This is my ninth post of 2014 for The Classics Club (just a bit late).  I’ll be reading one classic book a month through 2018.  Track what I’m reading for the Classics Club here.  I’ll try not to include too many spoilers in my review but I may need to discuss some in order to fully review the book. I’ll warn you if I’m going to mention one.  

Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

(I’ll be listing NA first and then SaS)

• Year Published: 1817/1811
• Reread? Or new to me?:  rereads for both of them
• Number of Pages: 205/335
• Date Finished: NA at the end of September, SaS at the end of November
• Number of Days it took me to read it: Both books took me about a week or so.  I was reading other books at the time with both of them so I probably could have finished them sooner.
• Page/Day ratio:  ??? (I didn’t keep track of how many days)
• Will I reread this?:  Definitely yes for both of them.

Review: 

Northanger Abbey seemed to be fairly universally disliked (or at least not-loved) over at the Austen and Motherhood book club on Facebook.  I, on the other hand, found it hilarious.  I know nothing of the Gothic Victorian literature that Austen was satirizing with NA.  Even so, it was clear that she was making fun of all kinds of stereotypes and I had a lot of fun reading it.

Sense and Sensibility is certainly a more substantial novel than NA.  I found Mr. Ferrars to be so incredibly boring and unattractive.  It’s very hard to understand why Austen chose to portray him in such a negative light and yet, Elinor steadfastly loves him until the end.

(And this is what I get for writing a review many weeks after reading thes books.  I can’t remember much else to write about.)

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Having now read all six of Austen’s novels in one year, I would rank them like this, from most to least favorite:

1. Persuasion
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Sense and Sensibility
4. Northanger Abbey (tied with Sense and Sensibility for 3rd)
5. Mansfield Park
6. Emma (a really, really distant last place, I probably won’t read this again.)

How about you? Have you read either of these? Can you point out any redeeming qualities in Mr. Ferrars? Have you read all six?  How would you rank them?

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Would you like to join me in reading O Pioneers by Willa Cather in January? I’m planning to read that trilogy (also Song of the Lark and My Antonia in February/March) and then tackle Les Miserables after that.