Second in a series, The Plight of the Darcy Brothers finds Fitzwilliam Darcy making hasty travel plans to the Continent to save yet another Bennet daughter from scandal.
It’s been an unintentionally (though enjoyable) Austen-esque summer here at Chez Book, Line, and Sinker. In addition to Altman’s terrific sequel, I’ve been (slowly!) working my way through the Spanish version of Pride and Prejudice and finished Prada and Prejudice, at the recommendation of another blogger.
part of my 'on the nightstand' stack
It seems that Jane Austen fans can be divided into roughly two camps: the purists and the rest of us. Austen purists may struggle with contemporary authors serializing Pride and Prejudice (or the other novels), but I think that if the author does his or her research and tells a solid story, these sequels can find success and have a place in the literary world. (Take my poll at the end of this review and tell me how you feel about serializing classics!)
Marsha Altman is one such author, creating a realistic continuation of Pride and Prejudice while seamlessly incorporating new characters without detracting from the original story. The Plight of the Darcy Brothers is the second installment in her continuing series and though I haven’t read the first book, had no difficulty following this story.
The novel follows Darcy and Elizabeth as they travel to the Continent, Italy specifically, in an effort to save the reputation of yet another Bennet sister. Along the way, Darcy comes to learn several shocking things about his father and the Darcy family. As they travel on, Darcy wrestles with internal conflict, trying to come to terms with what he’s discovered.
Altman’s skillful use of narration helps the reader understand what motivates each character. Told in the third-person omniscient, we can see into the minds of the majority of characters and it gives the story greater depth and authenticity. Austen herself also wrote in this narrative style.
Altman doesn’t skimp on details and fills readers in on all the characters from the original novel. The subplots keep the story moving and it’s a quick and entertaining read. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and have plans to read the first book shortly. Readers who can’t get enough of Pride and Prejudice should give Marsha Altman’s series a whirl.
Thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks for this review copy!
Here at Book, Line, and Sinker, I make a valiant attempt to review four or five books each month. My review books come from a variety of sources and to help me keep on track, I started using a calendar. (So high-tech, right? Are you disappointed!?!)
Now don’t think for a red-hot minute that I’m using any of the electronic calendars available at my fingertips. Nope, it’s a good old fashioned Sharpie marker and paper calendar for this technical savant.
Yes, it’s true. This is an actual photograph of book review schedule for May and June 2009, complete with scribble-outs and various notes on a camera I wanted for my birthday.
My last post had something to do with guilt over TBRs and one blogger, SuziQ Oregon, amused me to no end with her comment about her TBR Spreadsheet. It sounds way more organized than my feeble attempt to keep things straight over here.
So, how do you keep your book reviews organized, or do you bother? If you commit to reviewing books for publishers, publicists, or authors, do you just jot it down on your hand or do you have a fancy spreadsheet? Spill the beans!
Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned. The cause of the recent rainy weather is my TBR pile–it’s BLOCKING the sun, preventing it from shining.
In an act of desperation, I recently moved my TBR pile from my desk, where it was taking up prime real estate, to a dark corner of my office, out of view. Why did I do this? Simple. The guilt over the leaning tower of TBRs was eating away at me, gnawing on me each time I plopped into my chair. I tried rearranging and restacking them, to no avail. They didn’t go away or look less daunting, so I banished them to the corner.
How did I find myself in such a conundrum? Way back in February, at my request, a book blogging friend sent me a box of books as I prepared to launch Book, Line, and Sinker. I wanted to have some books to review and feared I wouldn’t have enough material. This kind blogger sent me a box of 20 books and I was overjoyed. I pawed through the box, reading dust jackets and flipping through pages.
I picked out a book and blazed through it. And then I started jotting down other bloggers’ suggestions for books and I even started getting review copies from some publishers and authors. And the 19 books began to collect dust because I was reading everything else first! Even though the blogger has told me repeatedly that it’s no big deal, I still feel terrible!
Then, as if I didn’t have enough stuff to do, I created an insane challenge in which I thought I’d read 30 books this summer. So far, I’ve made my way through 6 (and want to KISS the person who suggested Gargoyle–it was UNBELIEVABLE). I’m going to keep plugging away but will be content to finish all 30 by Labor Day 2010!
So, the 19 books are still lurking in my TBR pile only now they’ve found themselves piled below 12 others that are lined up for reviews in August and September. Will I ever get to them all? I have a book review each week for the next 8 weeks but should be able to squeeze in some of the 19 between now and September.
Are you guilty over your TBRs? How do you handle it?! I need an intervention or at least have to say a few Hail Marys to assuage my guilt!
My husband and I take a Homeric odyssey by car each July and two to five smaller trips during the rest of the year–sometimes I fly solo and sometimes we go together. Putting together our road trip takes Herculean effort–luckily, I love to do reserach and organize itineraries and schedules.
Orchestrating parties, trips, and other seemingly daunting tasks, especially when under a tight deadline, is sport for me. This love of planning compliments my travel obsession and that’s why you’ll find me pouring over travel books, magazines, and websites all through the year.
For our annual road trip, I have a giant accordion file where I stuff pages ripped from magazines and articles printed from the internet. By May, the file is usually filled to bursting with places to visit, stay, or see and sheaves of restaurant suggestions.
In the pre-internet era, I called on my dear friends Fodor’s, Frommer’s, and Let’s Go to get ideas and information about my trips. In the last few years, I’ve relied more on websites to guide me, though I did take out two or three books from the library for this year’s trip (old habits die hard).
A few of my travel guide books--one is a library book.
I do a fair amount of research on Trip Advisor, though recently they’ve had some issues with review integrity. I tend to read reviews with a grain of salt and just use the website for ideas. I also post reviews to help other travelers on their way.
I plan about 75% of our trip beforehand, leaving the remaining 25% to chance and suggestions from locals. I’ve found, through trial and error, that if I plan too much we don’t have enough downtime to relax and if I plan too little, we get bored.
By now you know that I’m a curious person and like to know if other people have better or more efficient ways to do things that I do, so I’m turning this over to you guys.
When you travel, do you use travel guidebooks to set your course or do you just use the internet for research?
If you don’t plan at all (*gasp*) please tell me how that works too!
Do you have a great local gem (in the US or Canada) that we need to check out next year’s road trip? (We’ll pick our Summer 2010 destination in August so toss out some ideas!)
*There have also been scandals in the book form of travel guides–see Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm for details.
Title: The Plight of the Darcy Brothers
