Jane Austen July Announcement & Recommendations | 2023

In which we announce Jane Austen July....

MY COHOSTS:
@katiejlumsden
@SpinstersLibrary

THE CHALLENGES:

1. Read one of Jane Austen’s main six novels
2. Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her main six novels
3. Read a non-fiction work about Jane Austen or her time
4. Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book OR a work of historical fiction set in Jane Austen’s time
6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
7. Watch a modern screen retelling of a Jane Austen book

READALONG SCHEDULES:

Northanger Abbey:
July 1st: chapters 1, 2, 3
2nd: 4, 5, 6
3rd: 7, 8, 9
4th: 10, 11, 12
5th: 13, 14, 15
6th: 16, 17, 18
7th: 19, 20, 21
8th: 22, 23, 24
9th: 25, 26, 27
10th: 28, 29, 30, 31

Juvenilia (Links courtesy of Katie):

BOOKS MENTIONED (And some that should have been)

JANE AUSTEN WORKS (challenges 1 & 2)
-Pride and Prejudice
-Emma
-Persuasion
-Mansfield Park
-Sense and Sensibility
-Northanger Abbey
-The Watsons
-Sanditon
-Lady Susan
-Juvenilia
-Jane Austen's Letters

NONFICTION BOOKS (Challenge 3)
-What Matters in Jane Austen Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullan
-Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley
-The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne
-Elegant Etiquette in the Nineteenth Century by Mallory James
-An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England by Venetia Murray
-Jane Austen’s England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods by Lesley Adkins and Roy Adkins
-Jane Austen Embroidery by Jennie Batchelor and Alison Larkin
-Tea with Jane Austen by Pen Vogler

RETELLINGS AND HISTORICAL FICTION (Challenge 4)
-Longbourn by Jo Baker
-Pride by Ibi Zoboi
-The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
-Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
-The Heiress by Molly Greeley
-Reputation by Lex Croucher
-Infamous by Lex Croucher

CONTEMPORARIES OF JANE AUSTEN (Challenge 5)
-Romantic Poets: Wordsworth,Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Shelley, Keats
-Cowper
-Robert Southey
-Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
-Frances Burney (Evelina, Camilla... )
-Maria Edgeworth (Belinda, Castle Rackrent, The Absentee...)
-Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, The Lady of the Lake, The Bride of Lammermoor, Marmion...)
-The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox
-Lover's Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald
-The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

AUSTEN RELATED MOVIES, TV SERIES, WEBSERIES (Challenge 6 & 7)
-BBC Pride and Prejudice (1995)
-Pride and Prejudice (2005)
-Northanger Abbey (2007)
-BBC Sense & Sensibility (2008)
-Emma (2009)
-Emma (2020)
-Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
-Emma (1996)
-Love and Friendship
-Austenland
-Fire Island
-Bride and Prejudice (2004)
-Clueless (1995)
-Sanditon
-Lost in Austen

music: Acoustic Breeze by BenSound
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[kathleencraine]

Congrats on you new little one! 🐣So good to have you back. And I agree, NA is vastly under-appreciated--so glad it's the Group Read this year. I plan to read The Mysteries of Udolpho along with NA.

[spreadbookjoy]

So happy to see all the announcement videos for my favourite readathon! I am thinking of reading the Paula Byrne book as the non-fiction book. Congratulations - so pleased your baby arrived safe and well!

[gwen]

Hello Marissa! Thank you for hosting again, so excited!! xo

[lizlittle]

I'm so excited! I love Jane Austen July! Yay!

[lizlittle]

Northanger Abbey is my favorite Austen book.

[hasteyebooks]

I'm so excited to dive into Jane Austen July for the first time! Thanks for the recommendations Marissa! I really want to read The Other Bennet Sister, but I can't get my hands on it this month, same with What Matters in Jane Austen. Another time! And didn't know Fire Island was a modern, queer retelling! Been meaning to watch it for ages, so even better!

[LedgerAndLace]

I have not read "Northanger Abbey" yet, so I'm really looking forward to the read-along! I like the idea of maybe diving into some poetry, like Wordsworth and maybe finding a playlist of music that Jane would have listened to at the time, as well. I can't believe it's almost July already! 🙂

[SpinstersLibrary]

Very excited to host this with you and Katie once again! I still haven't decided on my TBR, but some of those historical fiction books you mentioned do sound intriguing (not read anything by Gill Hornby yet, but maybe this is the year...) Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict sounds super fun, it sounds like a similar premise to Lost in Austen, which I enjoyed.
I haven't seen Sanditon yet, but I've heard so much about it. Though I still kind of want to read the book first.
Hope you have a great JAJ, even if you don't get to read and watch as much as usual. I'm really looking forward to it!

[freshparchment]

I'm so excited for another year of this fantastic readathon!

[surrebaldrius]

Congratulations on becoming a mother🎉 Excited for Jane Austen July!!

[novellenovels]

Omg sooo excited need to look for a non fiction book and a contemporary of Jane Austen. Definitely reading Gomersham park and some other re tellings. I’m so excited 🎉🎉

[bookswithpetra]

Happy Jane Austen July and congrats on your baby! x I'm going a bit lowkey this year but I'm hoping to reread at least Northanger Abbey and The Other Bennet Sister.

[meghanthestorygirl]

Yay!!! So excited! I totally agree with you on From Mansfield With Love being one of the best if not THE best Mansfield Park adaptations.

[denisadellinger]

Wow. Lots of things in this event. A little too much for me. I have read several of the books you mentioned. Miss Austen and What Matters in Jane Austen by Mullen, was read for my Jane Austen Society and we just had Mullen as special guest for our Zoom meeting. He was really good. We have had several authors of books we've read. I read The Other Sister and could not put it down. I'll never look at Mary Bennett the same again. I just recently read Lover's Vows. And for my book club am going in to reread Pride and Prejudice. I am in a reading project to read Maria Edgeworth novels. I just finished Leonora, an epistolary novel. It is a real play on sensibility. Before that, I read Helen and now I've started Ormand. It is compared to Waverley by Sir Walter Scott. It's really hard to find some of her books that are self contained. They are in Volumes and these volumes are in themed writings and reproductions. Of course, you can read them online but I find I do not like to read on a phone the light goes out every few seconds. I am old school. A page turner. Hopefully I will pick a few of these prompts and do them if I can. I always have room for Jane.

[mybelle]

Hi! I liked the first season of Sanditon but couldn't get into the rest of it. But, my mother loves the whole Sanditon series.

[MarcelaChandía]

I had a blast with "The History of England", it's so, so funny!!!

[julie-bhpj]

So very happy that you are back. I will be sure to participate. Thank you for mentioning Lady Susan, for I too think that it is so underrated.

[areadersalmanacwithceleste]

I'm in! Can't wait to figure out what to read in July for this tag!

[jodihowe]

So nice to see you again! I found both Gill Hornby’s books in London last year, with the beautiful dust covers and inside pages! Looking forward to reading them in July. Welcome back❣️🎉

[CharlieBrookReads]

Definitely joining in!! Not sure which Austen I will head to though😅❤