Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2016 discussion

Share what you are comfortable about yourself and what challenge level you are tackling. Ideas for sharing might include: where you're from, how you came to admire JA's books or Austenesque books in the JA world, how big your TBR pile is, favorite JA story or character, etc

Sophia wrote: "Share what you are comfortable about yourself and what challenge level you are tackling. Ideas for sharing might include: where you're from, how you came to admire JA's books or Austenesque books i..."

Thank you for once again making and taking care of this lovely group. I am very excited to keep up with you all. I will be aiming for Mr Bennet's library so I hope to see you all there.

Talia's headed for the top with Mr. Bennet. So glad to see a familiar 'face'. :)

My turn! Hi everyone!

I'm from the US (Southeast Michigan). I love to read of course and that includes all things Jane Austen or Austen-inspired.

I'm rather eclectic in my tastes in that I don't have a preference whether its original JA or a loose concept related to her stories or characters. I'm rather flexible as to format (graphic novel, an audio book, an ebook or a paper copy) or whatever genre the book falls under (romance, mystery, contemporary, non-fic, paranormal, historical).

I fell in love with Jane Austen as a child of eight when my mother read P&P with me each night before bed. My favorite JA book is Persuasion.

My goal is to read two Austen-inspired books from my TBR pile each month so I guess that places me at the Anne Elliot level- to start. I'll be posting updates monthly. Any book I've read; I will also review. Feel free to friend me or follow my reviews- though fair warning- I don't only read Austenesque. ;)

Good luck everybody!

Thanks again Sophia for taking care of us here in this lovely group. I love following fellow JAFF readers and get my best recommendations here...

I am aiming for Mr. Bennet's Library and hope to be there by April or May... I only read JAFF right now, because every time I have a free moment, I usually don't watch tv,movies or read anything else because I always want to read JAFF instead!!

My love for JAFF has led me to start my own blog, Just Jane 1813, where I'm getting ready to launch "The Twelve Days of Jane" event on Dec. 1st. There will be many holiday JAFF reviews, lots of giveaways, a fun Austen shopping list and some great surprises for our readers from some amazing JAFF authors... I have made so many insightful and kind friends over the past year through JAFF. I am grateful for the journey that Austen's work has enabled me to take as a reader and as a woman living in today's modern world.

Hi! I think my goal will be for 2016 the Anne Elliot level. But I will try to do more. I have so many books on my TBR list that I have promised to review which takes away time from me to read Jane. Waiting for my new Kindle to come , so I can read faster.

My pleasure, Claudine! Glad you're back. I have a feeling that moving Mr. Bennet's library up a few levels will still be easy as pie for you. Haha!

And you must put your event in the 2015 promo and include your blog here on the new address book. I will certainly be along for the event. :)

Thanks Sophia! I really appreciate your support!!

Judy wrote: "Hi! I think my goal will be for 2016 the Anne Elliot level. But I will try to do more. I have so many books on my TBR list that I have promised to review which takes away time from me to read Jane...."

That sounds very familiar, Judy! :) I have review books interfering with Jane reads, too. Glad to have your company at Anne Elliot level. Oh cool, a new Kindle to load with lots of books.

I will be joining the Mr. Bennet's Library level for 2016. I just finished my 144th book for this year, for which I posted a review. I have read some books for which I posted no review: some are those from online sites, i.e. fanfiction, Darcyandlizzy.com, A Happy Assembly and others.

I am a retired grandmother of 4 and I do a lot of babysitting. I also do crafts and like to bake. I live in Pennsylvania and love the JAFF community.

Woohoo! Sheila's back and tackling Mr. B's library.

Wish there was a way for you guys to review the unpublished JAFF here on GoodReads, but you do a good job of sharing what you like about them.

Amanda from Auburn, Alabama. I found the 2015 group at the end of 2015 and jumped on board to prepare for the 2016 turnover. I am going for the Anne Elliot level this year. I usually read a good bit, but my husband and I are both in college, so I have to space out my reading during the semesters. Looking forward to getting ideas for books to read from my fellow Jane Austen fans!

I'm Tina and I was in the 2015 group but I didn't post that often. I'm aiming for the Emma Woodhouse level.

We are so glad to have you join us, Amanda. Always lovely to welcome someone new to the group.

Good choice of level. I'll be right there with you. College can be rigorous and demanding in turn. Rooting you on there, too.

And yes, you will definitely see some books of interest. This reminds me, I need to add in my virtual shelves. :)

Fantastic, Tina! Splendid that you can go again. It's okay to be shy with the postings. Life can be soooo busy.

But hey, look at you going for the new Emma level. First person! Look forward to seeing what you get read this next year.

Hello everyone, I'm Erika and I hail from southeastern Wisconsin. I am an avid reader, I think I was born with a book in my hand!!! When we would go on our annual road trip to Disney World or Gulf Shores, AL, my mother would give me a stack of books to entertain me on the long drives and in-between times. My first love (and truly still is) was Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables).

Now days, I guzzle up any and all JA variation books I can get my hands on, plus try to attend the JAFF sites. I found JAFF sites and JA variation books back in 2008 and have not turned back since. I enjoy any and all types of JA variations, though my favorites are from the Regency period.

This yr I did branch out to the Romance genre, though I stick to modern period (no paranormal or historical). I started reading/writing ARC reviews for some select authors which tend to take away from my JAFF reading time. But I look at it as giving me a small break then I can dive back into JAFF!!! I am always willing to read/write ARC reviews for JAFF authors as well. I am not a professional reviewer, I review books based on how they entertain me!!

I am a full-time Home Health Occupational Therapist, so I sneak my reading in after work, and if I have downtime between patients. Reading is my sanity, along with my cats, I'd go crazy without either!!!

I look forward to this challenge to keep me going, meet new friends and connecting with the ones I have made this past year. So thank you Sophia for continuing this fabulous group!!!! I will be aiming for Mr Bennet since i will have read over 100 JAFF books (short and long) by the end of 2015.

Hi all!

Am so happy to be joining this group, meeting some new friends and staying in touch with those I met in the past year.

I'm from the Emerald Isle and I love all things Austen. While I'll read anything inspired by Ms Austen's prose, I have a particular fondness for books based on Pride and Prejudice.
I just can't seem to get enough of Darcy and Elizabeth!! I loved the 1995 version of same and can practically quote most of the lines verbatim!!

My aim is to share the delights of Mr Bennet's extensive library!! Happy thought indeed!

Fun to learn how you learned to enjoy reading on your family road trips, Erika!

Dear Miss Ann-with an-E-Shirley. Love her, too.

Glad to see you enjoying more than one sub-genre so there are more books to love.

I love reading your reviews and how you give a clear, balanced idea about the books you read. A few on my pile resulted from reading the reviews and comments here. :)

Go get that Mr. Bennet!

Yay! Mary's back, too.

I enjoyed the happy vibes of this group, too. Glad to see the familiar 'faces' returning.

LOL! I don't think you'll have any trouble keeping your Darcy and Lizzy fix going for several years worth. So many good ones. And yes, love quoting that movie adaption, too.

Look forward to seeing you kicked back and cozy in Mr. Bennet's library. :)

Hello everybody! I'm from Cardiff, in Wales in the UK.

I first came to love Austen as a teen when I'd run out of things to read and I picked up 'Sense and Sensibility' from my mum's bookshelf. The title was vaguely familiar and I enjoyed the book. So then I picked up 'Pride and Prejudice' and within a chapter I was hooked. I fell completely in love with the story because I identified with Lizzy so strongly. I couldn't believe that a book written so long ago could have characters that I could see myself in.

I came to discover JAFF when I was given a kindle as a Christmas present back in 2011. I obviously had to download Austen's books ASAP and that's when I found that there were books inspired by hers. Then a few months I started using Twitter and found reading buddies and blogs devoted to Austen and JAFF. I went from having nothing to read to having a TBR list I'll never get to the end of! I started a book blog nearly two years ago, Babblings of a Bookworm and although I don't have as much time to blog now as I did when I started it I still really enjoy blogging and talking about my reading with others. It's so nice to find people who enjoy reading the same book as you do!

Although I'd love to make it into Mr Bennet's library I didn't make it in 2015 when the threshold was lower so that's not going to happen! Instead I'll aim for Catherine Morland level. Happy reading in 2016 everybody!

Hello everybody, I'm Gabriella/Georgiana from Italy.
I'm a founder of JASIT (Jane Austen Society of Italy http://www.jasit.it/) and I write on a blog called Old Friends & New Fancies/Il Diario delle Lizzies (http://ildiariodellelizzies.blogspot.it/) mostly about Austen Inspired Novels and the like.

I see Sophia included new levels, but I'll start with the Anne Elliot Level. :)

Greetings from Boston, MA!

I have been referring to myself, in terms of Austen love, as Class of '95. Somehow I missed Austen in school...I might have seen an earlier Austen adaptation on Masterpiece Theatre(my parents watched on a weekly basis). However, I definitely saw and loved S&S '95(Team Marianne!!!!), P&P '95, and Emma(my favorite adaptation is now Emma '09 My favorite hero is Mr. Knightley). I then read those books. Then I read Persuasion, MP, and NA. I then searched out JAFF..."The Third Sister" and one about year one in the Lizzy/Darcy marriage(P&P is just very slightly ahead of S&S, Persuasion, Emma, and NA. Sorry MP sixth but I have never disliked it....and I have some ("misplaced"(?)) sympathy
for Edmund as (TMI warning!!) I dated a "Mary Crawford"(she knew of my Austen fandom and wanted to be called Lizzy) a number of years ago.

I'm organizer of Austen in Boston. We are on FB(three dull posts a day generally, except when the Asst. Organizers post(rarely), randomish retweets on Twitter, and have a blog when I post "Week in Review"...the weeks FB posts.

(https://www.facebook.com/Austen-In-Bo...)

While I'm currently at 66 for the year, next year promises to be less. :(
I can't not start at the Marianne Dashwood Level(Team Marianne!!!).

Thank you Sophia!!

I enjoyed being part of the 2015 group and am back for the 2016. I am again joining the Catherine Morland level and hope to reach the Emma Woodhouse Level. I never read Austen in school, but 5 years ago hubby introduced me to Jane Austen and it's been a great trip since, making lots of new friends.

Thanks for hosting this again this year, Sophie.

This is the best group of readers and chatters! 2015 was delightful, and I’m sure 2016 will be as well. Last year I started at the lowest level and jumped up two; this time I think I’ll go for the Anne Elliot level and try to stay there. There are too many delicious Austenesque excuses not to work on my novel! (Which is not an Austenesque novel.) So I’m going to try to discipline my reading in 2016.

Hello, everybody. Enjoyed the 2015 challenge at the Mr. Bennet level, so I will join the 2016 challenge at the Mr. Bennet level again! Started reading Jane Austen's books in 8th grade starting with Pride and Prejudice. My teacher decided it was the year of the classics. With a list of 20 novels on the list I hit the books. Funny thing, the freshman year in High School, the Literature teacher had the same list! Great two years. I realize everyone's taste in film adaptations are not the same, but my favorite is the 1995 BBC production wjth Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. Happy reading everyone.

Ceri wrote: "Hello everybody! I'm from Cardiff, in Wales in the UK.

I first came to love Austen as a teen when I'd run out of things to read and I picked up 'Sense and Sensibility' from my mum's bookshelf. Th..."

I don't think I knew that you started with Sense and Sensibility. That's neat, Ceri!

Catherine Morland is a good challenge to give the busy lady that you are. :)

Georgiana wrote: "Hello everybody, I'm Gabriella/Georgiana from Italy.
I'm a founder of JASIT (Jane Austen Society of Italy http://www.jasit.it/) and I write on a blog called Old Friends & New Fancies/Il Diario dell..."

I am so glad to have you back, Georgiana. :) I think of you as the Jane Austen Ambassador to Italy with all the work you do translating and blogging.

I'll be keeping you company in Anne Elliot level.

Kirk wrote: "Greetings from Boston, MA!

I have been referring to myself, in terms of Austen love, as Class of '95. Somehow I missed Austen in school...I might have seen an earlier Austen adaptation on Masterp..."

Hail, Class of '95! A good year for Austen lovers for sure, Kirk.
I am endlessly fascinated how folks come to enjoy Jane Austen and which novels or stories to which they identify. Marianne...sigh, cried with that gal when I was thirteen-ish over the dastardly Willoughby.
And of course you must start at her level.

I must check out your Facebook group. I seemed to have missed that you did one.

Ah, Debbie with her own special Mr. Darcy helping her fall in love with Austen. :)

A tough work schedule and still here to join the fun. So glad you're back.

Abigail wrote: "This is the best group of readers and chatters! 2015 was delightful, and I’m sure 2016 will be as well. Last year I started at the lowest level and jumped up two; this time I think I’ll go for the ..."

So true, Abigail! I've never been a part of an online or RL reading group that is so positive and fun. Just reading the comments and reviews here I think doubled my TBR Pile, but I can live with that reader problem. :)

Oh yay, a new book. Cheering you on!

Carol wrote: "Hello, everybody. Enjoyed the 2015 challenge at the Mr. Bennet level, so I will join the 2016 challenge at the Mr. Bennet level again! Started reading Jane Austen's books in 8th grade starting with..."

Howdy, Carol!

Whoosh, another big achiever headed for Mr. Bennet's library.
And that is neat-o how your teacher got you into Austen and the classics.

Oh yeah, P&P '95 so enchanted me that I even dreamed that movie a few times. :)

Hi Sophia and everyone!

I'm a Mexican Jane Austen lover. I discovered her one summer in the pile of books my father ordered for me. I have always loved to read, so every summer he ordered around 20 new books for me, and that summer I got Orgullo y Prejuicio (Pride and Prejudice) and loved the story so I asked my father for more of her books. Then I kind of forgot about her until I discovered JAFF! I took the opportunity to re-read all her books and started reading all the wonderful stories shared in several of the sites at the time. HG, DGW. Firthness, and others.

I translate English into Spanish for a living, and can translate most anything.

I will set a Catherine Morland level, not because I wouldn't be able to read more, but because I don't have time for more.

I live in Hermosillo, capital city of the State of Sonora, in Mexico, a very hot place to live. I have three children, all grown up now, and one recently married and share my home with my husband, the two single ones (that's normal in Mexico), three dogs, one cat, a blue macaw and two parrots.

I hope to fulfill the challenge and surpass it!

Nice meeting all of you.

Teresita wrote: "Hi Sophia and everyone!

I'm a Mexican Jane Austen lover. I discovered her one summer in the pile of books my father ordered for me. I have always loved to read, so every summer he ordered around 2..."

What a special father! I love that he introduced you to your love of reading and Jane Austen.

I am all sorts of impressed (monolingual ignorant American here) that you do translation work like that. Bet it's fun.

Oh man, hot is so not my thing, but I love the beauty of the desert down in your area Sounds like a close family. And parrots? Neat!

Catherine Morland is a nice challenge for the busy lady. Hope you're able to get to several good books for the challenge. Good luck, Teresita!

Sophia wrote, “Oh yay, a new book. Cheering you on!”

Thanks so much, Sophia! It’s not going well, so I need all the cheers I can get. The dialogue is fighting me every step of the way.

Ugh!

I know how meticulous and careful you are, Abigail, so I know you really want to get it right down to how your characters converse. Is it a historical?

It’s the first of a series set in the vicinity of a small market town in Surrey in the year 1800. The stories run the gamut from romance to mystery to I-dunno-uncategorizable. They’re all based to a degree on actual history (the town has an excellent historical society, which publishes very interesting pamphlets).

The first one is a stretch for me at best: the protagonist is a twelve-year-old boy who gets involved with smugglers. For some reason the story wants to be told from inside his head, and I struggle with making the segue from his thoughts to reported conversation. (I don’t want it to turn into To the Lighthouse!) Add to that the fact that he’s conversing with people from all across the social spectrum—so the dialogue has to range from the King’s English to local Surrey laborer’s slang—and you can see the challenge. I don’t want to reproduce the slang too exactly, or the dialogue would become a forest of apostrophes. But suggesting the slang, and the class of the speaker, without overwhelming the reader invites the scorn of purists.

Fortunately, I’d be very surprised if anyone came to read the book, so it’s mostly just a problem I toy with in my own mind!

But to turn the subject to people whose work is actually read and enjoyed, can you tell us anything about what you’re working on these days?

Oh Abigail, you don't do yourself justice! I read both your book (I wrote 'bok' rather than book then!) and your short story in Effusions of Summer, and I thought they were both excellent. I hope you can make your current story work.

Abigail wrote: "It’s the first of a series set in the vicinity of a small market town in Surrey in the year 1800. The stories run the gamut from romance to mystery to I-dunno-uncategorizable. They’re all based to ..."

May your Lark Ascend!(For those who don't know..George Meredith, who wrote the poem Lark Ascending, which Vaughan Williams then wrote the most delightful tune, lived and passed on Box Hill). :) And may you find some scene to put on Box Hill!

That does sound like an amazing feat of getting the class and local accents set properly. Whew! But yes, I think folks will forgive you a little to make it readable and flow for plot purposes. We had this discussion one-time at the English Historical Fiction Authors blog and that was the consensus on accuracy vs. story. :)

LOL! Read and enjoyed...hmmm. Thanks for the encouraging words.
I am working on a new idea- non-Austenesque romance about a young teen boy with special needs who who plays cupid for his mother. My heart was always with these brave, tough kids in my classrooms over the years and they have stuck with me and the muse wants to tell their stories so to speak.

And the one that is actually under the pen right now is a story from years ago under re-writes. I hope to present it for publication next year and it is 'going to be' Austenesque (It started as a slight hat tip to Austen now its getting dressed up as one properly). I haven't done a historical so I have a stack of era books to study. I should have gone a different era like America Civil War or Ancient Rome so my brother the scholar could help me, but Georgian-Regency is so not his thing. LOL I am definitely not going for pure accuracy, but I do want it to have the right flavor at least.

There you have it. But I warn you that its subject to change. Hopefully not. That's my ongoing New Years goal to get these done. The good news is that I can use my research books toward the challenge. :)

Hi Abigail,

Just read that your Dialogue Muse is not cooperating with you today..........

Hope you're feeling all the positive vibes that are being sent your way,in the hope that when you wake up tomorrow refreshed, bright eyed and bushy tailed those vibes will gently encourage the Muse to reconsider its attitude and prompt it to invigorate you with fresh ideas,inspiration and enthusiasm..

Best of luck in your endeavours!

Sophia wrote: "That does sound like an amazing feat of getting the class and local accents set properly. Whew! But yes, I think folks will forgive you a little to make it readable and flow for plot purposes. We h..."

Happy writing!

Sophia,

A Regency romance with a teenage Cupid????

Wouldn't even know where to start!!

Best of luck with it.

Thank you, everyone, for all the inspiring and encouraging words! And yes, Kirk, the very first scene of the first book takes place on Box Hill—there was a local eccentric known as the Walking Dunghill who was buried there on June 11, 1800, and my protagonist attends his (extremely eccentric and well documented) funeral. Google Major Peter Labilliere (sometimes spelled Labelliere). I wish I could incorporate George Meredith into my stories, but I do plan to steal/pay homage to some of his lyrical words about the area, along with those of George Collins. They both wrote after the railways but before other aspects of the place had changed too much from the era I’m writing about.

Sophia, it sounds as if you’re hard at it. You handled a theme involving physical disability so sensitively and beautifully in “Second Chance at Sunset Beach,” I can’t wait to read the next one! And it’s interesting that you’re re-envisioning an earlier story as an Austenesque—kind of the mirror image of the modern reinterpretations of Austen you’ve been doing. Keep us posted on how the process goes in reverse!

For an interesting overview that covers a lot of aspects of daily life in Jane Austen’s day, I recommend Roy and Lesley Adkins, Jane Austen’s England. You will thank your lucky stars for modern dentistry!!

@Mary- LOL Now that would be a challenge! Oh man, but might be a good one. Actually, the teenager and the regency are two separate works in progress.

@Abigail- yes, I wanted to try something not so modern so I didn't have the work of bringing the story forward, but now I have the work of educating myself on the past. Oh and yes, that book is on my research pile. Glad that you recommend it. I thank my lucky stars for lots of modern things after some of what I've read. LOL

@Kirk- thanks, I do general feel happier while writing. :)

Hi. I'm Laura; I'm from Texas. I'm an avid reader, but I am not one for social media. I tend to be the fb stalker not the one posting. A few friends told me to try goodreads, and after a long time, I did. I still forget to update my books or mark them finished, but I'm getting better. Did I mention I'm an extreme introvert?

I've loved JA since I was a child. I've always read ahead of my expected reading level. So, JA was a welcome friend at an early age. My problem is that growing up I never had friends that shared the same interest in books. That is why I am excited to be a part of this group. I'll still probably read more posts than I'll write, but I look forward to the shared experience. I'm going for the Emma Woodhouse level, but I'm hoping that I will actually end up at Mr. Bennet's library. This will require reading suggestions because I don't own enough JAFF to accomplish this goal.

Welcome Laura, I completely understand not having any RL friends who understand my JA obsession!! This group is wonderful and supportive in all things JA!!!!

Yes, I can agree there. Oh, how I love these sites as AT LAST SOMEONE ELSE GETS IT! Love the community. Happy holidays to all.

Welcome, Laura, from another social media shunner! You’ve picked a great group to participate in. This one and the Georgette Heyer group are always positive, friendly, and supportive—the best of good company.

Hi Laura,

I echo the sentiments expressed by Erika, Abigail and Sheila-this is a very supportive and positive group where everyone understands your obsession with all things Austen, as we all suffer the same affliction!!!

Welcome!!

You'll definitely be inspired to read a wealth of fantastic books that come highly recommended by each and every one of us.

Before you know it you'll be posting reviews like its the most natural thing in the world!!

Happy reading.

Yay! Glad to have you join us, Laura. Shy folk are equally welcome. Take the chair to the side and observe or dive into the conversation. We love our Jane here and it's fun to visit with others who get it. As you can see. ;)

Emma is a good level to start with and look at you ready to shake Mr. Bennet's hand. Definitely fun to see you go for it.

And I think you'll have no trouble spotting books to help you get there. We are a recommending group for sure. :)