Reading Review: Jane Austen

Sometimes it is necessary to step back from the world speeding ahead of us. We all have our own ways of doing this. Going to the spa, taking a walk or maybe catching a movie. My own peaceful spot of serenity is inside a good Jane Austen novel. Nothing is better than slipping back to a period of friendly courting, esteemed honor, and good old 18th century English “society”. Jane Austen satirizes English society flawlessly through her romantic comedies.


Pride and Prejudice, debatably Austen’s most famous novel, follows Elizabeth Bennett, a witty young country girl. Elizabeth stands out from the majority of the other characters in the book because she is determined to marry for love rather than stature and wealth. Jane Austen proves that Elizabeth is an oddity of sorts by opening the book with a cynical insight to the 18th century view of love. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a gentleman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife!” As Elizabeth’s mother searches for “agreeable” men to marry her daughters, Elizabeth is forced to recognize her own prejudices against a proud man in order to find her true love.


Jane Austen’s, Emma, is perhaps my favorite book of all time. Austen’s title character, Emma, is a rich young girl who has decided her mission in life is to be a matchmaker for her friends and acquaintances (whether they ask for it or not!). Despite her past failures and warning from her brother-in-law, Mr. Knightly, Emma is determined to set her new underprivileged charge up with a man above her station. Along her journey, Emma learns the price of meddling and hopes her chance at love hasn’t passed her by.


Other books by Jane Austen include Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey. What is your favorite Jane Austen Novel?

Grab a latte, put up your feet, and join the discussion!