Lizzie and the Modern Woman

My dearest Elizabeth Bennet has been popping up all over the place recently. The Lizzie trend has manifested itself in numerous ways.

Now, if I went on to talk abt all the P&P themed things I own (poster of the entire book in very small font, bag, tee shirt, etc.) it would never end... but here are the worldwide trends at the moment.

 Print - 1) In 2009, the first "comical" remake of the beloved book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, came to disgrace our bookstores.... but I haven't been able to bring myself to read them.

2) The book I'm more interested in is one that a dear friend gave me, Miss Jane Austen's Guide to Modern Life's Dilemmas: Answers to Your Most Burning Questions about Life, Love, Happiness and What to Wear from the Great Jane Austen Herself. The title says it all--how perfect is this?! I adore it.

How cool is this cover--Jane with an iPad!

3) Earlier this summer there was a New York Times article about the Jane-craze that included a board game with paper dolls (!!!) and discussed the "Janeiac" and Lizzie.

On screen - 1) The Lizzie Bennet Diaries started over a year ago ended in March :( Luckily for fans, the awesome web series recently won an Emmy!  LBD is a vlog told by Lizzie Bennet, a grad student who still lives with her parents and sisters. It is a wonderful retelling of a classic story, by Hank Green and Bernie Su.
And guess what... they're making an Emma series next! I can't wait!

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2) Austenland is a wonderfully silly book that came out in 2007 -- I was so excited to hear that they were making a movie! It came out last month, and I haven't seen it yet, but I wouldn't expect much other than some laughs from what I've read in reviews.

3) Even better than that movie will be the BBC series coming to the UK in December (It'll be on PBS Masterpiece in the US, I'm just not sure about when yet... trust me, I'll let you know!) -- Death Comes to Pemberley. It is based on the book of the same name by P.D. James. I'm also super excited that Jenna Louise Coleman of Doctor Who is part of the cast (even if she is Lydia Wickham)!

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So what does this mean, now that Lizzie is showing up in a seeming outburst of a trend? Elizabeth Bennet is not a passing character. She is here to stay. The amazing thing is how everyone connects to her, each century, and in new ways. People truly care about Lizzie, enough to give her new life in different forms of media, whether its Lizzie vlogging or living out her life with darcy in the midst of a  murder...

Lizzie Bennet and the Modern Woman have found multiple ways to connect, and I don't think that will ever stop.

Bonus link: have you seen the giant Colin Firth Darcy statue in London?

A Trip to the Morgan & {Keel's} Simple Diary

Last weekend I went to the closing day of the Beatrix Potter exhibit at the Morgan Library/Museum in NYC!

the exhibit

Peter Rabbit, of course

with her pet rabbit (on a leash!:)

A letter from Beatrix Potter

and after seeing the {adorable} exhibit, I completed my traditional stops at the Morgan.

First I went to the library.
Can we just talk about this library? Add a coffee shop and maybe a J. Crew and this is seriously what heaven looks like. It used to be an actual person's home library. I mean... Wow.

And then of course there's my dinky iPhone photos:

I'm a panorama failure

awkward insta...nbd

There's also a secret staircase hidden behind one of the shelves! I didn't get a picture of it this time, but if you go you should definitely ask about it!

While I was there, a sweet older tour guide was reading Beatrix Potter to some kiddies :) So cute!


After I fell in love with the library all over again, a trip to the gift shop was in store. I admired the $70 fountain pen sets and looked around until I found this little guy: Keel's Simple Diary.

It is hilarious.
Some of the questions or topics are definitely things you would not think of yourself...
It's fun to have to pick between "my day was a treadmill" and "my day was an intermission" and other silly things like that!

I always try to keep diaries and always end up stopping either a week or a month after I began. It's pretty sad. I love the idea of diary-keeping though. I love carrying around a notebook with me to jot down ideas and conversations, which I think I prefer to diaries, but this Simple Diary was too cute not to get, and it'll be fun to try out! So in addition to my normal notebook (and let me tell you, I own about 50), I now have a really cool diary to bring with me :)

I couldn't pick a color! I ended up with green, because I usually opt for pink

Do you have a notebook that you bring everywhere? Do you keep a diary?

Welcome to Hartfield

Hartfield. 

Home to Emma Woodhouse, famed character of Jane Austen's 1815 novel. 

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I would like to think that I'm way better than spoiled and meddling Emma, but although my life may be different from hers, I am no better... and that's one of the best things about reading. You don't have to agree with the character simply because it's her story. You can have a complex love/hate relationship, which is much closer to real life than just agreeing with a character's actions all the time. Emma infuriates me. But she makes me think about my life (which really should be the goal of any book).

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I look at Emma's life and think wow, this girl has it all and she doesn't even appreciate it! But that's me, too... and just about every other person on this planet. Someone out there is thinking that I'm spoiled too, and someone else thinks that that person isn't grateful for everything that is truly awesome in their life.

So my home might not actually be a gorgeous British estate from the Regency era (hint: it's not), but I'll call it Hartfield anyway...

Home is made up of the books you read and the people (real or fictional) that you love, or love to hate. Home can be whatever and wherever you want it to be.

So I shall call this little Internet home of mine Hartfield.

love,

emma

xo

Ps: to learn more about me, visit the about page.