Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I've now read both this and Persuasion, Jane Austen's first and last works, a rather pleasing statistic for me. And it's an interesting contrast to the more mature work in that, regardless of publication date, Austen wrote this in 1799, when she was a mere 25.

This may be less mature, I suppose, but that's a relative term. The novel certainly feels lighter in tone, and written by someone who's had fewer hard knocks. But the wit, and the social commentary, are absolutely there. Austen's prose is always a delight, much though I may suspect, not having read any Georgian Gothic novels of the kind that this novel is to a large extent riffing off, that there just might be rather a lot of allusions I'm not getting.

The novel is a joy to read, with our naive heroine Catherine slowly learning that real life is both tamer and in some ways more socially perilous than the lurid tropes of the Gothic novel.And the final revelations are devilishly clever, revealing that the plot has been rather cleverer than we may have thought all along.

 It's fascinating to see Austen discuss the modes and manners of the minor landed gentry in the 1790s, a slightly earlier time period. Indeed, this book makes the 18th century, which felt so distant in Tristram Shandy, feel rather close. There's even an extraordinary moment where the splendidly pedantic Henry disparages the modern habit of using the word "nice" to mean "pleasant" rather than "exact". Quite right too.

Update

Bear with me- I've been mad busy this week with work and life admin, and this weekend I'll be in full-on dad mode. I might blog something tomorrow or Sunday, we'll see, but back to normal from Monday! I'll be all caught up with comments then, too.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

 "The old protect the young and the young protect the old. This is the Way."

This is the first film I've seen at the pictures in a long time... and the first ever with a certain very lovely lady. First time in Banbury, too, with rather lush reclining chairs and an entirely adequate quantity of jalapenos. And it was damn good.

The vibes about this film seemed rather negative, and I understand that essentially it's a truncated version of what was to be a further season on Disney Plus. You can sort of see that from the film, but that's in no way a bad thing. Because the film is a triumph, fun set piece after fun set pieces punctuated with cute, funny moments from Grogu. And that's exactly what we want. 

The first half or so of the film is enormous fun, feeling very much like a film noir or something like a Raymond Chandler novel, except with aliens and spaceships, and we're introduced to Rotta the Hutt, who is a fantastic character whom we absolutely must see again in some form.

Then we move into the slower, more tense, second half of the film which acts as a sort of coming of age for Grogu while keeping all of the cute baby Yoda goodness. The ending is damn satisfying. If this is the last time we'll be seeing these two eponymous characters, this is the perfect way to end it. 

 

Stargate SG-1: The First Commandment

 "We're off to see the wizard!"

A decent episode this time, based on a concept that was bound to come up at some point- an officer on one of the Stargate teams setting himself up as a god to the hunter-gatherer peoples of one of the worlds. And this plays out decently enough in its Man Who Would Be King sort of way, complete with the inevitable comeuppance for the captain concerned. And there's a little extra drama from the fact that this is Carter's ex.

Beyond this, though, there's more subtle world-building. The Go'auld usually terraform planets. The people on this world know of the Jaffa from legend, although they hadn't seen one before. It's all nicely Erik von Daniken, with the local legends giving clues to the Go'auld tech that can save their people... preferably without working the poor people to death to build a "temple".

At this point the SG-1 gang is bonding nicely, with mutual respect. They're a team... although no one simply just does what the Colonel O'Brien says! This is all very '90s, but the show is developing nicely in these early episodes.

Children of the Stones: Full Circle

 "I think you have an exaggerated sense of your own importance..."

And so it ends... rather suddenly, but entertainingly. I'm not sure I understand what was going on, what with all this exposition about black holes, transmission, ley lines, Hendricks as some kind of sin eater, and the locals turning to stone, perhaps hinting at the origins of stone circles? Then there's Dai being alive again, Matt's theory about a "time trap" and Hendricks appearing anew at the end.

And Adam and Matt- a teenager- are exhibiting genius level of behaviour here in their father-and-son clever clogs display. They have throughout, but this episode really pushes it, with both of them being experts on all things from black holes to atomic clocks. But there's heart, too, as we feel the emotions with Adam and Margaret parting.

I'm not sure this episode quite sticks the landing- it's atmospheric, but bewilderingly confusing. Did they write themselves into a corner? Still, overall the series is all I was expecting from this well-known classic programme from the year of my birth. It's very, very 1970s in so many fascinating ways.

Fantastic Four #15

 "Good grief! Another power-mad genius for us to contend with!"

The quote above says it all- the Mad Thinker is not exactly the greatest villain of all time, just being another arrogant clever villain, this time the conceit being that he plans things to the second, until Reed defeats him with the "x-factor", or an unpredicted event which the Thinker somehow failed to foresee for reasons that aren't entirely clear... but at least Mr Lumpkin gets another mention! 

Still, it's a surprise that the Thinker becomes such a fixture for the FF, being so dull, and nowhere near as cool as his Awesome Android, overpowered though it seems here. There are some cool moments though, such as our first real experience of Ben's rivalry with the Yancy Street Gang, and Reed again using that gun thingy from issue #1 to summon the team- I think a fixture of these early days? It's also nice to see a bit of wry irony in Stan's captions, describing the Thing as "as lovable and shy as ever".

Interestingly, even as late as this issue the FF are as much crimefighters as they are explorers, with the Thinker seen very much as a gangland figure. It'll be interesting to see that change. Overall, though, a decent enough issue but nothing special. The FF need a far bigger canvas than this sort of stuff.