slauderdale’s Reviews > Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend > Status Update

“If you’ve spent any time reading about the world of 18th-century British literature, you know Piozzi already. Of all the women writers in this project, she was the only one with whom I was already quite familiar.“ Contrariwise, I don’t think I had ever encountered Piozzi’s name until I skimmed the table of contents for this book. [amused]

(I must acknowledge that her main point holds true: I DID read it as a college student.)

I enjoyed pages 172-177 where she constructs this episode in which the stars have aligned and she is finally going to read Hannah More - cue the chai and sensory descriptions of dirty antique paper - gets sidetracked by similarities with Mary Wollstonecraft, talks about Mary Wollstonecraft, then finds another readers’s ancient bookmark and uses that as her signal to stop reading. Fun chapter, though!

I definitely get the feeling that the author liked and likely read more of Lennox‘s work than Burney’s, and she does a great job of making me want to read her beyond just the one book as well.

“A favorite pastime of Johnsonians - yes, there are Johnsonians just as there are Janeites - “ e_e

"The Mysteries of Udolpho" is not my favorite book and I don't feel any particular desire to reread it. That said, I'd be interested in reading one of Radcliffe's earlier books (after hitting up Edgeworth, Lennox and Smith, anyway.)

So much for the chapter on Frances Burney! Which is to say that I'm glad Romney finally got around to "Evelina," and if I asked whether she went on to read other novels by Burney, the answer is probably no. Just as well, no spoilers for "Cecilia"...which has been on my to-read shelf since 2015, so I'm a fine one to talk.! FWIW, I didn't know Burney is better remembered as a diarist than a novelist. Interesting.