Jane Austen

[FlixiePixie]

Persuasion is one of my favorites. Actually, Captain Wentworth is like, the ultimate man, in my opinion...lol Yeah, yeah, I love Mr. Darcy as well, but Captain Wentworth goes beyond awesome. (trying not to mention too many spoilers!)  

[Collote]

I'm dying to read Sense and Sensibility. I watched the 3 hour movie that just came out this year. It was really good!  

[WickedSong]

I just finished Northanger Abbey. Have other people read this? While it was a good book, I didn't like it as much as Jane Austen's more edited works. What about you all?  

[FlixiePixie]

Northanger Abbey seems to go either way with people.. Either they LOVE it, or they just don't like it.

I, personally, don't like the gothic romance novels. I think this particular writing of Jane Austen just shows what kind of a time period she was stuck in. It was the first book she wrote, and while it really does play at the gothic romances being written in abundance in her day, it still follows the genre. It is really a lot different than her other books, which are definitely more mature, in my opinion.

It's my least favorite of all her books. But I know a lot of people who rank it as their absolute favorite... so... there ya go.  

[WickedSong]

It just doesn't seem much like Jane Austen...but then again, she didn't edit it all that much, did she? It's an interesting book, especially to compare with her others.

I recently finished Mansfield Park (it's my goal this summer to read all of her books). I loved it! It and Pride and Prejudice are definitely my favorites of hers. Edmund and Fanny are amazing characters, and I felt the interplay of love, money, and morals was really intriguing. Anyone else read it?  

[FlixiePixie]

Mansfield Park isn't one of my favorites, although I did like it. I think the ideas in Mansfield Park are just SO old-fashioned, it's hard to relate to the story. I thought the character of Fanny was very complex though.  

[Ellema]

I loved Northanger Abbey...unfortunately, it is also the only Jane Austen book that I've read. It is a send-up of gothic romances but also a satire about courtship and vapid society life. Austen's portrayal of the friendship between Catherine and Isabella (my favorite!) is complex and pretty funny. But I love reading about vapid society types and that's probably why I loved this book.  

[WickedSong]

FlixiePixie

Mansfield Park isn't one of my favorites, although I did like it. I think the ideas in Mansfield Park are just SO old-fashioned, it's hard to relate to the story. I thought the character of Fanny was very complex though.

I noticed that too. Their ideas of what young people should be doing together are really specific to the time. There's not much to compare it to today, as anything short of being closeted in a bedroom - and sometimes that too - is considered acceptable.