Everything Austen Challenge

Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word has thrown down the gauntlet, and I'm taking it up! I'm signing on for the Everything Austen Challenge which she's hosting on her blog. How can I resist a challenge that allows me to watch movies?! That's right, the challenge is to complete six Austen-themed things - books, movies, whatever - in six months (between July 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 -- so now you know what I'll be doing this New Year's Eve!). You can get all the details here.

Another reason I simply can't resist this challenge -- before I launched A Sea of Books, I tried to devise some sort of Jane Austen challenge for myself. I figured it would be fun to re-read a couple of her novels along with some of the oh-so-many Austen-themed books bending the shelves these days. I entered just about every book giveaway I could find for titles such as CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT and CASSANDRA AND JANE. Alas, it just wasn't in the stars. I didn't win anything. Then I started up my blog, and I figured I just wasn't meant to be reading Jane Austen right then. Of course not! I'm meant to be WATCHING Jane Austen!

Here is my list of six Austen-themed "things" to complete by January 1, 2010:

1. Watch The Jane Austen Book Club. DONE! YEA!

2. Watch Becoming Jane. DONE! YEA!

3. Watch Persuasion (1995 Masterpiece Theater production).

4. Watch Northanger Abbey (2007 made-for-tv version). Done! Yea!

5. Watch Emma (1996 version with Kate Beckinsale).

6. Watch Lost in Austen. DONE! YEA!

7. Watch Miss Austen Regrets. Up Next

8. Watch Mansfield Park.

I haven't seen any of these particular movies before -- I'll save "repeats" for any of Austen's own novels I manage to squeeze in.

I reserve the right to read a book or two if the fates allow!

Thank you to Stephanie for devising and hosting this great challenge!