Friday Mood Recs: How to plan a Jane Austen year
It's Queen Jane's year. Bring on the celebrations...and the books!
I am high on Jane Austen this year. This is not a new phenomenon. I reread at least one Austen book every year and, each time, I’m delighted by how much there is to discover in her work. But reading Austen is usually a solo experience for me. Ok sure, I’ve discussed her work a lot in community too. I studied Pride and Prejudice in grad school and taught it for many years. In 2016, I took an Austen summer course at Oxford (an experience I hope to have again in the nearish future). And, of course, I have read and discussed several Austen works for Novel Pairings.
But because I reread the books so frequently without a discussion element, it always feels like a break in form to talk about them with other readers. Not to mention it can be somewhat worrying to dig into the work of a beloved author with others—like opening your soul for critique. But this week I hosted a conversation about Mansfield Park with our Novel Pairings Classics Club community and it was so satisfying. Some of our conversation was serious, some of it was silly, and all of it enhanced my experience with the book.
Jane Austen’s 250th birthday is in December of this year, which is part of why you’re seeing her everywhere right now. It’s always a good time to read Austen, but perhaps there has never been a better moment to truly study her.
So today, I’m sharing a bit how I would go about planning a Jane Austen year. Will I partake in one? I’m not sure yet! But discussing Mansfield and seeing so much great analysis happening throughout the literary internet does tempt me.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that and I are hosting an Emma read along as the final season of our Novel Pairings podcast. You can sign up for our free Substack newsletter to get all the details and the reading schedule. Main feed recap episodes are available to all, and we’ll also be sharing close reading bonus episodes, classes, and book club meetups with our Patreon community if you want even more. I recommend subscribing to the show now so you’re notified when the introductory episode airs on March 4th. The read along will stretch between then and April 15th.
As for an entire Austen year, there are an infinite number of ways to organize this, but I can think of four main ways I would go about a project like this in 2025.