Jane Austen's Novels Ranked from WORST to BEST!

This is my ranking of all of Jane Austen's books--from worst to best. I would love to know how you rank all of her novels down below.

#JaneAustenJuly #ClassicsCommunity

Books I Mentioned:

Persuasion by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Social Media:

[takingteawithcatherine]

I love watching rankings because they're nearly always different from mine, but every argument for their order is perfectly valid.

[TooFondofBooksJH]

I love Emma! I agree that Emma has plenty of faults, but I don't think that she was mean. She was unkind at times but I don't think that she was at her core mean. I look at how she treated her father. She had infinite patience for him and was willing to do anything to make him comfortable. She also reacted when she recognized her faults and tried to make things right.

[TooFondofBooksJH]

I love the Emma Thompson adaptation of Sense and Sensibility! The acting is just amazing! A video ranking Jane Austen adaptations would be really interesting! I admire that you have a definitive ranking! I have a really hard time ranking Jane Austen.

I agree wholeheartedly about Fanny Price. She is a very strong character - which is very impressive considering her influencers.

[marlaeningles]

Hello Jennifer, I just love your reviews and learn so much from them. You are completely right, Emma and Mr. Knightely do come to this marriage as equals, and I may add Emma was not looking for love. I get annoyed when people just talk ill of Fanny Price from Mansfield Park. I believe she is the strongest of all Jane Austen's novels. Being timid and quiet easily gets confused with weakness, such a big mistake. Fanny knows herself like no one else and Fanny is the only one who is a true outsider. She does not have this bias of inheritances or convenient marriages. She is an outsider who knew how to take advantage of her new life and does not let the emotions take over. She is kind and very inteligent and with an almost oriental-wise-patience. She is in fact my very favourite character of all Jane Austen's novels. Helloes from Mexico City !

[rachelparradelong]

After so many reviews I was expecting not to like Mansfield Park but I really loved it so much!

[rosea]

1. Northanger Abbey
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Emma
5. Mansfield Park
6. Persuasion

[naomisbookshelf]

I enjoy Pride and Prejudice but it is not my favourite of Jane’s work. I love Persuasion the most. Mansfield park is so undervalued in my opinion. It is so complex and deep. It is a masterpiece that everyone thinks is boring!

[mame-musing]

It’s interesting how so many of us shuffle the novels and come up with our own rankings. Up until a few days ago I didn’t realize that both Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett, behave in a somewhat similar way in relation to a close friend. Emma rather imperiously thinks she knows best as to who Harriet Smith should marry. Elizabeth Bennett has a similar view in regard to her dear friend Charlotte Lucas accepting Mr. Collins’ proposal. Each comes from a status of greater privilege and hence has more choices for their future lives.

[somebenfen]

Fascinating! I need to reread Northanger Abbey for the opposite reason in that currently for me it ranks at the bottom but hearing lots of people say it's one of their favourites is making me question my initial reaction to it.

[Lu.G.]

My rankings of Jane Austen's books are always subject to change 😆 but here goes:

1. Mansfield Park
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Emma
4. Sense and Sensibility
5. Persuasion
6. Northanger Abbey

[krosero]

Enjoyed your review, and I agree about Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park being the ones that most split readers. I like those two a lot, but they tend to go near the bottom for many readers, but at the top for lots of others.

[CoynieReads]

Oof, I actually agree with your Sense and Sensibility ranking. It's the only Austen where I've found reading it to be actively boring (though I do quite like the movie). Though I'm certainly due an Austen reread very soon! Definitely up for the Mansfield Park defence video, I love Fanny Price, I agree she's an incredibly strong, resilient character and she does not deserve the hatred for gets.

[bethieandbooks]

Ooh love these types of videos! I think my ranking is 1. Pride and Prejudice 2. Mansfield Park 3. Northanger Abbey 4. Persuasion 5. Sense and Sensibility 6. Emma. I think that I just need an introvert to relate to when I read Jane Austen 😅

[latoyabolt]

I enjoy how you talk about books! Go you! 👏

[RaineyDayReads]

Yay! I have to agree with you on Emma! I love it so much. You also makes some really awesome points on Persuasion and Mansfield Park! Hmmm now I need to think about my ranking.

[meghanthestorygirl]

I loved what you had to say about Fanny Price. She is an amazing character and so underrated! I would love to see that "In Defence of" video.

[gyeoehr]

I love your reviews its very insightful. I watched abt 4 other videos about Jane Austen's novel reviews, this probably my favorite

[SummersMovingBookshelf]

Always fun to see someone else’s rankings of Jane Austen’s works! Your list is completely different from mine, we don’t have a single one ranked in the same place. Pride and Prejudice will probably always be at the top of my list because it changed my life in a very important way when I first read it. And Mansfield Park is at the bottom of my list, but it’s not because of Fanny, although I did feel distanced during the action because she wasn’t really in the middle of it like you said. For me I think it was just too long for what it was and the social commentary was on overdrive. I also felt like the romance aspect was shoehorned in at the last second. Half of the time, Austen’s endings didn’t do it for me. Glad to see some major love for Emma, though. I get tired of seeing people hate on her character (probably because I related to her a little too much 😂).

[LanaCelebic]

Oh, I love these ranking videos, especially of Jane Austen books.
I'm currently reading Emma and this book is such a surprise to me. I didn't think I'd like it, mostly because of the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation that I didn't like, but I'm enjoying it immensely. So many wonderful characters, though I must say my favorite is Mr. Woodhouse. He's hillarious.
My favorite Jane Austen is still Pride and Prejudice, though I'm yet to read Persuasion and Mansfield Park.

[SpinstersLibrary]

Not my Pride and Prejudice 😲 I maintain it is perfection in a novel. And clearly we disagree on Mansfield Park, but I understand why you love the book and its main character so much, and I'm looking forward to your video defending it!
I agree with you about adaptations - I actually think the 90's Sense and Sensibility adaptation is better than the novel! Scandalous, I know 😂 You didn't quite go that far in your discussion of it, but I would argue that the wrong people got together in that novel, I'm really not a fan of the pairings. I'm also with you on Persuasion, it is the most sophisticated of the novel but lacks the humour and spirit and passion of the others. Emma is up there for me too, probably in second place after P&P. The characters in Emma really are so wonderfully written, and I find it interesting that there is no real "villain" in the book (other than Mrs E maybe), and every character's motivations just make sense. Anyway, fantastic video, I do love a good ranking. Next year I'll do mine, once I've reread every book.