Hello sweet friends! I hope you have enjoyed a lovely start to 2017! Can’t believe how fast January flew by! It was mostly a quiet month here for Mr. Bingley and me. Just getting back into the grove of working and enjoying time together when aren’t working. 😉
We have been working on our Netherfield a little bit this past month.
We bought and put together a new TV stand and coffee table.
We hung up and put pins in our travel map (our lack of pins is showing us we have so many more places we must go!)
And I’ve found some new cushions for my reading nook! Now it will be much more comfortable to read in there!
How about you? What did you do in January?
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Want to know what Austenesque fun I’m getting into this month?
…here is what’s on this month’s
Austenesque Agenda:
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
~ YOU CHOOSE! ~
I love when you help me decide which book I should read and review! 😉 I’m thinking it might be good to change things up and read something non Pride and Prejudice. Here are the books I’m deciding between: Interference by Kay Honeyman, I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison, and For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund, and Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. Which one do you want me to read? To vote leave a comment below!
~ FEATURED AUTHORS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Ginger Monette – February 8th
Lona Manning – February 15th
So excited for everything going on this month!
What are you looking forward to reading and doing?
Hello Meredith, I love your map! We have a scratch map at home – it starts off gold and you scratch off countries when you visit them. It is so nice to have a record up on the wall of places you have been – the Netherfield one is very pretty:-) Hope that you enjoy your reading this month
Hi Jenetta! I saw those scratch maps online. How fun! 🙂 Yes it is, although seeing a visual representation has really showed us how many more places we need to go! Majority of our pins are nestled in one area! 😉 Thank you so much for checking out my post! Hope you have a lovely February!
January has been a blur with taking care of my parents and work (audit time yaaayyy NOT). I have found a good bit of time to read, thankfully. I choose the “Best Friend” for your option. 🙂
Also wanted to tell you that if you need some pins in the middle of the US map, come to Oklahoma. I’ll be glad to take tea with you and we’re on a University so there is a lot to see. No beaches unfortunately. Happy February Meredith!
Hi Stephanie! I hope your parents are doing well and boo for the audit! I am glad you found time to read through it all though!
What a lovely invite! Yes, we really do need to get a little further west, don’t we!! Thank you!
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 1 / D – 0 / SS – 0
Looks like a good month of books ahead for you — and your window nook is fantastic! I’ve always loved those. All my favorite heroines tend to find themselves curled up on one!
I have been busy editing the sixteen short stories for “The Darcy Monologues” and working with cover designer to get the concept developed. It’s all coming together! These authors are… Extraordinary! Am blessed.
Still no London date set with Henry Cavill. But I’m content to know it will happen and am perfectly fine with delayed gratified. XO
Thank you, Christina! I’m so excited for this month! 🙂 Oh yes, I’ve wanted a window nook forever!
What an exciting January you had! Cannot wait for The Darcy Monologues and for your visit to London!! I’m sure both will be so fantastic!!! So happy for you, my friend!
Hi Meredith, I choose I was Jane Austen’s Best Friend. Netherfield is looking lovely. Didn’t do much in January but going on holiday to Derbyshire on 11 February in a beautiful cosy cottage, so looking forward to that.
Hi Michelle! Thank you, still a work in progress! But we are very happy with our home and love being there so much! Oh what a lovely place to go on holiday!! And in a cottage! Have so much fun!!
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 2 / D – 0 / SS – 0
I’d choose When Darkness Shows the Stars, of which I’ve seen many rave reviews. Don’t want to spoil your reading nook by making you plow through the dreary Joanna Trollope Sense and Sensibility! Why do contemporary interpreters of the canon feel they have to make their characters so very rude and sullen?
Ooh, yes, I’ve seen some unfavorable comments about S&S. But I do already own it (found it at a library book sale), so I guess I still feel I should read it some day… 😉 I’m glad to hear there are many favorable reviews for Darkness!
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 2 / D – 1 / SS – 0
Meredith,thank goodness Jan. is over! With the dark nights,cold weather and the feeling of anti-climax after the festive season,I’m delighted that Spring has sprung!!!
Am taking a short break from JAFF as I’m experiencing Darcy and Lizzy ‘overkill’ at the moment.
Think you should read From Darkness Shows the Stars. I’d be interested in reading your thoughts on it.
Hi Mary! I hope the weather warms up by you and that your month is a happy one!
I can understand that, I always like to mix up my reading if I can so I can “miss” the Regency period and Darcy and Elizabeth. 🙂
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 2 / D – 2 / SS – 0
Cool coffee table!
Thank you! 🙂 We are liking it!
I enjoyed I WAS JANE AUSTEN’S BEST FRIEND. It was interesting. I love your travel map. I want one, too! 🙂
Thank you, Melissa! We’ve wanted one for years. Found ours on etsy. 😉 So glad to hear you enjoyed that story! I’ve had it on my TBR pile for awhile now!
I love your cushioned window seat, I’ve always wanted one although it would definitely need to be a house with VERY VERY thick walls to have a window seat big enough to fit me nowadays . I haven’t read anything about those books as I only read Darcy and Elizabeth stories so I will choose I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend. Happy reading.
Thank you, Glynis! I’ve always wanted one and we made it happen in between my bookshelves. It isn’t perhaps a traditional window seat, but I love it! And even more so now, sitting on the hard wood would hurt after about 30 minutes! 😉
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 3 / D – 2 / SS – 0
I too pick For Darkness Shows the Stars. I agree with Abigail, Trollop’s Sense and Sensibility was a huge disappointment.
I’ve spent most of January in and out of A&E with one family member or another. They seemed to have picked this month to get one ailment or another. As we speak my hubby is on crutches and is not a very good patient!! Oh well. Onwards and upwards.
Oh no! I hope everyone stays healthy and poor hubby gets off the crutches soon! A lot of friends I know had January similar to yours. Seems to be the time of year for it. Hopefully your February will be much better! 🙂
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 3 / D – 3 / SS – 0
Love what you have done with Netherfield Meredith! January has been relatively quiet for us but I have been doing a lot of reading. I find winter the best time for it! I’m hoping to read Meryton Vignettes this month too along with a few others. Looking forward to your visitors as Ginger’s Darcy’s Hope novels are fabulous! I vote for ‘I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend’. I have started the Stephanie Barron Jane Austen Mystery series this month and hope to finish #1 today. I’m really enjoying it! Oh and to Michelle Hall…I am jealous of your trip to the cottage in Derbyshire!
Thank you, Carole! We are enjoying it so much! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear you got to do a lot of reading last month! 🙂 I agree, winter is a great time to stay in and snuggled up with some good books! 🙂 I started Meryton Vignettes yesterday and I love it! 🙂
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 4 / D – 3 / SS – 0
The cushions give a lovely touch to your reading nook! Beautiful choices!
If you want to put more pins in your map…try to put them on all the countries where you have readers of your blog, you’ll have run out of pins LOL
I vote for “Sense and Sensibility “and I’m looking forward to the new version of Mansfield Park 😉
Thank you, Teresa! I was thinking about going with long bench cushions, but they were really pricey (had to be custom-made to fit proper dimensions). I decided I’d give movable cushions a try instead, and I’m glad I did. It is nice to have a cushion for my back too. 🙂
That is a lovely idea! It would definitely have more pins in many more interesting places!!!
Thanks for voting! I – 0 / BF – 4 / D – 3 / SS – 1
Lovely home-y touches you guys are adding. Hmm, I enjoyed For Darkness Shows the Stars, but I’ve heard fantastic stuff about Interference so that’s the one I’m voting for.
Ah, fun visits and reviews to look forward to.
Have a good February!
Thank you, Sophia! It is getting a little more home-y, slowly but surely! 😉
Hope you have a wonderful month, my friend!
Thanks for voting! I – 1 / BF – 4 / D – 3 / SS – 1
Well, January for me was a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous in a way. The sublime came in the form of reading some excellent JAFF (Darcy’s Hope at Donwell Abbey, The Many Lives of Fitzwilliam Darcy to name but two) and another visit to the amazing World Heritage site that is Fountains Abbey (only 20 minutes drive from us). The ridiculous (or as near as it comes) meant dealing with my taxes and a couple of tedious but essential work related assigments that are essential if I want to keep up my practice as a pharmacist. I love the clinical stuff, but the other more admin related stuff can seem like a waste of time sometimes.
I’m pretty sure you’ll love Donwell Abbey, Meredith, and Letter from Ramsgate is also on my TBR list. For the readers’ pick, I choose For Darkness Shows the Stars. It’s also on my TBR list, having heard such good things about it when it was a group read on Sophia Rose’s Goodreads group last year. I didn’t have time to read it then but I managed to get a reasonably priced secondhand paperback copy (no Kindle available) and hope to read it this year.
Thanks for sharing more of what you and Mr. B. are doing to turn Netherfield from a house into a home. I’m still suffering serious book nook envy!
Hi Anji! I love your recap for January! I think it is fabulous you had so many great reads to balance the mundane admin work of taxes and such. 🙂
I’m so excited to read both of those stories! 🙂 I’ve been anticipating them both for some time!
LOL! I got my copy of For Darkness Shows the Stars secondhand through Paperback Swap! 😉
Thanks for voting! I – 1 / BF – 4 / D – 4 / SS – 1
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
Thanks for voting! I – 1 / BF – 4 / D – 4 / SS – 2
Love the Map! The color combination of the pillows is really nice, cheery and bright. I’m really looking forward to this month’s agenda, Meredith. ‘Darkness’ sounds very intriguing, that’s my vote. Yes, thank goodness January is over.
Thank you, Michelle! It was quite the spontaneous purchase, just saw them when we were out shopping for tables and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I may go back and see if they have a magenta cushion, would be great to add maybe just one more! 😉
Hope you have a wonderful February! 🙂
Thanks for voting! I – 1 / BF – 4 / D – 5 / SS – 2
I like the magenta idea. 🙂
If you do that, you might try and see it they have another of the print. then you,ll have the ‘decor’ balance of an odd number. Just something to think about. Listen to me, sorry, it’s what my sister and I do back and forth with each other all the time. 🙂
LOL! I do that too! 🙂 I do have room for more cushions, so that might be a good idea. Thanks, Michelle!
Looking forward to all you have in store this month, but biting my nails about the “Letter from Ramsgate” review! Hope you love it as much as the author does!
I’m a cover junkie, so I pick “For Darkness Shows the Stars” just because of the cover. I know its content will be worthwhile, as much as any of the other excellent choices.
I’m also looking forward to the interviews because I’m fascinated by the choices these authors made on their content for their novels.
Thanks for making this site so interesting, Meredith!
Hi Suzan! Thank you! I’m excited to read your book!! I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve read by you, no need to bite your nails! 😉
I agree, Darkness has quote a lovely cover! 🙂
Yes! It will be interesting to learn more about their novels and choices. How great to see Mansfield Park getting some love!
Thanks for voting! I – 1 / BF – 4 / D – 6 / SS – 2
Love the colorful pillows, Meredith! Hope you have many hours of happy reading! 🙂 I vote for Interference. I’m on a contemporary kick. (I’m also curious about Trollope’s Sense and Sensibility.) 🙂 Happy February!
Hi Reina! Thank you! Contemporaries are fun and I haven’t read one in awhile.
Hope you enjoy a lovely February!
Thanks for voting! I – 2 / BF – 4 / D – 6 / SS – 2
Hi Meredith! Looking forward to what you have to bring to us this month. It’s so nice to see a MP variation too!
As for picking your reads, I’ve read two of these, one I thought was good, the other felt like a missed opportunity. I’d like to put in my vote for one of the ones I haven’t read, ‘I was Jane Austen’s Best Friend’. I hope you enjoy whichever you read.
Hi Ceri! Thank you so much for checking out my post! 😉
Yes, isn’t exciting? I can’t wait to read it!
Thanks for voting! I – 2 / BF – 5 / D – 6 / SS – 2
I am intrigued by the title “I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend” enough to check that book out. Love how Netherfield is coming along and impressed that you put together furniture and are still married. 🙂 I have learned to let my husband do that and keep my opinions to myself. heh heh January has not been kind with regard to my health, but there are so many worse off that I feel I am blessed to still be around and able to write. Looking forward to hearing your opinions of the books listed.
Hi Brenda! 🙂
LOL! I can’t take much credit for it, I just handed things to Mr. Bingley. 😉 I hope you feel better in February than you did in January. Your attitude is inspiring though. Thank you so much for your lovely visit!
Thanks for voting! I – 2 / BF – 6 / D – 6 / SS – 2 We got a tie!!!
Love the new items you put together for Netherfield and the new pillows for your window seat. I will vote for When Darkness Shows the Stars. I read it a long time ago and was not posting reviews at that time so always meant to go back and reread it in order to do so. Love the map you have for your travels. Clever. I read 3 out of 4 of the books you plan to read. I have yet to read Meryton Vignettes. I think I have it on my kindle so will have to look into doing that.
Hi Sheila! Thank you so much! We are very happy with them too. 🙂 You should definitely read Meryton Vignettes! I finished it yesterday and loved it! Hope you and your family are doing well!
Thanks for voting! I – 2 / BF – 6 / D – 7 / SS – 2