Miss Elvis

I have always been fascinated by the formality of names in Jane Austen's books. After reading The Jane Austen Guide to Good Manners, Charlotte and I had some very good conversations about why Jane Bennett was called 'Miss Bennett' while her sisters were only 'Miss So-and-so'.

The natural conclusion of this, was our working out our own titles according to the rules of Regency England.

"I'm Miss Charlotte, and you're Miss Imogen," Charlotte said.

"Which makes Felicity 'Miss Elvis'," I decided. "Someday I'm going to be Miss Elvis."

"Yes, but Felicity has to get married first."

Yesterday, Felicity did get married in our little local church. All her friends were there. After weeks of frenzied preparation and miss-communications, the big day had finally come. Charlotte and I wore our beautiful Regency style bridesmaid dresses. The two smaller girl flitted around like puffy clouds. Camera clicked and flashed, capturing the day Felicity stopped being an Elvis.

So, after years of waiting, I am Miss Elvis now. It sounds so grand. I feel ready to bring out the long Regency dresses, tie up my hair, and travel back in time so I can enjoy being Miss Elvis to the full. One day I'll pass on the title of 'Miss Elvis', but for now I'll make the most of it.

"Hello, I'm Imogen Elvis, but you can call me Miss Elvis."

Manners According to Jane Austen

I thought I knew Jane Austen's stories. I thought I understood everything that was going one. Certainly I knew enough to enjoy her books. But recently I met a book that took my understanding of Jane Austen's books to a whole new level.

Recently Mum bought Charlotte a book about manners in the time of Jane Austen. Charlotte, being the dedicated Janite she is, at once read it from cover to cover.

"You have to read it," she told me afterwards. "It's really good."

"Of course I'll read it...later."

And so, the book waited until this holidays, when I decided that I had better read it, and find out why it was so good.

I sat down with the book and opened its stiff, white cover. The first thing that jumped out at me was the beautiful watercolour illustrations. Then, as I started to read, I became lost in the writing. All forms of manners were addressed in the book, accompanied by the worst 'Blunders' and various quotes both from Jane Austen's books and her letters.

The book gave me a whole new insight into the world of Jane Austen's books. Suddenly I realised why Lydia and Kitty's chasing the soldiers was so improper, why Mr Collins didn't have good manners, and why, when Marianne Dashwood wrote to Mr Willoughby, her family all thought she was engaged.

Jane Austen's Guide To Good Manners is a must read for any true Janite who wants to fully understand the intricate social manners of the regency period.

Charlotte also wrote a post on this subject for those who are interested.

Which of Jane Austen's books have you read? Have you read any good books about her life and writings? Have you ever read Jane Austen's Guide To Good Manners?

Books After Bedtime

If you were to come and visit my family, one of the first things you would notice as you stepped through the door, would be the large bookcases in the entrance hall. Walk further into the house and you'd see that almost every room contains at least one bookshelf. And you'd also see that every single one is stuffed with books.

Every book in our vast collection is an old friend. Lots of them are second hand. Some are birthday or Christmas presents. But all of them are well loved. If you haven't guessed it by now, we are a family of readers.

I was first introduced to the wonderful world of books through bedtime stories. Dad would sit down in one of the armchairs and we hold out our books to him before perching on his lap, kneeling on the floor, or sitting on the arm of the chair to listen to the story. Once he was finished we would beg him to 'read another one Dad. Please!'

Later in the evening, when Charlotte and I were in bed, Dad would read the Lord of the Rings to my brothers and older sister. Well, technically we were supposed to be in bed. But actually only Charlotte was tuck up safely in bed. I was crouched beside the door, shivering in my pyjamas, trying to hear Dad's voice as he read to the others.

Then, a few years later, I discovered the delights of Jane Austen's books. I devoured every one, savouring the stories and filing away numerous wonderful quotes in my head. But reading them alone wasn't enough. I just had to share the books. And so I found a copy of Pride and Prejudice, and brought it to read to Charlotte in bed one night.

She fell in love with it at once. Every night after that, I read to her. We read our way through half of Jane Austen's books as well as numerous other books. Every night I would stop at the end of a chapter, my voice worn out from reading and Charlotte would pipe up from the bunk underneath, "Oh please can you read another chapter."

Eventually we discovered that the library allowed you to borrow lots and lots of books. Every library trip started with an empty bag, and ended with us staggering to the car under stacks of books almost taller than we were. There was hardly an author in the library that we didn't sample at least once. The YA section was left nearly empty when we were done.

We've been brought up on reading. Nothing delights us more than to curl up in a chair with a favourite book, or maybe a brand new book just brought back from the library. And now the reading fever has spread to Sophie and Gemma-Rose too. Maybe one day we'll have read all the books worth reading. And then what? Why, we'll write our own books of course. You see, we are a family of writers too...but that's another story.

What books do you like to read? Do you come home from the library with a huge stack of books?