Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This week, I listened to Northanger Abbey on audio book while driving around for work. I was able to knock the whole thing over in a day. It’s days like that that I’m a) thankful for audio books and b) glad to put all that driving time to use.

This is only the second Jane Austen I’ve ‘read’ (I actually did read Pride and Prejudice). And I just love them! I should say, that I was listening to a version put out by Penguin Audio and it doesn’t say anywhere on the case if it is an abridged version or not, all I know is it runs for just over 3 hours. So perhaps someone might be able to tell me if I heard the whole thing or not. I will be reading it again in the future however, because I am a collector of quotes from books and this one is ripe to bursting with them! And being on audio, and me needing to keep my hands on the wheel, I was unable to record any of them.

The narrator (who I’m not certain of their name because I have returned the CDs to my friend without taking note and can’t find the information online, is either Joanna David or Jill Balcon) read it with the perfect affected accent you would expect of a Jane Austen novel which only added to my enjoyment.

The storyline of this one was a bit more straight forward: Girl goes on holiday, sees a man she takes a fancy to, pines over him while he’s not there, spends time with him, falls in love, there are numerous misunderstandings she’s turned out of their home, then everything gets resolved. But it was great fun!

It seemed that Jane Austen was also using this book to critique the contemporary opinion of novels as there was much discussion about the types of people who read novels, and their supposed embarrassment in being caught reading ‘just a novel’. Then, to the author’s defence come the Hero of the story, claiming that men read ‘nearly as many as women’ and that he has read ‘hundreds and hundreds of novels’.

Then, I had to hunt down this quote because I loved it so much, I laughed out loud when I heard it:

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

I feel like framing that and hanging it on my wall!

All I can say now is: I’m very excited to get around to the rest of Jane Austen’s books!

If you’ve never read any of them, you’re missing out!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I won't go on about this book other to say that this was the first time I've read it, and that I absolutely LOVED it! I don't think I could write a review about it which would give it justice.

I will say, however, and Austen certainly knows how to paint characters. There are such a variety of characters in this book, and you seem to feel so strongly (in various ways) about each of them. This book is funny, insightful and brilliant!

The other day a woman I work with saw what I was reading and said 'Oh yes! That's one you need to re-read every five years or so." and I agree with her. And if you haven't read it, then you should.