Would anyone be interested in a group read?

I was ranting about that horrible Mansfield Park movie to a friend of mine; the tantrum had the best possible ending in that we’re going to read the book together and talk it over in March.
Would anyone be interested in doing an online group read of Mansfield Park?
Perhaps we could do two chapters a week. On a designated day, I would start that week’s discussion, to be continued in the comments box. Alas, we will each have to be responsible for our own coffee, tea, and wee little sandwiches.
Anyone interested? I’d like to have at least two or three people commit to start, but of course anyone’s free to jump in later.
UPDATE: In our comments box, Elinor suggests Pride and Prejudice as a good starting book for those new to Jane Austen, and I agree with her. SO, if you’re interested in doing the group read, please drop a note in the box, and cast your vote for Pride and Prejudice or Mansfield Park.

13 comments

  4. Confession time – I have never really gotten into Jane Austen. Part of it is that my father’s second wife is such a huge Jane Austen fan that my instinct is to reject Austen out of hand. (My father was playing around with his now wife before the divorce, and actually refused to pick up my mom at the airport when she flew home after helping me with baby #1 because he had already planned something else with ‘the other woman’).
    Anyhow – I realize it is probably a really stupid reason not to read Austen – but is Mansfield Park the best place to start?

  5. Alicia, don’t let your father’s bad decisions keep you from reading Jane Austen. (I’m a little puzzled how anyone who was running around with a married man could read Austen and not feel rebuked by her insistence on morals, but some people are really good at cognitive dissonance.) I would not recommend MP as a first Austen novel; Pride and Prejudice is easier for someone who is unfamiliar with her style of writing. It’s also very interesting and funny, which are not Mansfield Park’s strong points. (By the way, how did you get through high school without having to read P&P for English?) Emma would also be a good starting point. Please email me if you want to ask anything – I love to get people interested in Austen.

  6. I agree that Pride and Prejudice (which I did not read in HS, btw) is probably the best place to start reading Austen.
    Alicia, would you like to join us in Mansfield Park anyway, or what would you think about doing P&P instead? Sparki, Elinor, would that be okay with you?

  8. logging on from work here
    I will read whatever everyone else chooses
    Hey, I have a BA in Literature without having read Austen. (My nursing degree is a MS). I don’t think I have even read Cliff notes.
    I’m game.

  9. I tried to read both Pride and Prejudice and Emma when I was in community college (right out of high school). Literature — as opposed to genre fiction — has never been my strong suit, but I’d be happy to try again. I vote for Pride and Prejudice.

  10. Well, I don’t think I can commit to reading on any kind of schedule, but I will say that her Catholic blogging fans have aroused in me more interest in reading Austen than I ever had. Fiction in general is not my thing, but lately I wouldn’t mind sinking in to a story by someone with an “insistence on morals” and such, if only I could find the concentration…

  11. Oh, I’m in, I’m in, I’m in! (Says Terry, waving her hand furiously, just like she did in the 2nd grade!)
    I don’t care which one we read. Just tell me what to read, and I’m there!!!
    Woo hoo! Litermania rears its head again! (And the symptom of litermania? Excessive use of exclamation points, apparently.)

  12. I have to admit that I was not fond of Austin in high school, but am more than willing to give her a go in some sort of discussion group. Sounds fun, like the online version of what we do at the Lectura Dantis.

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