Interest in Discussion?

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

SarahC wrote: "I have some good news. Darcie Wilde -- yes, the author herself -- is providing 5 copies of A Useful Woman. If you will post and state your interest in discussing the book here with the group, I wil..."

Wow that is very sweet of you SarahC (& smart of Darcie to send copies to a group that is definitely interested in her genre) but I wouldn't feel comfortable putting you to that expense!

I'll see if my local library will stock it. :)

[Emmy]

I am interested please!

[Emmy]

Carol is right though - I could cover the postage charge at least!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

I am so glad to have you all a part of group discussions in this group, I will pleased to cover this little bit of cost -- so all interested, put your names in the drawing.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I'm interested in the drawing!

[Hannah]

I won't have time to read it before October, but if that's when you want to do the discussion, I'm in!

[QNPoohBear]

It's waiting for me at the library so I'm in.

[Gretchen]

SarahC wrote: "I have some good news. Darcie Wilde -- yes, the author herself -- is providing 5 copies of A Useful Woman. If you will post and state your interest in discussing the book here with the group, I wil..."
I am interested

[Karen]

I already bought it because it was reasonably priced for me. Looking forward to the discussion.

[Louise Sparrow]

That's very generous of you both!

Sorry for not responding, I was away. If you have not already had the draw I would like to be considered :)

[Gretchen]

Ok so I happen to see that the library has a copy. I put it on hold and it should be here next week I think

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Checking in...I don't have an exact date on when to expect the books for the book giveaway I posted earlier, so still trying to obtain that. I thought I would make a last call for anyone who wanted to enter. Either way, I will go ahead and put up the Jane classic poll tonight -- sorry about not getting that posted earlier! Please stay tuned.

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

I finally! have the Jane Classics read poll posted -- I apologize sincerely about the delays this week. The poll will run through the end of the week (Friday). I hope to get more clarification on the Useful Woman read and then we can set discussion dates for both of these discussion -- realizing some members will want to participate in both and some just do one or the other-- we will try to make both work.

Posting the poll made me excited all over again to read and discuss our Jane, so please go and enjoy the voting. And please give any other suggestions that you would like to see take place.

Note: I would also at some point like to discuss critical works/essays on Austen because there are such interesting ones available. If you are interested, and with book access in mind, possibly everyone could see what is available at their city libraries. We could then nominate the most-available works for a voting poll. Hope you are having a great day.

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

On the laptop, the poll shows at the bottom of home page. I have not checked in the app. Please let me know if things aren't showing up properly.

[Hannah]

Not seeing it on my phone, but I'll browse more later.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

I'm a heavy user of the iPhone app and you can't access polls via the app.

[Ceri]

I think you can get to the polls in the app if they are hyperlinked. Let's have a go: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/4...

[Hannah]

Worked for me with the link! Thanks!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Thank you, Ceri, for that help.

[Gretchen]

The link worked for me!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Hello Austen devotees,

I know now to expect to receive the Useful Woman copies possibly at the end of this week. I then can send to you, and, depending on mail times, they may arrive on Sept. 16 or 17. I may be too optimistic on this because in my particular U.S. region I do not know how quickly mail travels. With that approximate range, we will count the book offer officially closed and get on our way to planning the reads.

Based upon the members here available to discuss, we have enough complimentary books on the way then for Carol, Emilia, Andrea, and Louise. That is with me also keeping a copy to use. Several other members will also be joining in to discuss with available library or personal copies -- and hopefully other members as well who may not have voiced in yet. If I have left out anything or anyone, please let me know.

Shall we set an official start date at Sept 16, so we all can mark on our calendars and plan other reads/obligations around?

Also, with a possible start of A Useful Woman on Sept 16, please voice in on a good time frame for the Jane Classic read that we are polling for right now? We could say a clean month and start October 16. Depending on our book shipping times, we would then have around 3 weeks on this contemporary read plus a week to get started reading for the first post of the Jane Classic discussion. How would that work? Feel free to share your needs and ideas on this.

I hope everyone is enjoying this day...some are having a holiday in the U.S. Work or vacation -- either way, have a lovely one!

[Hannah]

I think your time plan sounds great!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Thanks, Hannah, I am glad. I also will add, I will wait to hear feedback here from those he have been expressing dedicated interest, and then will post the start dates on the main page and in a general group message.

[Emmy]

Possibly having a few days between book arrival and book discussion would be helpful? But I'll go with what the others say.

[Emmy]

Should we e-mail you our addresses, Sarah?

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Yes, Emilia, could you send it into private message here? Also, yes, good idea. As we did with the earlier book discussion, we may delay a day or two if it looks like books have not arrived to everyone. I can comment here and ask if everyone is ready to start the thread...if we are all behind, we will delay a few days on the first thread.

[Abigail]

Would it be possible to move it a shade back--to allow time for copies to arrive? Also, there’s a group read starting September 16 in another group of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James, and that might draw participants away.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Abigail wrote: "Would it be possible to move it a shade back--to allow time for copies to arrive? Also, there’s a group read starting September 16 in another group of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James..."

I don't mind pushing our date so as not to conflict with "Lost Memoirs."

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

These are good considerations ladies. I am also thinking of the members who have/are reserving library copies so I don't want them to have to go through that process again if that causes too much work. If we move the discussion to September 23 or 30, how would that affect your library copies and would that cause a conflict for others who have already spoken up?

I have complete respect for the reading in other groups for sure, but I will have to give most consideration to our JA Group members who have already planned to join in on Useful Woman and our Jane Austen Classic which will follow quickly behind that.

[Abigail]

Sounds good to me! The Lost Memoirs reading is actually on Austenesque Reviews and is running September 16–25. Important that the people who are reading library books can be accommodated, though. I’m game for anything—already have the book on my Kindle!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Yes, Meredith's page...I understand and she deserves a shout out. She has contributed good work to the world of Austen reading, writing, and reviews. I know we will work it all out as far as not too much overlap for our reads one way or another. Thank you Abigail. Let us know if Meredith has any other discussions on tap that members might like to link up with.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I'm not the Carol receiving the copy am I? Because unless you can send it letter rate the postage is huge! I have requested my library stock it but (based on previous experiences of doing this) even if they decide to stock this title I'm unlikely to have before October.

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "I'm not the Carol receiving the copy am I? Because unless you can send it letter rate the postage is huge! I have requested my library stock it but (based on previous experiences of doing this) eve..."

Yes, Carol, I had your mailing address from June and I ran that through the postage calculator here at my P.O. and it was not too expensive. I will private message you to verify -- and if you have any idea how long a shipment might take.

[Hannah]

I found a copy at my library, so if I end up with some extra time when you all are reading this, I'll join in!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

SarahC wrote: " Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "I'm not the Carol receiving the copy am I? Because unless you can send it letter rate the postage is huge! I have requested my library stock it but (based on prev..."

I answered your message - & thanks very much!

[QNPoohBear]

I have the book from the library already. Since it's new, I will probably go ahead and read it and then add to the discussion when we get to it. I'll jot down some notes so I remember what I think and feel when I'm reading it.

For Austen classic, I voted Emma since it is the subject of the Jane Austen Society of North America's Annual General Meeting in October.

[Louise Sparrow]

Before I pass on my ARC copy of Eligible to a local charity, would anyone here like it? I'm happy to post it to you, I sort of feel it belongs to the group.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

That's a good idea Louise!

When I finish with my copy of the book, I too would like to pass it to a member of the group rather than goodwill/charity giveaway.

[Gretchen]

I have my Useful Woman copy from the library. It looks like it could be a good read. Looking forward to the group read.

[Kirk]

My library network has it! Like others, I have other online and in person bookclub books to read this month(Lol, I had thought I was going to be a "free range reader"). So, I'm tentitively in for this one.

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

First, thank you for the offer to pass along the books. That will allow more people to participate. Great idea. Also, it looks like most of us are "good readers" for sure and involved in a lot of discussions. I know it will mean working in the reading as we can, but I will propose a start date of September 23. We will see how the pace goes from there. Also, I hope that Darcie Wilde will join us after we have completed the read for questions and answers. From what I understand, she will be available in October to do that.

Our classic poll will conclude tomorrow, so we will pick up that discussion on October 22. Along with the readings, in the coming weeks please do post ideas on picks for reading after the Jane classic.... another contemporary novel or a critical work or something similar?

I appreciate you all working around other reads, working with your library checkout schedules, and, again, the offers to pass along books. That's why spending time with Janeites online is such as quality experience!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Kirk wrote: "My library network has it! Like others, I have other online and in person bookclub books to read this month(Lol, I had thought I was going to be a "free range reader"). So, I'm tentitively in for t..."

Kirk, yes, we think we are going free range, but we somehow wind up back at the chicken coop seeing what the flock has in mind for the next read!

[Melissa]

I'm new to this. Is the plan to read the whole book then begin the discussion? Or are we breaking it into chunks/chapters?

Thanks, Melissa

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Hi, Melissa, I am so glad you are here. The method we will employ here is to divide the book into 3 or 4 discussion threads and post them approximately a week at a time. We will try to pace the discussion to work best for the folks participating. This way, you can read at the pace you choose -- just gear up for the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the book by the start date. Thanks so much, Melissa.

[QNPoohBear]

I started A Useful Woman and so far, it's not very Austenesque- more Heyeresque. It's set in London and about the ton. I have to return it to the library before the date of the group read but I will try to remember enough to participate in the discussion.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "That's a good idea Louise!

When I finish with my copy of the book, I too would like to pass it to a member of the group rather than goodwill/charity giveaway."

Oh you nice people. I regret to say that Eligible was out the door as soon as I finished my review! High postage charges in this country mean I would have only wanted to send to a NZ member!

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

QNPoohBear wrote: "I started A Useful Woman and so far, it's not very Austenesque- more Heyeresque. It's set in London and about the ton. I have to return it to the library before the date of the group read but I wil..."

Thank you for reading and I hope you contribute thoughts in the time ahead in the discussion. I believe we will get a chance to go into more detail with the author on her influences and other ingredients that went into her writing. Please do join in.

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "That's a good idea Louise!

When I finish with my copy of the book, I too would like to pass it to a member of the group rather than goo..."

Carol, it sounds like donating the book to a reader in your town was a nice act. Even with somewhat more availability where I live, it is always nice to find a unique book or longed-for treasure at the thrift or used book shop.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

SarahC wrote: "Carol, it sounds like donating the book to a reader in your town was a nice act. Even with somewhat more availability where I live, it is always nice to find a unique book or longed-for treasure at the thrift or used book shop.

Ha! It went to the op (charity) shop I volunteer at. & it is a very good cause! :)

[SarahC, Austen Votary & Mods' Asst.]

The books arrived from our author this afternoon and I will be shipping them to recipients tomorrow. Progress!