Jane Austen July 2025

Jane Austen July TBR

Jane Austen July is a month long readathon all about Jane Austen, her works, and her time period. Last year was the first time I had time (and small enough TBR!) to join the readathon, and I had a blast. So naturally, I want to take part this year as well.

There are seven challenges in this readathon: five books and two screen adaptations. There is also a readalong associated with the challenge. I won’t be participating in the readalong because I had already decided what I wanted to read before the readalong book (which is Emma this year) was announced. You can find more information about the challenge from the Youtube videos posted by the hosts of the challenge (Katie from Books and Things, Marissa from Blatantly Bookish, and Claudia from Spinster’s Library).

Anyway, without further ado, here are my choices for this year’s readathon and my reasons for picking them.

 

Challenge 1: Read one of Jane Austen’s six main novels

This is obviously the main reason for a Jane Austen readathon: choosing one of her main novels, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, or Northanger Abbey.

My choice for the readathon is Sense and Sensibility.  It’s probably my least favorite of Austen’s novels, but that’s partly the reason why I want to read it. It’s been several years since I last read it, and I want to see if my opinion of it has changed. Who knows, maybe I realize that it’s a hidden gem!

Last year, my pick for Jane Austen July was Pride and Prejudice, my favorite of Austen’s novels. It’s also one of my all-time favorite books, and the perfect book to practice something that I hadn’t done before, which was annotating a novel. I haven’t annotated other books since, but it was so much fun that I want to do it this year again. I hope that annotating will help me pick up things that I haven’t noticed before and deeper my understanding of Austen’s genius.

For that reason, I will mostly be reading a Wordsworth paperback that I bought cheap decades ago. I don’t have to worry about “ruining” it with annotations. I also own a pretty Penguin Clothbound edition of Sense and Sensibility, and I’ll try to carefully read the introduction and the notes from it, hopefully without ruining the cover. The illustrations have an unfortunate tendency to rub off.

 

Challenge 2: Read a Jane Austen work that is not one of her six main novels

This can be her unfinished novels, her juvenilia a.k.a. the works she wrote between eleven and seventeen years of age, or her letters. I read all of Jane Austen’s juvenilia and Lady Susan last year, and it hasn’t been many years since I read her letters. That leaves me two of her unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon. I might read both, but if I’m short on time, I’ll only read The Watsons.

 

Challenge 3: Read a non-fiction work about Jane Austen or her time

There are tons of nonfiction works about Jane Austen and her works as well as the Regency period in general. This year my choice is a book I’ve heard a lot of good things about, What Matters in Jane Austen by John Mullan. If I’ve understood correctly, this is a literary analysis of Austen’s novels.

Last year, I read an Austen biography by one of my favorite historians, Lucy Worsley: Jane Austen at Home. I highly recommend the book if you’re looking for an Austen biography. Worsley also has made a Jane Austen documentary, and I probably can’t resist the temptation of watching it yet again.

 

Challenge 4: Read a retelling of Jane Austen book or a work of historical fiction set in Jane Austen’s time

Last year, I decided to read a Persuasion retelling, Much Ado about Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin. I enjoyed it so much that this year I decided to read her other Jane Austen retelling, this time a Pride and Prejudice retelling Ayesha at Last. I expect it to be similar to Much Ado about Nada with a Muslim family living in modern day Toronto, Canada.

Last year, I also read a really fun Pride and Prejudice retelling, Amanda Darcy’s Of Love and Beer. If you’re looking for a kiss-only smalltown enemies-to-lovers romance between a brewer and a vintner, I highly recommend her book.

And I obviously can’t pass the chance to do some self-promotion. My novel Caytee is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. The main character is an avid reader of Young Adult paranormal romance novels and absolutely certain that the guy she has a crush on must secretly be a vampire. If you like snarky narrators who constantly break the fourth wall and make fun of overused tropes in YA books, Caytee is a fun light summer read!

I’m also hoping to read the first draft of the as-of-yet-nameless Pride and Prejudice retelling I wrote last November. I’m planning to start the second draft this fall.

 

Challenge 5: Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen

There are so many options to choose from for this challenge. Last year, I read Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda. It wasn’t as good as Austen’s books, but I did like it well enough. One year, I want to year Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, but that will probably be the year when I also read Northanger Abbey. I also remember liking Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, one of his books would be a nice alternative for this challenge.

But this year, I decided to go for a book I contemplated last year but decided not to read due to its length. That is Frances Burney’s Cecilia. I loved her Evelina and I’m eager to read more from Burney. Because my edition has around one thousand pages, there’s no way I’m going to finish the book in July. I’ll probably finish it in August or early September.

 

Challenge 6: Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book

For this challenge, I’m going to watch two Sense and Sensibility adaptations, a movie version from 1995 and a BBC miniseries from 2008. I also have a 1981 BBC miniseries on DVD, so I might watch that as well if I have time. It’s not as good as the later adaptations, so I don’t mind skipping that, though. I’d rather rewatch yet again the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, as it’s become a bit of tradition for me to watch it every summer.

 

Challenge 7: Watch a modern screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book

I haven’t decided yet which modern adaptation I want to watch. Last year, I watched Clueless, which is always great fun. I might see if I can get my hands to Bride and Prejudice, or I might finally watch The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (I can’t believe I still haven’t seen it!).

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Are you planning to take part in Jane Austen July? What are you going to read?