Author Archives: Elena Greene

About Elena Greene

Elena Greene grew up reading anything she could lay her hands on, including her mother's Georgette Heyer novels. She also enjoyed writing but decided to pursue a more practical career in software engineering. Fate intervened when she was sent on a three year international assignment to England, where she was inspired to start writing romances set in the Regency. Her books have won the National Readers' Choice Award, the Desert Rose Golden Quill and the Colorado Romance Writers' Award of Excellence. Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING'S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club's award for Best Regency Romance of 2005 and made the Kindle Top 100 list in 2011. When not writing, Elena enjoys swimming, cooking, meditation, playing the piano, volunteer work and craft projects. She lives in upstate New York with her two daughters and more yarn, wire and beads than she would like to admit.

Elena’s New Year’s Reading Resolutions

Updated on January 2, 2008 by Elena Greene

I recently read that about 50% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions but only about 15% of those manage to keep them. I’m not surprised. Each year in January our local YMCA gets crowded but by February the swim lanes free up and there’s room in the exercise classes again.

Anyway, I’m not much into New Year’s resolutions but this year I’m making one that’s humble and painless. I’m going to trim my other responsibilities just a little and make more time to read. I’m going to make a real dent in my TBR list, which I actually put on paper yesterday. Here are some of the books–I may not get to them all, of course, but I hope to at least read a few in each category.

Firstly I want to catch up on my fellow Riskies’ books. I also will treat myself to another Laura Kinsale. There are just 2 of her backlist I haven’t read yet. I’m savoring them in the hopes that by the time I’m done she’ll have a new one out. I also want to read more of Judith Ivory’s backlist. She’s another who writes beautiful and different romance. I also want to try something by Anne Stuart–maybe titles mentioned by Janet and Megan in our Best Reads of 2007 Week.

Through my book group, I’ve read more mainstream and literary fiction than I used to but of course reading begets more reading. So now I have a number of solid book group recommendations including titles like The English Patient, The Secret Life of Bees, Far Pavilions.

This year I’d like to start repairing a great gap in my education as a historical romance author. I’m well-read in Austen, the Brontes and Sir Walter Scott but want to delve more into period fiction. That section of my TBR list includes boooks like Pamela and Evelina and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters.

It’s been too long since I’ve read any fantasy besides Harry Potter. Based on everyone’s recommendations, I know I’d love the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. My oldest child raved about Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart books; I must try those too. I’m also curious to read The Golden Compass. The controversy about its treatment of religion intrigues me as much as everything else. Maybe I can get to this by the time the movie is making its second rounds.

I want to continue Cornwell’s Sharpe series. If I have time, I’d also like to delve into Horatio Hornblower and the Patrick O’Brian books.

I’m sure I’ll keep reading research books. High on my list are Amanda Foreman’sGeorgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and Ian Kelly’s Beau Brummell.

I like to try at least one new book on the craft of writing each year. I recently finished Stephen King’s On Writing (another blog on that) so the next on my list is Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. Critics of Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey claim Vogler just ripped off Campbell. I like The Writer’s Journey a lot and suspect Vogler added to Campbell’s ideas and made them easier to work with. Still, I expect the original to yield up some new treasures.

And just for fun, I want to read something about crop circles, just because I find them interesting.

So these are my New Year’s Reading Resolutions. What do you think? Are there any books I should add, remove, replace?

Do you have any New Year’s Reading Resolutions? What are they?

And how can anyone ever complain that there’s nothing interesting to read????

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

JANE AUSTEN MOVIE CLUB: Northanger Abbey (1986)

Updated on January 2, 2008 by Elena Greene

Welcome to the Jane Austen Movie Club! On the first Tuesday of each month, we at Risky Regencies discuss a different Jane Austen adaptation.

This month: the 1986 BBC version of Northanger Abbey!

As I mentioned last month during our Jane Austen Novel discussions, Northanger Abbey is one of my favorite Austens. The wit, the liveliness, the Bath background — I love to read it again and again.

(That is, I love to read the first half of the novel. Sometimes I stop there. Sometimes I go on. I do like the second half, but for me, it comes nowhere near the exuberantly silly Bath bits.)

So… Have you ever seen this adaptation?

If so, what did you think?

To aid the discussion, here’s the cast (etc) info on the movie, courtesy imdb, plus a few interesting cast tidbits (in green):

DIRECTOR: Giles Foster

SCREENPLAY: Maggie Wadey

CAST:

Katharine Schlesinger … Catherine Morland

Peter Firth … Henry Tilney

Peter Firth played Joseph Andrews in 1977 — I’d love to see that!

Robert Hardy … General Tilney

Robert Hardy played Sir John Middleton in the Ang Lee Sense & Sensibility, and more recently has portrayed Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies.

Googie Withers … Mrs. Allen

Geoffrey Chater … Mr. Allen

Cassie Stuart … Isabella Thorpe

Jonathan Coy … John Thorpe

Jonathan Coy played the Prince of Wales in the Richard E. Grant versions of the Scarlet Pimpernel, and was also in one of the Gruffudd Horatio Hornblowers.

Ingrid Lacey … Eleanor Tilney

Greg Hicks … Frederick Tilney

Philip Bird … James Morland

Elvi Hale … Mrs. Thorpe

Helen Fraser … Mrs. Morland

David Rolfe … Mr. Morland

So…good, bad, or ugly? Did you like it, or did you not?

Two notes: first, I will be out most of today; I’m seeing the Rose Parade this morning (first time ever!), and in the evening I’ll be attending a going away dinner for my mother, who’s setting off on a round-the-world cruise. But I’ll check in whenever I get a moment!

Note 2: In the US, PBS will start showing the new Jane Austen adaptations this month. And on the Tuesday following each of these new Austens, we’ll have an extra Jane Austen Movie Club here, to talk about it! So the January schedule will be:

Persuasion: airs January 13; discussion January 15
Northanger Abbey: airs January 20; discussion January 22
Mansfield Park: airs January 27; discussion January 29

So… What did you think of the 1986 Northanger Abbey?

Cara
Cara King, who thinks this will be a very exciting January

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Austen, Jane Austen Movie Club, movies | 16 Replies

Happy Boxing Day!

Updated on December 26, 2007 by Elena Greene

Happy Boxing Day!

Of course, I’d heard about Boxing Day before but since I never needed it for a story, I had only a vague idea that it had to do with giving presents. In boxes, of course. So exactly what is Boxing Day and what are the associated traditions? I googled and found a delightful explanation on the website of the Woodlands Junior School in Tonbridge, Kent. Boxing Day is a time of charity. During the Regency, people would give gifts to their servants and to the poor. According to the website, an “‘Alms Box’ was placed in every church on Christmas Day, into which worshippers placed a gift for the poor of the parish. These boxes were always opened the day after Christmas, which is why that day became know as Boxing Day.”

Other traditional Boxing Day activities include fox hunting, indoor games or appropriate wintry outdoor pursuits. There is also a custom of hunting the wren, a bird one was not allowed to hunt any other day (though why one would wish to hunt wrens is beyond me).

Today, I will not be foxhunting, nor ice skating, nor hunting wrens. Instead, I’ll be on a family outing organized by my parents to see a dinner theatre performance of “White Christmas”. The group will include all 5 grandchildren ranging in ages from 5 to 11. I don’t know if my parents know what they are letting themselves in for! My own children are among the older ones and they will behave (or risk, as Dumbledore put it, “a very painful death”). But as for the others–all bets are off. Plan A: pretend we don’t know them. Plan B: drink heavily.

So what are you doing to celebrate Boxing Day?

If you are looking for something to do, why not send a postcard to the Woodlands Junior School? (Here’s the address.)

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Boxing Day, Christmas | 9 Replies

The Eggnog Made Me Do It

Updated on December 26, 2007 by Elena Greene

Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate Christmas! And happy 25th of December to everyone else!

For quite a few years now, I have included a satirical “faux holiday letter” in my holiday cards — and as this year I have the honor of writing the Risky Regencies Christmas post, I thought that instead of sharing a lovely informative bit on Christmas in the Regency, or anything useful like that, I would post my silly letter instead. So here it is! Proof of just how weird I am…

CARA’S ANNUAL HOLIDAY LETTER IN WHICH SHE EXTOLS THE SUPERIORITY OF HER STUFFED CAT AND TELLS YOU ALL ABOUT PEOPLE YOU’VE NEVER MET BUT WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY WAY COOLER AND WAY SPIFFIER THAN ANYONE ON EARTH EXCEPT MAYBE CARA’S STUFFED CAT

Hello, O Fortunate Recipient of this yearly literary gem! Here is an abstract of all the clever things I did this year; the actual paper has been submitted to Phys Rev Letters and will be peer-reviewed as soon as they locate someone who will admit to being my peer.

JANUARY: I attend the annual Jane Austen Ball. The pleated hem of my Regency gown is so brilliant that it finds a solution to global warming. Unfortunately, someone steps on my hem while dancing Mr Beveridge’s Maggot, and the solution hits a snag.

FEBRUARY: I appear as Paulina in Caltech’s production of THE WINTER’S TALE. My wig is massive enough to nearly start a nuclear implosion. Todd’s wig, however, actually does implode, creating a quantum black hole. This quantum black hole travels back through time, turning things that should be benign into hugely destructive forces (e.g. squirrels, computer solitaire, and SUV drivers who tailgate while talking on cell phones and eating pastrami.)

MARCH: As the hottest new trend involves combining two different
popular genres (e.g. the recent television hits “CSI: Shakespeare” and
“Superman vs. the Sopranos”), I write several installments of “Austen Trek: or, if Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek” for my blog. My blogmates all pretend to enjoy these (their ecstatic compliments range from “that’s really just…bizarre” to “who’s Yeoman Rand?”), but Jane Austen threatens to sue.

APRIL: I pretend to work on my new young adult novel.

MAY: Having lived in our condo for almost five years, Todd and I decide to finally put our posters up. Exhausted by our bout of decision-making, we put off the actual putting-up for another five years.

JUNE: Todd and I visit Nice, but not before 2,306,973 people tell me that they hear it’s very nice there.

JULY: The new Harry Potter book is released, making Britain the world’s second-greatest economic power, right behind Walmart.

AUGUST: Todd becomes Associate Chair of his department. This takes up huge amounts of his time which might otherwise be used for important things like watching DVDs from Netflix and writing witty comments on my blog.

SEPTEMBER: We receive our millionth charity solicitation and billionth offer to refinance; we have now papier-mâchéd an additional room onto our condo, which would look perfect except that it really needs some posters on the walls.

OCTOBER: I attend what may be the last ever Genesis concert at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl, which is followed by an exodus of incredible numbers of people trying to trample the Kings (and Rubins and a Brun), which leads to a few lamentations on our part. Crowd control at the Bowl must be an incredible job, but whoever judges that it’s okay for us to get mobbed like that is pretty ruthless, if you ask me.

NOVEMBER: Todd and I see Ian McKellen play King Lear. My favorite part is when Lear disinherits his annoying youngest child, Pippin, in favor of Frodo and Merry, but Todd’s favorite part is when Edgar pretends to be a mad creature named Gollum who wears nothing but a loincloth and a lot of dirt.

DECEMBER: Someone informs me that just because WGA writers are on strike doesn’t mean that there’s any reason for me to not write. My explanation of how my brain refuses to cross the picket line having failed, I am now procrastinating by doing important things like writing my holiday letter and talking to my stuffed cat.

There you have it! Until next year, I remain…Cara King.

And it’s absolutely true. I do remain Cara King. (Though come to think of it, I’m not really sure why; it probably has something to do with metaphysics…or maybe kilophysics…)

And don’t forget! Next Tuesday, we’re discussing the 1986 version of NORTHANGER ABBEY!!! So it’ll be a Northanger New Year’s Day!

Cara

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 6 Replies

Elena’s Best Reads of 2007

Updated on December 19, 2007 by Elena Greene

There are fewer romance novels on my list this year than usual. I’ve been writing very intensively and have trouble reading and writing romance at the same time. I read romance only in brief binges between drafts and during vacation. I did get to enjoy a few of the Riskies’ recent releases, but some are still on my TBR pile.

I won’t mortify myself any further by telling which ones or trying to pick favorites! Anyway, the best non-Risky romances I read during this year’s vacation were NOT QUITE A LADY by Loretta Chase and THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION by Pam Rosenthal, both highly recommended.

I have managed to do a lot of reading out of genre, since it’s my second year with a book discussion group. My favorites among this year’s selections included: ORDINARY HEROES by Scott Turow, DIGGING TO AMERICA by Anne Tyler, THE BIRTH HOUSE, by Ami McKay and WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. Probably of most interest to Riskies and friends was MARCH by Geraldine Brooks, the story of what the father of Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN experienced during the year he was away from his family. I love Brooks’s use of period language and detail. I also found the portrayal of the adult Marches very illuminating: not idealized as seen through their daughters’ eyes but with human imperfections revealed but still consistent with the world Alcott created. Having rather recently become a Unitarian Universalist, I also found it interesting and inspiring to read about these early Unitarians and their concern for social justice and the abolition of slavery.

This year I’ve probably read more research books than most, because this current mess-in-progress is a veritable research hydra. Sometimes I wonder if I’m a masochist to come up with a hero who’s an army brat turned balloonist. But I love him. I digress. Back to the books.

My favorite new reference is LIFE IN WELLINGTON’S ARMY by Antony Brett-James. It’s chock-full of wonderful details on all those aspects of military life that are glossed over in the big histories: how they camped, ate, marched, what they did for fun. It’s so vivid the theme music from the Sharpe series kept playing in my head as I read.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Risky Regencies | Tagged Uncategorized | 14 Replies