Jane Austen discussion
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Which Austen book should I read next!?
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Rebecca
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Dec 15, 2015 02:21AM
I finished P&P and S&S in about a week. It would have taken less time if it weren't for finals week. But anyway, I enjoyed S&S and found that it gave me a lot to ponder on as I read and after I finished reading, and I LOVED P&P. Over winter break, I want to read at LEAST one or two more of Austen's books. Which ones should I read, or which one should I immediately begin reading right now? I have checked them all out from my library, so I'm reading.
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I'm ready*But I suppose reading works as well
I suggeust that you leave Mansfeil Park for last as it is the hardest so now you should read Emma or Pursasion
I agree -- Emma or Persuasion. I love Emma, and Mr. Knightley is my favorite Austen male character. The more I read Persuasion, the more I like it.
I think Persuasion or Northanger Abbey - the first if you like the romantic, the second if you like the humour in Austen. Both come joint second after P&P in my favourite Austen books list :)
Hmm. Thanks for the responses. I think the next book I read will surely be either Persuasion or Emma. I'm naturally leaning towards Emma because it seems like a funny and interesting book from its blurb and because apparently many people don't like the character Emma when they read it, and I actually find books with rather flawed or unlikable characters to be entertaining and intriguing. However, the fact that everyone here is recommending Persuasion and the fact that many people apparently find Emma boring and tedious and difficult to get through makes me want to read Persuasion instead. And Persuasion also does have an interesting blurb...
Rebecca wrote: "Hmm. Thanks for the responses. I think the next book I read will surely be either Persuasion or Emma. I'm naturally leaning towards Emma because it seems like a funny and interesting book from its ..."Lol, honestly, you will end up reading them all eventually, so just pick the one that tickles your fancy at the moment. They are all great, actually, in their own way, because Austen was not a formulaic writer, and so her stories are all very different, and her heroines and heroes too. And then you will re-read them all probably, finding new things to love in each of them. I am so jealous you get to read them a first time around!
I think it really depends on the person and to some extent, their age. I didn't find Emma hard to read and I always liked her. I did struggle a little with the beginning of Persuasion the first time I read it, as a teenager, but now I love it.
Emily wrote: "Lol, honestly, you will end up reading them all eventually, so just pick the one that tickles your fancy at the moment. They are all great"Yeah, true; I'll be reading them all this school year/summer for sure. Just wanted the next one I read to be a really good one in case I somehow don't get to read anymore of her books this Christmas break. But, actually, I think I won't have any trouble finishing Emma & Persuasion (at least) over the break, along with the other books I have to read. And yes, I'm so thankful to have all these potentially amazing books to read for the first time. Just last summer, I thought I might never find a book/series that I could read without comparing to Harry Potter (because I had read that series in the beginning of summer), and feeling disappointed because it would be so inferior. But P&P took away that feeling because I easily & naturally became obsessed with it, & I'm excited to see what the rest of the JA books have in store
Louise Sparrow wrote: "I think it really depends on the person and to some extent, their age. I didn't find Emma hard to read and I always liked her. I did struggle a little with the beginning of Persuasion the first t..."
Hmmm. Well I'm a teenager, so maybe I'll read Emma. Which JA book is your favorite?
Probably Pride and Prejudice but Emma comes a close second. Though it sometimes depends on what I'm in the mood for, they are one's I re-read the most.
I read them in order of publication but I'd say Mansfield Park is the most difficult, and Persuasion is better appreciated by more mature readers. Emma is a good one for teens and Northanger Abbey is easily relatable for modern readers. Just equate horrid novel to Twilight and phaeton/fast carriage to fast car.
Oh PoohBear how can you, Twilight is not as boring as The Mysteries of Udolpho, for one thing Bella doesn't faint nearly so often! LOL ;) nice comparison
Louise Sparrow wrote: "Oh PoohBear how can you, Twilight is not as boring as The Mysteries of Udolpho, for one thing Bella doesn't faint nearly so often! LOL ;) nice comparison"
Val McDermid equated horrid novels with vampire and warewolf novels with the same results.
I was teasing, I can see why, the way 'horrid novels' are described in Northanger Abbey, they would be compared with modern supernatural romance... I just wouldn't compare the books themselves.
Rebecca wrote: "I finished P&P and S&S in about a week. It would have taken less time if it weren't for finals week. But anyway, I enjoyed S&S and found that it gave me a lot to ponder on as I read and after I fin..."Try "Persuasion."
Louise Sparrow wrote: "I think it really depends on the person and to some extent, their age. I didn't find Emma hard to read and I always liked her. I did struggle a little with the beginning of Persuasion the first t..."
Ugh! Emma is one of my least favorite, mostly because of the character Emma. Such a spoiled brat!
Emma is so self centered, because everyone except Mr Knightly lets her have her own way. Saw the musical "Emma" last night in Palo Alto and heartily enjoyed it. It capture Emma's self delusion well, with a most charming Emma and a delightfully gawky Harriet Smith. Anyone on the list in the SF Bay Area, it's worth seeing.
I loved 'Pride and Prejudice'. If you have not already read it, definitely read it next.
Lucy Worsley can't choose her favourite Austen book and I know how she feels.I think Persuasion is my equal favourite to P&P so I'd read that last and save the best until the end. Emma was my least favourite because, as so many have said, her character is grating, spoilt and interfering but for many (I think Jane Austen too) Emma was considered the best.
It may simply be easier to read them in the order they were published and let that be your decider.
Reading them in order of publication may be a good idea, though it puts Northanger Abbey at the end, even though it is an earlier novel. But then both Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice were written earlier and then reworked.I think only Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion were written after Austen was published?
P and P has to be the all time favourite, with, then either Emma or Persusasion coming next.
Personally, I'd probably recommend P and P, then S and S, then Emma, then Persuasion.
Mansfield Park is quite heavy going, and I would save it till last. It's a 'slow burn' novel, and quite unlike the others, and much longer and 'heavier'.
Northanger Abbey is the lightest of them in terms of literary quality and mood and tone, I would say.
My own personal problem with Emma is not s much that she is grating, spoilt and interfering (athough yes, all three to an extent!), but that she is just so embarrassing! I mean, I squirm when I read it, and realise just how hopelesslly wrong she is about absolutely everything.
The most excruciatingly embarrassing scene is where she is 'pounced on' by the vicar, Mr Elton, who proposes to her. HE thinks she's been encouraging him for HERSELF, whereas she's been encouraging him for her low-born protegee Harriet Smith. Mr Elton is outraged that Emma thought Harriet good enough for him, and Emma is outraged that Mr Elton thought he was good enough for Emma himself!
It's just a squirmathon scene - horrendously embarrassing all round. Eeek!
A heary second re Emma. The only Austen titled for a character.Emma is rich and beautiful and almost always wrong about everything. Not typical Austen. Not a good first read.
But a very fine, engrossing, plot twisting novel you won't want to miss.
My all time favorite of Jane Austen is Persuasion. I love Anne and Captain Wentworth and them trying to stay away from each other because of their broken engagement. The ending was fabulous. The letter Captain Wentworth writes to Anne is amazing. If you haven't read it you must. Of course I love Pride and Prejudice and Emma and Sense and Sensibility but you can't go wrong with Persuasion!!
Please can you try my group out, here on Goodreads. It is called Classics and I would really like if it had more members. Thank You.
I agree, Emma isn't a good first read. Also agree you can't go wrong with Persuasion - it's the most 'romantic' of all the novels I think.
Florence, I'm going to take a look now!
Florence, could you give the precise link. If I search 'Classics' in Groups quite a few come up with 'Classics' in their group title. So far I haven't seen one just called 'Classics'.Thanks
Florence; definitely keen but which group. Let us all know.
Just to mention that I've come across a discussion of Persuasion on one of the other groups here, and will try and put a link to it, for those who, like me, simply can't resist pitching in my tuppance worth!!!
