Apparently I revisit Jane Austen’s Persuasion (May 2015 response) every 5-6 years. Last time I read it was when some friends and I did a Jane Austen Book Club back in 2015.
I decided to re-read it again while on vacation after reading the Austen Addicts trilogy (A Weekend with Mr. Darcy, Dreaming of Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy Forever) by Virginia Connelly, who by all measures appears to be slightly obsessed with it—or at least co-obsessed with it and Pride and Prejudice. The further I read in Connelly’s trilogy the more I wanted to go back and read the originals again. I guess that’s a sign of a good referential nod right?
I think what I like about this series more than most of the others is that it pays as much homage to the cult of Austen as it does to the original Austen works. Each of the books in this trilogy (maybe the series?) take a lead from one of Austen’s original novels, but then move away from it diving into the fantastical world of the Janeites. Connelly once again dropped a tidbit of Austen-dom knowledge I wasn’t aware of in the Austen Authors website, which was a neat discovery, but seems to have undergone a major change since it was originally mentioned in this book. [Edit 10.24.2022 and apparently no longer exists, leaving the link in case it comes back up.]
We are done traveling (long haul at least) for the summer! I know most people would not be as excited about this as I am, but it is exhausting.
I picked this up at the library after reading about it on Jane’s blog 
Perhaps I’m too smart for my own good, but overall this book was a bit disappointing. With a title like Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, you’d expect there to be revelations of sorts and yet there weren’t. I mean that’s why I requested a copy from the publisher.* I was hoping as the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death rapidly approaches there’d be something completely new and innovative to talk about, but there wasn’t.