Following Austen

A Walk with JA -- available in the UK

Just found out last week that A Walk with JA is available on the UK version of Amazon.  Still waiting for word on bookstores there, but this is very cool.

Also looks like both Borders and Barnes & Noble (in the U.S.) will be carrying it in their brick-and-mortar stores.

Jack

Here's Bess with my dear friend Beth's children -- Mary Kate, Jack and Sara.  They're all so sweet, such great kids.  The other day, Beth overheard Jack telling his brother and sisters, "I love Miss Lori so much, she's probably my girlfriend."  Ha!  Melts my heart.  He's all boy, too -- all rough and tumble.  His first word ever was "backhoe."  It's a joy to get to be a small part of their lives.

My new girl Bess

This weekend I went to Ohio to visit friends and pick up my new girl, Bess.  She's an 18-month-old English Lab, and is already in the running for Sweetest Dog Ever.  She snores, which is actually awfully cute, and don't let the dignified exterior fool you -- she's got a lot of puppy left in her.

I'm afraid she terribly misses her friends and fellow puppies at Green Gables Farm.

I love this one -- look, a cat!

Mary Kate took this picture of her nose.

Thank you thank you thankyou thankyouthankyou!

I am overwhelmed with gratitude of late and often find myself praying this little prayer.  I can't say thank you enough!  I'm so thankful for my editor, Jeanette, who just got this book from the beginning, and Kelly, the designer who did the cover.  (I will forever be in her debt!)  To Karen Joy Fowler and Emma Campbell Watson and Tamara Leigh and Gina Dalfonzo for their endorsements.  To Ms. Place at Jane Austen's World for her lovely review and for the fabulous PW review.  To Katie who's working on PR, and the sales team, and Pam who tracked down all the copyediting stuff which I could NEVER have done on my own.

(Okay, this is cracking me up -- starting to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech.)  I am indebted -- and incredibly grateful!

(Image is one of Sarah Hazel's lovely paintings.)

Ah, Venice!

My parents, world travelers that they are, are spending the day in Venice today.  Aren't they adorable?

New address for this blog

This blog can now be reached at www.followingausten.com.  Not a redesign or anything, just a much easier address to remember.  Bookmark it, or subscribe to the feed.

Also, there are new categories, so everything's easier to find.  All the book reviews and endorsements are in one place, all the info about Becoming Jane and Tom Lefroy, and book excerpts.

The quotes blog is now at www.austenquotes.com.  Trying to make everything easier to find.

happy reading!

The joys of homeownership

This was my house over the last week -- ugh!  Had to have all the pipes replaced.  I'm so thankful it's done, and that I don't have to come home now wondering whether or not my house will be flooded.  It's been a season of home repairs -- a new roof, a new patio (the old one had shifted and was sending water toward the foundation).  Me and my bank account are looking for a breather.

  

Our Year-Long Romance with Jane Austen

I have a new article on Crosswalk.com about our obsession with all things Jane.  (Actually it went up a little while ago and I've been meaning to post about it...)

Austen truly is everywhere, which has fans giddy, and everyone asking: Why? . . .

I think there’s something much more substantive here, something that has given Austen great staying power—something easy to overlook and difficult to reproduce.  In a word, I think it’s character. 

Austen’s stories play on a solid foundation—that of her little-discussed faith.  As a devoted Christian, Austen cared about good and evil in all the small ways they work themselves out in our lives, and captured those in her books.  She prayed that she herself would not be deceived “by pride and vanity,” and clearly wanted the same for her characters.

More here.

Part II review at Jane Austen's World

Ms. Place has posted her review of Part II at Jane Austen's World -- and check out her new site, it's gorgeous.

This book resonated deeply with me . . . Lori weaves the personal details of Jane’s life and the details of her own past and present seamlessly in her exquisitely crafted journal.

Read more here.