The Austen Shelf
Bio
A dedcated creator to all things Jane Austen!
Stories (47)
Filter by community
Battle of the Henry's
Repeating names is nothing new when it comes to old English Classics. There are a handful of names that a writer is exposed to, in the 1800s you couldn't Google "unique baby names" to name your characters, so it's not surprising that we see a repetition of names in Jane Austen novels. One example of this is with the characters Henry from Northanger Abbey and Henry from Mansfield Park. And while the character's share a name, there is very little about their character that they share.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
Why You Should Start A Blog
It has been a few months since writing anything for my blog. But everyday that I haven't written anything, I've been thinking about it. Thinking about ideas and schedules, all the fun little details (or at least I find them fun). And I've been meaning to get back to writing, I mean I have about seven different articles started in my drafts, all at varying lengths of started-ness, but it wasn't until today that I've purposefully sat down and started to write something, and that is all thanks to a book I read for my book club.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
Jane Austen's Worst Novel
Mansfield Park. If you don't recognize the name, that's totally normal. Unfortunately Mansfield Park is a title that often takes back seat to Jane Austen's other novels, like Pride & Prejudice or Sense & Sensibility. But why isn't a more notable Austen novel? Why is it considered Austen's worst novel?
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
2021 Reading Wrap-up
For the past five years I've been doing a reading challenge where I read a certain number of books (based on the number at the end of the year), that all fulfill challenges that I come up with or have picked out from other challenges I've seen online. So as the end of 2021 is upon us, I thought I'd share the 21 books I read in 2021.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
Want To Read More Classics?. Top Story - December 2021.
As the new year gets closer and closer you've probably started thinking about your resolutions for 2022. Workout, be more patient, work harder (or less), or maybe even read more? When picking up reading as a habit for the first time or for the first time in a while, it's good to start with simpler, faster paced books. Usually this means avoiding classics as much as possible, but I don't think that has to be the case. Therefore I give you some of my tips and recommendations (as a classics lover) that'll hopefully make it easier to get into reading more classics.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Geeks
The Best Quotes From:
Probably like many others, I live for a quotable book, and often find quotes in books that maybe aren't thought of as "quotable". But as an Austen fan I can always find something in any of her work. Recently I've started to dog ear (yes the infamous dog ear) the corners of pages if there is something a character says or some line that I find funny, prettily written, or just want to remember. So here are the quotes from the folded pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen:
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
Jane Austen's Gothic Satire
I'm hesitant to start with Northanger Abbey of all books. It may seem like an odd choice for anyone who knows a bit about Austen, you're probably thinking "why wouldn't you start with Pride and Prejudice?" And it's a good question, because why wouldn't I. Not only would it make sense since it's Austen's most popular novel now. Plus, I'll be honest now, this isn't going to be the most positive review, and I am afraid of turning away any possible Austen fans by talking badly about one of her works. However, I think moving from least favourites to my favourites of Austen's work will help brighten the mood as I go on.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
4 Things I Learned about Jane Austen
Jane Austen: A Literary Life by Jan Fergusis a great look at Austen's life through her work and the publishing industry at the time. As an Austen fan (Austenian? Austen-head?) I've done my fair share of researching her life, and of course reading a lot of her work. But I had never picked up a biography, until now. Although this is only the first bio I've read, I already feel like it's one of the best and will probably continue to be my favourite. Why? Because no other words can describe it like 'interesting' and 'informative'.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Geeks
The Jane Austen Shelf
Jane Austen: the WOMAN, the Myth, the Legend For a while now, Jane Austen has been, not only my favourite author, but also a small obsession of mine. (Okay it might be bigger than I make it out to be.) And since joining the Vocal writers community I've been trying to find my niche, my thing, something to write about week after week, to build a little community of my own in, and I think I've finally found it... any guesses?
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
