Planned Reads for January 2015

Well this time last year I was starting a blog which I didn't publish publicly for a few months but here we are, 12 months and nearly 80 books later, still babbling about books so I'd like to thank all of you for dropping by and reading my words, I really appreciate your interest and support.

As for 2015, I plan to continue reading a mix of Austenesque, contemporary and historical books. I joined a new group on Goodreads, an Austenesque TBR group and I'm aiming for Catherine Morland level which is 21-50 books but really I'm hoping to make the Mr Bennet 50+ level! Each month I'll be updating my progress to this group, and I thought I'd post it here in case any of you would like to join too.

This year I want to make sure I fit in some things I didn't make time for last year. Though I read lots of Austen-inspired books, I didn't actually read any Austen, which is something I definitely need to rectify this year!

Last year I had a little Mansfield reading challenge, and I tried to work in some Mansfield Park inspired reads to celebrate the bicentenary of the first publication of the book. Although Pride & Prejudice is my favourite book by Austen, the other books are all worthy of love and I really enjoyed my MP reads. So much so that I decided that I'm going to try and make sure that each month I read some Austenesque that is not primarily based on Pride & Prejudice. If you'd like to try this too but don't know what non-P&P books are out there, I recommend that you consult the comprehensive lists that Meredith has made available over at Austenesque Reviews as a starting point for suggestions.

The other little challenge I have decided to set myself is to reduce the amount of paid for unread books I have on my kindle. I can't let a bargain go, so even if I don't have time to read a book I'll often still buy it and I have a list tallying up my unread books total (OK, I'll admit it, it's not just a list but a geeky spreadsheet, with sums in and everything!). It is a pretty shocking total, even though most of them were purchased at bargain prices! I want to try and reduce the value of it by a good amount by the end of the year. I also have a lot of books that I've been lucky enough to win but I haven't read yet. I want to make a good dent in those too!

So what do I have lined up for this month? Well, my non-Pride & Prejudice Austenesque read is one based on Mansfield Park, to wean myself off my MP reads. This is one that I planned for last year but I didn't get round to reading, The Beresfords by Christina Dudley, which is a modern version of MP, which was recommended to me by my good reading buddy Meredith from Austenesque Reviews.

My modern Austenesque planned read is The Muse by Jessica Evans, which came here as part of its blog tour last month. It's a modern Pride & Prejudice-inspired book, set in the world of ballet, with Darcy as a choreographer, and Lizzy as a dancer, who becomes his muse. It's had really good reviews so I'm looking forward to this read.

My favourite Austenesque author, Abigail Reynolds, has a new book due out later this month, which is called Alone with Mr Darcy. I plan to get my hands on it as soon as possible after its release! It features a compromise situation, one of my favourite scenarios, so I'm looking forward to see what Ms Reynolds makes of that. You can read a large excerpt of this book over at Austen Variations.

I also plan to read a historical romance, The Vagabond Vicar by Charlotte Brentwood. The vicar in question was hoping to be sent off overseas to become a missionary but instead he finds himself in a small village, which he assumes will be very unchallenging.

Hopefully I'll fit some other reads in too! I hope you have some good reads lined up for 2015. If you have any suggestions for reads you think I'd enjoy, please let me know in the comments!