Earlier in the week I posted about time travel in books, and introduced it with a reference to the WABAC machine in Mr. Peabody’s Improbable History. Several people commented that they enjoyed the reminder of innocent Saturday mornings spent watching cartoons; several others said that they weren’t familiar with Mr. Peabody and his friends.
Whether you’d like a blast from the past, or you’re seeing the WABAC machine for the first time, you might enjoy this YouTube clip from the show itself.
One of the time travel books I mentioned is Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (my review). This book really appealed to me, someone who doesn’t consider herself a fan of science fiction. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict focuses on the situation the protagonist is in (going to sleep in her studio apartment in present-day L.A. and waking up as part of the upper class in 1813 England), instead of the nuts and bolts of how she got there. The result is a thoughtful novel about the main character, Courtney Stone, how she manages in her new surroundings, and what she learns about herself and the relationships she left back in Los Angeles.
Author Laurie Viera Rigler has generously offered personally inscribed paperback copies of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict to two of my readers!
How can you get in on the fun?!? Simply leave a comment mentioning what you would find most appealing and most challenging about living in Jane Austen’s world. Here’s my answer: most appealing (assuming I landed, like Courtney, in a well-to-do family) would be not having to do the mundane household chores – cooking, cleaning and laundry – that take up a good part of my day now. Most challenging would be carrying myself at a formal party or ball; with my two left feet I’d be an embarrassment to myself and my partner!
Now it’s your turn! Enter by midnight on Friday September 5; a random drawing will be held, and the winner announced on September 6. I’ll look forward to reading your ideas!
Most appealing: I would like how the world is quieter, not so crowded.
Most challenging: Being a female and having to hold back when a man has a stupid idea and I know mine is better! How awful to be intelligent and have to hold it all in!
Most appealing: the custom and manners back then. People actually worried about proper etiquette. xD
Most challenging: no electricity! What?!?
The most appealing things about living in Jane Austen’s world would be the attire and the men. Their dresses were, in my mind at least, beautiful regardless if they were made from the simple cotton or the more elaborate silk.
The men, oh the men!! Could you imagine living in a time where men were such gentlemen (well most of them) like Bingley and Mr. Darcy and where it was taboo to “come on” to a woman and mislead her like Willoughby? What different times from those we live in today.
The most challenging would be the social hierarchy and perhaps being denied your one true love because you do not have as much money as their family. I couldn’t imagine being discriminated against because of my birth rite but those were the times. Oh and the being expected to marry your cousin in order to protect your inheritance as wealth was not passed from father to daughter but father to son or the next closest male relative. That would definitely qualify as a challenge.
most appealing would be getting dressed up in all the finery and going to a ball.
most challenging would be the loss of modern day conviences.
I would love dressing how they did in that time period, but I would hate the lack of hygeine conveniences. Please enter me in the drawing! http://www.bookhangover.blogspot.com
Most challenging: Having to learn all the dances and marry for social position
Most appealing: Wearing those dresses!
This sounds like a great book! Please enter me! Thanks!
I’d have people to take care of the daily things as you said and an assistant to help me organize. I could get so much done, besides entertaining, learning music and languages I mean. I could do volunteer work in a serious way, not just donations but organizing to get things for the people who need it.
I would hate not being able to express opinions on serious subjects around the men though. I’d probably do it anyway and wind up being a spinster. lol
Thank you for entering me in the draw.
I’m with those who think the dancing would be the most appealing thing. When I was in elementary school, I was part off a dancing club that let us try all sorts of different dances, including early 19th century stuff. I’d love to be able to do that on a regular basis!
The propriety would definitely be the least appealing thing. I’d make it about eight seconds before I burst out with something completely inappropriate. I’d just have to hope that none of those upper-class types had slummed enough to realize what I said!
Not having to work would be a big plus (presuming I had a husband to support me)! All that time for reading and writing and learning new things!
However, I think the constricted role of women would be a major problem, not to mention the lack of proper plumbing!
I announced this contest on my blog here!
[...] two randomly-chosen winning entries (see the quesion and all the creative and thoughtful answers here). Be sure to visit Laurie’s website and blog, the aptly named “Jane Austen [...]
Looks like we’re all of similar minds. The biggest challenge for me would definitely be social restrictions on women. As the breadwinner for my family, I’m used to doing it all and having to be accountable. It would be a mixed blessing to rely on and be subservient to a man. The most appealing part would be lack of the technology/gadgets that currently require us to always be available and “on”.
Great discussion! I think a lot of things would be appealing to me, from the slower pace (I think a lot of the things we have now to help us do things more quickly just makes us feel that we should accomplish more in a day rather than giving us the leisure time we thought we’d get) to the dancing, but the most appealing would be the chance to live in a world where the pressure to have a career isn’t always present for women. I know they had other pressures and I’m very glad that women today have the opportunity to pursue their career-related dreams, but I’d love to live in a world where having a career was more of an anomaly for women.
Most challenging would be learning all the social mores and customs. I know a lot from reading, but it sounds like there were SO many…I know I’d make a lot of mistakes at first, and there weren’t a lot of second chances offered in society back then.
I think I’d enjoy the pace of life in Jane Austen’s world…that easy, slow way of getting to know people…country walks in long flowing gowns. On the other hand, those long flowing gowns look awfully cumbersome in the middle of a rainstorm
I’d have difficulty not making an idiot of myself on the dance floor as well as when I opened my mouth. I’m afraid I’d be a bit too direct sometimes, like Lizzie Bennett.
I also love the way men ‘courted’ at that time period. It just seems so much more respectful and romantic