Welcome to Litsy!

About the women authors who most influenced Austen, from the perspective of a reader reading them for the first time - who is also a rare book trader (featured on Pawn Stars)

This book made me want to read them: Francis Burney‘s Evalina. Ann Radcliffe‘s The Mysteries of Udolpho. Charlotte Lenox‘s The Female Quixote. Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, Maria Edgeworth…

Terrific on 🎧!

#Author. #CharacterCharm

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

While I haven't really jumped on the Jane Austen bandwagon (do I have to turn in my reader card?), I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the women who inspired her.

I also love Rebecca Romney (Pawn Stars). This book has fired me up even more to keep collecting antique books 😊

**My next audiobook will be something by Austen - I promise

New audiobook. Just starting

#Storygraph

Currently reading and enjoying this.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Adored this book ! Rebecca Romneys research was painstakingly brilliant 🤩 so many gifted female authors who perhaps help set up Austen to be the great novelist we all know and love(well most of us)Iv had to order a lot of the books mentioned from world of books, 2nd hand onlinestore, Burneys Evelina, Ann radcliffes mysteries of udolpho, the female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox, Marie edgeworths Belinda & many more.1 of my fav books of-the year

So many wonderful quotes , this made me laugh 🤭 I‘d have liked this lady 😂 “when any man likes me Im never surprised for I think how should he help it ? When any man doesn‘t like me he must be a block head & there‘s an end of the matter “ Brilliant 🤩 🤣🤣🤣

This book 📕 is mind blowing 🤯 so so good 😊 I urge all Austen lovers to read it ; such a beautiful cover too ! These female authors who have almost disappeared, how come ? Modern tastes and sensibilities , it‘s opened my eyes which all great books do, it‘s also cost me a fortune as Iv pretty much ordered all books mentioned & spent ages googling these authors. Will be one of my fav books of the year 👏🏻and so many wonderful quotes …

Back in toppings bookshop in Bath and had to pick this gorgeous book up started it straight away but it‘ll be a slow long leisurely read . (d5 for a hardback did you ever think you‘d see the prices of books go so high ????paperbacks now £.99 I‘m sure they‘re even more in the USA ???

By exploring the women writers that Jane Austen read Romney investigates the canon. Her challenge is to use the canon to say “yes, and”. This book has inspired many new books added to my “to read” list!

Loving this book (audio version on Spotify) so much! It‘s about the women authors that influenced Jane Austen. It might take me a whole year to get through it because after each chapter, I want to go read something from the author she‘s talking about! Fascinating! #ThankYouLitsy for the recommendation!

#UkKindleDailyDeal

17/5/2025

This is a great book with each chapter dedicated to a woman author that Austen loved or was influenced by including Radcliffe, Lennox, Inchbald, Burney, More, Piozzi, Edgeworth. Their struggles of being women authors as well as their works, how they were perceived are all discussed as well as why they might‘ve been left out of canon & why we should revisit their works now.

I'm starting #HyggeHourReadathon early with my new book. It's time to relax. 📚☕️
Are you joining in? What are you reading?

@Chrissyreadit @TheBookHippie

One for #Pemberlittens #Janeadjacent @Crinoline_Laphroaig and #Hashtagbrigade @BarkingMadRead 🪶

I am living for these nonfiction reads - I'm on a solid pick streak! I'm not particularly an Austen fan but I've followed Romney's dive into Romancelandia and was excited to get into this adjacent work. While this is absolutely an insight into the lives and writings of authors with whom Austen would have been familiar, it is more interestingly a look at a studied collector's process and a personal look into a rare book professional's reading life.

This book explodes the myth of Austen being the first female writer of significance by exploring the lives and work of the women who influenced Austen herself while looking at gatekeeping and sexism in “canon.” I really enjoyed this and @LeahBergen , this has you written all over it.

My birthday was Monday and I received these thoughtful gifts from my #litsypenpal. I can‘t say enough times how lucky I feel to have gotten you in the penpal match up. Such great books to read and a weighted eye blanket, lotions, and a manicure set. I‘m going to be pampering myself. It‘s been a tough few months health wise so I can definitely use some self care and more good books. Thank you so much @Litlady for making my birthday special!

Loved it.

1 day, 4 book club friends, 6 book stores, way too many books bought. Zero regrets. (The color coordination was completely unintentional and only noticed when books gathered to photograph) #austintexasbooktrail #atxbooktrail #bookhaul #backonabookbuyingban

When you finish a book and it might as well just have a shelf in your TBR.

Finding this book very dangerous for my own bookshelf.

It is natural that novels about women in this era would focus on the most critical point in a woman's life...the question of marriage. Those who denigrate courtship novels rarely consider....
When a man has that much control over your life and your children's lives, the kind of man you marry can literally be a question of life or death. The history of English courtship novels is a literary history of women's protest against the femme couverte.

Books are not static things....

When I'm....rereading. I'm remembering the emotions of the last read. I am remembering my past self. Simultaneously, I'm noticing the emotions of this read. I am marking the outlines of my current self. In that way, reading is not a separate act from the rest of my life. It is central to it.

[On Frances vs "Fanny" Burney] "Let her have her adult name," proclaimed Doody in her 1988 biography....

And yet two major biographies of Burney since Doody's proclamation have named her "Fanny" Burney. The diminutive will not die. It's enough to make one want to call all authors by diminutive nicknames they would never want to be known by. "Chuck Darwin" and "Ernie Hemingway" do have their charm.

The new books display at the library has, once again, derailed my reading plans...

Rebecca Romney is incredibly insightful and has impeccable taste in rare books. This is not a dry history of authors you may have never heard of. This dynamic, charismatic, and fascinating narrative will send you on a quest to read these inspiring authors. Romney gives us insight into the women and the books they wrote, as well as her descriptions of the rare book market, the volumes she has collected, and her evident passion.

I've watched Rebecca since she was a book expert on Pawn Stars. As soon as I heard about this book I knew I would be reading it. I don't buy many hardcovers, so when I do it's because I can't wait for it to become a paperback. And I love Jane Austen.

#bookmail #JaneAusten
A gift to myself.

Want!

For centuries, we‘ve hailed her as the sole woman literary genius of her era…so why have we been spurning her favorite books by fellow women writers for nearly as long? In this warmly written account of her search for the women writers Jane Austen had on her own shelf, Rebecca Romney invites you on a literary adventure, offering her guidance as a scholar and rare book dealer, and as a reader and collector herself, as she builds a shelf of her own.

Pre-order placed!! I‘ve been a fan of Rebecca Romney since her appearances on Pawn Stars. One of my prize books is one she recommended to my husband and signed when he reached out to get a copy of the Printer‘s Error signed by her. I‘m floored he was able to text her and talked her through my bookshelves so she would get an idea of my fav books to make a recommendation. Check out her IG to see the editions of the books she mentions in this book!