Today marked the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen who died on July 18, 1817.

Last January I stayed in Jane Austen Country while visiting some customers in England. The hotel I stayed at in Basingstoke had a Jane Austen suite. I did not stay in the suite, but I did walk past the door and take this picture 🙂

Tonight I am remembering the novels that Jane Austen wrote. Here is a picture of her books from my Penguin Classics collection. I am still missing one of them. I have not yet found Persuasion in my hunt for volumes in this series. I do have 67 titles from the Penguin Classics series. I really like the look of these books with the solid color spine with the little picture on top.

I would say that Pride and Prejudice is my favorite of Jane Austen’s novels. This is due partly to the different movies that are based on the book.

Northanger Abbey is also a great read, especially if you have read The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. This brings a greater understanding to the story.

I also liked Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and Mansfield Park. It is really sad that Jane died at 41 as I am sure she would have written more great books. She did have several unfinished works that have been published so we can at least read a bit more than her six core books.

Here is a picture that I took of the Steventon church where Jane’s father served as a rector and where she would have worshiped for a good portion of her life. Her brother also served as a rector there and she would often visit him after she moved away.

Near the end of her life Jane lived in this house in Chawton which is to the east of Basingstoke. Steventon is a little to the southwest of Basingstoke.

Now to find Persuasion so that I can at least have all the Austen’s for my Penguin Classics collection.

Steven