Jane Austen Collection
The Complete Works of Jane Austen, designed and formatted specifically for your e-reader.
More info →Pride and Prejudice
If you’ve never read a single Jane Austen book, summer is a good time to start. Jane Austen books are great for the pool or vacation, they’re easy to find in throwaway versions, free for kindle, and the topics are fresh and fun enough for the beach. Honest.
More info →Emma
My favorite Jane Austen novel (at least during the times when my favorite isn't Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion) centers on an unusual household of two: Emma Woodhouse, old enough to marry but independent enough to not want to (and who can avoid the shame of spinsterhood because she's "handsome, clever, and rich") and her well-meaning but exceedingly nervous father. Distinctive friends, neighbors, and love interests spin their way into the Woodhouse orbit throughout the story's course—some quirky, some endearing, some downright obnoxious, but ALL entertaining.
More info →Persuasion
Pride and Prejudice should be read in the spring; Emma in the summer. But Persuasion is for fall. This the last novel Austen completed before her death, and it’s darker and more serious in tone than her earlier works. With its themes of love, regret, and fidelity, this is my favorite Austen novel—at least some of the time. But always in autumn.
More info →Sense and Sensibility
I re-read this Austen title in June and thoroughly enjoyed it, again. This audio edition is the clear winner in the ratings, with an impressive 4.5 for the performance.
More info →Northanger Abbey
Part coming-of-age classic, part parody, and part social critique, this 1818 novel remains one of Jane Austen’s lesser-read (and underrated) works. Inspired by popular gothic novels Austen read as a girl, this satirical story blends over-the-top drama and Austen’s sharp wit to great effect. The heroine, Catherine Morland, is a 17-year-old girl with an active imagination and a fondness for sensationalist literature. While visiting Bath with her friends, she falls in love with Henry Tilney, an upper class gentleman beyond her reach as a romantic match. Tilney rolls his eyes at Catherine's vivid imaginings as she allows herself to be swept up in gothic fantasies of her own making. Whether you aspire to be an Austen completist or simply love any novel featuring a sprawling gothic estate, this is a novel worth reading. Juliet Stevenson is a fan favorite narrator for all of Austen’s works, of course, but I like Emma Naomi’s youthful voice for this story as well.
More info →The Complete Novels of Jane Austen
If you've never read Jane Austen, this is a good time to start. For two hundred years Austen has remained one of the most popular novelists in English literature. You'll see why devoted readers keep picking her up again ... and again and again.
More info →Lady Susan
A Penguin Classics edition of three lesser-known Austen works, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillman's feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chlo Sevigny. These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men.
More info →Love and Friendship
From the collection of Austen’s juvenilia, this epistolary novella displays the author’s propensity for writing entertaining stories for her family, with early signs of her talent for social commentary and witticisms. Much like Northanger Abbey, this novella parodies popular works of Austen’s time with over the top drama and farcical scenes (like a series of hilarious fainting spells meant to poke fun at romantic swooning). Each letter details one episode in the life of Laura, the narrator; I like to imagine Jane reading them aloud to her family each night after finishing her writing for the day. If you’re curious about the trajectory of Austen’s career, her juvenilia provides a fun, frolicsome peek at her beginnings.
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