Nonfiction for Jane Austen July - reviews

 I am having a lovely Jane Austen July so far. Although I have read two of her novels (Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility), my focus has been on nonfiction related to Jane Austen. 

Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen by Rory Muir was my first and favorite read. It is an excellent look at courting and marriages, both good and bad, in Jane Austen's day. Although it is well documented, it reads very easily and was fascinating to me. I now want to read his other Regency life book, Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune. 

Next I read Jane Austen: A Life from Beginning to End, part of a series of biographies by Hourly History. It is short but a good refresher for the other Jane Austen biographies I have read. (My favorite biographies are Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley and The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne.)

For something different, I read Jane Austen Embroidery by Jennie Batchelor and Alison Larkin. I don't embroider myself, but the directions seemed very easy to follow. The pictures of the designs and finished projects are lovely.

Jane Austen and The Price of Happiness by Ingrid Sigrun Bredkjaer Brodey was a very interesting look at the endings of her novels. Did they, in fact, undermine romance instead of celebrating it? She looks at each novel, its contemporary reception, and its adaptations. It was a new perspective for me.

A New Jane Austen by Juliette Wells, subtitled How Americans Brought Us The World's Greatest Novelist. Part three of a trio of books about Jane Austen's readers, this looks at American views of her writing, beginning with Oscar Fay Adams in the 1880's. It was drier than the other books on this list but still a good view at how Americans received Jane Austen. 

Last but not least I read Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan, an illustrated look at the covers of her novels from the first editions to today. I am a visual person and really enjoyed this book. Some covers are lovely, some ludicrous, but all worth looking at. I found this book to be great fun.