I'm a female, English graduate who until last year has never read Jane Austen. I knew the Pride and Prejudice premise, obviously, and I'd seen adaptations of Sense and Sensibility on TV but reading them had never appealed. I do most of my reading on the train at either 8am or 5.30pm both of which I'm usually tired so classics like Austen are not my favourite as it takes more brain power than some books but I think they definitely deserve to be read at least once in my life. So last year I made it part of my list of things to do last/this year to read them all. I've now read Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. Now I'm currently reading Mansfield Park.
When talking to people about this, Mansfield Park is usually considered one of their least favourites. It's not one that gets mentioned much, it's all about Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion but I think it's good to read the less popular books as well, give them some attention they equally deserve. I've found that Northanger Abbey is definitely my favourite so far. It's so funny and witty! The female character has a cynical outlook which I find more entertaining than Elisabeth Bennett or the Dashwoods.
Mansfield Park is getting more interesting the more I read it, it was slightly slow to start with, as I find more of Austen's books, but now the scene is set and the characters are starting to interact with eachother things are picking up. Am I the only one to be wishfully hoping that Fanny Price will marry her cousin Edmund? He may not be Mr Darcy but he's got charm and kindness towards his cousin when everyone else ignores her.There's also not been so much of the 'turns around the room' and 'he likes my singing so he must love me' which I found both entertaining and exhausting in other Austen novels
