Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. The third book I have chosen to feature from my Classics Club list is…
The story of a woman born and bred in the murky world of seventeenth-century London. Daniel Defoe created a female character-narrator who recounts, from a woman’s point of view, her life and adventures, portraying critically the society in which she lived.
I’ve never read any books by Daniel Defoe so I am looking forward to reading this book.
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
This collection brings together Jane Austen’s earliest experiments in the art of fiction and novels that she left incomplete at the time of her premature death in 1817. Her fragmentary juvenilia show Austen developing her own sense of narrative form whilst parodying popular kinds of fiction of her day. Lady Susan is a wickedly funny epistolary novel about a captivating but unscrupulous widow seeking to snare husbands for her daughter and herself. The Watsons explores themes of family relationships, the marriage market, and attitudes to rank, which became the hallmarks of her major novels. In Sanditon, Austen exercises her acute powers of social observation in the setting of a newly fashionable seaside resort. These novels are here joined by shorter fictions that survive in Austen’s manuscripts, including critically acclaimed works like Catharine, Love and Freindship [sic], and The History of England.
This edition includes:
– Frederic and Elfrida
– Jack and Alice
– Edgar and Emma
– Henry and Eliza
– Love and Freindship
– A History of England
– The Three Sisters
– Lesley Castle
– Evelyn
– Catharine, or the Bower
– Lady Susan
– The Watsons
– Sanditon
Review
This was the only work by Austen I had left to read and as I usually like to start the New Year with an Austen book I decided it was high time to read this collection of works and complete the set.
I was really excited to read Austen’s juvenilia work and I was not disappointed. I was also really frustrated that so much was left unfinished. I knew it would be unfinished but I so desperately wanted to know how the stories ended.
Austen’s juvenilia stories were hilarious and you could really tell they were written by a girl who had not seen a lot of the world yet but was starting to get a good understanding of people. At times you could really see the true magic of Austen’s wit starting to develop and make itself known. There are a great deal of fainting ladies in Austen’s juvenilia works, they are either fainting on the sofa, on the floor, basically all over the place and for very little reason. One thing we do learn though is that it is better to run around like a lunatic than faint in bad weather because running around keeps the cold away and fainting will make you catch a chill with mortal consequences.
One of my favourites in this book was A History of England. I loved Austen’s clear love of Mary Queen of Scots and hatred of Elizabeth I, she is forever putting down Elizabeth I and praising Mary Queen of Scots at every opportunity. The history is not accurate and it is clear that Austen has made up quite a bit of her facts with hilarious results. There are also no dates but the monarchs are in chronological order. The added illustrations by Cassandra Austen were an added bonus.
Lady Susan I struggled to get into to begin with due to the story being written in the form of letters but once I got used to it I loved it. Lady Susan is quite a character and one I imagine people with any sense would steer clear of. She has a quite a reputation but men pay no heed to this reputation because of her way with words and her beauty. Thankfully, most women can see through this scheming character.
I could go on and on about how much I loved this book and there really wasn’t any story that I did not enjoy. It was so interesting to see Austen develop as an author and I loved her little dedications for each story. I give this book a massive 5 out of 5 Dragons and will definitely be reading it again.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Jane Austen born 16th December 1775 died 18th July 1817 was an English novelist known for her six major novels. Austen’s novels are known for social comedy and accurate depiction of human relationships.
This review is part of my Classics Club challenge. Please click the link to see my list of 50 books.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Goodreads Monday is hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good Monday so far. I haven’t had much teaching today which has meant I could do bit of reading and have a lovely walk. Tomorrow is a busier day for me so will probably mean less reading but I am still hoping for a nice walk to clear away the cobwebs.
I am continuing to use my Goodreads Monday posts to feature a book on my Classics Club List as that makes up quite a bit of my TBR pile at the moment.
Taken from the poverty of her parents’ home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle’s absence in Antigua, the Crawford’s arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen’s first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.
This will be a reread for me but I last read Mansfield Park in 2014 so it will be nice to read again and refresh my memory.
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I have seen this tag in the book blog world quite a bit recently and decided I would give it a go, as it looked fun.
How many books are you planning to read in 2022?
My Goodreads goal is 60 books which is slightly lower than usual. Usually I aim for 70 books but this year I have some pretty hefty books planned on my TBR, so I thought with the higher page count I would most likely read less books.
2. Name 5 books that you didn’t get to in 2021 but want to make a priority in 2022.
Oh dear, there are so many books to choose from! My selected 5 are:
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Lore by Alexandra Bracken
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
3. What genre do you want to read more of?
I really want to get back into my classics this year, so I plan to read more books published in the 1700’s and 1800’s.
4. Name 3 non book related goals for 2022.
To pass at least one exam on the ukulele
To get the planned home improvements started and finished.
To do more performance work.
5. What’s a book you’ve had forever that you still need to read?
This is a tricky question because I have so many. I very rarely get rid of books and I would never get rid of a book that I have never read. The book I will choose though is The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas.
6. One word that your hoping 2022 will be: adventurous.
7. Tag a friend!
If you like the look of this Book Tag consider yourself tagged!
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I have not taken part in a Top 5 Tuesday for ages so I thought it was high time I returned.
2022 for me will hopefully involve reading more classics and finishing some of the many book series I have started and not finished. This means my 2022 TBR is rather large so I will do my best to select 5 books I will definitely read (I hope).
Nemesis Games by James. S. A. Corey – This year I really want to finish The Expanse series and this is the next book to read in the series.
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome – This book is on my Classics Club list and one that I think I might have read in the past and forgotten or started reading and never finished.
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan – In 2014 I read books 1-5 of The Wheel of Time series and then restarted and read books 1-3 in 2015. This year I have started at book one again and I determined this time I will finish the series. I’m never sure why I stop reading the books because I really love the series.
Sovereign by C. J. Sansom – I love the Shardlake books and this is the next one I need to read. Again, another series I plan to finish this year.
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas – Another book off my Classics Club list. I love The Three Musketeers so I hope I will enjoy this book.
Please drop me a link if you have taken part in Top 5 Tuesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Lady Book Dragon 