Classic Book Review: Sanditon and The Watsons by Jane Austen

 Hi Everyone!

I recently read Sanditon and The Watsons by Jane Austen. They are in an edition together in the Penguin English Library series that I'm SERIOUSLY obsessed with and now have rather an extensive collection, though I'm always looking to grow it! 

I read The Watsons in the last few days of the summer holidays and really enjoyed it. I'm only writing this now because it's taken me a little while to gather my thoughts! I love how it just portrays normal regency life and I found it so fun and sweet. I'm not going to say what it's about because it is only a short story so I think it's best to go in pretty blind! Jane Austen never finished writing this so to conclude the story there is a note from A Memoir Of Jane Austen by her nephew, James Edward Austen- Lee which I've heard is amazing so I need to get my hands on it. The extract is very short but just explains what Jane told her dear sister Cassandra about how she intended to continue the novel, and ultimately end it. 

I finished this at Branscombe beach so I have a great memory of reading it! I also couldn't get enough Jane Austen and listened to the audiobook of Pride and Prejudice, which is free on BBC Sounds. 

Now on to Sanditon! This was Jane Austen's last attempt at a novel, but she sadly died before she could complete it. I read parts of this quite fast and then put it down in favour of something else before picking it back up so I had a bit of a weird time with it! I did manage to read some of it outside in my garden which was so nice.

I also read some of it at the beach with a friend. We went to Lyme Regis right at the end of the summer holidays and had a great time bookshopping and reading by the sea, which was especially fitting given the setting of this book! It is about Charlotte Heywood who ends up spending some time at Sanditon, a seaside town. I don't think there's much I can say other than that because again it is quite short! But even just this cover screams seaside so reading it with the rush of the waves and screeching seagulls was very atmospheric!

Overall, these were good reads but I think if I reread them I will maybe appreciate them more because I did read Sanditon in bits between books! I do highly recommend, though maybe not as your first Austen because it is not finished, which I actually quite like though it isn't as satisfying! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Happy Reading!

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