What’s your favorite Jane Austen novel?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I can say that some things are not for me because they just do not interest me.

Yes, that's always true. For me it's milk and/or sugar in tea or coffee, but I understand there is a popular thing called Latte.
I read widely except horror

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm a fan of Sanditon - I 'discovered' it by accident after reading Reginald Hill's The Price of Butcher's Meat - a marvelous retelling set in Sandytown - featuring the irascible Andy Dalziel in a Jane Austen setting.

I've have the first Reginald Hill book from the library. I'll give it a go. The series sounds like it could be interesting.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've have the first Reginald Hill book from the library. I'll give it a go. The series sounds like it could be interesting.

The first Dalziel and Pascoe book isn’t one of the strongest; you’d be better off starting a few books in if you really want to get hooked on it. Too much Pascoe and not enough Dalziel, IIRC. Pascoe’s your typical sensitive detective and not especially compelling.

[Catlady]

Where's the option for those of us who really don't care? I certainly don't dislike Austen, but I'm not mad for her books either.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Where's the option for those of us who really don't care? I certainly don't dislike Austen, but I'm not mad for her books either.

You can take the poll literally; which is your favorite? For some, their favorite might be among their all-time greatest reads, but for others, it could be just the best of a mediocre to middling lot.

[simplyparticular]

I first read/inhaled the main 6 novels when I was 12 - the omnibus edition was available through the bookmobile and we were only allowed one book so I frequently went with multi books to last the whole week.

When I was young it was Mansfield Park as I felt in affinity for Fanny's life in a large family, but Persuasion is the adult favorite. Anne is both a sympathetic and realistic character, and you feel her pain.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I also suspect she was a fan of the "gothic" novels (all real) mentioned in Northanger Abbey. Those are all available free. I've been editing out OCR errors and bad formatting on them and will upload here eventually. They are quite entertaining.

I look forward to that! As I said, I found "The Mysteries of Udolpho" longwinded and badly plotted, but it was interesting in a "see a genre in its infancy" way.

I've just downloaded Charlotte Lennox's "The Female Quixote" (published 1752), after I saw mentioned that this was one of Austen's influences for Northanger Abbey.

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

All except Northanger Abbey are available on Standard eBooks. No log-in and a much nicer presentation than Gutenberg. It's a win/win!

This is indeed true. But as mentioned many of the books are also available here at Mobile Read. I have downloaded Pride and Prejudice and Emma.
Both very beautifully set up by HarryT. (I miss him)

Pride and Prejudice I have read many many years ago so it will be a reread.
I haven't voted because it is the only book of Austen that I have read. And thus the best.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

You can take the poll literally; which is your favorite? For some, their favorite might be among their all-time greatest reads, but for others, it could be just the best of a mediocre to middling lot.

I've read other first books in a series where it was said they were not all that good yet they were good enough for me to keep going. I'll stick with the first one as I have it. Just have to put it on my Reader and star it today or tomorrow.

[ZodWallop]

Coincidentally, I went and saw a play of Sense and Sensibility yesterday. It was entertaining, but reminded me of why I am not interested in Jane Austen's work.

I can only care so much about a bunch of scheming people who are destitute, yet live in beautiful houses and have servants.

That's just my personal taste. I'd be more interested in novels about the servants.

Something similar that I far prefer is Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Of course, it is also sixty years newer.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That's just my personal taste. I'd be more interested in novels about the servants.

Something similar that I far prefer is Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Of course, it is also sixty years newer.

I looked for a 'servant' example and found Magic below Stairs
A fantasy by Caroline Stevermer

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

I looked for a 'servant' example and found Magic below Stairs
A fantasy by Caroline Stevermer

I've read that, but it's a long time ago, so I don't remember a lot, except that I liked it. I think the fantasy element (magical shenanigans) was much more prominent than the servant aspect, but I may remember wrong.

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'd be more interested in novels about the servants.

Another one is Rose Lerner's "Listen to the Moon". It's about a starchy valet and a happy-go-lucky maid who find themselves without jobs. The vicar needs a butler, but he'll only employ a married man and his wife. It's very good, recommended! (And here's a blog post she wrote about working conditions and living conditions of servants in the Regency.)

Something similar that I far prefer is Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Of course, it is also sixty years newer.

I like that one a lot. I haven't read a lot of Ibsen, as I don't read a lot of plays. (After going to school in Norway I have a general idea of the plots of several of his plays, though, and I can quote the beginning of Peer Gynt after helping my brother learn his lines for a school play )

Returning to Austen, I strongly recommend "Pride and Predators", an article in Michigan Law Review (link to the PDF here) written by Heidi Bond (who writes romances under the pen name Courtney Milan). It's part of a series where lawyers write about classic books from a legal point of view.

Excerpt (warning: Major spoilers for Pride and Prejudice!)

Spoiler:

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most beloved romance novels 1) of all time and needs very little introduction. For those who need a refresher on the plot, Pride and Prejudice details the community-wide damage that can be laid at the feet of serial sexual predators. 2) It details the characteristics of predators, discusses the systemic social failures that allow predators to abuse others, and grapples with difficult questions of how communities should deal with those predators.

More specifically: In this 1813 novel, George Wickham—aforementioned serial sexual predator—comes to town and is immediately beloved by all for his wit, his manners, and his charm (p. 64). He latches onto the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet (“Lizzy”), immediately gains her trust, and uses her to determine that the one man in the community who can expose his predatory past—Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy—is disliked for his poor manners (pp. 67–73).

When Darcy proposes to Lizzy, Lizzy accuses him of bad behavior toward Wickham. Darcy answers her accusations by bringing Lizzy into a whisper network with regard to Wickham’s past predatory behavior (pp. 173, 180–83), but this whisper network proves to be insufficiently widespread to prevent further harm, as Wickham rapes 3) Lizzy’s own sister (pp. 39, 272–73). In the end, Wickham eventually suffers a very minor consequence that has no lasting effect on his career and, in fact, guarantees his financial future (pp. 272–73).

...and rereading it now, I had forgotten how brilliant it is. The conclusion -- especially the final sentence in the article, consisting of a single one-syllable word -- is a masterpiece.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by hildea

Another one is Rose Lerner's "Listen to the Moon". It's about a starchy valet and a happy-go-lucky maid who find themselves without jobs.

I enjoyed the very down to earth Silas Marner. Again, fifty years newer than Austen. Maybe not a fair comparison. But anyway, I was just more interested in the more relatable issues in that novel compared to what seems like a bunch of rich whiners that Austen writes about.

I like that one a lot. I haven't read a lot of Ibsen, as I don't read a lot of plays.

I've read a few Shakespeare plays and A Streetcar Named Desire. Plays are better seen than read.

But the Ibsen play, maybe it was his writing, maybe the translation, but it was such a page turner. I haven't been able to see a live production of it here in the States. But I have watched a couple of film versions (those are also difficult to find over here). I do see the Jane Fonda version is available for $2 on Prime Video. Can't remember if I've seen that one yet.

Returning to Austen, I strongly recommend "Pride and Predators"...

Not what you were referring to and sorry if I am ignoring your info to make my point. But Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was funny for about five minutes. I can't believe that became a cottage industry for a bit.

[issybird]

That was a fascinating read, thanks.

[Some spoilers for P&P]

I do argue with some of her analysis, especially with Wickham’s ability just to walk away from his gambling debts. He’d have lost his commission in any case and then what? In light of that, I can see his running away with Lydia was a move of desperation, not just sexual predation; he’d have been no worse off and there was always the possibility of being able to get some money out of Mr. Bennet. Also, marriage was the only possible way of saving the situation for Lydia. No matter how she managed the trauma as she aged, if she developed any self-awareness at all she would have realized it.

But I quibble. It was a powerful indictment of Wickham as sexual predator and as Milan points out, Austen was spot-on about the psychology two centuries before it was an identified “thing.” And the universal themes of money and power/powerlessness are endlessly interesting. Anyone who thinks it’s just the wealthy having a whinge has no understanding or empathy at all for women who could be left next to destitute.

I read an engrossing book about younger sons in the Regency and the point was made that in a typical Regency family of comfortable/moneyed means with six children, only three could expect to be as well off as their family of origin. In the winner-take-all system of inheritance, younger sons at least were given a means of subsistence/support in the army or the church, or were fitted out in law or medicine. But the daughters? I always thought that Lizzy and Jane were far too blasé about the increasingly likely ruin they faced. Did they think the Gardiners would take them in? They had children of their own to provide for. Lizzy should have been far more understanding of poor Charlotte. Speaking of whom, good for her! She saw her chance and took it. And speaking of the Gardiners and winner-take-all, a case in point. The son got an education; the daughters got bupkes.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I chose I have yet to have the pleasure, though to be honest I don't see myself ever having the pleasure. I have zero interest in Austen. Yet I couldn't bring myself to select Austen’s awful. That is simple ignorance. She's not Ayn Rand after all.

I can say that some things are not for me because they just do not interest me.

Understood. Lots of people on Mobileread read science fiction and/or fantasy that I have no interest in. That doesn't mean I think it's awful - I'm sure that as with any genre, some is good and some isn't.