The Jane Austen Tea Society

I can’t remember if I have told you about a little book club that I started with a few friends just over a year and a half ago. We call ourselves The Jane Austen Tea Society. The name surfaced due to the fact that our meetings seemed to have been rather pointedly arranged around meeting at a beloved Nashville tearoom for tea and of course we all love Jane Austen! We began in July of 2008 with a plan to meet once a quarter to discuss a Jane Austen book and have a Full Afternoon Tea, which includes such standard English tea goodies as lovely bone china teapots brimming with our favorites (we always guzzle several pots of various flavors), scones or muffins, clotted cream or jam, a savory tart, a cup of soup, assorted finger sandwiches, tea breads and pastries, fresh fruit and a sorbet (which you desperately try to find a way to ingest at that point…)

We have read through the major Jane Austen books in the order that they were originally published - Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and most recently, Northanger Abbey.

Our next scheduled reading plan will include a selection of major & influential Victorian Era authors, which we have grouped by date of birth. This list holds some well-known classics written by recognizable authors. It might, however, contain as author’s name that we have been familiar with, but is linked with an unknown and unread title. Perhaps it also includes a book or two that – quite possibly - made our palms sweat during high school. And if so….. does it still?

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) – Ruth
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) – Our Mutual Friend
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) – Jane Eyre
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) – Wuthering Heights
George Eliot (1819-1880 – Silas Marner
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) – Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) – The Woman In White
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) – Lady Audley’s Secret
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) – Far From The Madding Crowd
Bram Stoker (1847-1912) – Dracula
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) – Portrait Of Dorian Grey
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) – (we think that we will each pick a Sherlock Holmes)

We have had a variety of readers at our teas in all age ranges and interests and usually number 7-8 for each get-together, although sometimes more people than that did actually read the book. The fact that we all seem to come from different points of view make our discussions all the more lively. It is interesting to note that whether you are single, married or a mother, or whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s or even 50s, all stations in life make your observations on Pride and Prejudice amazingly different and similar at the same time!

Any Pamela’s Girl that might be interested in participating would be greatly welcomed!!!

Auntie J.