Jane Austen July

 Hello Interwebs!

So the second half of July I participated in the Jane Austen July readathon. This readathon was for the entire month of July and is all about all things Jane Austen. The prompts were as follows:

1. Read one of Jane Austen's main six novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, or Mansfield Park)
2. Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her main six novels
3. Read a nonfiction book about Jane Austen or her time
4. Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book
5. Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen (i.e., 1775-1817)
6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
7. Watch a modern screen adaptation/retelling of a Jane Austen book

So those were the prompts and I managed to fulfill all of the prompts except for one. 

The novel I read for the main six novels prompt was Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. This book follows Fanny Price, who is taken in by her wealthy aunt and uncle and brought to their estate, Mansfield Park, to grow up with her older cousins. Throughout the novel she navigates moral dilemmas and her feelings for her cousin Edmund. When everything falls apart in scandal she ends up on top with the man she loves. Mansfield Park is not at all my favorite Jane Austen novel, no matter how much I try I just can't really bring myself to like Fanny all that much and find Edmund to be rather insufferable. So all in all not my favorite but I still love everything that Jane Austen wrote. I read this partially in hard copy/ebook and finished it on audio during a trip to see my parents and travels to and from work. I read it from July 1st to the 28th and gave it 3.5 stars. 

I did not manage to read any of Jane Austen's non-main six novels during this month. I started the first volume of her Juvenilia but I didn't get very far into it and I definitely won't finish it by the end of the month. 

The third prompt was to read a nonfiction book about Jane Austen or her time period. My original intention was to read Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley but then I got a trial membership to Kindle Unlimited and found A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes. This is a nonfiction book about the Regency era in England which is when Jane Austen lived but written like a travel guide with references to the people, places, and events of both Jane Austen's life but also her books. It was so much fun and I loved the unconventional format that it had. I read this from July 17th to the 26th and gave it a 4 star rating. 

The fourth prompt was to read a retelling of a Jane Austen book. I had several that would work but in the end I got an ebook copy of Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding which is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I LOVED this book. As a thirty-something myself (albeit with a nearly 2 year old and a serious partner) I found Bridget so completely and utterly relatable in her hot mess ways trying to diet and stop smoking and stop drinking while surrounded by insanity. I read this book from the 27th to the 29th and gave it a 4.5 star rating. It was definitely my favorite book of the month. 

The last reading prompt was to read something by a contemporary of Jane Austen and for this I chose the play Lover's Vows by Mrs. Elizabeth Inchbald. This is a play about a father and daughter as well as a mother and son and their scandalous connection between them. This play is the one that was to be performed by the characters in Mansfield Park and it was entertaining to read the play alongside the characters going to perform it while reading Mansfield Park. It was decent and a quick read. I read it from the 23rd to the 24th and gave it 3 stars. 

 

For the two movie/television watching prompts I decided to do the same story for both. For the direct adaptation I watched the 2020 movie version of Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy. This is such a rich colorful period drama based off one of my favorite Austen books. Emma Woodhouse is such a delightfully complex and entertaining character and I love how she and her story are portrayed in this version. 

The modern adaptation/retelling I chose to watch was Clueless which is one of my all time favorite movies. I love this movie and think it's a hilariously fun adaptation of Emma for teenagers. 

All in all Jane Austen July was very successful. I read a Jane Austen novel I hadn't ever read before (Mansfield Park) and Bridget Jones's Diary which I'd been meaning to read for ages but never gotten around to and is now a new favorite. So all in all I had a great month of July and am looking forward to new reading challenges in the month of August. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle