No new space.  Just stuff like the tree information and the Canterbury Tales prologue taking up space.)

8. We have a separate, smaller science fiction tree for all our Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments.  (My Mom always bought me a Hallmark ornament each year...usually an angel...and then gave them all to me when I got married for my own tree.  I started buying Hallmark ornaments for the boys...and after a while, we had a lot of ornaments of the science fiction variety.  Now we have a smaller tree for those and cool colored lights.  See what I did?  I just made have a secondary science fiction tree seem like a sweet family tradition off shoot vs. a crazy idea.

9. By getting the tree and all the other "stuffs" of Christmas spread out and done early, it really lets me spend lots of time with the kids about things of actual importance like Christ's birth and God's grace.  I am looking forward to making nativity sets with them from doe this year and having them organize a mini play about Jesus' birth.  

10.  We didn't have a tree the year we moved to Roswell, Ga because we moved on the week of Christmas.  My mom showed up with a small tree because, "You only get so many Christmas mornings with the kids at home and they really need a tree."  That thought really stayed with me.  And the little crooked tree:)

11.  I could type more...but today's to-do thing it to get the ornaments down!

icky pumpkin

I always say. "You can never decorate for Christmas too early."

However....there is such a thing as carving your pumpkin too early.

Alex was a little bummed out to see his jack o' lantern when we got back from our trip.

(Photo credit to our neighbor Susan.  Everyone needs a neighbor who will pick up packages from your doorstep when you are gone.  Or take photos of your be-moldened pumpkins and then e-mail it to you at the beach:)

"Enjoy your rats."

The PetSmart Guy said, "Enjoy your rats."

"That just sounds like a weird thing to say," I responded.

So.

We  have rats.

Alex has rats.

2 Rats.  

(As it turns out, they are social and get lonely.)

2 GIRL rats, as we do not want to become rat breeders.

Zippy

and

Chuck.

Really, these were some of the best names put forth.

I told Alex right in the store that if he wanted to name these rats any version of Tiny Tim...we were not getting them.

(The boys think it is funny to have named every hermit crab, fish and aquatic frog we have ever owned: Tiny Tim.)

So Zippy and Chuck really did seem like a "God bless us, everyone" moment.   

Alex wanted a hamster for his birthday.

We figure it was the closest thing to an animal that may show some affection without our family being allergic to it.

Grandma and Grandpa got dibs on giving it to him.

But then we did extensive research on it:

(We asked our Facebook friends and checked Wikapedia)

And found rats are:

The smartest

The most social

Trainable

And cleanest

Of the rodents.

Ok, cleanest of the rodents is not a write home to mom kind of title

I mean...the plague is a hard rap to beat.

(I know...it was the fleas on the the rats....but still.  Eeww.)

And truthfully, they are very cute and fun.

They are Fancy Rats.

That is the breed.

I'm thinking that means they are right below Show Rats.

Maybe a notch above Domestic Rats.

I seem to be the only one not yet tiring of references to top hats, walking sticks and monocles with our Fancy Rats, ZIppy and Chuck.  

 

Alex at PetSmart.  

Note that there are 2 inexpensive rats in the box in his hands and a buggy full "rat necessities."

We have "rat necessities."  I don't know if that will ever sound normal.

(That is Zippy in the picture.  She doesn't sit still even for photographs. 
I told her it was for the blog...but she is a Fancy Rat.  What are you going to do?)

Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll - Very Good

Darcy and Elizabeth is the sequel to Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife which is a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  It is the final piece of my favorite follow up to P&P which makes this the last portion of a great Darcy and Elizabeth trilogy.  It is the Return of the Jedi in Austen.  

Summary from the back of the book: "...As the Darcys raise their babies, enjoy their conjugal felicity and manage the great estate of Pemberley, the beloved characters from Jane Austen's original are joined by Linda Berdoll's imaginative new creations for a compelling, sexy and epic story guaranteed to keep you turning the pages and gasping with delight."

My review of Linda Berdoll's first book, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, is here.  Seeing as how I do not like redundancy at all in literature, I suggest you read it first.  This review will not do justice to Berdoll's great language and characterization that I spoke about quite extensively in that review.  Go ahead. We'll wait.  

I found Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife to be a fantastic book.  Darcy and Elizabeth is very good.  Very Good following Fantastic feels like a let down.  But you have to read it anyway because, well, it is very good. And Berdoll starts you on a path, that for those who like it, want to continue on. 

Language: A

Characterization: A

Plot: B-

Revisit vs. Rehash: D

Hooked: A+

Nit Picky Things: A

Wonderful Moments: A

Originality: A

Language: Linda Berdoll's  writing style and language appeal to me greatly.  Her work feels like parts 2 and 3 to Austen's.

A

Characterization: Berdoll said she was inspired by the 1995 BBC / A&E Pride and Prejudice movie. (Which is the definitive movie version for me.)  The characters (new and old) felt like they would have blended well with that cast.

A

Plot: Ok, here is where things go from fantastic to just good.  Berdoll took 4 years to research and write her first book.  She wraps up the loose ends very well at the end of Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. We find out what will happen to some of the main characters in the coming years.  Her second book, Darcy and Elizabeth, was on the shelves just 2 years later.  This book goes back and retells what happened to some of those same characters in more detail.  It not only retells you things you already learned at the end of the first book, it retells you events from Pride and Prejudice as well.  It really made for a stagnate plot at times.

Here is my theory: An editor told Berdoll that she had to remind the readers about these things.  I want to blame an editor because it is a big departure from the swift pace of things in her first book.  But really, if you think of this a trilogy, then who read the third book without reading the first two?  If someone leaned over to you during the opening of Return of the Jedi and said, "So who is this Luke guy again?"  You'd say get out of here!  (Or, "I am not the person you are looking for" with a smooth Jedi mind hand sweep.)

Like Jane Austen, Berdoll uses chance meetings and a small band of characters.  And like reading Austen, one might think that there are 20 people and a few background players in the whole of England.  But really, those 20 (and 2 in particular) are the ones you want to read about.

B-

Rehash or Revisit: Not to repeat myself, but I really can't stand rehash:)  I think that every sequel or trilogy series should start with a disclaimer: Read the first book first.  Read the second book second. Read them in order.  It will make more sense.  Trust us.  

D

Nit Picky Things: Just that one big one.

A

Wonderful Little Moments: Really, all over the place.  The humor is delightful. And the last line is great.  It made me smile the rest of the day just thinking about it.

A+

Originality: Berdoll is the best at letting us peak peak into Darcy and Elizabeth's future.  And she makes us want more.  

A

Redundancy aside, it is a very good book.  It is full of the same eyebrow raising marital passion, gallantry, manners and delicious vocabulary as Berdoll's first book.

If this book were a movie - It would absolutely be rated "R" due to marital passions and references to indiscretions.  

If you have read this book - I put some questions about it in the comments.  Let me know what you think:)

Next up: And Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan

11 years

Happy Birthday Alex!

(Note the boxes and old computer in the back ground.  Classy.  Always.)

Max finally lost a tooth

Max: Take the picture closer Mommy!  

Me: Max, if I get any closer you will not have eyebrows.

Max: Ok, then that is close enough.

He has wanted to loose a tooth for the past 2 years.

(As much as he walks into things, I really thought it might have happened sooner.)

Today, he ate an apple and then worked this little tooth on our long car trip.

Then he just yanked it out himself.

(Verses the days/weeks of agony I used to put myself through when I had a loose tooth.)

Me: Max, do you think the Tooth Fairy can find you tonight?

Max: MommEEEY, the Tooth Fairy can just flit anywhere she wants.  I mean, she is the Tooth Fairy after all.  

Me: Oh, right.  Very true.  Flits anywhere she wants.

 

Thinking inside my head

Alex dressed for Wacky Day at church.

2 things.

1. You know you go to a big church when you have spirit days.

2. I am impressed he dressed up because I told him Wacky Day was 3 weeks ago...and he dressed up.

(Excellent Momming points, there.)

I have become quite impressed with people lately that do 

most of their thinking inside their heads.

As opposed to 

out loud

swirling around for public consumption

before any refinement can happen

or

better yet

filtering.

Or editing.

You people are impressive.

Thank you Shutterfly!

Allergies.

I'm thinking it is the ragweed that is being especially 

harsh to me right now.

I almost forgot it was Friday.

Thanks so much to Shutterfly for a 

fun week of give-aways!

The winners will all get their codes from 

me for their books on Sunday.

But you don't have to wait until then to start making them:)

Today's winner selected by a random number generator is:

it's the last chance to win this book !!!
count on me

isabel

| October 01, 2009 at 03:20 AM

Just send me an e-mail with BLOG in the title and I will get you your code for you book!