Book Blogging

Courtesy of coughingbear, I have been signed up with Blog A Penguin Classic to review a book. The book allocated to me is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

I can't remember if I have read this. I know I have read other Austen - Emma at a minimum - in my teens. And I have of course been enveloped in other media depictions of the book - the films, the TV series, and the paraodies.

I can't help wondering how easy it will be to remove my knowledge of the book to actually review it (hopefully, intelligently, though I am going to assume that!).

I am also curious about just why Penguin are giving out copies of their books to get people to write about them. This isn't what publishers usually do. Usually, they sell books. (Although all the books that they are including are, I guess, long out of copyright, so they can give them away at no great cost.) These books must have volumes written about them already - there are huge Jane Austen industries working away.

I can only think that Penguin are hoping to gain publicity (and they have already got a lot of people on my flist talking about it), cashing in on the boom in children's books (courtesy of Mr Potter and his earthbound creation, "JK" Rowling) by getting interested adults talking about the classics - and making people think that they need to catch up with classics they missed, or re-read ones they loved.

I often find books hard to write about. (Like many other things!) I am sceptical what I will have to add to the volumes already written about Pride and Prejudice.

Never mind. I'll add another book to the pile to be read!

Book Blogging

Courtesy of coughingbear, I have been signed up with Blog A Penguin Classic to review a book. The book allocated to me is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

I can't remember if I have read this. I know I have read other Austen - Emma at a minimum - in my teens. And I have of course been enveloped in other media depictions of the book - the films, the TV series, and the paraodies.

I can't help wondering how easy it will be to remove my knowledge of the book to actually review it (hopefully, intelligently, though I am going to assume that!).

I am also curious about just why Penguin are giving out copies of their books to get people to write about them. This isn't what publishers usually do. Usually, they sell books. (Although all the books that they are including are, I guess, long out of copyright, so they can give them away at no great cost.) These books must have volumes written about them already - there are huge Jane Austen industries working away.

I can only think that Penguin are hoping to gain publicity (and they have already got a lot of people on my flist talking about it), cashing in on the boom in children's books (courtesy of Mr Potter and his earthbound creation, "JK" Rowling) by getting interested adults talking about the classics - and making people think that they need to catch up with classics they missed, or re-read ones they loved.

I often find books hard to write about. (Like many other things!) I am sceptical what I will have to add to the volumes already written about Pride and Prejudice.

Never mind. I'll add another book to the pile to be read!

Edinburgh Jazz Festival

Last week, I went to four concerts in the Edinburgh Jazz Festival; four consecutive evenings. Three of the concerts were in the Bosco Theatre, part of the Spiegel Garden complex they erected in George Sq for the Jazz and Fringe festivals; a large, circus-like tent, it was a much better venue than the Spiegel Tent – when I last went to the Spiegel Tent, it was full of glass and mirrors, which created lousy sightlines and awful echoes: it was a lousy venue for music.

But the Bosco Theatre I rather liked.

( Gigs by Happy Apple, Bad Apple, Laura MacDonald and Zoe Rahman )

Edinburgh Jazz Festival

Last week, I went to four concerts in the Edinburgh Jazz Festival; four consecutive evenings. Three of the concerts were in the Bosco Theatre, part of the Spiegel Garden complex they erected in George Sq for the Jazz and Fringe festivals; a large, circus-like tent, it was a much better venue than the Spiegel Tent – when I last went to the Spiegel Tent, it was full of glass and mirrors, which created lousy sightlines and awful echoes: it was a lousy venue for music.

But the Bosco Theatre I rather liked.

( Gigs by Happy Apple, Bad Apple, Laura MacDonald and Zoe Rahman )