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New York Times
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Forgotten Writers Who Influenced Jane Austen
It is a truth universally acknowledged (at least in publishing) that books about books sell well, and, judging by their profusion, that includes those devoted to Jane Austen Inc. 'Jane Austen's Bookshelf,' by Rebecca Romney, would seem optimized for readers who like to absorb their masterpieces by osmosis. Yet it springs from a place more personal and idiosyncratic than the cozy title might suggest. Put it another way: I certainly didn't expect to make so many furious notes in the margins. A longtime dealer in rare books who has made regular appearances on the TV show 'Pawn Stars' and who knows her Richardson from her Fielding, Romney had come to believe that Austen was, if not unique among women writers of her time, certainly superior — that her place in the canon must rest at least partly on the relative inferiority of her peers. Then she read Frances Burney, and realized how many writers had not just influenced Austen — but been great in their own right. 'In spite of my supposed professional curiosity, I realized I had missed something,' Romney writes. 'And it stung.' Upon discovering just how little she knew of those female writers who informed Austen's own work — having tacitly fallen into what Katha Pollitt calls 'the Smurfette principle,' in which a single archetypal female fills a sort of quota — Romney acts. She amasses the titular collection while using her knowledge of book selling to explore exactly how all these women fell from the canon. Sleuthing ensues. Tantalizingly little survives of Austen's letters. But her remaining correspondence and her own novels provide a road map to her literary tastes: the Ann Radcliffe Gothics referenced in 'Northanger Abbey,' the scandalous Elizabeth Inchbald play mounted by the houseguests in 'Mansfield Park,' the Hannah More sermons against which Austen's novel-loving heroines rebel. Romney reads through the works of these writers and others, plus a slew of secondary sources, in the process evaluating her own reactions as a 21st-century woman. Romney is no ordinary reader: She approaches her 'investigation' with discipline and zeal. ('No, I won't stop quoting Holmes,' she writes menacingly — and accurately — of Sherlock.) Also, she wants to read the books in contemporary editions. The project takes chutzpah, and Romney has it. 'Literary trivia is my joy and my currency,' she tells the reader. 'Besides the ability to quote the Great Detective in nearly any situation, I can also tell you how many steps led to his flat at 221B; I can recite Sappho in Greek and Horace in Latin; I have participated in public readings of 'Ulysses'; and I have seriously considered getting a tattoo of a Catullus verse. Yet I had completely missed some of Austen's predecessors.' (As to my annotations here, I'll quote Mr. Darcy: 'You may imagine what I felt and how I acted.') As she knows, she is not the first to take on the subject: Feminist Recovery is an established school. Romney acknowledges her debts to Dale Spender, to Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, to Audre Lorde. As for the physical copies, Romney concedes that, in a digital world, this is not the treasure hunt it was even a generation ago. Indeed, I was less interested in seeing her hot on the case of the Missing Canon or tracking down a first edition of Charlotte Smith's 'Elegiac Sonnets' than I was in watching this one reader learning, and thinking, in real time — as her sometimes reflexive presentism and flippancy ('#notallmen') give way to a sympathy that extends across centuries. Her narrative bravado evolves to something truer and more genuinely seeking as her confidence in her own reactions increases. Throughout, Romney gives the reader glimpses into her own story: She describes a conservative Mormon childhood in which she fought against the gender and intellectual strictures even as she learned to value community. For her, these struggles over morality and conduct are not historical abstractions, but a part of her lived experience — and her present. Her passages on overcoming internalized misogyny to appreciate romance novels (via Burney's 'Evelina') are a small gem of passionate criticism. 'Books are not static things,' Romney writes. 'One reason I love reading is that I can examine the emotions it stirs safely from a distance, at my own pace. When I'm rereading, I'm doing that, and more. I'm remembering the emotions of the last read.' 'Jane Austen's Bookshelf' stirred some emotions of my own. My penciled exhortations in the margins, some of excitement or communion, others of irritation, are in a way a response to Romney's invitation to join in her intellectual tussling. Of her own process, she writes, 'I underlined. I dog-eared. I argued with the authors at the bottom of the page.' I did the same; and then I hunted down a copy of Charlotte Lennox's 'The Female Quixote' and Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi's 'Letters to and From the Late Samuel Johnson.' It may be how new canons are formed; it's certainly how enthusiasms are shared.
Los Angeles Times
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A book lover's best-kept secret: the Substacks and BookToks every reader should know
Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. I'm Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I am also known to wade into the waters of BookTok on occasion. Books are hot right now — Dua Lipa has a book club, as do Dakota Johnson, Kaia Gerber, Emma Roberts, Emma Watson and Florence Welch, and that's in addition to heavy-hitters Oprah Winfrey, Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon. In today's newsletter, I'll be your guide to online bookish communities before we take a look at what's happening in the lit world and catching up with Octavia's Bookshelf in Pasadena. I've cultivated an audience of readers for outlets like Variety, Vulture and Time, but in early 2021 I started my own BookTok (TikTok parlance for accounts all about the world of literature) with my friend Princess. Our reading levels had plunged during the pandemic and we were desperate for connection. BookTok was a way we could connect with other readers, plus crack a joke or two along the way. I yearned for the hum and buzz at Skylight Books before an author reading, or the discussions born out of Lina Abascal's Junior High Book Club (which held its last meeting in December after five years). But we were stuck inside and reading a lot less. The cure? Touching grass — or at least going outside. I love to read on public transit, and I adore seeing what others are reading on the train even more. Turns out, the antidote to any reading slump is just being nosy. It delights me to see trends happen in real time as one book pops up multiple times throughout the month. How can you not feel a kinship with a stranger when they're reading the same book you are? My imagination runs wild when I see people reading their Kindles, and my respect goes through the roof when I see people reading smut, unabashedly, in public. Even though I'm sure all of us here already add books to our TBR lists without having any time to read them, these are some of my favorite — and some of the most inviting — book clubs. TikTok has helped me discover online bookish communities, like subreddits where I could fall down a rabbit hole of theories after finishing Paul Murray's 'The Bee Sting,' or blogs dissecting every deranged and depraved bit of 'Rejection' by Tony Tulathimutte. If you're looking to read more, here are some internet destinations you'll wish you knew about sooner. Women vs. the void by Zoë Jackson: One of my first BookTok friends started a book club for the intellectually nihilist crowd, 'hot girl books,' if you will. Right now, the group is reading one of my favorites from last year, 'Perfume and Pain' by Anna Dorn. Check it out if you find yourself contemplating the meaning of life with Bravo in the background. Extracurricular by Tembe Denton-Hurst: All of our inboxes are oversaturated with Substacks, but writer and reader Denton-Hurst's newsletter cuts through the noise. She offers book recommendations and reviews, plus shopping trips to bookstores with guests like Roxane Gay, and interviews with authors like Yaa Gyasi. Participating in an extracurricular activity has never been easier. Mackenzie Newcomb's Bad Bitch Book Club: Founded in 2018, Newcomb's club connects readers across the country through monthly reading selections and IRL retreats. Readers can find regional and genre-specific subgroups, and Patreon members receive perks such as first notice of upcoming picks and access to recorded author interviews. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) As the L.A. area slowly begins the process of rebuilding after the Eaton and Palisades fires, Marc Weingarten reports on how bookstores have become a vital 'third place,' beacons of light drawing Angelenos seeking solace. In an interview with The Times, 'Cleavage' author Jennifer Finney Boylan addressed President Trump's 'two sexes' executive order: 'They can make all the laws and proclamations they want, but nothing is going to change the truth.' Joan Didion is getting her first posthumous release. The writer's diary of post-therapy notes, addressed to her husband, is going to be published in 'Notes to John.' The never-before-seen writing was found stashed in a filing cabinet in her Manhattan apartment. Sonya Walger, whom TV fans might recognize as Penny on 'Lost,' is releasing her first book, 'Lion.' But the celebratory moment also comes at a time of unimaginable loss for the actor and her family, as she tells The Times that their Malibu home was razed in the Palisades fire. Actor Naomi Watts launched a menopause-focused wellness brand in 2022. Now she's a first-time author. 'This will definitely end my career,' Watts tells The Times of her initial response to the prospect of writing 'Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause.' This week, we talk with Nikki High, owner of Octavia's Bookshelf, a bookstore named after author Octavia E. Butler and located in the same Pasadena community in which she lived and found inspiration for her novels. The store was not directly affected by the Eaton fire, but it suspended normal business operations for three weeks after the start of the wildfire to become a donation hub and distribution center for people in need. 'We decided to pull all the books from the shelves, put them in the attic and then stock our shelves with donated items so that there was a central location for people to get the items that they need,' says High. What are the most popular titles at your store lately? The majority of our customers are coming in to get 'Parable of the Sower' by Octavia E. Butler. Many customers had said that 'Parable of the Sower' had been on their list for a while and after the wildfires, we can't keep the book in stock. Everybody's coming in for it. What are some of the upcoming releases that you're excited about as a reader?
