Despite my claim that I am an avid reader and lover of Jane Austen, I have read surprisingly few of her books. It's quite sad, and I am embarrased to admit that I have seen more movies based on Austen's books than actually read the books themselves. Thus begins the Jane Austen Project.
My inspiration came from the "Julie/Julia Project" written by Julie Powell. It is a memoir of her journey through Mastering the Art of French Cooking Parts I and II. She chronicles her decision to begin the project, the struggles and triumphs she encountered a long the way, and the ultimate fame she reached with her blog, book, news stories and now major motion picture.
I am not trying to achieve fame (obviousely), but the idea of having a project for life and for blogging sounded fun to me. Especially one that involves my biggest hobby, reading. I have shelves of books both read and unread. On those shelves are the following Jane Austen novels: Emma, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and of course Pride & Prejudice. P&P is an all time favorite, and I read all but the last 1/4 of Emma before loosing the book and just now getting around to buying a new copy.
As I was reading a cute novel this summer about an Austen loving English Professor called, Jane Austen Ruined My Life, I decided its high time to stop being an Austen fan without having read all of her novels!
So on September 1, my journey begins. I will read each Austen novel in the order published and blog about my literary journey. I am no English major so I can't promise that my thoughts will be anything worth reading or original, but I think this hobby/project of sorts will be a fun journey for me.
Now, I believe this is the order of the books, if I am wrong and you are reading this AK, please correct me:
Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey (need to buy that one!), and Persuasion.
I plan to skip over P&P for now and possibly reread it again at the end.
Wish me luck!
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Megan - You don't know me, but I'm a friend of Mallory Rigell. I'm intrigued by your reading project. Believe it or not, I was re-reading a passage in P&P just this morning before dressing for work. I read all the JA novels in high school, in the mid-60's. I think I will join you in reading, and follow your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Betty! That would be wonderful. I would love to hear your thoughts on the books as well. Please keep me posted with your comments and thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteooh, I am totally joining in. You should look into a book called something like "the jane austen book club". I read it a few months ago and that can tell you the order in which you should read them. when do we start?
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