Since Tank’s lips were still too sore for a bit, when I rode him this weekend I used only my halter and lead rope. Since I had no reins with which to communicate, I had to use my eyes, seat and legs to tell Tank where to go and how fast. Notice I said “eyes”—with or without a bridle, one of the rules of riding is to look where you want to go. Sounds simple, right? It is, in theory, but it’s awfully easy to find yourself looking down at the horse, or at the ground, or even in another direction than the way you really want to go. The horse gets conflicting signals and probably doesn’t go anywhere at all.

Remarkably like life, wouldn’t you say? We need to focus our attention on the direction in which we want to travel. Don’t look at obstacles, but beyond them to our chosen destinations. Don’t look backwards, because that’s not where we’re going. Focus on what we want rather than what we don’t want, because according to Peter Jones in How to Do Everything and Be Happy, “It simply isn’t possible to not focus on something. The very act of NOT thinking about something requires your brain to conjure up images of the thing you don’t want to think about, so you can ignore it. The only way not to focus on the wrong thing is to switch your focus to something else.”

What are some things you’d like to focus on?

1. My horse is a doofus. On Wednesday, when I went to ride Tank, I found that his lips were stiff and swollen. His tongue, gums and the roof of his mouth were unaffected. None of us had ever seen anything like it, and as we pondered what could have caused such an affliction (Ant bites? An insect sting? Allergic reaction to something he ate?), it occurred to me that the horses have a new salt and mineral block in their paddock—could he have been a bit overenthusiastic in his consumption? We don’t know for sure, but it seems the most likely explanation.  We’ll be keeping an eye on him and on the other horses to see if any of them develop the same problem. He’s eating normally and doesn’t seem distressed by it, so I’m not worried—only puzzled because he’s never done that before.

2. It’s Mary Stewart Reading Week until the 22^nd (sorry for the late notice). I’m reading Nine Coaches Waiting, a favorite of mine. I’ve mentioned Mary Stewart in a number of posts, most notably this one. I love her romantic suspense novels and just found out that Lady Stewart recently celebrated her 97^th birthday! (She shares a birthday with my mom—cool!) If you’re looking for a lighthearted, interesting read, I recommend one of her books. This unofficial fan site has more information about her, and lots of fun extras such as the quiz “Which Mary Stewart novel is right for you?” and a map showing the settings of her books.

3. How did it get to be Sept. 20? It seems like just yesterday that it was the first of September and now we’re nearly through the month. I’m not complaining—that means that October with its cooler weather is quickly approaching. I can’t believe the year is three-quarters of the way done. I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much this year. Better get a move on!

4. Pumpkin is taking over the world. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie milkshakes, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin waffles, even pumpkin dog biscuits. (I’m going to make these for Scout—I even bought a dog biscuit-shaped cookie cutter!)

5. I’ve just discovered Brenda Lee Johnson, Kyra Sedgwick’s character in The Closer after checking out the series from the library. I love her toughness, barely disguised by a southern drawl, and how she refuses to be intimidated by the many people who attempt to intimidate her. I’ve found that channeling Brenda helps me stiffen my spine when dealing with people trying to trample on me. Who says TV is a waste of time?

“Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.”

—Jack Lemmon

The Great Bike Ride was, I hope, the first of many rides, each one getting a little smoother. I admit that on this first ride, I felt kind of silly. I *should* be able to ride a bike, right? I learned long (long) ago. But right now, I do it kind of badly. And that’s OK. Doing things badly is important, and you should be doing things badly, too. Want to know why?

If you never try anything you’re not already good at, you’ll never learn anything new.

Maybe you’d like to learn to sketch, try salsa dancing, or bake the perfect pie. If you’ve never tried it before, it’s likely that you won’t be good. It’s the rare person who is good at something the very first time he/she tries it (and you have my permission to hate those people). If you never step outside your comfort zone and risk doing things badly, you’ll never know if you even like to samba or how creative your sketches can be. (And if your goal is the perfect pie, please call me—I’m willing to taste your experiments.)

Once you’ve tried something for the first time and you decide you like it, guess what: you might still do it badly for awhile. Many, many worthwhile and satisfying things take time to master. The point is, if you’re not willing to do something badly, at least for a little while, you’ll never know just how good you can be.

For me, horseback riding has been a prime example of doing things badly. I recently saw a video of my first ride on Tank, and frankly I was appalled (and I felt sorry for Tank). In the years I’ve had him, I’ve taken many riding lessons and spent hours practicing, and I know I’m a much better rider than I was then. Thankfully, I didn’t give up when I found that good riding is much harder than it appears.

When you try your new things (and I write this to myself as much as to you), be patient and don’t be embarrassed or self-conscious about doing things badly. Realize you’re learning and expanding your horizons. Be proud of your badness for badness, eventually, leads to goodness.

What would you like to do badly?

When I hear that someone has never read Jane Austen, I somehow manage not to drag him or her to the library or bookstore and load them up with Miss Austen’s body of work. She’s one of my favorite authors, and I’ve read all her novels, some of them several times. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite (possibly because of the marvelous British mini-series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett), with Emma a close second.

In addition to her six novels, the Austen fan can find multiple movies made from her books, as well as sequels, spoofs and take-offs, including the intriguingly-titled, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the movies Clueless (Emma) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (Pride and Prejudice).

I bring this up now because there’s a slew of new books about Miss Austen and her work, this flurry of interest likely related to this year’s 200^th anniversary of the publication of Pride & Prejudice. I spent most of August happily engrossed in my own little Jane Austen project.

Why has her work remained so popular when on the surface it appears that the stories are all about young women finding love and getting married? I already knew I enjoyed her sly wit, language usage, and characterization. I learned to respect her even more after reading the books below, each of which has its own take on why she remains popular. So without further ado, if you want to begin an excursion into Austenland, here are some books to make your trip more enjoyable:

If you’re interested in Miss Austen herself, the Penguin Lives biography, Jane Austen, by Carol Shields is a great place to start. It’s an easy-to-read, compact (185 pages) overview of her life. An excerpt:

“The young often read Austen’s novels as love stories. Later, more knowing readers respond to their intricate structures, their narrative drive, their quiet insistence that we keep turning over the page even though we know the ending, which is invariably one of reconciliation and a projection of future happiness in the form of marriage….Marriage reached beyond its moment of rhetoric and gestured, eloquently and also innocently, toward the only pledge a young woman was capable of giving. She had one chance in her life to say ‘I do,’ and these words rhyme psychologically with the phrase: I am, I exist.”

One of the interesting points Shields brought out was that Miss Austen wrote during a time that the novel form was still in its infancy.  “Her novels were conceived and composed in isolation. She invented their characters, their scenes and scenery, and their moral framework. The novelistic architecture may have been borrowed from the eighteenth-century novelists, but she made it new, clean, and rational, just as though she’d taken a broom to the old fussiness of plot and action. She did all this alone.”

The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen, by Carol Adams, Douglas Buchanan and Kelly Gesch. I enjoyed dipping into this lighthearted book. Austen newcomers can learn a little bit about the author and her novels, and dedicated Janeites can delve deeper or test their knowledge of all things Austen.

One of the features in the Armchair Companion is an interview with Joan Klingel Ray, author of Jane Austen for Dummies. When asked about the current fascination with Austen, part of her reply made sense to me: “Austen is unique in that while she is a classic novelist who is studied by academics and taught in universities, she also appeals to what we might call the ‘common reader’—the ordinary person who picks up her novels simply for the pleasure of reading them.”

Ray encourages new readers not to see the films or TV versions of Austen’s work before reading the novels, and suggests they be read in the following order: Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility. “I think this order eases the reader into Austen’s language and syntax…. Also I think this order draws readers into Austen’s canon by the nature of the ‘stories.’ Readers should also be aware that Austen is a satirist and uses irony, readers need to be able to hear the narrator’s voice for what it is.”

All Roads Lead to Austen, by Amy Elizabeth Smith. Smith spent a year traveling through Latin America, organizing and meeting with small groups to discuss Jane Austen’s books. Smith sums up her year this way: “I hadn’t realized how my trip would really be a road test of values and beliefs I thought I had already absorbed from Austen: Don’t judge too hastily; not everyone wants the same things out of life; people’s circumstances color how they respond to everything; we’re not all speaking the same language, even when we’re speaking the same language.”

A Jane Austen Education, by William Deresiewicz. I loved Deresiewicz’s deeply thoughtful, honest, and interesting account of the life lessons he received from studying each one of Jane Austen’s novels. For example, he learned the importance of everyday things from Emma: “Austen, I realized, had not been writing about everyday things because she couldn’t think of anything else to talk about. She had been writing about them because she wanted to show how important they really are. All that trivia hadn’t been making time until she got to the point. It was the point. Austen wasn’t silly and superficial; she was much, much smarter—and much wiser—than I ever could have imagined.”

Deresiewicz continued later in the chapter, “Austen taught me a new kind of moral seriousness—taught me what moral seriousness really means. It means taking responsibility for the little world, not the big one. It means taking responsibility for yourself.”

After finishing these books, I’ve barely scratched the surface. The list of additional Jane Austen-related books I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, includes:

Celebrating Pride & Prejudice: 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice, Susannah Fullerton. From Amazon: Austen scholar Fullerton “…delves into what makes Pride and Prejudice such a groundbreaking masterpiece, including the story behind its creation (the first version may have been an epistolary novel written when Austen was only twenty), its reception upon publication, and its tremendous legacy….”

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, Paula Byrne.  Byrne looks at the small things, such as a shawl, a notebook and a card of lace, which held significance in Jane Austen’s life, using them to paint a fuller portrait of the author.

Jane Austen’s England, Roy and Lesley Adkins. Written by husband-and-wife historians, this book “explores the customs and culture of the real England” of Jane Austen’s everyday life.   

Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom, Deborah Yaffe. Instead of Austen herself, Yaffe takes a look at Austen’s obsessed and devoted fans. According to Amazon, Among the Janeites is “Part chronicle of a vibrant literary community, part memoir of a lifelong love…a funny, touching meditation on the nature of fandom.” 

In the Garden With Jane, Kim Wilson. Jane Austen loved a garden, and this book takes us to the types of gardens she would have known, including the one that still exists at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, England. The book is full of photos, drawings, social history and novel excerpts.  

The List Lover’s Guide to Jane Austen, Joan Strasbaugh. What books did Jane Austen have in her library? Who were her royal ancestors? A compact reference for Austen lovers.

Jane Austen Game Theorist, Michael Suk-Young Chwe. One of the more intriguing new releases, “Jane Austen, Game Theorist shows how this beloved writer theorized choice and preferences, prized strategic thinking, argued that jointly strategizing with a partner is the surest foundation for intimacy, and analyzed why superiors are often strategically clueless about inferiors,” according to Amazon.com.  

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by Susannah Carson. Essayists include Eudora Welty, Anna Quindlin, Amy Bloom, Virginia Woolf, Harold Bloom, and many others, and topics include everything from “insights into the timelessness of her moral truths” to how her writing might have changed if she had lived another 20 years. There’s even a piece by Amy Heckerling about how she turned the characters of Emma into 1990s-era Beverly Hills residents in the movie Clueless.

I haven’t read Pride & Prejudice  recently, and I think maybe it’s time to have a leisurely reread of all Miss Austen’s work, preferably with a cup of tea and a scone in hand. If you’re an Austen fan, which of her books is your favorite? Which book would you suggest that an Austen newbie read first? And just for fun, which Jane Austen heroine are you? Take the quiz here. (I am Elinor Dashwood.) 

Note: For more information on Jane Austen and her work, visit:

http://www.janeausten.org/

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/

http://www.jasna.org/