Classics Chat || my Jane Austen journey (as a teenager)

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to another little classics chat. This week I wanted to talk about my Austen journey! I am currently reading Emma, and it's really made me reflect on what Jane Austen means to me, and how far I've come in reading her works. And, honestly, so much of it is documented here. From my review of Pride and Prejudice, written now over two years ago, to my more recent post about my day out in Bath. Jane Austen is, and for good reason, a very important part of this platform. In short: I love her. And I've been on SUCH a journey with her work. So here is a little informal classics chat post, about one of my favourite authors, the one and only Jane Austen. 

My Jane Austen journey, starts back in January 2021, when I first read Pride and Prejudice. I remember I was full of new year motivation. Full of goals and plans for my reading, and I was impatient to start ticking them off and putting them in action. So I read Pride and Prejudice, probably my biggest goal for the year. 

The title of my review says it all "Pride and Prejudice: a new favourite!". And there begins the journey of discovering Jane Austen. There was something about Pride and Prejudice that just drew me in. That brought me into a new world (or, in fact, an old one). The characters showed me their society, their community and their life, and I was fascinated. The regency era is such a favourite of mine now!

I remember not understanding everything. Not getting most of the humour, and having to reread certain sentences two or three times before understanding their meaning. And yet, the challenge was good. If you know anything about me, you know I love romance. And Jane Austen novels are the absolute peaks of classic romance stories. I think I read Pride and Prejudice in two weeks or so, and although it got a bit long in places (I was used to reading 300 page YA books in an average of 3 days), I don't remember feeling at all sick or tired of reading it. 

A few days later, I shared a quote from Pride and Prejudice. 

I then read Lady Susan by Jane Austen. I included a short, and frankly quite bad review of it in a recent reads post at the time, and although I said I loved it, I actually think I didn't appreciate it so much, and I would love to reread this one soon to understand it better and hopefully enjoy it even more and take even more away from it.

I then wrote a biography of Jane Austen. I went through a phase of being absolutely obsessed with her life and everything she did, from her novels to her encounters. 

This was followed by a visit to the Jane Austen Center in Bath for the first time, which was such an incredible experience and I learnt so much more about her and became even more obsessed with her! I went with my godmother which was so lovely too and I just remember having the most wonderful day! You can read all about it and what else I got up to that week in the post linked above. 

Inspired by my visit, I read Sense and Sensibility. I remember liking it but not LOVING it but I also LOVED parts of it and overall is was a good read, but no way overtook Pride and Prejudice. I also extensively annotated Sense and Sensibility which was so much fun!

I don't really remember what happened between summer 2021 when all that happened and October 2022, a year later, when I visited the Jane Austen center again. I think I read more of her letters and revisited passages of Pride and Prejudice, but I didn't really read many classics in that time, and it was the visit to the Jane Austen Center that excited me about Jane Austen once more. 

This day was one of my favourites of last year, and I've definitely rambled enough about it on here, but it was such a special day with one of my closest friends (and fellow Jane Austen lover). I know you're reading this so HI, thank you so much for that day (again) it was just so special. We went round the museum, had tea in the tearoom upstairs and went bookshopping. This visit reminded me why I loved Jane Austen, why I loved classics and why I loved reading. You can read more about this day in a post about it here. It's one of my favourite posts too so definitely give it a read. 

I would say I'm very much in a Jane Austen phase right now. I'm currently reading Emma, which is taking me ages but I'm loving every second of it. I also have several editions of Pride and Prejudice to read from now which makes me so happy and I just want to reread it so badly. I also want to read more of her juvenilia and letters and more around her life and there are SO MANY Jane Austen books I want to read in the near future!

I love everything about the regency era. From the outfits, to the houses, to the dances and the parties. I love it all. I can't wait to learn more about it and read lots more Jane Austen this year. I'm taking my time with Emma, and that's okay. It's taken a lot of work to get myself to a point where I can confidently say that it is okay that I'm not reading a book every three days anymore. And Jane Austen has been a huge part in that too. 

As you can see, I have been on quite the journey with Jane Austen! And I absolutely can't wait to read her other books and delve further into her world. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post. I hope you are all well, and I wish you all very happy reading!

Have you read any Jane Austen? Which authors have you been on a journey with? 

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p.s. casual magic of the day:

(If you are new here and have no idea what I'm on about, click here to find out more)

I went to my village barn dance. The atmosphere was just so happy, so lively and it felt like such a nice thing to do as a community. I saw so many people I knew, or had known a few years ago, and it was so nice to come together as a village and dance a Ceilidh. I actually really enjoyed it, from the music to the dances themselves and I guess my casual magic is the way that my village organises things like this, and how I enjoy them and value them.