In Which I Finish With Jane Austen and Find I Am Free to Read Whatever I Wish

AUSTEN IN AUGUST

I can't quite believe it, but I have now read all six of Jane Austen's novels. I feel quite proud of myself. 

Mansfield Park is my final Austen read. It's the story of a poor girl, Fanny, who is sent to live with her affluent relatives. She grows into a refined and beautiful young woman, despite her treatment as a second-class person by the rich members of her family. Fanny is captivated by her resolute cousin, Edmund, while in true Austen-ish fashion, Edmund is drawn to a beautiful neighbor, Mary Crawford, and Mary's brother, Henry, becomes infatuated with Fanny. 

It's a wild ride of a romantic triangle, with all sorts of triangles within triangles. At the same time, Austen takes us out of the drawing room, into the corners of lives lived in poverty, into the lives of those who are involved in slave trade, into lives of the idle and morally uncertain rich, and leaves her readers with lots to think about.

And that wraps up Austen in August for me. What have I accomplished in August?

1. I've read the four (of six) Austen novels I'd not yet read: Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Emma, and Mansfield Park, and I watched a movie for each novel. 

2. I wrote a post for Austen in August called The Newbie Janeite in which I shared all the information a reader new to Austen needs to know. One reader commented, "Bravo! I feel like this is a post I could save and reshare with friends over and over again."

3. I wrote a post for Readerbuzz called Which Jane Austen Novel is the Classic-est? in which I tried to figure out which of Jane Austen's novels could be considered the most classic novel. I also included a poll for anyone interested in voting. Here are the results of the poll:

As you can see Pride and Prejudice was the clear choice for most classic. Persuasion surprised me by bypassing Sense and Sensibility for second place. Northanger Abbey and Emma had one vote each, and no one chose Mansfield Park. 

A happy reading month.

CALL FOR CYBILS JUDGES

We are searching for a few good readers to serve as judges for the Cybils 2018. If you want to know more about the Cybils, take a look at my post about the Cybils from last week. Please apply to be a Cybils judge here.

ACTION FOR HAPPINESS: SELF-CARE SEPTEMBER

I love this monthly calendar from Action for Happiness. Download your own copy free here.




WHAT ARRIVED IN MY MAILBOX THIS WEEK

My mailbox was jammed full this week. I will be reading these this week:

Houston's Hurricane Harvey Floods by Kevin Blake

Deadly Spider Bites by Kevin Blake

Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner

Carlos Santana: Sound of the Heart, Song of the World by Gary Golio

Sinister Savannah by E. Merwin
Unsheltered: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

READING AT WILL

I'm through reading Paris stories and I'm through with Jane Austen. 

For the first time in two months, I can read whatever I want to read. 

I think I will.

Austen in August is a celebration of all things Jane Austen, featuring reviews, discussions, vlogs, giveaways, interviews and more. This event runs all of the month of August. Faith Hope and Cherrytea has also created an Austen in August Instagram challenge for the month of August.  To find out more about the Austen in August Instagram challenge, visit Faith Hope and Cherrytea. To find out more about Austen in August, visit The Book Rat.

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've
wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound
 journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens
at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their
own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly,
mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read”
book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted at The Book Date.