Books I love - Jane Austen

 
I feel a little unqualified to write about Jane Austen. I mean, my sister took an entire class on Jane Austen and some other guy (she's an English major). She could tell you a lot more about the history or politics or undertones of Jane Austen's novels. A lot of people can tell you about those things a lot better than I can. What I can tell you, however, is how much I personally enjoy her novels.

Jane Austen wrote and published seven novels - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan. Pride and Prejudice is probably the most famous, and you've probably at least one of the movie adaptations. I really like a lot of the movie adaptations of the books; it's the reason I first read any of them. But, while the movie adaptations are good, the books are even better because you have Jane narrating, and she's one of the best narrators I've ever come across.

Jane Austen has one of the most unique, clever, witty narrative voices of any author I've read. There's a reason she and her novels are famous hundreds of years after she wrote and published them. She's really good at what she does. Not only are her plots fabulous (as we know from the many movie adaptations of her novels), but the way she tells them is so enjoyable to read. I mean, she's just so funny. She's witty. And I love that about her novels.

Furthermore, you can identify with her characters. Anyone who's ever liked someone and been unsure of their feelings back can identify with a lot of her characters. I really identified  at times with Anne in Persuasion, to where some of her passages of thought I felt could have come from my own mind. It gave me hope. And, luckily, my own Captain Wentworth and I got together in the end. :)

Jane Austen is awesome. If you liked any of the movies about her books, you'll enjoy her novels. Read them. You know you love romance. ;)