Firstly, I think it's ambitious to manage to read all the books in January. As far as I'm concerned January merely marks the start of the Book Club, but how long do you think we should allocate to read and discuss each book? Is a week enough time? Ten days? Or perhaps two weeks per book? Let me know your thoughts!Next up - what order? Order of publication? That would mean we start with Sense and Sensibility and end with Persuasion, unless anyone wishes to include Lady Susan or has any other order preferences?
Then, are there any particular areas anyone wishes to focus on in discussion? Favourite parts? Favourite characters? Themes? And so on? Do you want to discuss as we read the book or at the end of the book?
Finally, let me know if I've missed out any important questions and remember to spread the word if you know any Jane fans! :D If you need to buy copies of the books, I'm using this all-in-one version.
PS: Today, December 16th, is actually Jane Austen's birthday! Fitting, huh? She was born in 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire.
EDIT: Another thought - what about spoilers? Some people might want to comment as they are reading the book, some afterwards... when shall we choose to discuss the book - during or after? I think this will be ironed out after we've got through the first book how we'll approach discussion, but if anyone has views now, let me know!
I'm up for any reading order.
ReplyDeleteAs far as time to read, I would think week at minimum, two weeks would be better.
And topics. Hm... probably discuss characters, major themes, and when we do that other things with come out depending on the book.
Happy birthday Jane!!!
I agree about the reading order, it doesn't really matter to me. In regards to the reading time I think two weeks would probably fit best it will give everyone time to read and still have a life, lol.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Jane!!
Okay, I decided I'm going to do it. Yay! :) I've only read Pride & Prejudice and that was 5 years ago. It's time I brush up on my Jane Austen.
ReplyDeleteI think two weeks is best. And I have no preference about the reading order.
I think I'll join for everyone except Pride and Prejudice and I think 2 weeks is acceptable with the exception of Northanger Abbey. It can probably be read in one week.
ReplyDeleteWhy no P&P? I can't find my copy and I just REFUSE to buy another copy if I know I have one already. LOL.
I think starting in order of publication is fine, simply because it just takes all of the guess work out of which book to read first and so on.
The free service by Daily Lit has all of Jane Austen's books on there for free! Helpfully split into sections and sent to your email or RSS. (Sounds like I'm advertising for them, but I'm not! It's just a really good site!)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailylit.com/authors/jane-austen
I'm in! I was just told about this via @AshleyD on twitter. I've started pride and prejudice a million times and have never finished. I'm in for a ll of the books.. and vote for two weeks each and like the idea of order of publication.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so far it seems like everyone is plugging for two weeks, which I think is probably the right amount of time to spend on each book. That would take us to mid-March, I believe. :0)
ReplyDeleteAnd I think publication order is the best way to tackle these seeing as, again, no one has raised any objections!
The one thing I am wondering about is, what about spoilers? Some people might want to comment as they are reading the book and some afterwards ... any thoughts on this? When shall we choose to discuss the book - during or after?
I would love to join in too! Sense and Sensibility is my favourite book ever- did I tell you my dog was in the film?! Thanks for posting it just in time for me to collect some books from home at Christmas!
ReplyDeletetwo weeks sounds good - i too found this through Ashley on twitter - i haven't ready any Jane Austen even though I've been meaning to for years.
ReplyDeletei'm all for reading in publication order :)
I think I recall reading that about your dog on your 101 (or somewhere else on your blog), Daisy! Glad to have you on board! :D
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Heidi, and thanks Ashley for promoting! :0) As it stands, I think we're now at 12!
Evidently I cannot count - just done an Excel doc and we're actually at 15 (16 including me)!
ReplyDeleteHow long we will allow on each book
ReplyDeleteIn order to finish the ones that are in the "Compliation" it would be 46 and a bit pages a day! Thats a lot of reading!
What order will we read the books in:
Could go with the order in the book, Chronologically or as they stand alone maybe jump back and forth.
Whether we are focusing on discussing any particular aspects of the books.
I think discussing themes would be good. Austen tended to write about social life then and how important it was to be a lady lol.
Two weeks per book sounds good and I think that would take the strain off a bit.
Spoilers: I think you need to give warning. With Blogspot it opens a seperate window to read comments so as long as you start each post that there might be spoilers included then you've done your bit.
I think during would be good as well in case someone is stuck!
If we make decisions on the first we can always change for the second if it doesnt work
Thnaks for the input everyone! I think I've finalised all the details now and posted the schedule etc here.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you think I've missed out any information, and thank you for taking part! This is going to be fabbity! :D