You can find information about this challenge at http://austenprose.com/reading-challenges/being-a-jane-austen-mystery-reading-challenge-2011.
I plan to participate in this reading challenge as an aficionada who reads 9-11 books! This quite the commitment since I am a mother of two-and-a-half-year-old twin boys and a full-time high school librarian who is working to read books for a book club...but I really love this series and am excited to reread them.
I think it will be fun to remember what Mona Swithin was like when she was younger (since I just read Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron) and just revisit this world again. When I first started the series over five years ago (we lived at our old house then!), the series inspired me to research Jane's life in a way I had never done before; I became serious about her and not just about her writing. I read a cookbook with Martha Lloyd recipes (even one for white soup...Bingley!). When I read Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House, I started researching the Royal Navy. They are just fun and they came to me at a time in my life when my knowledge was stagnant (I had just finished my Master's and my was teaching the same books...again...for the 4th year in a row...to freshmen) and they set that desire for knowledge on fire again. I can't wait to reread books that made a difference inmy life when I needed them to.
I do not think that I am going to continue with this reading program. I have been very dissatisfied with Austenprose.com, and do not wish to be associated with the site anymore. Also, being on the program rather took away the joy I had previously when I read these novels. I feel so compelled to read them "on time" that I don't feel like I have the ability to persue other books I want to read.
ReplyDeleteI think I will next begin The Mists of Avalon becuase (1) Susan Strasinger has recommended it and (2) I am currently "into" Scotland, England, standing stones, Druids, and other thoroughly Celtic things.