Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Intimations of Austen Giveaway...and Query



I am expecting a shipment of review copies of Intimations of Austen ,
my collection of Austen-inspired short stories (aka What-Ifs), and I thought it might be fun to do a giveaway...or two.

This is especially designed for you Everything Austen challengettes who want a quick read and are getting a little bored (dare I say it) with P&P and want to venture into Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Somehow I never wrote a short story around S&S or Emma--in the case of the latter, it might be because Queen Emma always insists on having full-length novels rather than short stories if she is to serve as inspiration. DISCLAIMER: I don't mean to imply that P&P doesn't get its due in Intimations...four of the nine stories are P&P-inspired, but that's less than 50%, for crying out loud!

If you would like to be entered in a drawing for one of two copies that I will draw for on Sunday, September 13:
1) Leave me a comment on this posting for one entry
2) Become a follower for two entries
3) Tweet about this giveaway for three entries
***Be sure to provide me with your email address so that I can let you know if/when you've won.

And since you're here, tell me which of the BBC list you've read (I have a few polls going and will be adding a few more until all 100 books are covered), and browse around the site. I did lots of posting on Gaskell last year, am currently deep in Shakespeare territory, love to post on Austen, and so forth.

Now for the query part...Jezebel recently read my post on Two Guys Read Jane Austen and commented on the dearth of male readers of Austen. I responded that I don't think men read the works of female authors near as much as women read the works of male authors. Granted, there is a heck of a lot more out there written by men than women, as Anne Eliot so aptly pointed out. But even now, when there are loads of women authors, do men read women?

Is Austen really the most often read female author amongst men?

26 comments:

  1. Well, I've voted on the BBC lists, but since you probably couldn't tell, here are my picks (it's too bad we don't get credit for having read some of them more than once!).

    Anna Karenina (I'm on my 3rd time through)
    Emma
    Persuasion
    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    Memoirs of a Geisha
    the Great Gatsby (I've read it 4 times at least)
    Bleak House (I've read 3 times through)
    Crime and Punishment
    Little Women (three times through)
    the Hobbit
    Middlemarch (I've been through it twice)
    Pride and Prejudice (I don't even know how many times I've read this one, I have pages MEMORIZED for I am a nerd)
    Lord of the Rings (half a dozen times, at least)
    Jane Eyre (three times through)
    Harry Potter series (half a dozen times through)
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    Wuthering Heights (I've been through it twice)
    Great Expectations

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  2. I too have voted in your polls. I've read many but not the majority of those books. Is it enough for a rapid comment? I'm also a follower and read - though not always comment - all your posts. I can't tweet. Do I deserve two entries? At least one? I really hope so!
    P.S. Great idea this giveaway, Jane!

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  3. I'd love to be entered in this giveaway. I am loving the Everything Austen challenge and I am always on the look out for more :)

    My email is in my blogger profile.

    P.S. I did vote in the BBC polls.

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  4. I'm a follower and I tweeted about it as well!

    Your query?? I don't think men read as many female authors. Not sure why, maybe because women authors are usually writing romances, etc? So that is too feminine for most of them! I stereotyping big time here! Just some thoughts. And as far as Jane Austen goes I don't know one male personally that's ever read her stuff so I can't fairly reply to that one! Great giveaway!

    Here's my BBC read list and I've also done your polls!

    1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
    2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
    3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
    4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
    5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
    6 The Bible
    7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
    9 His Dark Materials, just the Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
    11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
    14 Complete Works of Shakespeare,some sonnets, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet
    16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
    21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
    22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
    28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
    33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
    34 Emma - Jane Austen
    35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
    40 Winnie the Pooh, just a few of them! - AA Milne
    42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
    50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
    54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
    73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
    76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
    81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
    87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
    100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

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  5. M - with the exception of Anna Karenina and Little Women, we're pretty aligned. Gatsby is one of the best books ever--I'm particularly fond of the ending. I haven't read P&P in awhile because I found that I knew it too well to enjoy it, if that makes sense. I'm not Catholic, but reading it became what I imagine saying the rosary would be like, so I decided to wait a bit before another reread.

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  6. Maria - you have two entries, and I pulled your email off of your profile. It's great to chat with you here and at your site!

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  7. Heather/Gofita - got you down for three entries. Thanks for the RT, btw. Still learning how to use all these social networking tools!

    Looking at your list, Atonement is one that I haven't tackled yet. I've heard it's good...haven't seen the movie yet either!

    I should know this, but is the Bell Jar poetry or prose? I've been afraid to read Plath for years, but her interest in the Brontes is winning me over.

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  8. Do we tend to seek out authors we think we will relate to? Be it by age,country of origin or sex? Or does the genre play a role in what we read? While you point out science fiction in another post, I think looking at what mystery writers people read might give a better indication of their willingness to read authors of the opposite sex.
    As for men reading Austen, I think it depends on how it is presented to them. From a marketing stand point, her books are not packaged in a way that makes most men want to pick up a copy and look inside. If publishers created a copy of an Austen book that was geared towards male readers with visual and written appeal on the book cover, would they read it?

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  9. I tweeted about this giveaway here: http://twitter.com/MelaniesMusings/status/3869284840

    I'll definitely be looking around your archives. I think I may like Gaskell's writing even more than Austen. I've only read North and South, though. I guess it would be more accurate to say they are both stars in their own right. I'm glad to know that Inspirations includes Persuasion! That's definitely my favorite Austen novel. :)

    melanies--musings@live.com

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  10. Jane, I'm running overtime on my lunch hour, but I had to at least say this much.

    There are still some men out there who read Jane. I cite as reference Ashton Dennis' web site "Male Voices in Praise of Jane Austen".

    I will check out the rest of your post a bit later and report back.

    Linda Fern

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  11. KayJay - you make an excellent point. I happened to see a S&S in the grocery store all decked out in like a Harlequin romance and I wondered whether the unsuspecting buyer would be disappointed or not.

    Melanie - nice to meet you. I'm a big Gaskell fan, as you can tell if you look around here much, and Persuasion is near and dear to my heart.

    Linda - I'm ashamed that I didn't line to Male Voices in Praise of Jane Austen in my post. For those who are wondering, here's the url: http://www.theloiterer.org/ashton/index.html It's a great site with an interesting perspective. Thanks for reminding me. Now back to lunch!

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  12. So delighted to have found your blog and to join another Austen community. I've voted on your list, am following you on Twitter (www.twitter.com/BettyEllis), and promise to retweet.

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  13. Enter me, please!

    martinack_75 AT hotmail DOT com

    Tweeting about it, too @FleurDeMar

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  14. This sounds wonderful! Oh please do enter me as I would very much like to read your novel.
    knittingmomof3(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  15. I am following.
    knittingmomof3(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  16. I am a follower (entry 2). I also took the quiz on the left side. I have read every book except the Bible (cover to cover).
    knittingmomof3(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  17. Tweeted: http://twitter.com/knittingmomof3/status/3921872021
    knittingmomof3(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  18. Just found out about you on Twitter. So excited to read your work. Would love to win a copy of the book, and I'll also peruse things you've written online as well. I'm now following the blog, Tweeted about it and also am following on Twitter.

    Thanks!

    Laura Hartness
    LauraHartness@gmail.com

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  19. Thank you so much for hosting the contest.

    I subscribe to the blog
    I tweeted the giveaway
    http://twitter.com/OregonKimm/status/3926565271

    My email address is: oregonkimm(at)gmail(dot)com

    Finally, in terms of Austen being the most often female author by men: I wonder if J.K. Rowling has conquered that title by now. I know she's hugely popular (although I've never read her books) and has more titles available. I think it would be interesting to analyze Austen's rise and decline patterns in readership over the years by both sexes.

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  20. Hi Jane, just adding my moral support since I have already read your lovely book - and reviewed it. Great to see that you have so much interest. To all that have not read any of Jane's stories, you are in for a treat. Cheers, LA

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  21. Laura - got three entries for you logged. Thanks so much for stopping by.

    Happy in Oregon - likewise, three entries--JK Rowling really breaks all the records and all the rules (with regards to conventional wisdom). I can't imagine there isn't a grad student somewhere who has looked at readerships patterns by gender. Would love to see the graphs!

    LA - you're a gem. Thanks for your support :)

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  22. Enter me, please (if it's not too late. I just heard about it)

    martina_ck AT shaw DOT ca

    Will also tweet. @FleurDeMar

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  23. Oh gosh. I didn't think I'd entered yet and I did. You can remove my last entry. Oops!

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  24. I missed the draw! Oh, well.

    Thinking about men and female authors - my partner reads predominantly male authors (99% - I'm having difficulty recalling a female author whose books he has read, but I know he has read one or two) Whereas I read male and female authors equally - I don't usually think about whether a book is written by a man or a woman, although some books are too blokeish. Men who predominantly write books for other men: Paul Theroux, Paul Auster, John Updike are some of the names that spring to mind.

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  25. Jezebel - maybe that's why I never read John Updike? :) I tend to think I pick the book rather than the author, and Robert Harris is currently one of my favorite contemporary authors, but I do like women writers, there's no doubt. I think JK Rowling was the last female author whose book(s) my husband read.

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  26. I, too, usually pick the book, not the author. One of my favourite male authors is Salman Rushdie - there's an author who loves playing with language. I also like Robert Harris, especially his early books. But my favourite authors tend to be female - apart from Jane Austen (who else!) I like Kate Atkinson's books (love her sense of humour) and Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski novels are my favourite crime fiction. (I'm not a big fan of crime fiction though)

    Have you read any Anthony Trollope?

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