Well, I couldn't believe it when I checked the book forum and couldn't find a Jane Austen thread, so I had to make one myself. Now, my point in making this thread is not to have people come in and post one sentence saying they love Jane Austen. I would enjoy hearing what people really think about her.

So, here are a few question you might answer for a start:

Do you like Jane Austen's works? Why or why not?
What is your favorite Jane Austen work and why?
Do you have a least favorite work and why?


And here are my own answers:

Obviously, I enjoy Jane Austen. She is one of my favorite authors because she has created some very memorable characters. I enjoy the irony and satire in her works, as well as her depiction of the "drawing room society" in which she grew up. I do not swoon over her novels because they are "so romantic," although I understand that many people do.

My favorite Jane Austen work is not despite popular regard, Pride and Prejudice, although I enjoy that book immensely. I have two favorites, Emma and Persuasion, which I consider to be her most mature works. The character of Emma Woodhouse is enticing in that it is so different from Miss Austen's other characters, and she's very well drawn.

My least favorite Jane Austen work is Sense and Sensibility. I find myself enjoying this novel until I get to about 2/3 of the way through it, when the whole story becomes too moralistic and insipid. The movie, however, was excellent, taking what was good in the book and cutting out the bad.

She's one of those authors I've heard good things about and keep meaning to read, but haven't yet.

Pride and prejudice and sense and sensability are the two I keep hearing about so I want to read one of those.

I'd definitely try Pride and Prejudice. It's probably the fan favorite.

I loved Northanger Abbey, it was so funny. xD I like all of her other works as well, but that is my favourite. :3

Ooh, full-on satire. Good choice.

I've read "Pride and Prejudice" so many times! I really love it. There are some great film versions out there--the one with Keira Knightly not being one of them.

I love "Sense and Sensibility" with Kate Winslet. Oh, it's so good! I wish there were a Darcy as handsome as Willoughby in that movie. (Haven't read that one, so truly sorry if I misspelled the characters name!)

Perfectly correctly spelling of Willoughby, actually. Sense and Sensibility really was a fantastic film.

I like (at least to some extent) all of the novels I've read so far, but Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are my favorites. To be honest, I've lately been forgetting what about Persuasion I like so much. I do know that I enjoy the 1995 movie of it.

Northanger Abbey I like for its, as you mention, very satirical aspect. In fact, I enjoy much of Jane Austen in general for her (often more subtle) social satire.

I don't particularly have a least favorite book of hers, although I certainly can get sick and tired of Pride and Prejudice if I have to put up with it a lot.

Do you like Jane Austen's works? Oh, yes! I love all of them! Even the ones I haven't read. >.>

Why or why not? Because they are well written, and they are good stories.

What is your favorite Jane Austen work and why? Pride and Prejudice. I'm not really sure, though it might be because it was the one I read first. Actually, I watched the BBC version of the movie before I read any of the books. ^o^;

Do you have a least favorite work and why? Nope. Because they are all good.

Originally Posted by JoieD

My least favorite Jane Austen work is Sense and Sensibility. I find myself enjoying this novel until I get to about 2/3 of the way through it, when the whole story becomes too moralistic and insipid. The movie, however, was excellent, taking what was good in the book and cutting out the bad.

My mother never did like it much when she first read it, either. But the more she reads it, the better she understands everything, and the more she likes it. One of the things she didn't like about it at first was why didn't Edward break up with Lucy and marry the girl he really loves? I'll never be able to explain it well, but if I can remeber to, I will ask her to write down why it is that he didn't. It's a really good reason. I haven't read the book yet, only seen the movie, but I like the movie. ^-^ (For that matter, I've only ever read Northanger Abby and Pride and Prejudice)

Jane Austen is a fabulous author. I've read pride and prejudice so many times I can't remember. It's one of those books that as soon as u fininsh it you want to start it again. I enjoied the film (the newest one with ms. knightly) and others. I think it's my personal favorite becasue I can relate to the main character for one thing and it was the first book i read.

I've read Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Out of those, my favorite was P & P. I have to admit, I was biased towards it because when I was babysitting this little girl once, we watched the BBC version and I fell in love with the story. Out of the three, I think it was most accessible to me.

I'd love to try more when I am not too busy with trying to finish class projects.

Originally Posted by Canna-Chan

My mother never did like it much when she first read it, either. But the more she reads it, the better she understands everything, and the more she likes it. One of the things she didn't like about it at first was why didn't Edward break up with Lucy and marry the girl he really loves? I'll never be able to explain it well, but if I can remeber to, I will ask her to write down why it is that he didn't. It's a really good reason. I haven't read the book yet, only seen the movie, but I like the movie. ^-^ (For that matter, I've only ever read Northanger Abby and Pride and Prejudice)

I don't have a problem with anything in the Edward/Elinor plotline; I admire Edward for his decisions. What I don't like are some of the plot devices used, and some of what happens with Mariann's story.

My sister loves her but I can't read her books but I enjoy the movies lol

Oh, I'm a lover of Austen! I've read all of her things except Northanger Abbey; the wit! The wit! It's always what gets you. My AP English class read Pride & Prejudice, but unfortunately we didn't discuss it much, which saddened me greatly.


Do you like Jane Austen's works? Why or why not?

Of course! And it's all about the satire, isn't it? Without it, Austen would just be a moralizing Edwardian woman, but with it, she's not! :) But I do love the messages that Austen puts in her writing -- love is based on respect and a person's integrity and morality is a message that I don't think enough girls get :/

What is your favorite Jane Austen work and why?

I love Mansfield Park. I know most of the fans disagree with me; Mansfield Park is generally regarded as Austen's least favorite work; it's too moralizing, it's too Victorian, people can't connect with it -- whatever. But I love the book precisely because the satire in it is so much more ambiguous than in her earlier books. Anyone can pinpoint when Austen is mocking Mr Collins -- but is she ever mocking Edmund in Mansfield Park? o: It's very hard to know if she is or isn't, and that's all part of the fun. I love how most of the characters seem like slightly twisted versions of ones from Pride & Prejudice. Isn't Edmund just a Mr Collins who's a wee bit more likeable? Isn't Ms Crawford just an Elizabeth with fewer morals? Is Mr Crawford just a philandering version of Darcy? It's too much fun, really, it is.

Do you have a least favorite work and why?

I've just finished Sense & Sensibility and am not thrilled with it. For one, I think the book went on about 50 pages too long. And Marianne and Elinor are just such predictable symbols. I do like it as a book, but as Austen? I can definitely tell its one of her first works, and the one with the least revision.

I haven't had the pleasure of reading any Jane Austen novels aside from Pride and Prejudice, but I love her writing regardless.

Do I like her works? The one I've read, I adore very much. In fact it's my all time favorite novel, right up there with Jane Eyre and To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm looking to get more of her books as soon as I have money again. :/

My favorite would be Pride and Prejudice. I've seen movie versions of some of her other works, and I'm sure they're fantastic books, but Pride and Prejudice just stays with me even though I read it a very long time ago.

Least favorite? Having only read one novel, it'd be unfair to state a least favorite. After I read through a few more, I'll come back and let you know. ;)

I own a few Jane Austen books, but I haven't read them, yet. I've tried to read them a couple of times, but I always end up getting side-tracked due to an overwhelming nagging desire to read something else. I imagine I will read them someday soon, but I'm on more of a Science Fiction reading binge right now.

I have a few books that are a bit higher on my "to read" list than Austen. After I get those out of the way, I will probably try again. I like having a nice big library of books here at my house, but that makes it hard to pick just one to read sometimes. I have tried reading more than one book at a time, I just can't handle it.

Oh I absolutly adore Jane Austens books. Wow they are just so wow.. I have read all of her books because I just couldn't stop i loved Emma, since that was my first book that I read. I must say I was ten when I read it, and it took forever because of her writing style. But thats okay because now I got used to it so its like reading any other book.But to people who are just starting to read the books I wouldn't start off with Emma maybe the best would be Pride and Prejudice because it really gets you hooked to all of her books. Another great and well known book by her is Sense and Sensibility really a great book.

If you also like some of those older classic books I would recommend Rebecca because that is also a can not put down book. It really is amazing, but I want to tell you that you should read it when your older. Personally I just read it and found it a bit difficult, just a bit.

Another great book is Weathering Heights, it is the best classic romance book I read so far. Its so great because if you have ever been in love with two people ( like I have ), ten you can really relate with Cathy. Or if you have ever been in love with someone, then you can relate just as well. Heck, if you ever have even thought of love you'll love the book. The only problem is that it is a hard read that I don't recommend for children. But I feel that adults would get the most out of the story. One thing that is not good about the book is that it is hard to let go once you have read it.

Enjoy my advice I hope it is helpful..

Do you like Jane Austen's works? Why or why not? Why of course I love Jane's works! why would I look at this post if I didn't? Though I do wish I could go back in time just to ask her how she came up with her plot ideas.

What is your favorite Jane Austen work and why? Well I haven't read a lot of her works, I've attempted to read Sense and Sensibility and Emma but always got distracted and forgot it till it had to be returned to the library. I do own Pride & Prejudice but every time I go to read it I stop 3/4 of the way in the book and forget about it till the point when I do remember it I start all over and stop around the same place. One day I will finish it XD. I plan to buy and read all her works soon though, summer is coming up! ^_^

Do you have a least favorite work and why? Seeing as I haven't read most of her works I cant really answer this question.

I read a lot of her books during the last hurricane here in Florida. We didn't have electricity, so I was at the library a lot reading books.

To say the least, her books were interesting but for me they just got redundant after a while. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I just felt like the same stories were being retold with different characters...that were a lot like a single character with a different name.

But...I really did like her writing, for what it's worth, even though it's probably not something I'll want to read again for a very long time.

I love regency/period drama books <3
And Jane Austen is my author of choice, the other being Elizabeth Gaskell.
I don't have a favourite; I can't pick one i prefer over the others.
I love her wit, her attention to detail, her ability to accurately put to paper all the social quirks of everyday people and her talent for creating swoon-worthy male leads lol :lol:

And speaking of the movie adaptations, have you seen the new BBC/ITV ones?
They did remakes of Mansfield Park (the weakest of the 4), Northanger Abbey (better than the previous film), Persuasion (equally as good as the old version) and Sense and Sensibility (also as good as the previous version).
I also watched Becoming Jane recently. Interesting take on Miss Austen...

Captain Savvy: I think I've seen most of the BBC movies, but I haven't seen a new Persuasion from them. They made a fairly good one in the '80s, I think, and the Masterpiece Theatre(?) version from '95 was fantastic. I didn't particularly like the message of Becoming Jane.

Originally Posted by JoieD

Captain Savvy: I think I've seen most of the BBC movies, but I haven't seen a new Persuasion from them. They made a fairly good one in the '80s, I think, and the Masterpiece Theatre(?) version from '95 was fantastic. I didn't particularly like the message of Becoming Jane.

I loved the Ciaran Hinds Persuasion but the new Persuasion is not too bad. It's not as good i think. Wentworth doesn't really have the presence that Ciaran Hinds has.

Becoming Jane was...... odd.
I can think of no other word to describe it.

Oh, so it is new (very). Thanks for the link; I'll have to see it. Yes, Ciaran Hinds did a fantastic job.

i love jane austen. she is my absolute favorite author. i have read all of her novels and i am now working my way through biographical works that other people have done on her and her lost memoirs.

I didn't really get into Jane Austen until college, i thought she was kind of pretentious, but then i realized she was writing for a different time, a different set of people.

It literally is like going to another time.