It's Jane Austen's World - And We're Still Living In It

Jane Austen was born 250 years ago, in 1775, the daughter of an English clergyman, part of a respectable, but not wealthy family. She never married and died young, at 41. Her name was not on the four novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma) published in her lifetime.

Two and a half centuries after her birth, Jane Austen's legacy and influence is everywhere. From film adaptations to modern re-tellings of her stories, we are still fascinated with her characters, her settings and her life.

At the Monroe County Public Library, we have Austen's books. We have books about Austen and her life. We have re-tellings of her novels and continuations of her novels and books inspired by her novels as contemporary romcoms, horror and more. Austen's characters battle zombies and sea monsters. In some books, Austen herself solves crimes. In nonfiction, Austen's books are examined for how they influenced contemporaries, and how they are still influencing us today.

Here are some of the books in our collection by, about and inspired by Jane Austen:

List of books by, about and inspired by Jane Austen

If you prefer your Jane Austen content on the screen, not the page, we've got plenty of that, too — including, of course, the iconic 1995 Pride and Prejudice BBC miniseries, on DVD and on Kanopy. If you're more into, or want to compare the 2005 film, we have that on DVD. There's even a musical version of Pride and Prejudice on Kanopy.

The iconic 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is available on Kanopy.

The other Austen titles are represented, too, from Sense and Sensibility to Persuasion, many of them in different versions. Like your Austen updated? Check out Clueless on Kanopy – Amy Heckerling's 1995 take on Emma is now a classic in its own right. We even have all three seasons of the recent miniseries adaptation and continuation of Sanditon, Austen's unfinished novel, on DVD.

Want to learn a LOT more about Austen without enrolling in (or paying for) a college course? We have The Life and Works of Jane Austen, 24 episodes of The Great Courses series on Kanopy.

List of videos adapting, about or inspired by Jane Austen

We hope you will explore the collection and find some new favorites, whether you're new to Austen or a lifelong Jane-ite.