Teresa Letizia

“You may find me to be a bit hasty in my congratulations, Miss Austen, yet I cannot contain my enthusiasm! I must wish you a most felicitous semiquincentennial celebration, the 250th anniversary of your birth!”

Miss Austen is, of course, the beloved novelist, Jane Austen, and this dispatch is my poor attempt to honor Austen through imitation of her style, while showcasing, unfortunately, none of her iconic and ironic brilliance. Though her birthday is not until December 16, we, fans around the world, “Janeites,” have been celebrating all year long.

If you have not read any of her core novels—of which there are only six—I recommend you pick up one. It doesn’t matter which one; I happened to have read first, “Northanger Abbey,” a satire of gothic novels, and fell in love instantly with Austen’s masterful and subtle use of humor and wit. Austen’s novels are not all about love and romance, but are primarily about the social realities behind sentimental, romantic façades.

The publication of “Sense and Sensibility” came first in 1811; “Pride and Prejudice” followed in 1813, “Mansfield Park,” 1814, and “Emma,” 1815. Though separate works, “Persuasion” and “Northanger Abbey” were published together posthumously in 1817 by Austen’s brother, Henry, and it was he who named each novel.

In the years since her death at age 41, respect for her work has only grown, snowballing into the 21st century to such popularity that imitation and reimagining of her novels and writing style have come as flattery in its most sincere forms.

Books published this year are no exception. Coming to Smiley Library soon is a celebratory collaboration of ‘love letters’ from writers, actors, critics, and scholars alike, “Encounters with Jane Austen: Celebrating 250 Years.” The anthology features a vibrant mix of short stories, essays, interviews, and poetry contributed by over 30 writers and artists. It presents a delightful blend of both contemporary and classic works, accompanied by humorous illustrations and timeless quotes from Jane Austen herself.

Another tribute arriving in 2025 in a fresh format for our featured author is “The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography,” a very approachable introduction for Austen novices and a textured, detail-packed delight for those already familiar with her life. Acclaimed Austen scholar Janine Barchas and New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg combine their talents to create this wonderfully unique glimpse into the novelist’s world with Jane as the heroine.

Greenberg’s sparkling illustrations in a muted blue-gray-yellow color scheme burst into vivid reds and purples when Austen imagines scenes in her novels. Told in three parts (Budding Writer 1796-1797); Struggling Artist 1801-1809; and Published Author 1811-1817), all the settings and scenarios presented are based upon the historical record, including the clothing, architecture, decor, and Regency locations.

For those of us who have read and enjoyed Miss Austen’s work so much that we seem to ache for ‘more Austen!,’ Rebecca Romney has brought us a gift in “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend.” Romney herself is the rare book specialist who investigates eight of Austen’s contemporaries, women authors who inspired her, yet who have seemed to slip into anonymity—Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzo, and Maria Edgeworth.

Romney provides an overview of the publishing world in Regency England, addressing the restrictions of gender and social attitudes impacting women authors. We learn of these featured writers’ lives and works, while Romney highlights Austen’s artful references in her novels to these writers she admires. Book lovers may wish to delve into the comprehensive appendix which may well lead to the joyful addition of even more Austen-like titles to their TBR (to-be-read) list.

I will take my leave of you now, dear readers, with a few more titles with which to enhance the J.A. festivities. I surmise that you may not have read “Lady Susan,” an epistolary novella written by Austen circa 1794, published in 1871. There are her unfinished novels, “The Watsons” (1804) and “Sanditon” (1817; recently completed by anonymous writer “Another Lady.”) Do you know of “Jane Austen’s Letters,” a compilation of her letters to others as an adult? Look for “Jane Austen,” the 1913 biography by great-nephew William Austen-Leigh (yes, we have the 1913 edition!).

It may be time to explore Miss Jane’s juvenilia collection (written in her youth between 1787 and 1793) with “Love and Freindship and Other Youthful Writings.” The misspelling in the title is among several in these works, only endearing Jane Austen to us even more. Cheers to another 250 years, Miss Austen!

Teresa Letizia is, obviously, a full-time Janeite, fitting around that her position as part-time library specialist at A.K. Smiley Public Library, 125 W. Vine St., Redlands.

 

The United States was founded by a population of immigrants, mostly citizens of England who left for various reasons–some to escape poverty, some to acquire land in the Americas, and some to escape religious persecution, ultimately displacing the native peoples who were here upon the immigrants’ arrival.

The concern over immigration/illegal immigration and how we handle it has been an issue throughout our history, weighing especially heavy on us of late. I thought we might examine a few of Smiley Library’s newer books on the subject to deepen our knowledge of immigration and its consequences, rather than just relying on the news sound bites that bombard us.

Let’s start with “The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers,” by Zeke Hernandez, a professor at the Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania. In his twenty years of pioneering research on immigration from a primarily economic perspective, he has won multiple prizes and scholar awards. Evidence-based, comprehensive, and nonpartisan, Hernandez sets out the facts and addresses concerns about loss of jobs, crime, and undocumented immigrants, as well as those regarding the border, taxes, and assimilation.

“Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: the United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis,” recognized as an exceptional treatise by too many publications to name here, was a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2024. Author Jonathan Blitzer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, details in long-form journalism, forensic, “unprecedented” reporting on the stories of Central Americans whose lives have been devastated by chronic political conflict and violence with those of American activists, government officials, and the politicians responsible for the country’s tangled immigration policy.

Bestseller “Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change” was written by Cristina Jiménez who grew up in Queens, New York from the age of thirteen as an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador. Living in fear of deportation and ashamed of being undocumented, she was able to access higher education when the law allowed. There she found her purpose as a social justice organizer and became the co-founder and former executive director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. Jiménez invites us to acknowledge the America that never was and to imagine the America that could be when everyday people come together, build power, and fight for change.

Additional excellent titles on the subject include: “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America;” and “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling,” winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, and A TIME 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024.

 

President Abraham Lincoln, in his Emancipation Proclamation, declared, “…all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…”

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine, the Civil War museum and research center in Redlands under the auspices of A.K. Smiley Public Library, recently installed an insightful and poignant exhibit in its west wing, “…that All Men are Created Equal: Slavery in America.” Though not normally open on Mondays, we invite you to visit The Shrine and reflect on this exhibit and others this Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb. 17, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In our continuing observance of African American Heritage Month, in complement to this special exhibit, we will highlight here some of our new non-fiction acquisitions discussing the painful topic of enslavement of others and its legacy of continuing generational damage, challenging what it means to be ‘free.’

“I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free,” by 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer Lee Hawkins. Researching his ancestors in-depth, Hawkins looks to them for answers, spurred on by the nightmares he began experiencing in his 40s. He identifies the inheritance of violence-and resilience-that has followed his family in every generation since enslavement.

“In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World” is a collection of essays by key historians and scholars, provided by The National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is a companion book to an extensive exhibition of the museum, providing 150 illustrations of people and objects, framing the history of slavery in a global context. Discussing contemporary echoes of slavery, the authors also demonstrate how those affected have asserted and are asserting their humanity and their right to equal freedoms.

“A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is authored by Susanna Ashton, a professor of English and an expert on slavery and freedom narratives. Ashton painstakingly combed obscure records to find John Andrew Jackson, a fugitive slave who was hidden by Harriet Beecher Stowe one night and inspired her novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which is thought to have sparked the United States Civil War. His story takes us through nineteenth-century America: the war, Reconstruction, and the restoration of white supremacy.

Additional related titles include:

“Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History,” 1800? – 1831, by late historian Anthony E. Kaye and collaborator Gregory P. Downs

“A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune,” 1875-1955, by Noliwe Rooks

“We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance,” by Kellie Carter Jackson

“Galveston’s Juneteenth Story: and Still We Rise,” by Tommie D. Boudreaux and the Galveston Historical Foundation

“Slavery After Slavery: Revealing the Legacy of Forced Child Apprenticeships on Black Families, from Emancipation to the Present,” by Mary Frances Berry

Look for these books and more on our ‘New Book’ shelves, or on our Black History Month display in the Library.

With all the free time we have during the holidays (she says with a wink), I thought I’d introduce you to some good books that might help fill all those hours when you’re not baking, decorating, stress shopping, wrapping, etc. In honor of Dewey Decimal System Day observed on the December 10 birthday of its creator, Melvil Dewey, let’s start at the very beginning of the Dewey Decimal system, the 000s, “Computer Science, Information, and General Works.”

Now, hold on – no yawning! It’s a lot more interesting than it sounds – we’re going into the ‘Library and Information Sciences’ sub-section featuring a couple of award-winning new releases! These are books on reading – it can’t get any better than that! These selections enlighten us in the age-old struggle with censorship, and show us how books can ultimately save us.

The first statements in the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights are: “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people… presenting all points of view on current and historical issues… Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.”

The author of our first selection, middle school librarian Amanda Jones did just that; she took up the mantle of challenging censorship, writing about her experience in national bestseller That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America. Jones, a School Library Journal School Librarian of the Year, spoke out at a 2022 public hearing held at her local library in Louisiana which was called to discuss book content (her speech appends her memoir). Because what she values most about books is how they can affirm a young person’s sense of self, she addressed the group on the fundamental right of the freedom to read, especially decrying the banning of those books about diverse minority groups whose voices her students need to hear.

‘That librarian,’ Amanda Jones, however, was promptly attacked and slandered via e-mail and on social media, and even received death threats, by persons who were revealed to be extremists using book banning campaigns funded by dark money organizations—as well as by some friends and family. Jones shares her harrowing journey in fighting back, suing those who waged attacks against her, as well as chronicling similar current issues across America. She urges the reader, “Everyone in the United States should stand up for intellectual freedom and stand against censorship, regardless of party line. You start banning one thing, and you’re on a slippery slope to banning everything.”

The importance of accessibility to disparate voices in literature is apparent in our complementary selection awarded as the NPR Best Book of the Year, Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim. Founder of the Well-Read Black Girl book club, the author has grown it into a network reaching half a million readers. Edim, daughter of Nigerian immigrants, took her title from one of the books and authors who has spoken to her over the years, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, “She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.”

For Glory Edim, it is books that have gathered her, healing her throughout the traumas of her life: her father whom she adored leaving the family and returning to Nigeria, and her mother’s years suffering from debilitating depression. As a child these circumstances forced Edim to take on the responsibilities of an adult. She and her brother found respite in their local library where she found community and began, through reading, to find her own value and voice.

As she grew, and into adulthood, she gathered around herself black women authors who comforted her, taught her, and aided in her growth. She writes, “Toni Morrison compelled me to hone in on my vision. Maya Angelou urged me to take more risks. Alice Walker drove me to build something outside of myself. Somehow their intricate stories and astute observations provided me with an unbreakable foundation.”

She related to their stories and the women behind them. Their books and others’ saved her. Each of us deserves to be saved; each of us deserves to be able to see ourselves in a book.