Currently Reading

[Gaby]

I just finished "Der envisa hjärtat" (Obstinate Heart), a biography by Valerie Grosvenor Myer, and I didn't like it. It was mainly a retelling of Jane Austens letters with information about hundreds of relatives and acquaintances, their marriages and childbirths, and during the mainpart of the book I thought that Jane Austen must have been a terribly frustrated spinster which I couldn't feel much sympathy for.

[DONNA]

Sarah wrote: "I did it! All books have been finished and I’m quite proud of myself! The tally of what I read is:

Jane Austen novels:
-Pride and Prejudice
-Persuasion

Something else she wrote:
-Lady Susan

A ..."

Great Job!!!!

[DONNA]

I've finished all of the Jane Austen books and want to move on to either The Jane Austen Society or The Jane Austen Project! Wish me luck...nothing seems to hold a candle to Jane!

[Barbara]

I am reading an anthology published a few years ago called "Jane Austen Made Me Do It", short stories by authors who had written works based on Austen. Also re-reading "Mansfield Park."

[QNPoohBear]

I'm cheating a bit on "read a book written by a contemporary of Jane Austen". I'm looking at Mrs. Hurst Dancing: And Other Scenes From Regency Life, 1812-1823
It's a sketchbook by a gentlewoman in a country neighborhood much like the ones in Austen's novels. The text was written in the 1980s.

[Liz]

I finished Persuasion today and I have to say all of Jane's heros and heroines are intelligent, kind, respectful, and full of integrity and virtue. All the other characters appear to be the opposite, well not all, I guess I would say the antagonists. They tend to be shallow, dishonest, and conniving. Just a thought. I enjoyed this story. Right now it would be in 5th place.

[Lorri]

I really enjoyed the 1796 Gothic novel, The Monk: A Romance by Matthew Gregory Lewis. I thought it would be luridly salacious but, instead, found it dealt honestly with the themes of temptation, lust, and the vulnerability of ignorant girls with no proper protection.

Today, I finished reading the forward, introduction, and first 6 essays in: A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Each essay depicts different insights, perspectives, and more reasons to love Jane Austen and her works.

[Misa]

This was my first J.A's July and I liked it,
-I've re-read Persuasion
-I've read A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections by James Edward Austen-Leigh
-The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen
-The Novels of Jane Austen by George Henry Lewes
-Jane Austen contre le Loup-garou by Marianne Ciaudo( In Frensh)
-Les sautes d'humour de Jane Austen by Jane Austen(in Frensh)
-Pride by Ibi Zoboi
-Lover's Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald
-Sanditon
I watched
Death Comes to Pemberley
Lost In Austen
Austenland
Mansfield Park 2007

I'm thinking about reading more fictions based on J.A's books because I loved it and I don't want to stop!

[QNPoohBear]

I'm currently working through a non-fiction tome The Lost Books of Jane Austen

I recommend this for the pictures if you can get it from the library. The text reads like a thesis.

[Kathy]

I finished 6 out of the 7 prompts:

✓ 1. JA Novel: re-read Northanger Abbey and re-read Persuasion: An Annotated Edition
✓ 2. Not a main novel: Lady Susan on audiobook
✓ 3. Non-fiction: Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels by Deirdre Le Faye
✓ 4. Read a retelling: Miss Austen by Gill Hornby.
5. Contemporary Austen author: Sadly, did not complete this challenge--definitely on the TBR for the next JA July.
✓ 6. Direct screen adaptation--watched 3 films: 2016 "Love & Friendship"; 1995 "Persuasion", and 2007 "Northanger Abbey"; plan to watch 1995 P&P in August
✓ 7. Modern screen adaptation: "Bridget Jones's Diary"

Lots of fun. Especially enjoyed Le Faye's book.

[Janice]

I finished Prompts #2, 3, 4, and 5. :) For those prompts, I chose Lady Susan, Tea with Jane Austen: Recipes Inspired By Her Novels and Letters by Pen Vogler, The Best Of Jane Austen Knits: 27 Regency-Inspired Designs by Amy Clarke Moore, That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story by Huda Fahmy, and The Nose by Nikolai Gogol and I'm also 3/4 of the way done of Mansfield Park. I may also watch the movies I chose, Sense and Sensibility and Bridget Jones's Diary in the next month or so. I'm very happy with the progress and look forward to next year's Jane Austen July 2022 <3

[Michael]

✓ 1. JA Novel: read Sense & Sensibility, re-read Pride & Prejudice, read Mansfield Park, read Emma, re-read Northanger Abbey, re-read Persuasion
- 2. Not a main novel: had good intentions but didn't finish
- 3. Non-fiction: had good intentions but didn't finish
- 4. Read a retelling: had good intentions but didn't finish
- 5. Contemporary Austen author: had good intentions but didn't finish
✓ 6. Direct screen adaptation-- watched Pride & Prejudice (1995 mini-series) and Emma (2020)
✓ 7. Modern screen adaptation: watched Clueless

[Hope]

In conclusion
Read one book by Jane Austen
Persuasion
Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her six novels
A History of England
Lady Susan
Read a nonfiction about Jane Austen or her time
A Mirror of the Graces
A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England
Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book
The Other Bennet Sister (audiobook)
Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen
Marriage by Susan Ferrier
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Watch a direct screen adaptation
Emma (1972)
Emma (1996)
Emma (1997)
Emma (2009)
Love and Friendship (2016)
Persuasion (2008)
Watch a modern screen adaptation
Clueless
Bridget Jones’s Diary

See you next year

[DONNA]

I really enjoyed Jane Austen July! This was my first time to join and I really needed something to look forward to last month! So thank you for putting this together!!!

I read all of her classics as the BBC radio plays and they were phenomenal! Plus I watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice 6 hour version!

I've enjoyed all of this immensely!

[Janice]

I've just finished reading Mansfield Park for the first time and I loved it!!! <3 It's a tie for 2nd place between this and Persuasion. I hope to read Persuasion sometime in August. But my first love is always Pride and Prejudice. <3

[Barbara]

I went back to two "Lady Susan" adaptations I had read some years ago. Read "Lady Susan" a long time ago.
One was called "Lady Vernon and Her Daughter" which is a very authentic work that re-imagines Lady Susan as one of Jane Austen's main novels, rather than a comic fragment. Really liked it a lot.
The other is called "Love and Friendship, In Which Jane Austen's Lady Susan is Entirely Vindicated." This was written by the director Whit Stillman and I think it was a novelization of the movie he made - I was disappointed in both, especially the movie, except for the movie's costume design which was fantastic.
Personally I think "Lady Vernon" would have made a better movie - maybe a miniseries. When you take time with Austen, like in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, the results can be memorable.
I also didn't get Stillman's decision to call his book and movie "Love and Friendship" since that was the name of a different early work of Austen's.

[QNPoohBear]

I enjoyed Lady Vernon as well but the Love and Friendship movie was hilarious. I enjoyed it a lot although that wasn't how I envisioned Lady Susan. You can take her one of two ways these days 1)an evil vixen who stops at nothing to get what she wants or 2)a young widow doing what she has to do to survive plus being in charge of her sexuality. Um you go girl? (If it weren't for Frederica anyway. )

[Barbara]

One thing that irked me about the movie was that Alicia was made an American because (I read) the actress who is a good friend of the director's and appeared in other movies of his could not do a proper British accent. I was also curious about a plot element (won't spoil) that showed up in Lady Vernon and then was used in Love and Friendship.
There are a couple other Lady Susan adaptations - one by Phyllis Ann Karr that's hard to get - a pretty decent Regency romance type take. Another by Janet Todd, which I didn't like . Also a couple plays - one is supposed to debut in Maine this fall. I remember reading at the time Lady Vernon came out that the BBC planned a TV version based on an original screenplay.