Join JASNA-NC for a discussion of our nonfction read, Susan Allen Ford’s What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why). Following our August meeting where we read member Inger Brodey’s Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness, her recommendation of Pattillo’s novel helped this book pick become the quick winner of our vote! Our facilitator will be our regional coordinator Sara Tavela, and we’ll even be joined by the author, Susan Allen Ford for an author Q&A discussion!
To share your questions with Susan for her author’s Q&A, please share questions with Sara by May 1 at noon. The advance questions are just to get things started; if you have more questions during the event, you should bring those up! Susan is looking forward to being with us in the latter portion of our discussion, and I know we’ll be thrilled to have her with us to talk about her book!
The Details
What: Virtual Book Club: What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why) by Susan Allen Ford
When: May 4, 2025 from 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Where: In the comfort of your home via Zoom
RSVP: This event is open to members and interested guests; it is FREE but registration is required. Register for Zoom here.
Accessibility: We have auto-captions available in the Zoom meeting for our conversation and the author Q&A discussion, and accompanying slides with text and images that will be as clear and as high-contrast as possible. If you have accessibility needs we have not addressed here, please let us know.
About the Book
The first detailed account of Austen’s characters’ reading experience to date, this book explores both what her characters read and what their literary choices would have meant to Austen’s own readership, both during her life and today.
Jane Austen was a voracious and extensive reader, so it’s perhaps no surprise that many of her characters are also readers-from Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice to Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. Beginning by looking at Austen’s own reading as well as her interest in readers’ responses to her work, the book then focuses on each of her novels, looking at the particulars of her characters’ reading and unpacking the multiple (and often surprising) ways in which what they read informs our reading. What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why) uses Austen’s own love of reading to invite us to rethink the ways in which she imagined her characters and their lives beyond the novels.
About the Author
Susan Allen Ford is Professor of English Emerita, Delta State University, USA. and has been editor of Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal and Persuasions On-Line since 2006.
She has spoken at many AGMs and to many JASNA Regions and has published essays on Austen and her contemporaries, gothic and detective fiction, and Shakespeare. She was a plenary speaker at the 2016 AGM in Washington, D.C., and has served as a JASNA Traveling Lecturer.
About The Virtual Book Club
The Virtual Book Club takes place quarterly with the typical following rotation: a contemporary of Austen, nonfiction work, an Austen work, and fan fiction. Our members Mary Jane Curry, Nancy Martin Young, and Sara Tavela serve as our primary book club facilitators and help coordinate our book selections.
