Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2017 discussion

First book read (though mostly in 2016), Claire Tomalin’s biography, Jane Austen: A Life. I gave it four stars, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Abigail,congrats on having your first book read. 4*? Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks, Mary! Probably cheating to count it as a 2017 read, but I don’t expect to have too much recreational reading time this year and need to do all I can to beef up my numbers!

As far as I'm concerned,you finished it in 2017,
so it counts!!! Simple as that!!!

Who really cares when you started it - we are just glad to cheer the act of pleasure reading on! Enjoy the books and share the good ones.

Stretching the Austenesque definition a bit, I’ve read Georgette Heyer’s Black Sheep (for the umpteenth time). Five stars, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Helps to be in complementary Goodreads groups! This one is the January read in the Georgette Heyer group.

Good luck with your challenge and congrats on your finishes so far!

Abigail,congrats on reading Black Sheep.
I've yet to read a G.Heyer book,but the fact that you've read this particular one for the upteenth time,might persuade me to read it.

Thanks, Mary! And I must say that there’s a Georgette Heyer for everyone to love! I’ve read most of them umpteen times, I must admit! My absolute favorite is The Unknown Ajax; many people also adore Cotillion. If you have writing ambitions, Sylvester is a good option.

One should not approach Heyer with the idea that she’s “doing Jane Austen.” The period is (more or less) the same and she is also very witty, but her characters tend to be at a higher rank of society and the stories are more romance in the modern sense than social comedy like Jane Austen wrote. But for historical romance, there are none better in my book!

How could her books have escaped me??
I'm curious,so this might be the year I actually decide to read one. Thanks,Abigail.

Be prepared to lose some months or years from your life, Mary. Once you get hooked on Heyer, she won’t let you go!

I remember my first job out of college required me to go to the library every day to check bibliographic entries for a large academic tome. I was pretty quick at my job, so I spent about two hours of the workday checking sources and the other six hiding in the stacks, reading every GH I could get my hands on.

Oh! Abigail,what a heavenly way to spend your days !

I look back on it with great affection. My employers, maybe not so much. Life was slower-paced then.

Different days,in more ways than one.

Best of luck meeting your goal, Abigail! :) How great to already have made some steps towards it!

Thanks, Meredith!

Number 3 down, Nicole Clarkston, The Courtship of Edward Gardiner: A Pride & Prejudice Prequel. Four stars, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Good progress...every step (book) counts!

Number 4: Robert Rodi, Edgar and Emma: A Novel After Jane Austen. Omigod, omigod, five very big stars for me! Warning to those who read Austenesque fiction for the romance, this is social satire. But oh so beautifully executed. My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Progress is progress is progress. Glad you liked that book. It is one I have not read nor heard feedback on before today.

Well, it’s definitely out of the Austenesque mainstream, Sheila! You might have heard about Rodi’s blog series (which he self-published in two volumes a few years ago), Bitch in a Bonnet—close readings, chapter by chapter, of each of the novels. I don’t know whether he has published other fiction, but in this one he certainly put his Austen jones to good use!

No, I have not heard of nor followed his blogs previously.

Number 5: Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Ve-e-e-ry interesting.

Number 6: Sherwood Smith, Rondo Allegro. Not really an Austenesque, just a historical novel set in the period. But I loved it so much that I share it here, hoping others will read it!

Reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Stepping on up. Congrats on the progress.

Thanks, Sheila!

Number 7: Trudy Wallis, Longbourn Library: A Novel of Pride, Prejudice, and Books. I had a blast! Reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Number 8: a reread of my favorite-ever Georgette Heyer novel, The Unknown Ajax. Reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Good steady progress...sounds like you did enjoy those books. Great.

I'm delighted you enjoyed your re-read of your favourite Heyer book,Abigail.
I've recently re-read two of my favourites also. It's lovely going down memory lane and being gently reminded why you love the books so much!

You’re right, Mary, sometimes nothing but a reread will do!

Number 9: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman. No actual Austen connection, only a brilliantly accurate Regency with fantasy elements. Loved it, five stars, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Abigail wrote: "Number 9: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman. No actual Austen connection, only a brilliantly accurate Regency with fantasy elements. Loved it, five stars, reviewed here: https://..."

Well, I will say that book is popular with over a thousand reviews.

Number 10: The Darcy Monologues, edited by Christina Boyd. Much scrumptious Darciness to be found within these pages! Reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... And now it’s on to the Anne Elliot level for me. Hooray! I do enjoy her company.

Congrats Abigail!!!! Moving onto a higher level is good,but the fact that The Darcy Monologues was the book that allowed entry must make it all the sweeter!!

Great progress and with this step an excellent book!

Thanks! I did enjoy myself with the last one. Our own Sophia has done it again!

Congrats! Lol...Darcy, Darcy, Darcy....

Thanks, Kirk! Though I’d have to say that I enjoyed it despite Darcy, who has never been a favorite of mine.

Abigail wrote: "Thanks, Kirk! Though I’d have to say that I enjoyed it despite Darcy, who has never been a favorite of mine."
Thx! Good to know...Darcy is only mid level for me but there are many involved with the book that I'd like to "support" by reading the book in the future.

I think I liked the ones that didn’t stick too close to the canonical story all that closely—I suppose because it’s hard to feel at this point that anyone has anything new to say about the canonical story. That’s why in my review I focused on the ones that stray farther afield. And there were plenty in that category to amuse!

Number 11: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn. Five stars! Reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

11 books under your belt! Well done Abigail! I'm delighted that your latest was a 5* read!

Yes, I agree with Mary. So happy that was a 5 star read for you and good work getting another book off the pile.

Thank you, Mary and Sheila! My progress is slow, so I really appreciate it when one of the few I read is a good one.

Number 12 (and it’s a stretch to call this “Austenesque”; it’s simply a Regency mystery): A Purely Private Matter by Darcie Wilde, reviewed here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Abigail,12 books read and a busy,hectic life lived? I think that's pretty good! Well done! 🎉

Thanks, Mary! I wasn’t sure I’d make it to Anne Elliott this year, so I’m glad I’ve at least gotten that far.

Abagail's Pathetic Performance?!? Hey, now! Your performance looks good to me!

Well, I look at Sara’s 300-and-something titles and feel pretty pathetic. But thank you in any case!