Being Elizabeth Bennet

By Pamela Jane I was a kid who hated school, so any book that was assigned in English was automatically suspect.  As a senior, we were assigned Silas Marner and Wuthering Heights, so predictably I decided these books were obsolete and had nothing … Continue reading

The Fabulous Cat Museum of San Francisco

Thanks to the fabulous Cat Museum of San Francisco for this image of Edward Gorey with his cats. It makes us think of Mr. Bennet in his library, escaping household craziness. Or is this Mr. Bennet, losing himself in a … Continue reading

A Writer’s Inner Cosmos or Don’t Underestimate Yourself!

Note: This post was originally published in a slightly altered form at womensmemoirs.com. My late kitty, Mittens, didn’t have much personality.  As my friend and co-author, Debbie, once observed, “he’s one notch above a stuffed animal.”  I argued for two … Continue reading

Wickham or the Nameless Narrator of The Aspern Papers?

I brought this hat back from Venice when we were living in Florence a few years ago.  I know – it’s more of a Henry James than a Jane Austen thing.  Mittens has that world-weary look of the perpetual traveler. … Continue reading

Jane in the morning and Jane at Night!

I fell asleep listening to Emma the other night on my iPod, and woke up listening to Hitler.  Struggled to wake myself up and out of the nightmare but didn’t quite succeed.  I realized in the morning that Emma had … Continue reading

An Elizabeth Bennet Moment

Have you ever experienced have an Elizabeth Bennet moment?  Or, more specifically, an Elizabeth-Bennet-defies-Lady-Catherine-moment, the experience of “saying the thing you mean to say at the moment you mean to say it.”* Or maybe you didn’t say what you meant … Continue reading

A PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (and Kitties!) CHRISTMAS

Here’s the question – do cats understand Christmas? Perhaps they’ve heard stories of Santa Claus, a jolly old elf who flies around making mischief  delivering gifts. “But what does it do for me?” one might ask. Linus, for example, pictured above, … Continue reading

Talking Piffle to Your Cat

I remember the day I got the idea of Pride and Prejudice illustrated by photos of cats. It came to me, no doubt, when talking piffle to my own cat, Mittens. The idea of cats playing human roles, especially in … Continue reading