Our Favorite Austen Things

Some resources on a most distinguished lady

Welcome to Reading Revisited, a place for friends to enjoy some good old-fashioned book chat while revisiting the truth, beauty, and goodness we’ve found in our favorite books.

Happy Friday!

As it is Austen month around here we thought we’d share some of our favorite books, articles, podcasts, and more to help you all get better acquainted with the woman of the hour. All of these would be great companions for our Pride & Prejudice read-along this month.

Books

First, two excellent biographies, both are great and have very different approaches:

Next are some great ones that would fall into the “books about books” category.

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Podcasts

Below are some links to our favorite podcasts/episodes on Jane Austen:

• Though it’s no longer active, Karen Swallow Prior’s Jane and Jesus has some interesting looks at Austen and her works

• The History Chicks have a fun one on Austen:

• The Literary Life Podcast has several Jane Austen episodes (series on Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey as well as some episodes on Austen film adaptations):

• Close Reads HQ
  also has multiple Austen series in the archives, including one on P&P!

• The Lizzie Bennett Diaries (not quite a podcast, but close enough and extremely fun)

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Articles/Links

• Money in Jane Austen How much is Bingley’s £5,000 a year? Or Darcy’s £10,000? This article puts the fortunes of Austen’s characters into context. Just a teaser from the article:

Consider that most of Mr. Darcy’s fortune is in his home, property, and investments:  £10,000 is merely a year’s disposable income... When Jane Austen said that a character had a certain number of pounds per year, she implied that they invested their fortune and received that amount yearly in return.  Landed gentry in nineteenth-century Britain did not need to work because they could live off their investments.  A typical government fund paid 5% a year, or only 4% in the case of a small investment.  Thus, Mr. Darcy’s £10,000 a year implies £200,000 invested…this amount ranges in value depending on the method of calculation from $19,725,520 to $328,737,820.

• Without Austen, No Eliot - a great, quick essay on Austen’s approach and the way she may have influenced Mary Ann Evans

• Literary Ladies Guide to Jane Austen - good, quick bio

• Jane Austen: Christian Artist, Humorist, and Philosopher by

  Haley Stewart
  - a great teaser for her book mentioned above

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Feel free to share any of your favorite books or links in the comments!

Until next time, keep revisiting the good books that enrich your life and nourish your soul.

In Case You Missed It:

• Pride and Prejudice Part 1

• Reading Revisited ep. 6 - Our Favorite Summer Reads with

• Pride and Prejudice Schedule

• East of Eden - Revisiting the Whole

A Few Reminders:

• If you are wanting to get in on the in person or virtual community please contact us!

  Message Hannah Suire

• Here is the whole list of this years book selections

• Book lists from previous years can be found here.

*As always, some of the links are affiliate links. If you don’t have the books yet and are planning to buy them, we appreciate you using the links. The few cents earned with each purchase you make after clicking links (at no extra cost to you) goes toward the time and effort it takes to keep Reading Revisited running and we appreciate it!