This is so perfect for fans of Jane Austen. It is written so well.
This is a collection of essays in the format of the alphabet.
Entertaining and informative

This was a very fun book for a fan of Jane Austen, and I think even if someone isn’t a big fan that they would still enjoy learning more about her through this book.

A really well done and informative piece of work by Greaney.

A collection of essays arranged in alphabetical order according to the subject matter. Very insightful and some interesting / lesser known facts that do not immediately spring to mind when thinking of Austen. I, for one was amused and surprised by the section on children, or rather the lack thereof in Austen's works, and why this might have been.

There's a wealth of supporting material alongside each essay, whether its taken from letters, journals, biographies or Austen's novels themselves.

I read this across a couple of days but this is easily something you could take bitesize chunks out of every few days. The essays are not too lengthy that you could easily read one in a short sitting if you didn't have the time to commit to long chapters.

Enjoyable and informative. This was a fun read and touched on aspects of the books that I had not considered before. Recommended for Austen fans.

4.5 stars

A really lovely collection of essays on all things Jane Austen, from her novels and letters to biography and critical afterlives. Each essay takes its theme from a single word, and Greaney traces the impact of that word or idea through Austen’s life, fiction, and legacy.

All of the essays were interesting, often offering tidbits about historical context or Jane’s personal life that prove illuminating to the way she frames concepts in her fiction (Did you know that the concept of ‘friendship’ underwent a semantic shift in the Georgian period? Or that eighteenth-century England was in the grip of a ‘gambling fever’? I didn’t!). Some of the title letters were slight reaches to fit the alphabet theme (X for ‘xis,’ or ‘six’ reversed, as in one coded-for-fun letter Austen wrote to her niece—the essay was on Austen’s delight in puzzles, word games, and narrative reversals), but each was genuinely thoughtful and worthy of a place in the collection. There wasn’t a single essay that felt superfluous or more tenuous in its conclusions than the rest.

It’s not a book to read in a day; I’d recommend taking on one or two at a sitting, and letting the thoughts digest. Nor is this a book for someone who’s never read Jane Austen, though I’d say it’s perfectly accessible to non-academics. I would recommend having read at least three Austen novels before picking this up; but if you do pick it up, I promise you’ll find it rewarding.

Jane Austen is a pillar of British literature and even though her oeuvre is limited to six novels, some unfinished work, and juvenilia, thousands of popular and scholarly works have found inspiration in her writings. This book continues that tradition with 26 short essays covering a wide range of topics examined across all of Austen. As an Austen fan, I enjoyed the author's insights and connections between works. Where I struggled with the book was how to classify it. It was published by an academic press, but while the essays dug deeper into Austen's work than a casual reader might, I didn't find it scholarly enough for an academic library collection. I also thought the convention of using each letter of the alphabet was limiting and the author stretched a bit, especially with letters X (Xis--six spelled backwards, an essay on wordplay) and Z (Zizag--which was actually about embarrassment).

Overall, this volume falls in a place between popular and scholarly, which might make it a difficult sell to readers, and the alphabet framing sometimes got in the way of the author's ideas. The cover is adorable, though!

A perfect companion book for any Jane Austen fan! A great gift for book lovers in your life! Very comprehensive and thorough

An A-Z of Jane Austen
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have always been a huge fan of Jane Austen so I was delighted to get this book. Each of the 26 short essays were interesting and taught me more about Jane and her writing. A fun book which I’d recommend to any Austen fans.

This was such an interesting read! Jane Austen is my all-time fav, and I always jump at the chance to learn more about her and her life.

I took so many notes and made too many annotations, but there were so many important passages and I just wanted to highlight everything! 26 short essays highlight keywords concepts and activities that would’ve been important to Jane Austen, and discussed in her books. Some stand out chapters include B is for bath, H is for horse, D is for dance, and V is for visits. I loved these essays and learned even more about Jane and the Regency era 🤍

Being an avid Jane Austen reader, I loved this!
This work is a literal Jane Austen ABC. It is structured so that for each letter of the alphabet you get a term whose connection to the works of Jane Austen is then explained in the following essays. Greaney not only limits himself to her major works (but still putting his major focus on them) but also reaches out to non-completed books, letters or prayers Austen wrote, also encompassing her teenage years.
It was an enlightment! In a well-written but understandable way, Greane writes about Queerness in her work, about Bath and her personal history with the city, about the name Jane and about friendship. It is a well-researched scientific book about different aspects of Austens literary works, underlined with proof from her book and other written down witnesses of her time.
For all lovers of Jane Austen and those who wish to be, for (re-)acquainting yourself with a literary master in a way which has not been done before.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- Great cover on this one!

I love anything "Jane Austen" and this book had such a fun concept! Short essays about Jane Austen's works using an A-Z type layout. Each letter of the alphabet has a word that represents a place, actively, etc For example...B stands for Bath, J stands for Jane...this would make an excellent gift for an Jane Austen fan!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

A unique format that took some time to get used it but very informative. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Published in October 2022, An A-Z of Jane Austen is a sort of mini-encyclopedia that addresses, sometimes with a completely revolutionary approach, some of the themes present in the works of the famous English author.

Following the progression of the alphabet, each letter is associated with a word that represents a theme, a concept, a place or an activity present in Jane Austen‘s works, for example B stands for Bath, J stands for Jane and M stands for matchmaking.
The chapter that I found most interesting was that of N is for No, which explores the condition of women in the Regency era, and the fact that the only way they had to express their opinion was the refusal of a marriage proposal.
Instead, I was rather baffled by the chapter dedicated to the letter Q.

Unfortunately, the style of the work is difficult and the author, a university professor, gets lost in useless quotations that could be avoided to get the message to a wider audience. It seems, in fact, that this volume was written as a reference for university students or researchers in the academic field. I struggled to finish reading this essay, when I got to the letter Q I was completely overwhelmed and bored, and fell asleep more than once with the book in my hands.

The cover of the volume is very nice.

This was an informative and enjoyable exploration of common themes in Jane Autsten's novels, framed in a unique format. I felt this was written well, and it could be enjoyed by both academics and general fans of Jane Austen alike!

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen; have read all her work and read a lot about her and her time. As such this book and the unconventional format, was a fun read. However, I'm not sure it will attract new readers - which might not be the attention of the author at all.

An A-Z of Jane Austen, by Michael Greaney. I cautiously considered this title before I committed to it. Given the vast number and varying quality of books in the literary-industrial complex aka the Jane Austen pop culture behemoth, I wondered if it would be worth reading. But I was pleased to discover what a wonderful book this was, rewarding to the Jane Austen reader, and to thoughtful readers in general.  The structure based on twenty-six words may be a little random, but hey, it spoke to me, possibly an example of tapping into what attracts contemporary readers. 

These were keenly observed, thoughtful short essays. They enhanced my understanding as a reader and writer: I'm trying to understand "the novel" as I muck around with writing one of my own. The chapter, "Obstacles" for example, is a succinct description of how JA used the device of obstacle in her writing, presented in a fresh way. "Gifts" and the obligation and class implications of them was another. I was also engaged by the chapter "West Indies," as lately, I have been considering the misery and death that supported the comfortable lives of the class of people in these books. 

The writer is a professor but the work itself is written for a wide audience, not just literature specialists. I wish I had anything near his depth of perception and talent for synthesis. I don't think you'd get as much out of this book if you haven't read Jane Austen, or but for her legion of appreciative readers, this is a valuable companion to her work and fiction in general. I was so happy I gave it a chance!

Thanks to the author, publisher and #netgalley for this review e-book in exchange for an honest review. 

#janeausten #jasna #19thcenturyliterature #lml_reads #bookstagramcanada #halfagonyhalfhope #atruthuniversallyacknowledged #persuasion

My first thought when I spotted this book was that someone had stolen my idea. Last year I ran my own informal Austen A-Z challenge scouring the alphabet for Austen-ish inspiration. But as soon as I picked this up, I was hooked. An A-Z of Jane Austen  is a fascinating frolic through Austen's canon, skipping between the juvenilia and the main novels to shed fresh light on Austen as a writer. For reformed ex-literature students such as myself, this is a rare delight.

Starting at 'A is for Accident' all the way through to 'Z is for Zigzag', Greaney skips down the alphabet and draws out aspects of Austen which are all too easily missed. But rather than mere titbits crowbarred to fit a particular letter, Greaney has essentially put together twenty-six essays which manage to be both light-hearted and deeply rooted in the text. The nerd in me rejoices at this book but one of the best things about it is that I think it can still be enjoyed by the more casual reader.

My Netgalley copy of this book features extensive highlights. I was unaware of its existence when I decided to do Austen in August again this year and yet it ended up being one of the true highlights. One of the observations which particularly stood out to me was Greaney's entry on 'Kindness'. He comments on the 'moral amnesia' of General Tilney and Willoughby who cast off Catherine Morland and Eliza Williams respectively when their purpose has been served. There is a contrast between the civil veneer and the lack of genuine ethical concern. Displays of generosity are not the same as kindness. General Tilney may host Catherine Tilney for weeks but the kind gesture comes from his daughter Eleanor who makes sure that Catherine actually has enough money to make it home. More troubling though about the nature of Regency society however is how Miss Bates and Mr Collins witter on about the kindness of others which does not truly exist. Lady Catherine is not kind but leans on her privilege. So too does Emma Woodhouse who is pointlessly cruel to Miss Bates. Mr Collins has no choice but to brown-nose his way to a better position within the church as he will find no advancement elsewhere. Similarly, Miss Bates has no way of preventing her own steady slide into poverty. Kindness is insufficient in the face of an unjust society.

Greaney truly considers Austen from all angles, chronicling the various vehicles which power the six main novels, whether it be the horses that took them from place to place, the servants who lurk in the background of every scene or the letters which give Austen's work an 'epistolary scaffolding' long after she had abandoned the form. Letters allow Austen's men to speak for themselves, particularly in the case of Darcy's long letter and Frank Churchill's explanation of his marriage. Letters can be co-authored, whether it is Robert Martin asking his sister to help him write his proposal or Emma Woodhouse in assisting Harriet Smith in rejecting it. Willoughby's disavowal of Marianne is dictated by the woman he eventually marries. Henry Crawford directs his sister's correspondence with Fanny Price. Reading and re-reading letters, often with other characters, creates and sustains intimacy. Mr Bennet ridicules Mr Collins' first letter to his entire family. Lydia's letter announcing her elopement is addressed to Mrs Forster but ends up being read by multiple people and eventually her sisters.

Glancing over the chapters to refresh my memory for this review, I am immediately drawn in again. Greaney hits the nail on the head again and again. There is the question of what Austen's view of match-making might be; however we may mock Mrs Bennet, she did bring her closer together with Bingley and also Elizabeth with Darcy. If Jane had been allowed the carriage, she might not have ended up mistress of Netherfield. But still, Greaney points out that it is wrong to categorise Austen's fiction as depicting successful fortune-hunters. It may be the easy view that Austen wrote about women marrying rich men with big houses, but this is not the case. Elinor Dashwood marries a man who has not the income she herself stated to be necessary for a comfortable existence. In marrying clergymen, Catherine Morland, Elinor Dashwood and Fanny Price have a 'reprieve from the implied threat of poverty rather than a passport to fabulous wealth'. When we look at the maligned Mrs and Miss Bates, we are looking at their possible future. And indeed, the character who makes the most advantageous marriage is Maria Bertram and yet it is she who suffers the most short-lived marriage. For most of the characters, poverty is something which can be held at bay but not escaped forever.

Jane Austen was a puzzle, both as a writer and as a person. In A-Z, Greaney seeks to unpack and thus unpick some of the enigma of Austen's opinions and her attitudes and he achieves this with style. But most of all, Greaney has motivated me to re-read yet again. An ideal Christmas present for the Austen fans in your life!

A really great collection of discussions that dig into some of the many nuances of Austen's works and life. I will be picking up a physical copy to add to my Austen collection.

I will qualify this by saying that I am a middle-of-the-road Austen enthusiast. I've read her work, seen the various film/TV adaptations, and read a few analyses and reference texts like this, but I have never done any formal or extensive study of her work and therefore my thoughts need to be considered in that context.

That said, this was interesting reading and contained insights I hadn't seen or considered thoroughly before. The conceit of "A-Z" didn't feel particularly necessary, but didn't detract from my enjoyment either. The author's ideas seemed well supported and text is cited when appropriate. I appreciated the variety of concepts discussed in this and found it very readable. I learned a little something and enjoyed myself while doing it--what more can one ask, really?

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

I love all things Austen - books, retellings, movies, spinoffs etc. Therefore this book was obviously something I would be drawn to - especially given the delightful cover and I was not disappointed being the firm Austenite that I am.

‘Be sure to have something odd happen to you’, Austen once wrote to Cassandra, ‘see somebody that you do not expect, meet with some surprise or other.’

This is an A-Z dictionary or mini encyclopedia of matters to do with Jane Austen. The author has taken each letter of the alphabet and selected a word that is somehow connected to Jane Austen’s world. There might be places such as Bath, themes such as Kindness or activities such as Dance. These twenty six key words are the prompt for an essay on each taken from not only Jane's books but also her letters, unfinished novels and other observations.

‘Nowhere in Austen are relations of status, hierarchy and precedence more formally paraded and stringently enforced than on the dancefloor.’

The book can be read from cover to cover, used to cross reference or simply to browse through certain themes. This fresh structure and thematic approach lends itself to new and thought provoking perspectives. It would be a wonderful addition to any lover of Jane Austen’s collection or, given its academic approach, those seeking to study deeper into her books, reflections and writing.

‘Letter-reading is a significant social activity in Austen, one that frequently reveals as much about those reading as it does about the text under consideration.’








This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.