Happy Birthday Jane!

birthday jane

All of us at Austen Variations
would like to wish our dear Jane Austen
a very Happy Birthday!
 

Happy Birthday, Jane!

In celebration of her 239th birthday, we are excited to announce that next month we will be hosting a month-long event, 

Jane in January2

With a special focus on “Pride and Prejudice,”
we will have special posts,
more P&P missing scenes from the silent month of January,
and what would a special event be without giveaways:
books, ebooks, and lots of swag!

Mark your calendars and be sure to join us!

14 comments

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    • Lisa G. on December 16, 2014 at 1:33 am
    • Reply

    What a great Christmas gift. Just watched ‘death comes to pemberley’ loved it, but felt that the actress playing Elizabeth (Anna Maxwell Martin)was wrong, she acted well, but was nothing like the Elizabeth of my imaginings. Does anyone else agree, disagree?

      • Kathy L Berlin on December 16, 2014 at 9:09 am
      • Reply

      I completely agree with you. She was very colorless and did NOT have “fine eyes”, there was no sparkle.

      • gailw on December 16, 2014 at 9:38 am
      • Reply

      I completely agree. She is a great actress but wrong for this part. I love the actresses that played Georgiana and Jane though.

      • Kara Louise on December 16, 2014 at 11:48 am
      • Reply

      Lisa, we had a huge discussion about this on our facebook austen variations page after it was shown in the US. You might see if you can find it – but if you can’t, pretty much everyone agreed with you! 🙂

      • Carole in Canada on December 16, 2014 at 3:37 pm
      • Reply

      I too agree! I thought after 6 years of marriage there would be a closer connection. I felt as if they were recently married! I love Anna Maxwell Martin but you are right, the ‘fine eyes’ were just not there. I wasn’t that happy with Mr. Darcy either. The hair was wrong! However, Lydia and Wickham were perfectly cast and portrayed! I actually had sympathy for Lydia!

      • Carole in Canada on December 16, 2014 at 3:44 pm
      • Reply

      Already looking forward to the New Year with new book releases! This homage to Jane in January is icing on the cake! Thank you!

      I also want to say that I too didn’t think the bedroom scene in ‘Death Comes To Pemberley’ necessary. They could have cut out much earlier. Jane herself would have been shocked!

    • Deborah on December 16, 2014 at 5:00 am
    • Reply

    What a wonderful way to help dispel the winter blues. :-). And isn’t the First Anniversary of Austen Variations in January? Looking forward to more missing P&P scenes. Thank you for your kindnesses and generosity you lovely ladies and wonderful gentleman.

      • Kara Louise on December 16, 2014 at 11:49 am
      • Reply

      Yes it is, Deborah! Good memory!

    • Sheila L. M. on December 16, 2014 at 9:03 am
    • Reply

    There are a whole lot of us who thought the part of Elizabeth was miscast, Lisa G. I read the book and thought it was not the author’s best effort and the bedroom scene added in the movie – not necessary. There was no chemistry between ODC on screen.

    Looking forward to all the celebratory events coming up. I only discovered this site and many other JA and JAFF sites in late December and in January last year after I bought myself a kindle and got the notice from Abigail Reynolds on her site about the books on sale. It has been a very busy year for me reading all the WIP and scenes JA didn’t write (Persuasion), etc. And I have loved meeting many new-for-me authors. Kara, you are an “old” favorite, but still looking forward to your newest book.

  1. Happy Birthday, Jane! Thanks for writing such amazing books!

    • rae on December 16, 2014 at 10:07 am
    • Reply

    Happy Birthday Ms Austen! You have added so much to my life through your words. Wish you were still around to see the love you endear to you all these years later. Would you blush or pump your fists?

    Looking forward to the celebration in January. Can’t wait to see what goodies you have planned for us.

    • Anji on December 16, 2014 at 10:53 am
    • Reply

    I’ve been a “lurker” rather than commenter just lately but had to stop by to join in the celebrations!

    Re: DCtP – totally agree with comments about the casting of Elizabeth. Anna Maxwell Martin was lovely in North and South (and a certain Mr. Armitage was totally gorgeous, but that’s a completely different subject!) and I have nothing against her acting ability but I thought she was wrong in this. I thought the casting of the Wickhams, Matthew Goode and Jenna Coleman were the best things about it.

    Can’t wait for January, though. It sounds like you lovely authors are being exceedingly generous again, just as you are with the Christmas giveaway. I already have a lot of those items so haven’t put my name in the hat yet for them.

    Once again, thank you for your generosity and….Happy Birthday, Jane!

    1. So glad you jumped into the celebration, Anji!!
      And waving to everybody who stopped by today to give a virtual toast to Jane 🙂 .
      Thanks, JA, for your incredible novels!!

  2. Sorry for being late to this virtual celebration. I wish Jane many happy returns and thank her for gifting us her novels, letters, stories and unfinished manuscripts for us to read and ponder the fates of her wonderful creations. I too am looking forward to next month where there are more missing scenes from P&P to read,

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