Can anyone recommend the Jane Austen book

[leafygarden42]

that would be most suitable for a 57 year old to read (or re-read)?

Weird question - I know. But I tried reading Jane Austen in my 20s and really didn't 'get it'. However in my 30s - something clicked, and I read lots of them ie Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, etc.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) - I'm a bit thick, and forget the plots of books etc although I read a lot. I'm wondering which Jane Austen book I would appreciate the most from an older person's view point - if that makes sense?!

Open to suggestions here from those more versed in Jane Austen. And as an aside - what's your favourite Dickens? (Mine is Bleak House)

This post is fuelled by 1/2 bottle of red wine with dinner, as it is Saturday....

Persuasion. Very much older woman. If you can just see a 28 year old as 40 ish!

Thanks for that suggestion @aramox - I really can't remember if I've read that or not - all the more reason to read it. All of 49p to spend for my kindle. Can't remember now if I've read Mansfield Park either...might have to get that as well.

I agree, Persuasion meant so much more to me as I got a bit older. That said, Northanger Abbey is much funnier when you’re no longer a teen yourself! And Mansfield Park has a bit more going on and some (slight) political context that I’ve enjoyed as I’ve got older.

Another vote for Persuasion

Another vote for Persuasion 😍

I love them all. Re-reading them was my lockdown project and I really enjoyed it. I agree that Persuasion is my favourite. I feel it is the one that displays her subtle sense of humour the best. I think I appreciate it more the older I get!

Definitely Persuasion!

As well as having an older heroine, it was written when JA was a more mature writer, so as PP said, the characterisation is more subtle.

And I prefer Wentworth to Darcy!

My absolute favourite Austin is 'Lady Susan'

It was written first, and is I think less subtle than her later work. It is the only one I read first as an adult and was struck by how funny the different characters are. I just loved it, a ready not nice heroine who behaves really badly and several times gets to the brink of being found out. Delicious.

The stories are not long. If I were starting now, I would buy a collected works, several of which are available on kindle from £1.41

I envy anyone reading them from the start now. Like a PP I enjoy them more now I am older and understand them better. As a teenager I read them as romantic novels, then I began to see how limited the choices were for women. Enjoy.

I think Emma is the best Jane Austen novel and Pride and Prejudice the funniest. Probably Pride and Prejudice would be best because you can see through wise older eyes why Mrs Bennett would want her daughters to be married off, if they are going to be poor and semi-homeless, otherwise.

Persuasion is also my favourite. I find it very moving plus of all the Austen books I think it's the one with the most sexual tension. Oh, Captain Wentworth!

And I love to hate Anne's sister and ridiculous father.

P&P is a close runner up though.

Persuasion definitely - a wonderful book.

Definitely Persuasion!

Dickens I'm not a fan of on the page but think he works great on the screen. Will happily watch any Christmas Carol adaptation and the BBC Bleak House from a few years back was superb. I'm must re-watch it.

Looking forward to reading Persuasion now - so many recommendations!

As for Dickens on screen - absolute all time favourite was Martin Chuzzlewit - brilliant. With Tom Wilkinson as Mr Pecksniff - superb,
likewise Bleak House with Anna Maxwell Martin and Gillian Anderson - amazing.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen Martin Chuzzlewit. I will have to look for it if it's that good!

Dickens - Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities - all excellent.

Don't go by the film versions* which ( with one or two exceptions) tend to be corrupted to make them more 'acceptable' ( happier endings etc .) and necessarily with huge chunks cut, the power of the original is often lost.

Dickens' opinion of what makes a good story is worth a lot more than any number of 'adapters'.

Austen. Yes , Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, ( Always been disappointed with films of Pride and Prejudice - same reason as for Dickens I guess. The subtleties of the written word tend to be lost and casting often poor. They can't get their head round Jane being more beautiful than the heroine Elizabeth!) *S & S film version with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet is pretty wonderful.

I like the Winslet/Thompson Sense and Sensibility too. Lovely way to spend a couple of hours even though Emma Thompson is too old for the part and Alan Rickman's Brandon is way too dashing.

I also thought Persuasion before I saw the other responses.

I agree Persuasion is written from a more mature point of view but I find it the least polished of the novels. Northanger Abbey is a hoot and more enjoyable to read in later life. It was written as a send-up of the popular Gothic novels featuring a believable ,naive and ordinary teenager as the heroine If I were to narrow it down to two of the novels that everyone should read, I would choose Pride & Prejudice and Emma. Pride and Prejudice is a comedy gem and has endured as the most universally popular of the books. Emma is to my mind the most mature of the books. Emma is the most believable of the heroines and the story the most realistic. The other heroines, bar Catherine in Northanger, all suffer from Oliver Twist syndrome. It is simply not credible that Oliver emerges from an upbringing ,since birth, in the Workhouse as a child with the sensibilities of Little Lord Fauntleroy. If I were to narrow it down to one,I would pick Emma.It's the longest and one of the TV/film/radio adaptations really do it full justice. There is an excellent full reading of Pride & Prejudice available on the BBC Sounds site.Listen to it and read Emma? I downloaded the complete works of Jane Austen to my Kindle for free.

I agree Persuasion is written from a more mature point of view but I find it the least polished of the novels.

I think JA ran out of time - she was ill when she was writing it, and it was published posthumously.

The tv adaptation with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds was on YouTube at one time. I don't know if it still is. Well worth watching. Excellent cast, and very true to the book.

I think the film of Great Expectations with John Mills is hard to beat.

Alan Rickman's Brandon is way too dashing.

Yes, he makes Edward Ferrers look a total drip, and you wonder what Elinor ever saw in him.

I was going to say Persuasion as well.

Vanity Fair by Thackeray is a good read as well. A bit more entertaining and less gentile.

I like Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, but not North and South. I found in north and south too many 'convenient' things happened that made the plot and end seem rushed.

For 'more mature' it has to be Persuasion.

Dickens is shit imo.

I prefer Emma of the ones I've read.
Miss Austen by Gill Hornby is really good and worth a read if you're a fan of JA.

As for Dickens, not read any, watch a fair few of the adaptations though.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I have to agree with you there. I don't get on with Dickens at all.
Persuasion is wonderful. I love the letter from Captain Wentworth.