The Austen Project

I have a confession to make: I've been keeping a little secret from you guys! For a few weeks now, I've been working on this side project, and since today is Valentine's Day, I couldn't think of a better time to finally share it! You may remember one of my goals for 2014 is to get my butt in gear and read all of Jane Austen's novels. Even though I hate to admit it, I have only read one (Persuasion) out of her six more popular works. Austen is arguably one of the most iconic authors in all of English literature, and y'all, this situation is just begging to be remedied! If I'm going to call myself a reader, I need to have some more Jane Austen under my belt. I've declared this year to be the year I finally accomplish this, and I am affectionately calling it...wait for it...The Austen Project!

So, I've got my goal. Good for me! Yet, knowing myself, this will STILL not get accomplished unless I add more structure (and cute graphics don't hurt either!). So I've set up a reading schedule for myself at one Austen novel every two months. At first I started to obsess over setting up some sort of fancy reading order, but in the end I thought it best to go by publication date. So here is what my reading schedule will look like for the next eleven months as I work to accomplish my goal:

Even though reading through all these books in one year may sound like a lofty goal, with the combination of listening to the audiobooks and reading the print versions at this slower two-month pace, I think I can reasonably accomplish this in one year. But I am seriously going to need some encouragement from y'all!!! I have never read this many classics in one year before, and I'm a little afraid of burnout.

Whenever I do feel a burnout coming on, though, I know I can always turn back to these words from my friend Hannah. I've asked Hannah (who you probably know as the fabulous blogger over at So Obsessed With!), aka the biggest Jane Austen fan I know, to share why she thinks everyone should read Austen at least once, and here's what she had to say:

Now does that get you excited to read some Jane Austen or what?! I can't even tell y'all how excited I am to finally get to know these books. And while this is a personal reading challenge, anyone is welcome to join me if you find you need some more Austen in your life. The more the merrier!

One last thing and then I promise I'm done. My reviews for these books will look a little different since they obviously don't need a traditional review. I've thought about several different formats and haven't decided on one yet, so stay tuned! Overall, my thoughts won't be particularly scholarly or groundbreaking, they will just be the thoughts of a twenty-something girl discovering Jane Austen for herself for the very first time. And I hope you are excited to come along for the ride!