Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen for Dummies [BestBooksEver#6]

A book for readers too proud and prejudiced to read Pride and Prejudice.

What's your favorite Jane Austen novel? Are you one of the hardcore fans who dress in Regency clothes and throw mad Austen-themed tea parties? Or do you hate poor Jane's guts?
Let me know in the comments!

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[JohnnyCashavetes]

"Longing for Balls, " the next E.L. James classic.

[frederickbee]

Two comments. Just in case you don't know, "Northanger Abbey" is supposedly a parody of "The Mysteries of Udolpho, " by Ann Radcliffe, a very popular Gothic horror story at the time; my apologies if you already knew that. Secondly, one of the great charms of Jane Austen is her prose style, which is clever, ironic, amusing and always subtle.She can slide a needle into a character, including her heroine, quite neatly.

[GoldieGoldillo]

It's one of Austen't best! I would even dare to call it an early young adult book and it's certainly better than any contemporary YA written in the XXI century :)

[mrrickygee.]

I thought I'd never read an Austen book. Now, because of you, I'm considering this one. Thanks(?) :D

[SookieSkipper]

Almost all of Austen's women are readers and its interesting how she makes one of them obsessed with Goth literature. In fact this girl is one of the most unreliable narrator there is. "Getting wrong idea in first impression" is Austen's running theme :)

[Heller]

I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility, it's my first Austen. I gotta admit I'm having a difficulty with her dry kind of style and how she's antithetical to "show don't tell" - she doesn't really do exposition, she just lays out the character traits, as in "this character is such and such and he hates that character". I hope it gets better. Next time I pick one of her books it will be translated to my first language, rather than in the original English - I feel that it wouldn't be so critical with her style and at least that way I'd be able to read it a bit faster.

[dabonthehaters]

I'm reading it for school and I can't even figure what the fudge is going on so now you tell me there's supposed to be a deeper meaning to it

[KevTheImpaler]

Does Northanger Abbey refer to The Monk by Matthew Lewis? That was like a Ken Russell script.

I have read 2 Austen books: Pride & Prejudice, and Emma. P&P was a page turner; Emma, less so. I sort of liked them both. I liked the secret channels of communication.