The Everything Austen Challenge

I haven't officially signed up and posted about a reading challenge in a long time, not that I don't continue to sign-up and follow along with many in my own un-official sort of way. But I had to be good and do the official thing for this one since I adore Jane Austen and can almost always be guaranteed to buy a book if there's an Austen connection (I do draw the line at the Zombies book though--just can't do the undead no matter how many raves the book gets, sorry). I even toyed with the idea of designing my own Austen challenge earlier in the year but since nothing ever came of it, I was thrilled to see that Stephanie at Stephanie's Written Word stepped up and put one together. And here's me happily hopping on the bandwagon. The goal is to pick 6 Austen-themed things and enjoy. This can mean reading Austen's originals, Austen sequels or Austen-inspired books. It can also mean watching films based on Austen's work. The challenge runs 6 months (July 1-January 1) so there's loads of time to complete the challenge. I personally am grabbing 6 books from my own tbr for the challenge although I may re-watch Pride and Prejudice ::swoon:: again or rent Becoming Jane, which I had fully intended to see when it came out in theaters and never managed. But I want to definitely do 6 books as well, especially since my TBR mountain contains whole veins of appropriate books. So here's my tentative list:

1. Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready
2. Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston
3. Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil Brinton
4. Darcy’s Passions by Regina Jeffers
5. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
6. Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter

For more information on the challenge, to sign up, or to see other Austen-themed suggestions, click on The Everything Austen Challenge.