New to Austen

[Night Stalker]

Hey, I'm new to Jane Austen but i have to study her books for when I start A levels in september so I was wondering if you could suggest one of books that is relatively easy to read. Thanks!

[mir]

i've heard that pride and prejudice is very good - i'm only just starting to read it now, but everyone i've talked to loved it.

[Pensive]

I loved Pride and Prejudice and then I started Emma in hope that it would be good too, but to my astonishment, it was extremely boring.

[Scheherazade]

I don't consider Emma a boring book at all. Both the book and the character Emma herself are realistic and entertaining. Her shortcomings, which are more clearly shown than those of Elizabeth Bennet's, make her very endearing to me.

I found Northanger Abbey the easiest one to read. It does not require the analytical reading Austen's other books do, I think (and it is relatively shorter as well).

[Pensive]

Emma might be realistic but I found the novel very slow-moving and not full of action, so it did not appeal me at all.

To me, Pride and prejudice was five times better than Emma.

[Nightshade]

only five?

Now I love mansfield park. I just do. A;lthough I belive it may well be the longest of her books

[The Unnamable]

Pensive and Nightshade,
Could you say why Emma is boring? I never thought I would say this but I agree with Scheherazade here. Emma is far more fully developed and engaging than Eliza Bennet. Austen’s incisive, penetrating observations are masterful in Emma. The two novels are not dissimilar – Pride and Prejudice is Emma with the colour saturation and brightness buttons turned up.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

I agree with the unnamable. Of the 3 Austen books I've read - P&P, Northanger Abbey and Emma - I much preffered Emma. I think this could be because of my age when I read them all (over 30) and the type of book that I tended to prefer by then. Emma's wit is internalised for the most part. We see her thoughts on the page. In P&P, the wit is more in the form of dialogue, which tends to be more obvious and easier to digest. The long paragraphs, unbroken with speech, can be a little off-putting when reading Emma.

Given your age (just approaching A levels) I would probably recommend reading Pride & Prejudice if you want to get an idea of Austen, it's an 'easier' read (although there is nothing really 'hard' about Emma - it's not Ullyses!)

The main thing is to bear in mind that Austen is writing with tongue firmly in cheek in all of these books. She is poking fun at the behavoir and beliefs of her day in an extremely ironic and often subtle way. Read with this in mind, you can share and enjoy her little jokes at her characters' expense.

And above all, enjoy.

[Pensive]

Pensive and Nightshade,
Could you say why Emma is boring? I never thought I would say this but I agree with Scheherazade here. Emma is far more fully developed and engaging than Eliza Bennet. Austen’s incisive, penetrating observations are masterful in Emma. The two novels are not dissimilar – Pride and Prejudice is Emma with the colour saturation and brightness buttons turned up.

I have already said that I found "Emma" boring because it was a little slow-moving. I am talking about the novel "Emma" not about the heroine. I admit that the heroine was realistic, intelligent, etc but in my humble opinion, even if a single character is better than the other, it does not make the whole novel better and there are many more things in a novel to be counted than a single character only. Plot, other characters than the heroine, style of writing and other things are also to be considered.

[Nightshade]

OOps I never menat I found Emma boring In fact I love it no, it was the expression. Id never use a litle number like 5 to express and opion Id say a hundred or 50 or twice as good.
I like emma for the sarcasm ad the fact that you just cant like her. yet you do. While P&P is justthat. I like some of the charcters and hate soem and just feeel pity for others. in fact I actually if I have to think about it would find it a tad boring and irritating. I find Mr bennet incredibly annoying. Bu what has always ammused me most has got to be "Fitz" I mean If you take what it means to have fitz in your name. ahh well its amusing.
I suppose I love MP becasue everyone got whats was coming to them and Fanny never changed her mind not once.

[The Unnamable]

I have already said that I found "Emma" boring because it was a little slow-moving. I am talking about the novel "Emma" not about the heroine. I admit that the heroine was realistic, intelligent, etc but in my humble opinion, even if a single character is better than the other, it does not make the whole novel better and there are many more things in a novel to be counted than a single character only. Plot, other characters than the heroine, style of writing and other things are also to be considered.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you bristle. Obviously, it’s a matter of taste. I think you are of the opinion that Pride and Prejudice is more dramatic than Emma, which I’d tend to agree with, although I think the drama is simply less glittering in Emma. It focuses more on the intricacies of thought and behaviour than on the performance. There are also fewer grotesque caricatures. I suppose I will always choose character over plot – and as for style of writing, I don’t think she was ever as assured in her style as she is in Emma.



OOps I never menat I found Emma boring In fact I love it no, it was the expression. Id never use a litle number like 5 to express and opion Id say a hundred or 50 or twice as good.
I like emma for the sarcasm ad the fact that you just cant like her. yet you do. While P&P is justthat. I like some of the charcters and hate soem and just feeel pity for others. in fact I actually if I have to think about it would find it a tad boring and irritating. I find Mr bennet incredibly annoying. Bu what has always ammused me most has got to be "Fitz" I mean If you take what it means to have fitz in your name. ahh well its amusing.
I suppose I love MP becasue everyone got whats was coming to them and Fanny never changed her mind not once.

Sorry for misunderstanding. I love Mr. Bennet:

""Oh! my dear,'' continued Mrs. Bennet, "I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome! and his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw any thing more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown --''

Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any description of finery."
:lol: :lol: :lol:


Given your age (just approaching A levels) I would probably recommend reading Pride & Prejudice if you want to get an idea of Austen, it's an 'easier' read (although there is nothing really 'hard' about Emma - it's not Ullyses!)

Sense and Sensibility should also appeal to anyone who enjoyed Pride and Prejudice.

There is a lovely moment with a rather unsociable Mr. Palmer:

“Lady Middleton could no longer endure such a conversation, and therefore exerted herself to ask Mr. Palmer if there was any news in the paper.

"No, none at all," he replied, and read on.”

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[rachel]

Unnameable,
what do you mean when you say the word 'grotesque'. You said that there were fewer grotesque caricatures.
That intrigues me. That very word is a rather harsh and hideous word in itself, so I was just wondering.

[Nightshade]

where did he ay that? Oh yes hummm I suppose though when it comes to it all of the austen chracters are fantasticall grotesque ( not as in gross but as in enoromus over the top exagerrations of one feature) and yet sadly Ive met quite a few of them in real life.
or should that be happily?

[Scheherazade]

I never thought I would say this but I agree with Scheherazade here.Ah another one sees the light! :p


I think Austen's later novels have a sharpness and ingenuity that earlier ones lack. They are all very entertaining social and psychological commentaries but Pride and Prejudice and Emma raise above the others. The only reason I hesitate to call Emma my favorite Austen novel is the Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax affair. Even though I like the way these characters are developed and their purpose in the book, their affair seems a little far-fetched to me.

I think Mansfield Park is my least favorite, closely followed by Sense and Sensibility (too much drama for my liking... In my opinion, Austen is at her best when she is cruelly sarcastic).

Night>I won't even start on Mr Bennet as we spent hours discussing him. You have to love that man! :D

[Nightshade]

NO you dont, I enjoyed him the first few times I read P&P but now he just grates on my nerves. Infact when I think about there is not a single parental figure in All the Austin novels (Barring LOve and friendshp which I havent read) that I can approve of, some I like because of how ridculous they are but they still aqnnoy me alot.
:nod: :D

[Whifflingpin]

"But what has always ammused me most has got to be "Fitz" I mean If you take what it means to have fitz in your name. "
"Fitz" generally implies that you come from an old Norman family - it is the French equilvalent of "Mac," "son" or "O'" in a surname.
Even its later use for bastard sons of kings is still a matter of honour - better to be acknowledged as having royal blood, even with no right to the throne, than to be a mere commoner.

Maybe its use here implies a snobbish claim to gentility.

.

[The Unnamable]

Unnameable,
what do you mean when you say the word 'grotesque'. You said that there were fewer grotesque caricatures.
That intrigues me. That very word is a rather harsh and hideous word in itself, so I was just wondering.


and yet sadly Ive met quite a few of them in real life.
or should that be happily?
Interesting question – I would tire of Collins far more quickly than even Mr. Bennet does, as I would Mrs. Bennet.

I was being rather harsh because they are not grotesque in the way Dickens’ caricatures are. I meant that they are exaggerated to the point of making you want to slap them in the face with a wet fish (or even a dry one). A good example would be Mr. Collins or Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mrs. Bennet comes close, as well. I certainly don’t think all or even most of her characters are caricatures.

[Pensive]

I love Mr. Bennet:

I admire Mr. Bennet's character. I enjoyed his witty style a lot.

~ "Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves."

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least."

[mrslizzydarcy]

WOA! Slow down people. Lets remember that Night Stalker is new to Austen. He/She has no clue who palmer or Lady Middleton are.

Stalker, I would say, start with P&P. I love all of austen's novels, in fact I own ATLEAST 5 copies of each of her major works and atleast one copy of everything she wrote minus some letters. that said, everytime I try to hook a friend on Austen I have best success with Pride and Prejudice. Emma is the longest and new readers not used to her style of writing tend to get bogged down in the dialogue. Northanger Abbey is a spoof, harder to enjoy with out more background into what she was spoofing. S&S, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park all are much heavier on the drama. Whoever just mentioned that JA was at her best when she was being sarcastic hit the nail straight on the head and drove it in. So, again, start with Pride and Prejudice and then move to S&S or Emma, depending on whether you enjoy the drama or the wit more in P&P.

[Anastasia1901]

If you're looking for something easy to read, I would start with Northanger Abbey. I found it the easiest to read out of the published novels, and I have read them all. NA satirizes the Gothic novels that were popular at the time she was writing. As long as you keep that in mind, even without a lot of background on the stories she is satirizing and the time period, it is easy to see the humor in the situations she presents.

If you would like to read a good biography of Jane Austen for background information, try Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin. It is written in a style not unlike Austen's and is very enjoyable.

[julia99]

Northanger Abbey is the first Austen I ever read and it is a good read. Pride and Prejudice is an essential one of course, but one of the other good reads for a beginner I think is Sense and Sensibility.

I'm just in the process of building a new website called Austen for Beginners. It's still in the early stages, and only P&P and S&S are covered in detail so far, but it might be worth you having a look at!

www.austen-beginners.com

Julia

[Satine]

I agree that, for me at least, Emma was good, but a very slow read. Pride and Prejudice is much better. I haven't read Mansfield Park, but at some point I plan to.

[persuaded]

I don't consider Emma a boring book at all. Both the book and the character Emma herself are realistic and entertaining. Her shortcomings, which are more clearly shown than those of Elizabeth Bennet's, make her very endearing to me.

I found Northanger Abbey the easiest one to read. It does not require the analytical reading Austen's other books do, I think (and it is relatively shorter as well).

yep i found northanger abbey the easiest to read as well. its very funny for jane austen teases the canonic elements of gothic novels and makes you really understand how she wants to write about real life, so she makes fun of what is definitely "novel-like"
.....though P&P is the best.....i really loved it ive read it 1000 times! i liked persuasion too but i think that its a bit heavy cause anne elliot at the beginning is quite annoying (she's too meek!!) but eventually u get to know why she's like so and you appreciate her.

[persuaded]

"But what has always ammused me most has got to be "Fitz" I mean If you take what it means to have fitz in your name. "
"Fitz" generally implies that you come from an old Norman family - it is the French equilvalent of "Mac," "son" or "O'" in a surname.
Even its later use for bastard sons of kings is still a matter of honour - better to be acknowledged as having royal blood, even with no right to the throne, than to be a mere commoner.

Maybe its use here implies a snobbish claim to gentility.

.


this fitz-thing puzzles me excedeengly....how is it? mrs anne darcy slept with the king??? :confused: :confused: im just kidding but its very very very hard for me to understand (nightshad tried to explain it to me:p) i understood the matter of the bastard sons and of the descendents of norman families but i just cant understand which one is mr darcy's case!!!!! :banana: am as clever as a banana!!!!

[ats]

I know this was posted a long time ago, but in case it can be of any use to anyone in the same situation, here’s what I’d recommend: start with Pride and Prejudice. This book is not too heavy on that great Austen analysis that later on you’ll learn to adore, and its plot is so captivating that you’ll get hooked on her style before you even realise it. If after reading it, you’re still not too crazy about her witty remarks and deep analysis, but liked the story, read S&S before you engage into something deeper, and probably denser like Emma.
Anyway, good luck with your choice, although, in my opinion you can never go wrong with Austen, her every book is not just a masterpiece, but incredibly entertaining!

[Viola_Juliet]

I'd suggest either Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey doesn't need quite so much digesting and I find it stands out a bit from the other books Austen has written. The protagonist, Catherine Morland, appears to be much more of a 'challenge for contemporary society' than some of Austen's other female protagonists ;) lol. Mansfield Park I'd recommend strictly because I love the story to pieces :D. I'll agree with some previous posts on here and say that Pride and Prejudice (the slightly more obvious choice) might be good to start off with as it IS the most commonly known book by Jane Austen but if you're looking for something that doesn't need quite so much dissecting then I'd suggest Northanger Abbey, it's what I'd generally recommend to new-comers of Austen.

[AChristieFan]

Try Sense & Sensibity it's my personal favorite!:) :) :)

[Blackjack Davy]

I too would say start with Northanger Abbey. It's the easiest to get into I think, certainly the least complex. It gives a good start into what she's about i.e. just evaluation of human conduct, and humour.

[JAustnQuilnInk]

Pride and Prejudice. Hands down. I've read all of Jane Austen's novels and it is by FAR the best. The others are of course, brilliant, but Pride and Prejudice has become "the" Jane Austen classic for a reason. I highly recommend that one! Enjoy and let me know what you think!!:thumbs_up