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Slow reading

Jane Austen, Emma (Vol. 2, redux 2025)

May 29, 2025October 9, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 12 Comments

In April, I wrote a post on Volume 1 of Emma, sharing the thoughts that had come to me during my Jane Austen's group's current slow read of the novel. This month, I'm sharing some ideas that Volume 2 raised for me. I wrote in my Volume 1 post that, during this read, what popped … Continue reading Jane Austen, Emma (Vol. 2, redux 2025)

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 3)

April 30, 2025April 30, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 26 Comments

Mansfield Park book covers A year ago, my Jane Austen group did a slow read of Mansfield Park, meaning we read and discussed it, one volume at a time, over three months. I posted my thoughts on volume 1 (chapters 1 to 30), and volume 2 (chapters 19 to 31), but I missed the third … Continue reading Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 3)

Jane Austen, Emma (Vol. 1, redux 2025)

April 13, 2025April 26, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 22 Comments

As long-time readers here will know, my Jane Austen group did a slow read of Austen's novels over several years, starting in 2011. In 2022, we decided it was time to repeat the exercise, and are again reading them chronologically, one each year, making 2025 Emma's turn. Our slow reads involve reading and discussing the … Continue reading Jane Austen, Emma (Vol. 1, redux 2025)

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 2)

April 27, 2024April 28, 2024 / Whispering Gums / 25 Comments

Mansfield Park book covers As I wrote last month, my Jane Austen group is doing a slow read of Mansfield Park this year, meaning we are reading and discussing the novel, one volume at a time, over three months. This month was Volume 2 (that is, chapters 19 to 31). It starts with the return … Continue reading Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 2)

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 1)

March 17, 2024April 28, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 24 Comments

Mansfield Park book covers This year my Jane Austen group is doing a slow read of Mansfield Park, which involves our reading and discussing the novel, one volume at a time, over three months. This month, we did Volume 1, which, for those of you with modern editions, encompasses chapters 1 to 18. It ends … Continue reading Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. 1)

Slow reading: Jane Austen’s Pride and prejudice

May 28, 2023April 26, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 40 Comments

Some of the editions of Pride and Prejudice owned by my JA group Back in the early to mid-2010s, my local Jane Austen group undertook a program of slow reading Jane Austen's novels, coinciding with those books' 200th anniversaries. Given that began around a decade ago, we decided last year that it was time to … Continue reading Slow reading: Jane Austen’s Pride and prejudice

Jane Austen on travel

May 13, 2023May 28, 2023 / Whispering Gums / 14 Comments

It's been some time since I posted on Jane Austen, but currently my local Jane Austen group is repeating the slow reads we did a decade or so ago when her novels had their 200th anniversaries. Last year, we did Sense and sensibility, and right now we are doing Pride and prejudice. There are different … Continue reading Jane Austen on travel

Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 3, redux)

July 17, 2022May 28, 2023 / Whispering Gums / 14 Comments

I've called this post "Vol. 3, redux", although it is my first post on volume 3. The reason is that for my Jane Austen group's 2011 slow read of Sense and sensibility, I wrote posts on volumes 1 and 2, but not on volume 3 as I missed the meeting, and never did write up … Continue reading Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 3, redux)

Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 1, redux)

May 26, 2022May 28, 2023 / Whispering Gums / 20 Comments

In 2011, my Jane Austen group started a slow read of her novels in chronological order of publication, which meant that we started with the 1811-published Sense and sensibility. By slow read, we meant that each month we'd read a volume of the chosen novel, given most novels in those times were published in three … Continue reading Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 1, redux)

Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Vol. 2

September 30, 2017May 13, 2024 / Whispering Gums / 12 Comments

I recently posted my thoughts on Volume 1 of Persuasion, which I read for my Jane Austen group's slow reading of the novel. This post, obviously, is on the second (and last) volume. As before, I'll be focusing on reflections from this read rather than writing a traditional review. And, again, just in case you need a refresher … Continue reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Vol. 2

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Latest comments

  1. maamej's avatar
    maamej on Six degrees of separation, FROM Wild dark shore TO …May 20, 2026

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    Yes, true about Kate, Brona, so her insights are interesting but as you say we read for different reasons. I…

  3. This Reading Life's avatar
    This Reading Life on Geraldine Brooks, Memorial days (#BookReview)May 20, 2026

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  4. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 10: Graphic novelsMay 20, 2026

    I hear you Kimbofo - re both graphic books and audio books. I keep trying the latter but I’ve decided…

  5. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 10: Graphic novelsMay 20, 2026

    Thanks Marcie. I’d certainly read more Tom Gauld. I hope to get to Cannon in the next month. It’s a…

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Australian Literary Awards for (mostly) Fiction, 2026


The Age Book of the Year:
ALS Gold Medal:
Australian Book Industry Award (Literary Fiction):
Barbara Jefferis Award:
Indie Book Awards (Fiction):
Miles Franklin Award:
NSW Premier's Literary Award (Christina Stead Prize):
Patrick White Award:
Prime Minister's Literary Award:
Queensland Literary (Fiction) Award:
South Australian Literary Awards:
Stella Prize:
Victorian Premier's Literary (Fiction) Award: Omar Musa, Fierceland
Western Australian Premier's Book of the Year Award:

Acknowledgement of Country

I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the nation in which I live, of land that was never ceded. I honour and respect their cultural heritage, customs and beliefs, and am truly thankful for their ongoing care of this country.

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This work by Whispering Gums is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 4.0 International

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I am careful about the images I use in this blog. Some of them are my own, some I've specifically obtained permission to use from an owner, and some book cover thumbnails are used under fair use provisions. However, I have used others under Creative Commons (and similar licences) when the owners have indicated on their sites/pages that they release their material under such licences. Where possible, I have tried to properly attribute the owners/creators of uploaded images. If you think I have breached your copyright in any way please let me know. Any photos not attributed to others or to public domain are mine. Unless otherwise specified, you are welcome to use them under the Creative Commons license described under Copyright on my content above.

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