Bitch in a Bonnet

Has anyone read Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi? It's based on his blog that I've enjoyed, and actually is two volumes now. The first covers Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park.

I get a kick out of his insights and humor. He goes a bit overboard in distancing her books from romance novels, but his point of view is that her work is misconceived by many, and that she is “a sly subversive, a clear-eyed social Darwinist, and the most unsparing satirist of her century.” He would place her with Voltaire, Twain and Swift.

I've read his take on Sense and Sensibility in the book, and P & P on his blog. Both made me laugh, and also gave me new angles on the books that I appreciated.

I think he's wonderful!

I'm having trouble adding the two volumes to my wishlist . . . LT seems to see them as only one work . . . not sure how that is supposed to work, but can either of you tell me if they are separate and/or have different ISBNs or subtitles that would help disambiguate? (I'm only seeing one on the author page.)
Thanks!

After one failed attempt (I hated it then) at reading P&P a few years ago, I tried again - this time understanding the Austen snark. I loved it.

> 3

I think you're running into the "LT only sees the first 20 characters" issue. Both volumes have the same lengthy title, and then "Volume I" or "Volume II".

The ISBN-10s are, respectively 1469922657 and 1499133766.

Is the second one out? I haven't looked for a while. I have his first volume with S&S, P&P, and ? *(I can't remember the third book). I loved his blog too. Very dear to my heart. I've read a lot of Austen commentary, and he's not THE most astute, but he's sharp and so funny. It's like getting together with your best friend to drink wine and make snarky comments.

My favourite minor character in Austen is Mrs Bertram from Mansfield Park and he sees her the same way I do. I love the comment of his where he says something like "she couldn't get involved because she was too busy watching dust motes."

Austen fans with no sense of humour just won't get him at all.

Is there a link to his blog?

>7 WildMaggie: Here's the blog link, WildMaggie: http://bitchinabonnet.blogspot.com/

>2 lilithcat:, >5 lilithcat: Isn't he wonderful, Lilithcat? Deeply steeped in our Jane's work, insightful, and very funny!

Thanks for the ISBN help. They're separately listed on Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/Bitch-Bonnet-Reclaiming-Austen-Stiffs/dp/1469922657/ref=... and http://smile.amazon.com/Bitch-Bonnet-Reclaiming-Austen-Stiffs/dp/1499133766/ref=...

>3 LucindaLibri: I think lilithcat got you everything you need, yes?

>4 avidmom: Her snark is so good, avidmom! You might like her early writings like Lady Susan and Love and Freindship (sic), if you haven't read them. Unbridled and hilarious.

>6 Nickelini: The second one is out, Nickelini. See the above.

It took me a good while to really "get" Austen's sense of humour. I remember starting Northanger Abbey with a serious outlook (after reading some of the others), and gradually realizing that it was a complete hoot!

> 8

Do you know Rodi's other work? I first got familiar with him from his early gay-themed books such as Closet Case, but more recently he's been doing mostly graphic novels/comics. He's also written an interesting book about Siena and the palio, Seven Seasons in Siena. He's quite fluent in Italian. Here he is reciting Dante from memory, ending with an addition of his own (text here)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzhjaK1PB-s

>9 lilithcat: I don't know Rodi's other work, lilithcat. Intriguing. I could tell he was smart with a varied background, but not to this extent! I'll check out the youtube video. I read graphic novels/comics (there's even a decent Pride and Prejudice (Marvel Classics) one), so I'll look for what he's doing there, too. Thanks for the tip.

Edited to add: re the video, I unfortunately don't speak Italian. But I'm glad to see he did it in my city of Chicago.

I just came across this one in the first volume: "Mr. Bingley, who's basically a man-sized plush toy, has fallen for Jane, the vanilla ice cream cone of the Bennet sisters. There's not enough erotic spark here to charge an AA battery." Ha!

>5 lilithcat:
and
>8 jnwelch:
Thanks. I have two separate entries, but LT still tells me they are the same book. I'm sure it must be the "beginning of the titles identical" issue, but I sure would like to fix it . . . though will wait until I move the books out of my Wishlist category and then see if the combiners/separators gang can sort it out.

Thanks again!

>11 LucindaLibri: :-) Good luck!

For those curious, my comments on the first volume of Bitch in a Bonnet are here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/179829#4846880

I liked it very much, although I was much more in agreement with his reactions to S & S and P & P than Mansfield Park. I'll definitely be picking up the second volume that addresses Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (the last of which is my favorite JA).

#13 Oh, thanks for the link. I would have missed your comments.

You're welcome! Thank you for stopping by to respond.

"He'd seat her with Twain, Voltaire and Swift."

OH, tickets to that, please!!!!

>16 avidmom: :-)

There's a dinner table conversation worth hearing!

>17 jnwelch: Especially since Twain supposedly loathed Austen's work!

>18 Marissa_Doyle: Yeah, good one, Marissa. That "supposedly" is intriguing, isn't it? One of his famous comments was, "Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” Loathing, right? But wait a minute Mark/Samuel - what do you mean "every time" you read it? There must be something there if you keep coming back to it.

Was he just posturing?

Maybe we could find out at the dinner get-together.