Jane Austen at Home (by Lucy Worsley)

For the category "read a biography of an author you admire," I chose this one, especially since my dream Jane Austen pilgrimage to England might actually happen this year. Fingers crossed.

I loved it. Lots of detail and sources, some speculation but always grounded in facts and evidence, definitely the best Austen bio I've read to date.  I may need to purchase this one so I can re-read it while I'm visiting Chawton and Steventon and Bath and all the other Austeny places.

Oh, I should mention, the lens of this biography is the houses and homes where she lived. There are so many fascinating parallels between her life and her novels to discover here. At times you can see echoes of Jane in one of the Dashwood sisters, or Anne Elliot, or even Miss Bates. The places she visited are the ones she is able to vividly describe, like Bath or Lyme. If you're an Austen fan, this is a must-read.