Happy Sunday!
If you’re new to this Substack, one of the things I’m offering subscribers in 2023 is A Year with Jane. For those of you who couldn’t watch live, I embedded the recording of the Zoom about Pride & Prejudice with
, author of Aggressively Happy (a gem of a book). We had a lot of fun discussing Mr. Collins, mistakes the Darcys made in parenting Fitzwilliam, and more! I hope you enjoy it.Happy Birthday, #JanetheGenius!
It’s also the birthday of this little book which released one year ago yesterday! To be honest, it’s less than ideal to launch a book when you’re in the middle of preparing to sell your house and move a family of six across the country—which is exactly what was happening March 25, 2022 on the day this book released. I did not have the time to promote it the way I would have liked to, but c’est la vie. I’m so proud of this book and it has been wonderful hearing from readers and seeing the reviews posted over on GoodReads and Amazon. It’s in its third printing now—despite the fact that the chaos of 2022 limited my ability to spread the word about it—and I’m so grateful. If you ordered a copy or requested that you library order it, thank you so much.
If you haven’t had a chance to order this book about what it means to be a good person and how to become one (according to Jane Austen) then please grab a copy today from Ave Maria Press (use STEWART20 for 20% off) or from Amazon!
We’re reading through Austen’s six novels this year and Emma is our read for March and April.
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I have been posting Emma reflections mid-week, but a subscriber noted that the reflections are a couple of days ahead of the reaching schedule. So I’m going to switch to posting about Austen on Sunday morning or afternoons and focus on the previous week’s reading so that there are no spoilers!
Here’s the reading schedule for your convenience:
Reading schedule
Week of March 5th:
Gather your books. There are many editions out there, so just grab what’s on your shelf or at the local library. And if you enjoy audiobooks, this is an excellent novel to enjoy with a great narrator. My favorite for this novel is Juliet Stevenson’s audiobook version.
If you didn’t start reading with us in January, you may want to catch up by reading the Introduction and Chapters 1-2 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life to set the stage.
Week of March 12th:
Chapters 1-9 of Emma
Week of March 19th:
Chapters 10-18 of Emma
Week of March 26th:
Chapters 19-27 of Emma
Week of April 2nd:
Chapters 28-36 of Emma
Week of April 9th:
Chapters 37-45 of Emma
Week of April 16th:
Chapters 46-54 of Emma
Week of April 23rd:
Chapter 3 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
TBA: Zoom Discussion with special guests, Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt.
If you know someone who would enjoy reading Austen with us for our Year of Jane, please share this post with him/her!
All Jane Austen book club emails and 2023 emails will continue to be available with a free subscription. But this is a reader supported effort. Consider supporting this literary Substack by upgrading to a paid subscription.
And if you know someone who would love this virtual book club, please share with them:
So NEXT Sunday I’ll reflect on Chapters 19-27 of Emma. See you then!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns
Zoom Recording with Dr. Joy Clarkson