Hi Ladies,
Sorry I'm slow about getting this up. You know how those To Do lists just never seem to get any smaller and time just speeds by while you're trying to cross things off as new things get added? You do? Oh good. Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. ; )
Anyway, our book for this month is The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden. The
author's life overlapped Jane Austen's by a few years, and she was a
great admirer of Miss Austen. Consequently, I thought this would be a good follow up to March's book.
Unlike most love stories that end with the couple getting married and living happily ever after, this story begins just before the wedding. It shows some of the difficulties that
can occur in marriage and life, and how they can be overcome. It's a
fun read that gives some food for thought and enjoyment along the way.
Here is the author's Preface:
This story was partly written nearly thirty years ago, before railroads were established, and travelling carriages-and-four superseded; before postage-stamps had extinguished the privilege of franking, and before the Reform Bill had limited the duration of the polling at borough-elections to a single day. In rewriting it I might easily have introduced these and other modern innovations; but as I believe the manners of England to be as much changed as her customs, there would have been discrepancies between my scenes and characters: the background would not have harmonized with the figures.
When I wrote it, I thought it a tolerably faithful representation of modern society; but some young friends who are still living in the world, from which I have long retired, and who have read it with the indulgence of happy youth, condescendingly assure me that it is amusing, inasmuch as it is a curious picture of old-fashioned society. Therefore, in giving it to the world, I trust that to my own contemporaries it may have the charm of reminding them of their youth, and that to the young it may have the recommendation of being a strange Chronicle of the Olden Time.
When I wrote it, I thought it a tolerably faithful representation of modern society; but some young friends who are still living in the world, from which I have long retired, and who have read it with the indulgence of happy youth, condescendingly assure me that it is amusing, inasmuch as it is a curious picture of old-fashioned society. Therefore, in giving it to the world, I trust that to my own contemporaries it may have the charm of reminding them of their youth, and that to the young it may have the recommendation of being a strange Chronicle of the Olden Time.
E.E.
Happy Reading!
Um. . just wondering. . .do we have a book for November?
ReplyDeleteSo, i finally finished this book. I had to get it from the University Utah Library inter-library loan because I don't read long things on computers. I struggled a little getting into this book. I'm not what you'd call a 'fan' of Jane Austen and Ms. Eden is pretty similar. That said, once I did get about 1/3 into it I read prety quickly. The author would plop in occasional observations that I found rang true and were quite amusing. I particularly loved the line at the end about how the sisters grew up in a happy home and even though each of their marraige situations were different, the only thing they knew was to create a happy home of their own.
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