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I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! cover photo

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!

4.9•39 ratings

Columbia, MD, US

69 members · Public group

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What we’re about

We are a monthly, in-person book club for those interested in Jane Austen. We also meet regularly for film screenings, afternoon teas, supper and card nights, museum visits, viewing Jane Austen-related theater and music events, etc. Some of these are shared via our Whatsapp group to preserve group member privacy. You will be invited to the Whatsapp after you attend your first event. We welcome new members!

We have read all of Jane Austen's works! Our future readings may include some of the following and will be based on group member feedback:

-re-read a work by Jane Austen (eg. her novels, letters, and juvenilia), possibly comparing to another work or reading from a different point of view
-read a book about Jane Austen (biographies, literary criticism, etc.)
-read a work Jane Austen read herself (works by Walter Scott, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Mary Wollstonecraft, etc.)
-read a work by someone who read Jane Austen (works by the Brontes, George Eliot, Mary Shelley, Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Virginia Woolf, etc.)
-read a work of popular culture inspired by Jane Austen (sequels written by Jane Austen's distant relative, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, etc.)
-read other items of interest to group members, especially if relevant to feminism or written by female-identified authors (Wide Sargasso Sea, etc.)

Upcoming events

1

Sun, Nov 2 · 3:00 PM EST
Emmeline by Charlotte Smith (comparison with Sense and Sensibility)
Howard County Library Central Branch, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD, US
We have read everything written by Jane Austen! Now we will return to some of her novels and compare them with other works. This month will be Sense and Sensibility by Austen and Emmeline by Charlotte Smith. Some questions to guide our reading are below:

1. On heroines and female agency
How do Emmeline and the Dashwood sisters navigate the limits placed on women’s independence, both socially and economically?
To what extent do each novel’s heroines make active choices versus being acted upon by circumstance or society?
2. On reason, emotion, and moral education
How does each author define and balance “sense” (reason, prudence) and “sensibility” (feeling, sympathy) in her characters?
What do the stories seem to say about how much people should trust their feelings versus their rational judgment?
3. On social and economic critique
How do Austen and Smith each portray the connection between marriage, money, and morality?
In what ways do their novels critique or reinforce class and gender hierarchies of late 18th-century Britain?
4. On narrative style and tone
How does Austen’s irony and restraint compare with Smith’s more sentimental, sometimes melodramatic narration?
What effects do these different tones have on how readers judge the heroines’ actions?

I will have snacks to share, please feel free to bring drinks in closed containers or other snacks.

We will meet after the discussion for socializing at a nearby restaurant or cafe. Please feel free to join us!

Not an official Howard County Library System event
5 attendees

Past events

32

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