I enjoyed this month's biography selection and topic. I'm very grateful to fantasyfan for recommending the Oxford edition! After reading the main memoir by JEAL, I wanted to know much more about Jane. Therefore I really enjoyed reading the additional family writing that was also his source material. I didn't realize the background to why so little is known about Jane Austen. I also found the introduction to the Oxford edition very informative, especially with the details about how Victorian biographies were written compared to today's modern biographies which fill in the gap material with more psychological analysis. My first read through the intro I found it to be a bit rambling and plodding since I wasn't familiar with the subject matter. However I re-read the intro after I finished the book and thought it to be insightful and lucid once I had a better understanding of the material and family relationships.
Jane Austen is one of the few authors that I am inclined to reread. I am not as fond of
Pride & Prejudice as most people, but I do enjoy her other works. I think this memoir will give me a new perspective the next time I read one of her novels. It's amazing how her works are so much admired and read 200 years later; the writing still seems so fresh and witty which I think is why it has such universal appeal even in the modern world. And, what an industry has been spawned from all the books and movies which reimagine her life or her characters' lives! I must confess to finding simple pleasure in reading Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen Mysteries or watching sappy movies like Austenland. A nonfiction book that I have been reading off and on is
Jane Austen's England by Roy and Lesley Adkins.
Certainly I would like to read the Tomalin biography someday. I'd also like to read the book
Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence which addresses her relationship with Tom Lefroy. I saw the movie it inspired several years ago.
I have been to Southampton many times and done a self-guided walking tour through Old Town where Jane lived. I was looking for more information on the places where she lived and stumbled upon this website. It's not the fanciest looking website, but it has good information and links to other websites.
http://www.seekingjaneausten.com/index.html