Perks Ep. 52 | Amanda Beverly | Jane is for Everyone | 7-1-20

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
These words, from Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice are, perhap, some of the reasons why many readers swoon over his character and develop a love for Austen and her works. Other readers, though, like our guest this week, Amanda Beverly, see their families or people they know in the quirky individuals who make up Austen’s communities.

Whatever your reason for liking Austen’s world, there is a way you can immerse yourself in it, which is through The Jane Austen Festival, an annual event that, due to COVID, is virtual this year. Running from July10-12, the festival includes a variety of workshops, author talks, and Q&A that helps attendees get a taste of what the Regency Period and Austen are like.

In our episode this week, Amanda talks about how she became involved with the Jane Austen Society of North America--Greater Louisville Region and what their meetings are like, how it seems the things she can learn about Jane Austen’s books and her time period are endless, and why newbies shouldn’t feel intimidated, and why the Louisville chapter of the society is known as the Fashion region.

Book Discussed in This Episode

Jane Austen books
1- Pride and Prejudice
2- Sense and Sensibility
3- Emma
4- Persuasion
5- Northanger Abbey

Other books discussed
1- Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2- The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
3- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
4- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
6- Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters
7- Among the Janeites : A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom by Deborah Yaffe
8- Unmarriageable by Sonia Kamal
9- This is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope by Shayla Dawson
10- Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson
11- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
12- Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan
13- This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Movies mentioned:
1- Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth - 1995 miniseries
2- Bride and Prejudice (Bollywood) - 2004
3- Clueless - 1995

Podcasts mentioned:
1- Bonnets at Dawn

You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com

Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.