Creating Romantic Purses: Patterns & Instructions for Unique Handbags

Book Description

Using wonderful fabrics, trims, and accents, the talented designers from Ruby Tag Bags have created more than 25 fabulous, one-of-a-kind purses that women will have to own and love to make. The design romance begins with classic materials, including colorful crazy quilts, delicate lace, and vintage velvet; unique adornments such as glistening mother-of-pearl buttons; and pretty ribbon and floral embellishments. Even the project names—like Camelot, Polka Dance, and Lady of Spain—have a touch of magic. The collection includes small evening bags, larger totes for travel to those exotic faraway locales, elegant silk designs, and enchanting purses with silver chains, gold linings, and looped fringe. In addition to showstopping color photos of each project, there are patterns to make construction simple.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book!.......2007-09-12

Very good tool for the handbag designer. Love all the detailed instructions and photos. Easy to follow patterns. Fun designs.

Excellent book.......2007-08-12

The book has beautiful photos of purses which would inspire even the least creatively challenged. There are detailed instructions, a material list, preparation, and construction instructions, and there are patterns in the back of the book(which you need to enlarge). There are at least 14 bags, all beautiful and distinct. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wants to create a lovely purse.

Great Book.......2007-06-08

Love this book. The purses are unique and different. Hope they publish another one.

Fantastic .......2007-05-29

This book is so fantastic! Just looking at it over and over is enjoyable. I went to the Ruby Tag website and found info that the the purse hardware in the book has the wrong sizes. Boy, would I have been frustrated if I hadn't found that out. There should be a sticker on the front or a bookmark or something to alert to that in case someone didn't accidently find the information at the web site. Have not been able to start on a purse since I just had surgery before the book arrived but have spent many pleasant hours thinking about the works of art that I am going to be able to create. Great Job Ladies you are so talented in your designs. Thanks...

Creating Romantic Purses: Patterns & Instructions for Unique Handbags.......2007-01-12

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever enjoyed. The purse art is beautiful to look at and stirs your creative juices. The patterns are easy to read and understand. The ladies that created the purses in the book are very talented artists. I have already started one of the crazy quilt bags due to being inspired by this book.

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The Works of Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Manufacturer: New York University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0814792251
Release Date: 1989-11-01

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A Timeless Classic!
A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC...

My Antonia (Signet Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451529723

Book Description

Lush descriptions of the rolling Nebraska grasslands interweave with the blossoming of a woman in the early days of the twentieth century, in an epic novel that chronicles America's past.

Customer Reviews:

A Timeless Classic!.......2007-03-27

I concur with the wonderful review written by Lawyeraau (see below) this novel is truly one of the treasures of American literature. I can't recommend this one enough. Willa Cather spins a tale of such beauty and charm about friendship and unconditional love between the two main characters in the novel - Antonia Shimerda and Jim Burden. It is a coming of age tale that focuses on the positive aspects of the human condition. All of the characters suffer loss, and incredible hardships at times. Yet, unconditional love and the friendships they form with each other save the day and win out in the end. The bottom line, we need more stories like this one! Novels that focus on the positive, rather than the negative. This is a charming little story that really has a great message as well. That friendship and love really does conquer all. After you are done with the story, you can't help but feel a bit saddened that it is over. It is such a great book that it makes you almost wish that it never ended. Antonia is one of my favorite female fictional characters of all time.

Where have all the Willa Cathers of the world gone? The elegant and vivid way she writes makes this novel feel almost like one is reading a long epic poem. I also really adore the colorful way she uses words to describe the rough Nebraska terrain. Cather is simply one of our greatest American writers and this is one of her finest works. It is my personal favorite because of it's charm and eternal lesson of the value of friendship and the importance of unconditional love. This is one of those novels that truly does make you feel happy to be alive and helps to reaffirm ones belief in humanity.

A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC..........2005-08-22

I first read this book when I was in junior high school. I admit that, at the time, I did not appreciate the strengths of the book and the quality of its writing. I am quite glad that I decided to give it another chance, as, having re-read it, I now understand why it is considered to be a classic in literature. It is simply a beautifully written book, covering many of the themes that one stumbles across in life and coalescing them into a work of extraordinary breadth.

The book is the story of two young people, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda. They meet for the first time when Jim is ten years old and Antonia is fourteen. Recently orphaned, Jim has moved to the Great Prairie to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Antonia, on the other hand, has been wrenched from her homeland in Bohemia, emigrating with her parents to the United States and finding herself in Nebraska. Jim and Antonia's chance encounter on a train sets the stage for the forging of a friendship and unconditional love that time will not diminish.

The book relates the harshness of immigrant life through the eyes of Jim, who narrates the events contained in the book. There is a relentless stoicism about the book, which is written in spare, clear prose. With intense imagery and descriptive exactitude, late nineteenth century Nebraska comes to life. It also relates the paths that each of the characters choose to follow, as well as the vicissitudes of life that mold and shape them in ways that no one would have imagined.

The focus of the book, which is also a coming of age tale, seems to be on the female characters and their strengths. All the women in it seem to be survivors, despite the hardships that they encounter. This is, without a doubt, a life affirming book, wrought with great feeling and a decided sense of time and place. Yet, despite its poignancy, the book is surprisingly unsentimental and straightforward. It is a testament to the author's literary talent that this book has emerged as a timeless classic. Bravo!

The Women's Room (Virago Modern Classics)

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Some things have changed, some have not...
In the late seventies, this was a short to ground
Love and Sorrow, Hope and Reconciliation
Not what I'd been led to believe
All women should read this and men too

The Women's Room (Virago Modern Classics)
Marilyn French
Manufacturer: Virago Press Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1860492827

Book Description

"Couargeous...Honest...Powerful."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The classic feminist novel that awakened both women and men speaks to everyone about the deep feelings at the heart of love and relationships. A biting social commentary of an emotional world gone silently haywire, THE WOMEN'S ROOM is a modern allegory that offers piercing insight into the social norms accepted so blindly and revered so completely.

Customer Reviews:

Some things have changed, some have not..........2007-03-10

For all the "Surrendeded Wife" types who think women should go back to being submissive, this book shows what it was really like. Ideally, people think of traditional roles as being protective and chivalrous toward women, but in the book, chivalry has nothing to do with it, and women are shown as being used- they do all the chores, they are told what to do, they are neglected (a lot of the ways the husbands treat their wives are now considered abuse), and finally, many of them live in poverty when their husbands find someone else. I think this is true of a lot of traditional societies- the ideal is protection, but the reality is different.

This book really shows the story of not one generation but two. Mira comes of age in the 50s and she ends up being a homemaker. I got an in-depth look at the lives of housewives. It showed that there were some joys in that life, but it also described the problems that people tried to keep under the surface. I am sure that there were also plenty of relationships that were better than the ones in this book, and there are plenty of women who were happy back then, but the problem is the insistence that every woman should be like this and only this.

Gender roles are of course based on biological differences, and in a few places this book lashes out not only at society, but at nature. The problem is that the roles apply even when the biological differences are flexible, and biology is used as an excuse to put both men and women into inflexible molds. The book shows that gender roles effect both sexes and the men in this book have problems of their own- for instance not being close to anyone in their own households.

But after getting divorced, Mira goes to college in the 60s and experiences the turbulence of that time period. I really liked Mira as a character and was happy to see her growth as a person. Her divorce was certainly for the better. I also liked her interaction with her sons. I also loved her closeness with her friends. The group of friends puts friendship at a higher priority than most people do, even daydreaming about living together as friends. This reminds me of the friendships that I used to have and the way I felt about them.

At first I thought that maybe men could read it, but I'm sure their reaction would be similar to my reaction to Omar Tyree. The only difference is, the author of this book at least showed why her characters grew to hate men. Early on, anger toward men or whites was understandable, but after establishing more rights and equality, it usually is counter-productive and just causes backlash. Of course, there is usually backlash even before full equality has been achieved.

I don't feel the same way that most of the characters end up feeling, and that's a good thing. This book can show you how many changes have occurred in a few decades, and can remind you not to take it for granted. Many women are in charge of their own lives and are excelling in their careers. Sexism sometimes effects men and in some cases it is in women's favor. Both women and men have progressed in the past decades. In my life I have been angry toward womankind as well as mankind.

But then, in some areas sexism is still abundant, and women still have to worry about sexual assault (more than men do). And early on, when Mira got married, she describes the feeling that it's the easy way out and it will keep her from having to make decisions about her life, it reminded me of me a lot.

For the whole book I was wondering who the narrator was. Her monologues were very cerebral and they were probably the part I liked least about the book. At the end of the book, Val comes to believe that all men are rapists, but that seemed more like her reaction as a character and not necessarily the author's opinion. The book makes men to be the problem, but in my experience, women are treacherous to each other and there are also plenty of decent men that get treated badly. There is maybe one example of women's backstabbing (Bliss) and maybe Martha was the woman who treated her husband badly, but mainly the book focuses on society being stacked up against women, showing every character being victimized in some way by a man, covering every possibility almost like it's from a checklist. Also, even the men that seemed decent ended up being a disappointment in the end, with the exception of Mira's sons.

Well, I guess that's a pretty big criticism for a 5 star rating, but I still really liked this book. It brings to light the similarities and differences between then and now. It has some wonderful characters and shows a lot of different points of view and thought patterns. It was very in-depth and I was totally engrossed in it.

In the late seventies, this was a short to ground.......2005-10-11

I read Women's Room in the late seventies, when the issues about which the author speaks were current and deeply felt. At the time, I didn't know a single woman who wan't blown away(intended reference) by the author's ability to connect with her inner fury. The memory of the intensity of my response remains with me today.

I would invite today's reader to imagine the social and political climate of the times before passing too harsh a judgement on the work. The realization of women's and civil rights didn't happen as a result of a single event. It was an on-going struggle that took place during an equally frustrating, long term social initiative to end the war in Vietnam. Everyone new somebody who had been lost. To whatever degree people were for or against the war, everyone shared a deep sense of frustration about the resulting national divide. In those angry times, Women's Room was a literary lightening rod to ground.

Love and Sorrow, Hope and Reconciliation.......2005-03-24

This book is a must read for anyone who is even remotely interested in how far we, as a society, have come in the struggle for equality. And how far we still have to go. From anger to joy to sadness to laughter and back again, this book dredges up all of these emotions.

The characters are pleasant, and there are so many that it's hard not to identify with at least one of them. Unfortunately, it's also hard to mix them up, which makes the reading experience less pleasant. I could hardly keep track of all the bland characters of the 50's. But not to worry, it gets much easier once we arrive in the 70's, where the characters are much more colorful, and easier to follow.

Which, in itself, shows us the large differences between these times.

Love and sorrow, hope and reconciliation. This book has it. Read it, it just might change a tiny bit of your life. It can, and probably will, open the way for a deeper exploration in the past of feminism and gender-equality.

Not what I'd been led to believe.......2004-07-03

The hype for this book promises that it will change your life. Well, mine is still travelling along quite merrily and nothing this book had to say has any impact on it. This is probably due to changing times and approaches to feminism.

The Women's Room focuses on some women who meet at university and explores their lives and loves. One thing that bugged me throughout is that the narrator (whose identity is never revealed) throws in monologue chapters that can be a little tedious. These chapters seem to be excuses to get up on a soapbox, but almost as though she is unsure of her reception, she "uses" the captive audience that is reading about the lives of a bunch of women to bang on about things that can be downright boring.

I couldn't relate to the characters. Mira, the central figure, is supposedly influenced by her upbringing, but her real problem appears to be that she has no self esteem. It wouldn't really matter what decade she was born in. Although, to her credit, she does seem to develop some right at the end. Half the characters turn to lesbianism at some point or other, which just seemed cliched.

There are references to events that I know nothing about. This further distanced me from the plot. The references appear to be things that all readers should automatically know about (that's the way it came across) and I couldn't figure out whether I was too young, too geographically removed (I'm in Australia) or whether they were figments of the author's imagination. I gave up trying to figure it out.

All in all, I didn't find this earth shattering and I wouldn't bother reading it again. If it was ever "life changing", it isn't now - not for me, anyway.

All women should read this and men too.......2004-02-21

i have read some of the responses to this book...Women who see themselves as only a mother and not a women as well, can't get this book. All the characters are three-dimensional representations of very different women. I recommend this book for anyone not trapped in the fifties "perfect life" scenario. This complex book is great fiction with a feminist undertone.

In the Name of Friendship (Classic Feminist Writers)

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This is a great book!
Be prepared for a lecture
Written with clarity and wisdom
Foremost feminist writer today

In the Name of Friendship (Classic Feminist Writers)
Marilyn French
Manufacturer: Feminist Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1558615210

Book Description

The critically acclaimed author Marilyn French, of the seven million copy bestseller The Women's Room, returns to that exploration of the truths and realities of women's lives, this time 35 years after the women's movement began. Set in the mountains of the Berkshires, this novel revolves around four disparate women whose personalities vary as greatly as their ages but who manage to develop a profound, life-altering friendship.

Called "terrifying [and] impressive" by The New York Times and "courageousâ€¦honestâ€¦ powerful" by The Chicago Tribune, French's work celebrates the relationships among women and questions what more is needed on the journey to equality.

Customer Reviews:

This is a great book!.......2007-06-29

This book fulfills all my requirements for a great novel: I loved the characters, their stories helped me understand my own, I wanted to read more about them, I was never bored, the writing is fluid, French's ideas grow wonderfully out of "The Women's Room," but here are more mature, as are several of her new characters. I have run a book group for 15 years, and this is the book we will be reading for July. In addition, I teach college English and will heartily recommend this page-turner to my students. I couldn't put it down!

Be prepared for a lecture.......2007-01-16

I really wanted to like Ms. French's new novel. Having never read any of her previous works but always wanting to, I looked forward to discovering her work and what makes her such a feminist icon.

In the Name of Friendship does have an intriguing, if not entirely original basic premise: four women at varying stages of life live and love in upper-class New England. Three are creatives: Emily is a composer/musician, Jenny is an artist, and Alicia is a historian and writer. Maddy is a wildly successful real estate agent. All but Emily are married to successful, if emotionally damaged men.

French's voice is unique and intelligent, but unfortunately, the narrative -- including the dialogue -- reads as if it's ONLY her voice we're hearing. It was very difficult sometimes to distinguish among the four women, for although they each lead different lives and have different backgrounds, they sounded remarkably similar to each other. Occasional lapses in editing doesn't help either, as at one point or two, a sentence is attributed to the wrong person, thereby adding to the confusion. Nearly all the women, but especially the two older women of the group -- Maddy and Emily -- speak in entire paragraphs, not infrequently lapsing into what threatens to be a lecture on the history of the women's movement and the injustices perpetrated on women in general and these two matriarchs in particular. This is where you hear the author's voice all too clearly and loudly, where the characters themselves disappear and seem to be taken over by French the college professor with a few axes to grind.

The men fare no better. The commentary at the end of the book by Stephanie Genty recalls that French's first novel The Women's Room received criticism for its one-dimensional portrayal of the male characters. While French does try to remedy that by introducing more complex backstories and personalities for the men in this novel, she only partially succeeds. While the women come across as wise, self-aware, intelligent creatures who have earned their grace and maturity from long years of sacrifice, experience, maternal insight, and having to carry the burden of womanhood, the men on the other hand appear to be little more than caricatures of the American male: gruff, lacking in self-awareness, boorish, smart but insensitive, and incapable of evolving without the help and compassion only the women in their lives can give them. It's an insulting portrayal, lacking the richness of character the author endows the women. It doesn't help that French appears to care so little for the male characters, drawing them so haphazardly, that she even gives a few of them almost identical names: two are named Steven, another two are named Charles (with the minor difference being that one is nicknamed Charley), and another two are named Billy.

But even casting criticism of the men aside, the women -- the central characters, and around whom everyone else evolves -- are disappointing in the end. The final chapter is too neatly and quickly wrapped up, as if the author couldn't quite figure out how to end it and so decided to just resolve everyone's stories with a few quick sentences. While I understand and respect French's desire to write about the passing of wisdom from one generation of women to another, it's too heavy-handed here, her characters being a little too literal in that generational transfer of wisdom, as they sit around the kitchen table, hands wrapped around the inevitable steaming cup of tea or coffee, and tell each other overly long, detailed stories about the discrimination and injustice inflicted upon them. The stories permeate the narrative, even those of the younger women, and I have to wonder if French is attempting to address the members of feminism's third wave, those who are weary of hearing about how the 1st and 2nd wave generation suffered so much, who want to move beyond the hurt of the past and create a different future.

Genty's commentary ends with a note indicating that the first publication of the book was actually by a Dutch publisher, as it was initially unable to find a publisher in the U.S. Genty makes the assumption that the lack of sympathetic publishers and women editors familiar with French's work, as well as a "repressive political climate" is to blame. However, my theory is that the didactic nature of her book, its rambling, sometimes confusing narrative, and the shallowness of many of the characters simply didn't appeal to most publishers.

There is still much to learn from this book, of course, and I don't want to discourage French fans from reading it. There's much to think about and digest, not just about the continuing relevance of the women's movement and its impact on individual lives, but also about how men themselves are victimized by the traditional ideas of masculinity and manhood in Western society. These ideas would make for some very insightful novels. Unfortunately, In the Name of Friendship hammers them home a little too hard, a little too much like Women's-Studies-101-Required-Reading.

Written with clarity and wisdom.......2006-07-21

The main characters are relatable. The story is one of women supporting one another across generations. It's a history lesson. It's a dose of hard reality. It's a celebration of progress. It's recognition of the difficulty of being a woman and trying to find a balance between independence and dependence, work and family, passion and practicality. In the end, it's hope for the future.

Foremost feminist writer today.......2006-07-06

The author of The Women's Room proves why she is the foremost feminist writer today about how women relate and interact

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Jane Austen and the War of Ideas
Marilyn Butler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0198120680

Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, 1760-1830 (Opus Books)

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One of the greatest living historians in any field
English Romantics in Social and Literay Picture
THe best way to the most charming age!
Romantic Rebels exposed!

Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, 1760-1830 (Opus Books)
Marilyn Butler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192891324

Book Description

The Age of Revolutions and its aftermath is unparalleled in English literature. Its poets include Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats; its novelists, Jane Austen and Scott. But how is it that some of these writers were apparently swept up in Romanticism, and others not? Studies of Romanticism have tended to adopt the Romantic viewpoint. They value creativity, imagination and originality - ideas which nineteenth-century writers themselves used to promote a new image of their calling. Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries puts the movement in to its historical setting and provides a new insight in Romanticism itself, showing that one of the most dynamic and stressful periods of modern times fostered a literature that was itself various and contradictory.

Customer Reviews:

One of the greatest living historians in any field.......2003-02-20

Marilyn Butler is at least as great a literary historian as Ann Douglas, and that means as great as it gets. This book is... well, I do not say an object lesson in writing history, for it is inimitable. Dr.Butler's mind is vast: she can be just and sympathetic both to the stern Toryism of Jane Austen and to the extreme progressivism of Blake or Godwin. Her eye for the peculiarities of a period - even a period that lasted, perhaps, only a few months - is flawless. Her learning is enormous, yet worn lightly; like her Oxford predecessor C.S.Lewis, she can be said to have "read everything, and understood what [she] read". And because her knowledge is so broad, embracing political and social history on both Britain and the continent, she is able to indulge in the wholesale slaughter of sacred cows without being in the least affected, self-indulgent, or attention-seeking. It is simply her sacrifice to the truth. Dr.Butler on the real intellectual origins and significance of Wordsworth, for instance, is a marvellous liberation from generations of nonsense; as soon as one reads her analysis of his derivation from a specific and identifiable strand of eighteenth-century writing, one becomes conscious that this is the truth. And her style is worthy of her content: plain, profound, readable, with not one sentence in the whole book that does not advance the argument or shed further light. Dr.Butler is an Oxford Don, and this is the Oxford manner at its best - clear, unpretentious, comprehensive. This is a fabulously good book, that takes its place alongside Lewis' OXFORD HISTORY OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE, Auerbach's MIMESIS, Ann Douglas' TERRIBLE HONESTY and THE FEMINIZATION OF AMERICAN CULTURE as one of the finest pieces of literary history I have ever read.

English Romantics in Social and Literay Picture.......2002-10-08

There are books I try more than usual to have my own copy of. And this is one of them. A brilliant look into the world of English Romanticism. This is not just a literary sketch of the age and its spirit. As the title suggests, it's also about social interaction with the backdrop of the French Revolution. As Butler sees it, Edmund Burke's "Reflections" was "a polemic against intellectuals". And perhaps, Coleridge traveled to Germany to avoid conscription. The rise of German Romantik could have been caused by the social Angst especially among the young adults who ended up jobless in the wake of economic malaise... Butler's grip on all these details is so enticing you simply want to follow her until you see "The End." I have to make it known that this is no page-turner for everyone(despite the rolling but crisp, subtle but lucid sentences) but recommendably for those who have interest in how the period shaped the Romantic ideas and how the poets and novelists were all distinctively and creatively responsive. Still, it can also be read as a great introduction to the social and literary topography of the English Romanticism.

THe best way to the most charming age!.......2001-02-12

I have read this book in Chinese, and then I decide to get the English press to be my treature. It is very elegant and powerful, describing the history and making elegant, deep interpretation. I consider that it has better than the classic discourse "The Mirror and the Lamp" wrote by M. H. Abrams. The analysis and result from this book is a very important step forward to a splendid literary world.

Romantic Rebels exposed!.......2000-05-23

A fascinating book! A must read for anyone that is interested in literary research of the period, or someone interested in learning more about their favorite author. An interesting book to just read on its own as well, since it covers a wide range of ideas and authors. Marilyn Butler's book is a must for the library of any student of literature.

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Fill out your Austen collection
Northanger Abbey: Janeites rejoice in this light and lively tour de force
Part satire of Gothic novels, part comedy of manners
Fragmented, and Written Before Her Major Works: Not Her Best
Classic Austen

Northanger Abbey (Penguin Classics)
Jane Austen , and Marilyn Butler
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141439793
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Amazon.com

Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

New chronology and further reading.

Edited with an introduction by Marilyn Butler.

Download Description

Fans of Jane Austen will delight in this engaging, lesser-known work.

Customer Reviews:

Fill out your Austen collection.......2007-07-31

As a lover of Austen novels, it is well worth reading "Northanger Abby", which was Austen's first (but last published) novel. As her first novel, her writing style is still rough and lacks some of the refinment of her later works, but she still brings her sharp eye for satire and examination of societal/marriage topics. Catherine Morland pales in comparison to later strong heronies like Elizabeth Bennet or Fanny Price, but she's delightful to read and chuckle about her naive outlook on life.

Northanger Abbey: Janeites rejoice in this light and lively tour de force.......2007-07-12

Northanger Abbey is a gem. Jane Austen (1775-1817)has written a charmiing little novel about a charming little lady named Catherine Moreland. Catherine is 15 as the novel begins in Wiltshire. She and the hilariously stupid Mrs. Allen go on a six week trip to nearby Bath to take the waters. Catherine meets the fashionable and fast Isabella Thorpe. Catherine dances with the clergyman Henry Tilney at a ball becoming infatuated with the clever young man. Henry and Catherine share a love for the Romantic Gothic novels of such authors as Ann Radcliff and Fanny Burney. Complications ensue but in the end the couple are wed.
The first half of the novel deals with doings in Bath; the second half is a trip taken by Catherine to the Tilney estate Northanger Abbey. Catherine thinks the house may contain a ghost as she is influenced in her thinking by a vivid imagination fueled by her sensational Gothic reading.
Minor characters are of interest: Captain Frederick Tilney the ladies man brother of Henry; old General Tilney the gruff father of Fred and Henry; Catherine's parents and Eleanor Tilney the kind and lovely sister of the two Tilney boys with whom Catherine forms a solid friendship.
The book includes a spirited defense of the art of novel writing by Miss Austen. It is a light and commonplace tale of young love told with the wit and wisdom of one of England's greatest authors. This less well known Austen novel is a delightful way to become an addict of the spinster from Hawton parsongage!

Part satire of Gothic novels, part comedy of manners .......2007-07-04

Northanger Abbey was one of Jane Austen's earlier works, and, reading it , you can definitely see her gift of writing in its infancy. While this work is not perfect by any means, it is a fine-tuned effort that any Austin fan will enjoy and appreciate. Basically it works as part comedy/drama of manners and part parody of Gothic literature, taking many of the elements of Ann Radcliffe's work The Mysteries of Udolfo, and slightly satirizing it. The ending's closure--where Austin ties everything together nicely--is something seen in many of her other, more popular works, where all loose ends are tied and questions are answered.

The first part of the novel focuses on Catherine Morland, her family, and her acquaintances. Catherine goes away from her family and stays with the Allen family. While there, she meets the Thorpe family, and becomes an acquaintance and friend of Isabella Thorpe. She has to fight off the advances of Isabella's brother. Later on, at a dance, she also meets Henry, a man who she will eventually fall in love with. She finally gets the opportunity to stay with the Tilney family at Northanger Abbey. Because of her love of novels, and her chance to become better acquainted with Henry and his sister, Catherine is excited to go. The second part of the novel begins with Catherine staying at Northanger Abbey.

One of the funnier aspects of the novel is the 2nd part, when Catherine goes to Northanger Abbey and immediately becomes entranced with the many Gothic elements she seems to have read about. This is when her knowledge and love of Gothic literature tales runs away with her imagination. At one point, she believes that Henry's father has murdered or imprisoned Henry's mother, or that he is keeping her stowed away and doing malicious and evil things. There is also a moment when Catherine is alone in her room late at night and sees a chest, and fears that it has something awful inside it--so naturally she goes to investigate. It seems that all her suppositions and fears are well-founded to her, but we see that she clearly has taken some things too far in her mind, and perhaps there is an anti-climax in her not finding anything noteworthy.

What makes Catherine a likeable heroine is that there are faults to her, so she is perfect by no means. For one thing, she is oblivious to many events that are seemingly obvious to others, namely the romance that begins with her brother and Isabella. She also has some trouble expressing herself in the earlier parts of the novel, but as time wears on she becomes more assertive and mature. Also, her love for novels can be seen as a weakness because she tends to over dramatize and fantasize about them--this seems to be Austen's way of lightly poking fun at reading novels, something you have to admire from a great writer. Over all though, she is a character that is fun to read about and follow around in her adventures.

While the story does have moments where it may drag a little, it still is a fun and adventurous read and is a must for Austen fans. This review is in reference to the Dover books version of the novel.

Fragmented, and Written Before Her Major Works: Not Her Best.......2007-07-01

I do not like the title since only part of the story takes place in the Northanger Abbey. The novel has some fame as a parody of Gothic novels, but that is not the primary focus of the novel. This is a novel written by Jane Austen at least a decade before her famous novels. It is similar to the later novels but it is less sophisticated, shorter, and it seems fragmented - as I discuss below. It was sold for publication in 1803. It is her earliest work but it was not a success. She bought back the rights and it was published after her death in 1818.

As background information, I have read all of Austen's novels, and I have read various analyses of Austen's work. Jane Austen's formula for success was to write a novel about of a financially disadvantaged young woman who meets and marries a wealthier man. The exception is her novel "Emma" where the protagonist has her own means. There are no axe murders in an Austen novel or any nasty elements. Her stories take place in small English towns and they all have a variety of characters including a few willful women and usually one male rogue.

"Pride and Prejudice" is Jane Austen's finest novel. That book is the perfect balance of story, prose, structure, and interesting characters. It evokes many emotional responses in the reader. That novel is among the greatest novels of all time on par with for example Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" or Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." From a strictly literary point of view, "Mansfield Park" is the most complicated and sophisticated literary work penned by Austen.

So, where does that leave "Northanger Abbey" among her works? All of her five mature novels share a certain fixed writing style and a common structure, or the Austen formula as mentioned above. She uses the early pages to introduce the families, and other characters, and give start the story. She moves characters around from place to place in part for time shifting. She does a wrap up in the last few chapters. This is her sixth major work but written earlier. That Austen formula is partially present in the plot and structure. The first half of the novel is good. Catherine is a sympathetic protagonist and John Thorpe is a suitable rogue. Her love interest, Henry Tilney, seems a bit weak or enigmatic. The story is good for about half the novel. When the action moves to the Abbey it seems to become very fragmented and disorienting for the reader. But the Abbey section is not too long, and then story returns to more what we would expect from Austen near the end.

Most Austen fans will find the piece to be interesting but a bit confusing in parts and not her best.

Classic Austen.......2007-06-25

Northanger Abbey is a classic in several senses of the word: It's pure Jane Austen; it's set in the early 1800s, mostly in a Gothic abbey; it's dramatic and overwrought and wonderfully written. Any Austen fan who has not yet picked up this little gem of a novel should do so immediately because you are sure to be delighted!

Catherine Morland, aged 17, is expanding her horizons by visiting Bath with her neighbors, The Allens. While there, she becomes entangled with the Thorpe family, who are not quite what they seem to be, and the Tilney family, with whom she forms a sincere attachment that leads her to visit their family home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine has spent a good deal of time reading novels, and she allows her imagination to run wild once she finds herself in the dark corridors of the abbey; the appearance of Henry, her hopeful love interest, helps quell her theatrics a bit but she still finds herself drawn into situations she doesn't understand. Classic Austen includes misunderstanding and love, and this novel has both in abundance.

This is a slim novel, and from what I gather, one of Austen's earliest. The characterizations are not perhaps as finely tuned as some of her other works, but overall this is a satisfying read with the delights of the time period. Sit back, curl up, and enjoy!

Castle Rackrent and Ennui (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Not bedtime reading.

Castle Rackrent and Ennui (Penguin Classics)
Maria Edgeworth , and Marilyn Butler
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140433201

Customer Reviews:

Not bedtime reading........2000-08-18

Edgeworth wrote about the protestant upper class in Ireland around the turn of the 18th/19th century. At the time, especially in Rackrent, her most famous work, she wrote of the machinations of bad landlords and how their families died out. It is interesting that she was writing about the demise of these bad landlords, suggesting that things had improved in this more enlightened age, at a time when the Irish Peasant was worse off than ever. Edgeworth wrote of a society that was on the brink of extinction, but she was not aware of this, since she was part of that society. This book is noteworthy for what it is not. It is not Irish literature. It is poor british literature and would have no merit at all if it did not serve to contrast with the high quality scribblings of the uneducated and unwashed downtrodden masses. Like the protestant ruling class it is sparse, stilted and haughty. Not a fun read.

Living the Liturgy: The Mass As Personal Growth

Average customer rating:

I will recommend to friends
Brief, Profound, and Essential!

Living the Liturgy: The Mass As Personal Growth
Marilyn Gustin
Manufacturer: Liguori Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0892435798

Customer Reviews:

I will recommend to friends.......2007-06-23

I found this book in Adoration. I consider myself to be very involved in the Mass. I teach Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and am always helping to drawn my children and others to the meanings of the gestures. I strive to teach my children to truly appreciate God's presence. This book was very helpful to me. Although I do appreciate and revere many parts of the Mass, there is still plenty of room for me to improve and grow. This book helped draw my attention to other areas of the Mass that we all tend to gloss over. The Catholic Mass is so beautiful and rich with symbolism. Every Catholic should have a copy.

Brief, Profound, and Essential!.......2006-09-02

Marilyn Gustin did the church a wonderful service when she wrote this book. She emphasizes that the mass has become too routine and second nature for many of us. She says: "Too often we accept the views and values of the media, and even those of us who remember a sacred space called church have lost our alertness to it." If you recall the parable about the seeds, this would fall under the seeds that fell: "...among thorns and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit" (Mark 4:7). In a way, Jen Garner's movie "13 Going On 30" reflected this. If I may be allowed to digress a moment, Jen Garner's character wished for things that society seems to fill us with the desire for. Well, her wish came true, and she was happy for a short while. But then she realized she did NOT like the person she became when she got her wish. She also realized that getting what society seems to make us want destroyed her moral values. This movie would actually be great to watch after you read Gustin's book. What Gustin does is she takes each part of the mass and gives a few paragraphs on the significance of it. The procession, the Old Testament Reading, the New Testament Reading, the Gospel, the homily, the profession of faith, the offering of the gifts, the 'Our Father,' the exchange of peace, the consecration of the host and the wine, the prayer of penance before communion, the communion, and the moment of silence after communion. She wisely points out: "If we go to mass only as an obligation or a social habit, very little will happen in us or for us. If we sit dully in our pews daydreaming about yesterday's shopping or this afternoon's football game, that the most holy moment, the consecration will go by without our notice." As if this were not enough, Gustin gives a nice rundown of the times of the church year. (Advent, Christmas, a moment of ordinary time, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost.) She concludes by saying: "...all of that wonderful nourishment can go right through us and out the back door if we go to Mass only because we are obliged to, or if we just want to get through it as quickly as possible." Reading this book would suggest that Marilyn Gustin would have been a great nun. In my opinion, no Roman Catholic or Anglo Catholic should be without this book. Marilyn Gustin really did a great job of putting so much profound and essential material into a book that is under 100 pages.

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