Book 37: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Last time I read Jane Austen it was the last book she wrote, Persuasion.  This time it's the first she wrote, Northanger Abbey.  I've heard that, like Persuasion, it's not as polished as her "big" novels, but I'm interested to see how it plays out.  It's making me a bit sad that I only have 2 more Austen novels to read.  Maybe I'll try to drag it out a bit.

At 256 pages it's going to by tough to drag it out... that's only 37 pages per day.

REVIEW:  This book was a very pleasant surprise for me.  I've read almost all of Jane Austen's novels now and just have left some of her minor works.  They are all supposed to be either early works, like this one, or unfinished works that were posthumously edited together.  Either way, they are shorter, unpolished novels that may not hold up to her master works.

However, Northanger Abbey turned out of be one of my favorites!  This is the first novel that Jane Austen wrote, though not the first published.  As such, it is a little raw in places but it does not suffer for it. What really surprised me, though, is that it was so funny!  The main character in the book, Catherine, is 17 years old and really comes off as young and naive.  She jumps to conclusions constantly, usually way off-base, and gets herself into embarrassing situations because of it.  The narration is also quite witty and addresses the reader directly in many places.  Because of this, the novel has a much more intimate feel to it, as though Austen is telling you the story personally.

As usual, reading Austen is always a pleasure.  She, and therefore her characters, are smart, funny, witty and complex.  I would highly recommend this novel to anyone that has enjoyed her other works, and would even recommend it to others who have not.  I'm going to place it squarely in my top three of her works, right behind Pride and Prejudice and Emma.

9 out of 10.