Explore your favorite author’s favorite authors at the JASNA Hawai‘i Reading Group’s summer discussion on March 28. We will discuss Rebecca Romney’s 2025 book Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend. The Washington Post calls the book “a meditation on reading and writing, on honestyContinue reading “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf”
Tag Archives: Jane Austen
The Austen Affair
The JASNA Hawai‘i Reading Group will discuss The Austen Affair on July 25, place to be determined. “Two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this “delightfully clever and riotously funny” 2025 debut novel by Madeline Bell that Macmillan Publisher calls a tribute toContinue reading “The Austen Affair”
Jane Austen 250th Birthday Bash
JASNA Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i State Library invite you to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1–4 p.m. at the Hawai‘i State Library, 478 S.King St. in Honolulu. Learn Regency-era activities, including card games and dancing. Watch videos about Jane Austen and her times or participate in our photoContinue reading “Jane Austen 250th Birthday Bash”
A Lady of Letters
Jane Austen is believed to have written thousands of letters. Just 161 survive, collected in various compendiums—familial and scholarly, deciphered and illustrated, economic, and expensive. The Hawai‘i Region explore a handful of the letters for its July 12 Reading Group online discussion. Participants from Hawai‘i and across the continent read excerpts and speculated about theContinue reading “A Lady of Letters”
Sisterly Censorship
To get ready for Public Television’s four-part Masterpiece Theater series Miss Austen in May, the JASNA Hawaii Reading Group discussed the novel that inspired the new series—Gill Hornby’s Miss Austen: A Tale of the Austen Sisters. Allowing plenty of room for speculation, we had a spirited discussion of sibling relationships, Regency manners, and Cassandra Austen’s possibleContinue reading “Sisterly Censorship”
Fancy That – the Original Fan Fiction
Written in 1914, Old Friends and New Fancies is considered to be the first work of Austen fan fiction. Goodreads says “this charming and original sequel to the novels of Jane Austen intertwines the lives of the most beloved characters from all six Austen novels with new characters of the author’s devising. Inventive matchmaking leadsContinue reading “Fancy That – the Original Fan Fiction”
Persuasive Valentines
In February, the JASNA Hawai‘i Reading Group hosted an online discussion of Persuasions, focusing on the couples, with a spirited discussion of who was was well matched, who wasn’t, and why.
Podcast Participants
JASNA Hawai‘i members were guests during season 5 of JAS New Zealand’s Frances Duncan Amateur Austenite podcast, which discussed Lady Susan letter by letter. In Letter 27, Gretchen Savage discussed Frederica’s childhood and the disappearing Vernon fortune.In Letter 41, Cheryl Ernst read the final letter before the expository wrap-up .Bob Newell has also been aContinue reading “Podcast Participants”
At the 2023 AGM
Hawai‘i Regional Coordinator Cheryl Ernst (in back row) attended the JASNA’s 2023 Annual General Meeting in Denver. She joined fellow regional coordinators at a reception hosted by JASNA President Mary Mintz (far right) and had a ball with frequent Hawai‘i Zoom attendees Jeanne Talbot and Kirk Companion. Entertainment included a Q&A session with Adrian LukisContinue reading “At the 2023 AGM”
High Time for Tea
JASNA Hawai‘i members enjoyed Tea at 1024 in Honolulu so much that we returned with friends and family. The tea not only provided welcome refreshment for those who had strolled Foster Botanical Garden earlier in the day and featured a great deal of lively conversation and easy camaraderie, but it served as a decadal celebrationContinue reading “High Time for Tea”
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