JASNA-NC met for its May Virtual Book Club; this month’s nonfiction selection was Robert Morrison’s The Regency Years, with the discussion facilitated by Sara Tavela. The group had a rousing discussion ranging from our impressions of the book (its style, pacing, and topics of interest), to Austen highlights, and then to a lengthy discussion of the period’s namesake: the Regent, Prince of Wales, Prinny, George IV (We couldn’t land on what we should refer to him as!). The merits of the Regent, Wellington, Austen (obviously), and even Napoleon came to the table for readers’ enthusiasm and interest. The discussion was lively and the company engaging.
Recommendations
Being that it is the JASNA-NC who met, and we are a group full of discerning readers, naturally book recommendations emerged from our time together. Among them is a mixture of fiction, history, and even a film:
- Claudia Gray’s The Murder of Mr. Wickham: recommended by Susan as a Jane Austen/Agatha Christie mash-up. Susan said it was a fast read and closer to historical details and characterization for a fanfiction read; she said it was among the better fanfiction she has encountered.
- Collins Hemingway’s The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen: A Novel by a Gentleman: recommended by Linda, who just finished the trilogy and was impressed by the historical details surrounding the Napoleonic Wars and the imagining of if Jane Austen had been married in that time what could have happened.
- Barbara Tuchman’s historical nonfiction works received multiple nods from Elizabeth and Mary (as well as a good portion of the group) as a history-writing favorite. In particular, readers valued her WWI text The Guns of August and her medieval history, award-winning volume A Distant Mirror.
- The film Operation Mincemeat received good marks from Karin and Linda, and it features a number of familiar faces from Austen films, including Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy, 1995), Johnny Flynn (Mr. Knightley, 2020), and Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy, 2005). The film is currently hosted on Netflix, as of May 2022.
- Robert Morrison’s annotated edition of Austen’s Persuasion (Persuasion: An Annotated Edition) also received mention from Catherine as a well-received and enlightening work.
- Jane Austen & Company’s Asia and the Regency series also received mention, particularly the talk on the Brighton Pavilion, which was highly relevant to our discussion of the Regent.
- Finally, and not as a shameless plug from our organizers, the JASNA-NC April Outing video depicting the Jane Austen and nature program received several hurrahs as a delightful video to watch.
Next Up
Our next Virtual Book Club will be in August, which is our Jane Austen selection month. Our Austen selection is Sense and Sensibility, to align with the coming 2022 AGM, and our discussion will be facilitated by Mary Jane Curry.
Thank you to all of our facilitators and our members for making the Virtual Book Club the pleasure that it is!