"Jane Austen's Bookshelf" by Rebecca Romney: Book discussion

Have you ever wondered what books Jane Austen would be discussing, if she ran a book club?

Jane Austen's Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney answers this very question with a deep dive into the female writers that shaped and inspired our favorite genius and the clues in Jane Austen's novels that lead us to them.

We will conduct our meeting as usual: brief introductions and ice breakers followed by a round table discussion guided by questions posted below (food for thought, not an absolute structure for the conversation):

Ice Breaker: What/who was your favorite chapter? Why?
Ice Breaker: What books are you going to read next because of this book?

2. Frances Burney: she fought internally as well as externally with the anti-novel sentiments of her time and overcame them. How do you think Austen supported the case in favor of novels through her writing? Do you think that her satire in Northanger helped or hurt the cause of novels?
3. Anne Radcliffe: Anne Radcliffe’s reputation suffered as she publicly transformed from the “best” of a genre to “representative” of a genre that was already considered “low” in terms of literary validity. How has prejudice against certain genres affected your opinions of what is considered “classic” or “good” literature?
4. Charlotte Lennox: She was one of the few authors on Jane Austen’s “bookshelf” that wrote out of financial necessity (along with Charlotte Smith) as well as passion and talent. Given what we know about Austen, do you think she would have acted as boldly had she been without any financial support from her brothers?
5. Hannah More: Compared to the other authors on this list, Hannah More’s strict views on morality shaped her writing. Given what Jane Austen says about More’s most famous novel In Search of a Wife, do you agree that Hannah More should be included in Jane Austen’s bookshelf? How do you think More’s work influenced Austen?
6. Charlotte Smith: She is an example of how writing for money altered her career and life; how do you think Austen’s writing career would’ve been different if she had to write for money? Charlotte Smith, through her writing, warned women that marrying for financial security was riskier, as the law does not protect women as it should under “Coverture”. Do you think Austen would agree?
7. Elizabeth Inchbald is an example of someone who lived liberally and boldly, yet infused her writing with morality. How is this balance between bold, sharp wit and steady morales reflected in Austen’s writing? Does Austen ever satirize or indirectly criticize morale codes of behavior, particularly for women, in her novels?

Brief book description from Amazon:
"Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.

But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today."