Jane Austen July 2025

  

It is officially July, and that means, Jane Austen and more Jane Austen.

 

I have been eagerly awaiting the start of this challenge, have gathered my books, have chosen my movies and have just sat not so patiently waiting for July 1st.

 

I did a post a couple weeks ago talking about this challenge and showed you the books I have chosen to read, so if you're interested and somehow missed that post, you can go back and read it here July Jane Austen Reading.

 

The challenge itself is simple, it's all about this amazing author and her works.  We get to read or in my case reread our favorites, some new ones, watch her movies and learn all about who Jane Austen really was, in celebration of her 250th birthday in December of this year.

 

I saw this challenge mentioned in quite a few of the YouTube channels that I follow, but I first heard it from Katie at Books and Things over on YouTube. 

 

 

 

Here are the prompts that I will be following, for the most part, there may be one or two that I don't do, depending on how much I actually get to read because I do have some review books I have to give some attention to as well.  I'm leaving the prompts below just so you have an idea or if by chance any of you want to join in this Jane Austen Reading month.

 

1. Read one of Jane Austen’s 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
5. Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen
6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
7. Watch a modern screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book

 

Here are my picks:

 

1.  Pride and Prejudice

2.  Lady Susan

3.  Jane Austen an Illustrated Treasury

4.  Longbourn by Jo Baker

5.  Not a contemporary but I will be reading Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange

6.  Mansfield Park (1983)

7. Emma (2009)

 

 

If I have time I will be reading other Jane Austen inspired books, which you can see on my post about the July Reading challenge. 

 

I thought I would end this post by showing you my newest Jane Austen book, one that I had been wanting for a while.  It has the most beautiful sprayed edges, a stunning cover and a gorgeous end pages.

 

And how about that sweet bookmark that actually matches the book cover? I have had this bookmark for a while and I think it may have just found it's perfect match.

 

I wish I could convey to you just how much I love Jane Austen, and books in general.  There is something so cozy about sitting down with a good, beautiful book in hand, and allowing ourselves to float away into another world.  Books take us to places we've never been and in my case, places I would love to visit, such as England.

 

I am very much looking forward to this month of reading, and I'll keep you updated on how it's going.  If any of you are joining in this challenge, let me know in the comments.  Would love to know what you'll be reading or watching. 

July Jane Austen Reading

 Hello friends and welcome back to my blog.

 

Life has been a little hectic, as always, and as much as I want to continue daily posting, I am finding it a bit difficult the past two weeks, but hopeful that I can reign it all back in.  Or at least try to.

 

It is a beautiful Wednesday here in Texas, it's slightly warm but cloudy which I feel always helps cool things down slightly.  I know we have the insane high temperatures coming in a few weeks, so I'll take all the cool I can right now.

 

I am currently sitting at my desk, looking through my two piles of upcoming reading books, and I thought I would come in a record the first one for the month of July, which is the upcoming Jane Austen 250th year celebration.  In August, I will be reading everything on the Prairie, West Expansion, Wagon trails and all of those things I just love reading about.

 

And yes, I will show you that list, as I'm still compiling it.  I already have 4 books in mind, but do have a few coming in from Paperbackswap and Thrift Books, that will be added to the pile.  I'm quite excited about the August reading month.

 

Right, now for Jane Austen, as I've mentioned previously, I will be re watching her movies, and probably reading Pride and Prejudice again, not sure yet, and a couple of other fiction books related to Jane Austen or her book characters.

 

So, let me show you.  Oh and if you have a good suggestion for a book that would fit in this category, please leave it down below in the comments.  Would love to know.

 

 

 

The first one on the list is actually a non fiction.  Jane Austen's Table.  My husband found this one for me at a local book store.  I've browsed through and are there are some really yummy looking recipes which I'll be trying as well during the month of July.

 

 

Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange

The retelling of Jane Austen's novel Persuasion from the point of view of Captain Frederick Wentworth by the author of Mr. Knightley's Diary.

During his shore leave from the Navy, Frederick Wentworth falls in love with the elegant and intelligent Miss Anne Elliot' only to see his hopes of marrying her dashed by her godmother.

Eight years later, Wentworth has realized his ambitions. A wealthy captain, he has pushed his memories of Anne to the furthest recesses of his mind, until he sees her again. And though Anne's bloom has faded, Wentworth is surprised to find that his regard for her wit and warmth has not.

Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange

Monday 9th September"I left London today and met Bingley at Netherfield Park. I had forgotten what good company he is; always ready to be pleased and always cheerful. After my difficult summer, it is good to be with him again. ..."The only place Darcy could share his innermost feelings was in the private pages of his diary... Torn between his sense of duty to his family name and his growing passion for Elizabeth Bennet, all he can do is struggle not to fall in love.Mr. Darcy's Diary presents the story of the unlikely courtship of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Darcy's point of view. This graceful imagining and sequel to Pride and Prejudice explains Darcy's moodiness and the difficulties of his reluctant relationship as he struggles to avoid falling in love with Miss Bennet. Though seemingly stiff and stubborn at times, Darcy's words prove him also to be quite devoted and endearing -- qualities that eventually win over Miss Bennet's heart.  

 

Willoughby's Return by Jane Odiwe

A lost love returns, rekindling forgotten passions... In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility , when Marianne Dashwood marries Colonel Brandon, she puts her heartbreak over dashing scoundrel John Willoughby in the past. Three years later, Willoughby's return throws Marianne into a tizzy of painful memories and exquisite feelings of uncertainty. Willoughby is as charming, as roguish, and as much in love with her as ever. And the timing couldn't be worse--with Colonel Brandon away and Willoughby determined to win her back, will Marianne find the strength to save her marriage, or will the temptation of a previous love be too powerful to resist? 

Jane Austen an Illustrated Treasury

JANE AUSTEN: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY takes you inside the author's world - the hardships she faced, the loves she lost, and the keen sense of irony that kept her going. In the minds of fans and scholars alike, Jane Austen has never grown old. 

{ Blog 365 #25 - Read with me....}

 

 

 

I love reading, and love books, but I don't always have the time to sit and indulge. I try to, and usually the only time I can get some reading in, is right before bed. 

 

I'm sure you know where I'm headed with that thought.  Hahahahah

 

Yep, a few lines in and I have fallen asleep with the book on my lap.  But today, I decided that it was a reading day.  I got up, did what I needed to and then grabbed my book.

 

So, come with me as I start reading Longbourn.  If you're a fan of Jane Austen, and more specifically Pride and Prejudice, you will probably enjoy this one.  It is the re-imagined story of Pride and Prejudice, but told from below stairs, and through the eyes of the servants.

 

 

So far I'm really enjoying it.  

 

Not only am I a huge Jane Austen fan, but I also quite enjoy books or series about the servants in these big manor houses in England.  I remember watching Upstairs Downstairs, and lovinggggg the series.  It was like a special treat every time a new episode began.  I may need to re-watch.  Hmmm!

 

Do you ever have a reading day? 

A day where you grab a book, and just read.  Sometimes in between cooking dinner, or waiting in the car for one of the kids or grocery pickup?  

On days like these, I drag the book around everywhere I go, and any chance I get, I read a page or two.  It actually helps me get through my reading pile.

{ My Saturday }

Hi everyone, I sure hope your Saturday has been a good one :)

I was all ready to do a grocery haul for you, because I had to get groceries this morning, but then before I could get it all out and pictures taken, we had already put away some of the stuff.  I thought about taking it all out again but, no, that would have just been silly to do.  I guess the grocery haul will have to wait until 2 weeks from today when I go back out.

I can tell you that I spent $270 and that was because I had to get a few things that we were completely out of, so items that I don't usually need to get every grocery trip.  It also included a $5 tip for the young man that took them out for me at the Commissary.

Which brings up a question for me, do you always tip them, and how much do you usually tip them?  I try to tip every single time, but there have been a few times in the past where I really didn't have extra money, what I had was for food and then I felt absolutely awful not giving something.  So I try to give at least a dollar, but it makes me feel so guilty.  Anyone else feel that way?

So anyway, went out this morning in 7 degree weather.  I'm not even joking, thanks Texas.  I thought my cold days were behind me in Idaho but I guess not.

We even had snow yesterday.

It snowed on and off all day, nothing stuck really, so for someone who is used to Idaho snow, this made me chuckle, but nonetheless I guess it was snow right?

The temperatures dropped significantly so when I headed out for groceries this morning it was 7 degrees.  I did not want to leave the house, but didn't much have a choice.

I guess seeing the trees and fence like this didn't help either  Hahah

But anyway, I got my shopping done, came home and put it all away, which seems to take about as long as going out and getting it.  It's definitely not one of my favorite chores of being a homemaker.  I like the grocery store part, just not the unpacking.

This afternoon we took Marley for his very first walk. It felt good to be out there in the crisp air, it wasn't as cold and we want to get him used to walking on a leash and being out and about.

Living in the country does have it's perks either, you get to enjoy nature in all it's glory.

We have a few Cardinals in our trees and I just love them, they are so beautiful.

Marley loved his walk. He was a bit apprehensive at first and kept jumping at Curt and I to pick him up. He was even intimidated by the horses next door but after a few minutes, he got into it and loved being outside. I think we need to make this a part of his routine especially since he is such a big boy and needs more exercise than our pugs ever did.

Back home, I got right into fixing dinner which was a very simple but filling meal. Layered Nacho Dinner. As I explained in my menu post yesterday, this can be eaten over tortilla chips as nachos, or with soft flour tortillas which is what we did tonight.

It tastes amazing, it is filling, it is quick and I don't think anyone in the family will complain. I also have quite a bit leftover which will be great for mid week lunches.

If you want to try for your own family, go on over to my blog and check out the Layered Nacho Dinner post.

I wanted to also show you my list of books to read or that I'm currently reading.  I've been getting this overwhelming need to go to the library and I may have to bite the bullet and go tomorrow.  I'll see how I'm feeling.

But for the moment these are on my shelf.

And speaking of shelves, I just have to show you what my son gave me for Christmas. He sure knows his mama :)

How beautiful are these glasses?  Oh my goodness, I was in utter shock when I opened my gift and saw these.  Being the huge Jane Austen fan that I am, these couldn't have been a better choice for me.  Just gorgeous!!!

Well friends, I'm going to end this post, I still want to go watch a few vlogs, see if there's anything on TV, share the post over on the Facebook page and try to relax the rest of the night.

I have tons of laundry to get through tomorrow as well as wanting to give the hard floors in the house a real good sweep and mopping.

I'm hoping it's not as cold when I wake up though, let's pray for that right???

Sewing and Miss Austen!

I'm such a hopeless Jane Austen Fan.  I don't think I can quite get enough of anything Austen related.

I can sit for hours and watch documentary after documentary,  watch and rewatch the movies, the sequels, the prequels, the adaptations and anything that remotely relates to her books and her life.

Everyone that knows me, knows that I am totally irrevocably in love with Jane Austen.  In a non creepy way, of course.

Today was one such day.  I just couldn't get her off my mind, and so,  while I went about my business, I had a number of documentaries playing on the laptop.

The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen, was a documentary that played on BBC back in 2011.  Amanda Vickery takes a look back at Austen's life, at her fans and what exactly makes everyone love this author so much.

Funny thing, if you had to ask me for the one reason why I am so obsessed with her, I wouldn't be able to answer.  There isn't just one single thing that stands out, other than the fact that I find her to have been such a brilliant writer.  I guess in a way, every single novel reiterates the beauty of love, and the fact that you CAN find that amazing connection without it having to resort to sexual connotations to get the point across.

Source

She has the knack to draw you right in, to make you feel a part of the story, to root for the characters, to dream about that Mr. Darcy.  And don't pretend you haven't, I know you have.  LOL

The second documentary I watched was The Real Jane Austen.  This one is presented by Anne Chancellor who played Caroline Bingley in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, who so happens to be her great aunt from 8 generations ago.  How amazing is that???

Fascinating documentaries which only served to bring forth a renewed craving for anything Austen related, which means pulling out some of my favorite books.....

IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

Oh just to read those first few words send joy through me, like nothing else.

I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way, I'm sure many of my blog readers share this love for Jane Austen.

But let me show you what else I did today.....

Worked on some new sheer curtains for the living room, they are hung up but are far too long for my liking, so tomorrow I'll be measuring, pinning and hemming the curtains so that they don't pool on the floor.

Sewed a little more on my new quilt, and I'm not being very strict with this one, I'm basically just sewing strips and adding them as I go and letting the pattern work itself out.

And as I add a few strips, I hang it on the clothesline so that I can see how it's coming along, and because I love seeing it flutter in the wind, if nothing else.

Tended to the garden and harvested a little more parsley which I used for dinner. If you don't grow your own herbs, you have no idea what you're missing out on. Truth be told for many years, I didn't either, and now I just couldn't imagine cooking any other way.

You need parsley, basil, or thyme or rosemary or mint or whatever, just step outside the back door and pick some fresh. It makes a world of difference.

I needed some for tonight's dinner, which was another old favorite, Smothered Pork Chops. So yummy.

and to make my boy child happy???? Stuffing. He LOVES this stuff.

Even though it's now 8:40pm, I think I'm going to go watch Pride and Prejudice or maybe Mansfield Park.....hmmmm decisions, decisions.

What is YOUR favorite Jane Austen book or movie adaptation?

Jane Austen Addict!

It's true, I don't try to hide the fact that I'm absolutely, completely addicted to Jane Austen.

I love her books, it's hard for me at times to wrap my mind around the fact that this amazing author wrote these masterpieces over almost 200 years ago.

It also boggles my mind when I talk to people who have no idea who Jane Austen is, doesn't everyone know who she is? No? Well for shame, they should LOL

So in my quest to reread her most famous books I ended up at the library on Sunday, surrounded by anything related to this brilliant woman, even books who were not written by her but are related to her characters or books.

Do you want to see what I got? Oh and if you've read any let me know what you thought.

First and foremost, Jane Austen's Complete Works which include all 6 of her published books:

One of the great and ever popular masters of the English novel is represented here by every one of her novels. Includes Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and the lesser-known Lady Susan.

The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy

In Fitzwilliam Darcy, Austen created the ultimate romantic hero. Yet Pride and Prejudice reveals little of Darcy's innermost thoughts. Here, Street unveils the true motives and mysteries of Elizabeth Bennet's enigmatic suitor. Through Darcy's eyes we discover the reality of his relationships with his sister Georgiana, his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, the dastardly Wickham, his friend Bingley, and his formidable aunt, Lady Catherine. And of course, all his memorable encounters with Elizabeth, from that first view of her fine eyes to his disastrous proposal, and then to a pride and arrogance tempered by an unquenchable love.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet

Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary? At the conclusion of Jane Austen's classic novel, Mary, bookish, awkward, and by all accounts, unmarriageable, is sentenced to a dull, provincial existence in the backwaters of Britain. Now, master storyteller Colleen McCullough rescues Mary from her dreary fate with The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, a page-turning sequel set twenty years after Austen's novel closes. The story begins as the neglected Bennet sister is released from the stultifying duty of caring for her insufferable mother.

Emma Watson: The Watsons Completed by Joan Aiken

It has always been a source of great frustration to Janeites that Jane Austen abandoned The Watsons after only seventeen and a half thousand words. It is, as Margaret Drabble says, a "tantalising, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels had she finished it." In Emma Watson, Joan Aiken at long last completes The Watsons. Nineteen-year-old Emma, adopted by her aunt after the death of her mother, has rejoined her ailing father and her favorite sister, Elizabeth. Her stuffy brother Robert is living in Croydon with his grasping wife; her shrewish sister Penelope looks to have made a good match; her brother Sam is trying to make his way as a doctor; and Emma's immediate elder, Margaret, fancies herself in love with Tom Musgrave. Austen characters all, yet Joan Aiken, with consummate skill, makes them her own.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Viegler

This delightful sequel to Rigler's Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict has 19th-century Jane Mansfield switching bodies and milieus with contemporary L.A. girl Courtney Stone. As Jane grasps the idea that she's a different person in an unimaginable world, and grapples with the radically liberal social mores, dress and language, she leans on Jane Austen's novels as touchstones to reality.

******************************

Now do you understand why I seem to be addicted to Jane Austen?

It's quite funny actually, as I do tend to go through these phases, I still vividly remember my King Henry VIII phase where I simply devoured every book, biography, documentary and tv show or movie ever made about this era.

But I've always been a Jane girl, they are the only books that I read over and over again and never get tired, they are also the only movies I will watch more than once.

My husband thinks I'm crazy, see he's the kind of guy who can watch the same movie 5 or 6 or 7 times and still enjoy it and I usually turn my nose at it and tease him about it. After all, everyone knows that Sandra does NOT read or watch anything twice.....except for Jane Austen, I don't think there can ever be enough of Mr Darcy can there?

So now that I've let you in to that little secret, I'm off to go and read, I'm currently enjoying the Rude Awakening of a Jane Austen Addict and it's quite funny so far.

What are you reading right now?