Jane Austen…

[CurlewKate]

Which is your favourite in 5 words or
less? Mine is Sense and Sensibility. Because Elinor.

Mansfield Park. Jane’s own favourite.

I couldn't warm to Mansfield Park, must give it another go.

Also Northanger Abbey, I was twelve when I read it a thousand years ago.

Love P&P, S&S, Emma and I completely agree with those who say they came to love Persuasion more as they got older. It's beautiful.

You wouldn’t have got the jokes at 12- try again!

Pride and prejudice because of the yearning between Darcy and Elizabeth.

Yes, I love when Anne responds to Captain Harville's assertion that in everything he has ever read, men have been more constant in their affections than women.

I love all of Austen's works but Northanger Abby is my least favourite. I know its a satire of the gothic horror novels that were popular at the time, but I just don't love Catherine, and Tilney is a wet blanket imo. (Second only to Edmund, Mansfield Park) John Thorpe and Isabella are great (but awful) characters. I still love it though, Austen was a genius, I am quite sure even her shopping lists would be worth reading!

The awfulness of Mr Collins and Lady Catherine are particularly delightful.

The differing perspectives as we grow up is interesting. I did judge Charlotte Lucas when I was 15, and I admire her pragmatism now. I thought Anne Elliott was a bit dull at the same age and love her now.

Do give MP another go. I think it’s a different kind of pleasurable read from JA novels which are all about the character of the heroine, whether that’s witty, lively Lizzy, interfering, faulty, basically good-hearted Emma, or stoic Anne Elliott — I think in MP, the pleasure is on a broader canvas, and less focused on mousy Fanny. She acts less, and she’s an observer, so we see much more of other people’s actions than in more heroine-focused novels, where they’re more concerned with their own stuff.

I love the day at Sotherton, the Lovers’ Vows rehearsals, and the ongoing love triangles of Mr Crawford/Julia/Maria and Mary Crawford/Fanny/Edmund. And there’s the contrasting comedy of awful, bossy, penny-pinching Aunt Norris and her practically comatose sister, Lady Bertram.

Emma, she makes me laugh

will the shades of Pemberley be thus polluted?!

Emma, fun. Persuasion, the letter.