Everything I Read This Summer...

Summer is over. And I would say this is unfortunate but then that would be a lie. Personally, I love the fall and winter, the summer and I have never really gotten along well. That being said, I did get a lot of reading done this summer and I'm here to tell you (and only you) about everything I read this summer that was by or mentioned Jane Austen, because it was surprisingly a lot.

Sense & Sensibility

One of my friends and I created a challenge, as part of our summer bucketlist, to try and read all six of Austen's books in the three months we would consider summer. I think going into this we knew it would be a hard thing to do, especially because we didn't stop reading other books by other people. So... Sense & Sensibility is the only one that I finished reading. (I also started Pride & Prejudice but I am still making my way through that).

Rereading S&S was good. The edition pictured above is the copy that I read and it had a really interesting Introduction by Margaret Anne Doody, which made me think/feel differently about Edward on this read (I want to do a whole piece on that, so more to come hopefully). But, of course, I loved the book. The whole time I couldn't help but picture the 1995 adaptation and when the characters spoke I heard everything in the actors voices (especially Col. Brandon, of course).

And I have feelings on them making another adaptation of it but they're basically the same as what I said about the Pride & Prejudice remakes, so if you're interested you can read this: We Don't Need Another Pride & Prejudice

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

I don't know why but I was not expecting a 'Jane Austen' name drop when reading To The Lighthouse. So I was very surprised when reading "For that was what his criticism of poor Sir Walter, or perhaps is was Jane Austen, amounted to." That's literally it. The entire mention.

I've never read anything by Virginia Woolf before. This was my first time reading her work and I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style. I've heard a lot about her, her work, and style before and how it can be A LOT. But I think the way the story twists and turns, or when there are just random interjections of semi-/unrelated thoughts, reminds me a lot of my own thinking pattern. My friend said it reminds them of how we have conversations. And her descriptions of nature and art are to die for!

Other than the style, I did really enjoy the first half of the story. I think I was interested in the characters and what was happening but it kind of lost me in the last two parts. Overall, though, it was a good read and I'm excited to read more of her work.

Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson

This was a completely random read that I only picked up because my neighbour was getting rid of a copy. If you're a book lover of any kind, I would highly recommend this read because Austen is not the only literary figure mentioned. Moby Dick, Willa Cather, Tolstoy, Keats, even Virginia Woolf are just a few of the other names dropped throughout the story.

The whole book is focused on a B&B run by two, twin brothers. The B&B attracts a lot of literary lovers, including a Jane Austen Society group. One of the JAS members says: "I suppose Jane Austen is my only hot weather flirtation to have blossomed into an enduring passion", and I feel that!

The entire book is quite entertaining and comedically written. There's not a lot of plot happening but I think that's what made it a perfect light, little read!

Salvage: Readings From The Wreck by Dionne Brand

Did I pick this up solely because the blurb on the book mentioned Jane Austen? Perhaps. Does it critique Austen and some of my other favourite (and least favourite) literary writers? Yes. Am I glad that I read it nonetheless? Undoubtedly!

Salvage is a series of essays culminating in an autobiography kind of book. It dives into British and American literature (and media), and it's portrayal (or sometimes lack thereof) Black people. What was particularly interesting to me was some of the early chapters because they discussed a lot of English classics that I've read - some that I loved and some that I hated - including Vanity Fair, Jane Eyre, and later Mansfield Park. I think as someone who is reading a lot of these classics it was a really important read to consdier a point of view on the books that I maybe wouldn't have come to by myself.

I also think when I reread Mansfield Park now I will look at is differently, especially after reading this point that Brand makes: "The weight of greed and immoral thought in the novel is borne by Miss Crawford, who had her eyes on Edmund... But to this reader she is the most honest character in her exchanges and letters about the stakes of the world of the novel.... Mansfield Park if considered a novel about morals, rightness and good conduct. But this reader sees that any character who honestly reminds the novel of its world is dispatched with and branded as being without virtue."

If you're also someone who reads a lot of classics I would definitely suggest picking this one up.