Pride and Prejudice Bookshelf
Reading and books have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My parents and grandparents read to me all the time. I clearly recall the day, riding in the car, when I first realized I knew what the street signs said! I even remember which street we were on when it happened, and I remember the fluttered thrill of knowing I could read. From then on, I always had a book in my hand.
In Pride and Prejudice, books and libraries play an important role. Austen uses the word “book” thirty times and “library” twenty-three times. Mr. Bennet is always in his library. Everyone praises the library at Pemberley. Mr. Bingley needs to improve his library.
After Caroline Bingley ticks off her list of things an accomplished woman should be able to do, Darcy subtly communicates his growing interest in Elizabeth by adding, “All this she must possess, and to all this she must add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”
This started me thinking about what the characters in Pride and Prejudice might read if they lived today. What would be sitting in their “to read” stack? I’ve included mainly books written after the Darcys and the Bingleys “lived,” although the lifetimes of Bronte, Dickens and Gaskell overlap with them. Of course, these are not the only books they read – just a sampling.
Mr. Darcy – Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking (Cain); Freakonomics (Levitt and Dubner); The Intelligent Investor (Graham); Great Expectations (Dickens); Kidnapped (Stevenson); At Home: A Short History of Private Life (Bryson); Game of Thrones (Martin); Sherlock Holmes (Doyle)
Elizabeth Bennet – North and South (Gaskell); Anna Karenina (Tolstoy); The Help (Stockett); Rebecca (Du Maurier); British Women Poets of the Romantic Era (Feldman); Women Who Have Changed the World Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers (Miller); How Reading Changed My Life (Quindlen)
Georgiana Darcy – This Is Your Brain On Music: Understanding a Human Obsession (Levitin); Beethoven: The Music and the Life (Lockwood); Silent in the Grave (Raybourn); Twilight (Meyer); Rolling Stone magazine; One for the Money (Evanovich)
Mr. Bennet – The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Wilde); A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes (Hawking); The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology from Mark Twain to the Onion (Borowitz); The Downing Street Years (Thatcher); The Philosopher’s Handbook: Essential Readings from Plato to Kant (Rosen)
Mrs. Bennet – The Knot Guide for the Mother of the Bride (Roney); Bride’s Magazine; Bride’s Book of Etiquette (Bride’s Magazine editors); Kate – A Magical Year, Her Dazzling Transformation from Home Counties Girl to the Most Feted Woman in the World (Nichol)
Jane Bennet – Peter Rabbit (Potter); The Cat in the Hat (Seuss); Goodnight Moon (Brown); The New Contented Little Baby Book: The Secret to Calm and Confident Parenting (Ford); The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (Garten); Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Powell)
Mr. Bingley – Horse and Hound magazine; The Black Stallion (Sewell); Seabiscuit (Hillenbrand)
Caroline Bingley – What’s in the Queen’s Handbag: And Other Royal Secrets (Dampier and Walton); Entertainment Weekly; Vogue magazine; William & Catherine: Their Romance and Royal Wedding in Photographs (Cohen)
Mr. Collins – Vegetable Growing Month-by-Month: The Down to Earth Guide That Takes You Through the Vegetable Year (Harrison); Inspirational Quotes Ultimate Collection (Marks)
Charlotte Collins – Men Are From Mars, Women Are from Venus: Practical Guide to Improving Communication (Gray); The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide (Megyesi and Hansen); Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Laurence); Copper Beach (Krentz)
Lady Catherine – A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bryson)
Anne de Bourgh – Wuthering Heights (E. Bronte); Jane Eyre (C. Bronte); The Age of Innocence (Wharton), The Sunne in Splendor (Penman); The Princes in the Tower (Weir); Katherine (Seton); The Forsyte Saga (Gallsworthy)
Mrs. Jenkinson – The Paid Companion (Quick)
Join me in the fun! What do you think our friends would be reading?
Susan Mason-Milks
Susan is the author of "Mr. Darcy's Proposal," a Jane Austen "what if" story. She is currently working on another "what if" which she hopes to have out in the summer of 2013.
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31 Responses to Pride and Prejudice Bookshelf
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Wonderful selection!
Unfortunately I don’t know all the books you have included in the characters’ libraries, but most of book titles give clear impression of their content, obviously corresponding to the characters’ interests.
I picked some of the books – especially the non-fiction ones – based on title. For example, I don’t know anything about the investment books for Mr. Darcy or the philosophy book for Mr. Bennet. I just knew they’d read that type of book. I chose the Oscar Wilde because his humor would appeal to Mr. Bennet. I’ve actually ordered Mr. Darcy’s book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking” for my husband who’s rather introverted, too. The one I’m thinking about buying for myself is “What’s in the Queen’s Handbag?” It sounds too good to miss.
As for the fiction books, I chose what I thought was the appropriate genre and then selected books of that type that I’d read.
Omg! I’m Caroline Bingley!
And Jane Bennet. LOVE ‘Goodnight Moon.’
What I want to know is if you’ve read all the books above, Susan?
Nina – I’ve read all but one or two of the fiction books, but of the non-fiction, only Bill Bryson’s books. The other non-fiction books I chose mainly by title. It was so obvious to give Mr. Collins a book on gardening and Charlotte one on raising chickens!
Lydia Bennett – Star Magazine, The National Enquirer
Mrs. Bennett – anything to do with Princess Diana
Caroline Bingley – see above (but she’d never be seen buying them – she’d have someone sneak them to her descreetly)
Mr. Collins – Anne Rice’s Beauty Series (he obviously loves a domineering patroness)
Thanks so much for these wonderful additions! I had Caroline reading Star and National Inquirer but went in the direction of fashion and watching the Royals instead. Having Lydia read them is brilliant! You’ve probably noticed already that nothing in Caroline’s stack actually requires reading, as we all know she only likes that activity when she’s looking over Darcy’s shoulder.
Oh dear, this was such a great post! I was laughing out loud and I haven’t even had my coffee yet! I might suggest one addition, “Martha Stewart’s Home-keeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home.” One imagines it would contain diagrams of shelves in the closet, and a chart for the proper amount of beef to be purchased for your household!
My favorite was Charlotte Collins. Again, delightful post!
Love the Martha Stewart idea. I had thought to give Jane Martha’s book “Entertaining” but decided in favor of “The Barefoot Contessa” instead. As for Charlotte, I thought she ought to have a little fun, thus “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “Copper Beach” which is the latest by Jayne Ann Krentz.
Susan, I love this list! Great fun. And thanks so much for including two of my titles (Copper Beach and The Paid Companion).
Giving Mrs. Jenkinson “The Paid Companion” was just too good to resist!
Thank you for stopping by, Jayne. It is an honor! How could a list this extensive NOT include a few of your titles? LOL!
Wonderful post
Might I suggest Vogue for Lydia? Yes, she and Wickham live in lodgings, but she would probably splurge on an extravangant magazine!
Or she might just “borrow” it from the store. Oh, no, I can’t believe I said that – although she doesn’t seem to have much of a conscience.
Oh, my word! This was truly delightful! Love it! I died laughing reading these!
You are very clever, Susan! Thanks!
That was great fun! Loved Mr. and Mrs. Collins’ choices. Excellent post!
Loved the choices! But do you know the names and artists of the lovely pictures you included? Especially the little girl in the red dress. I would love to hang that in my granddaughter’s room.
I have no idea of the name, but I loved it tool. I found it using Bing “images” search engine. I searched for “girl reading.” It came up with hundreds. Scroll down a ways and you should see it. So glad you liked the post!
Almost forgot – the one at the bottom is the character Catherine Morland from the recent BBC production of “Northanger Abbey.”
Oh, my gosh, I love it! Lady Catherine’s is the best! Wonder if she wrote that…
I’m sure she thinks she could!
This is a fun thing to think about and I love all your selections. I think Mr Hurst would have one of those bathroom readers with all the random facts, or maybe a Field and Stream mag or Cabela’s catalog. That’s about the best I can do under my cold-medicine induced fog. Lol
Those sound like good suggestions for Mr. Hurst. How about Food and Wine magazine, too?
What a hoot! I don’t think I have that good of an imagination, but I see Darcy and Mr. Bennet engaging in non-fiction, Mrs. B and the younger girls all the gossip and tabloid rags as well as fashion. Jane would read sweet clean romances while Mary read How-tos and Self Helps. Elizabeth would be a bit of an eclectic reader. Caro would just have books on the shelf to look good. Collins would have secret self-help books and Charlotte would have trashy novels (its always the quiet ones).
Thanks for the fun post!
Your imagination is working just fine! Your ideas are great! I didn’t even include the rest of the Bennet sisters and that’s fertile ground! The last two on Charlotte’s list are romances which I’m sure she had to hide from Mr. Collins!
This was incredible! How much time did you put into this, Susan? I am flabbergasted!
I love it. Each selection is spot on. Very fun reading. Wish I could think of something to add. In Miss Darcy Falls in Love I had Georgiana reading The History of Music and The Present State of Music by Charles Burney, so I’ll add that to the list.
Marvelous suggestions! You had me chuckling the whole way through.
Thanks, Sharon, Abigail, and every one who stopped by. I was brainstorming ideas for my post with my brother during our weekly skype session, and he came up with this idea. I could not get the grin off my face as I worked on it. I can’t believe I didn’t cover Mary, Kitty and Lydia. The best thing about this post has been reading other people’s suggestions for the lists. I hope those who commented early on will stop back and see what’s been added.
To cap it all off, I’m so thrilled and honored Jayne Ann stopped by! She’s fantastic! Her “Paid Companion” really is one of my favorites.
Such fun! Susan, you are so clever!
I loved this post. It was funny to read through and see what books they might have read especially Lady Catherine.
I just wanted to say, that i love your work. And I read Mr. Darcy’s Proposal in less than 2 days! My family thought I was crazy for having my nose glued to the pages, but I just could not put it down!!
Lauren – Thank you so much for letting me know! I’m thrilled you loved the story!