Some Books (+ One Film)

I read a collection of Jane Austen's three unpublished novels, which we covered earlier this week.

Free Speech In Its Forgotten Years (1870-1920) by David Rabban is from the 1990s and was read some time ago. The re-read was worthwhile if mixed. 

The last few chapters were about the standard WWI stuff and a quick summary of (then) recent events. One thing not covered much is sex-related cases, the focus on the dissenters, not the cases themselves. 

Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped The American Century was a chance to have a quick read about Dorothy Thompson. She was flagged for her concern about the Nazis in a blog before the election. 

The book provides a chapter each about Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, Margaret Mead, Katharine Hepburn, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Martha Graham, and Marion Anderson. Good read. 

Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games was an interesting graphic account of the history of tabletop role-playing games (think Dungeons & Dragons). 

The book explains how historical role-playing developed from ancient times. The last chapters were not as interesting for me since it was focusing on present-day games. Overall, it was interesting. 

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I checked out Love & Friendship, a film based on Lady Susan, the Jane Austen novel. The first time I watched it, it was not a success. I saw more this time but again not enjoyable. 

It has some charms. It was generally loyal to the book. The actors were good. Good sets. I just found it too dry and shut it off eventually.