(no subject)

[silverflight8]

Essay-related (it's in, thank goodness), now I want to read the books I was writing about. What should I read first, flist/circle? Thoughts on any of them?

(alas no paid account here so no poll. POLL IN THE COMMENTS!)

*Tristram Shandy
*Pamela/Clarissa
*Northanger Abbey
*Robinson Crusoe (oh god I think I typoed that on my essay)
*Sense and Sensibility/Pride and Prejudice
*Great Expectations/Oliver Twist

Comments

[azuire]

TRISTRAM SHANDY READ IT READ IT NOW

(If you read the horror that is Robinson Crusoe please at least read Coetzee's Foe which is all HAI DANIEL DEFOE IM IN UR CANON BEIN' ALL POSTCOLONIAL)

Re: Jane Austen, I just watched the TV series. Much more exciting.

[silverflight8]

As soon as I get my library card sorted out. I have heard it is subversive of novelistic tropes, so I anticipate :D

:P

[pipisafoat]

what azu said! (on the basis of I trust our azu and not because I've read any of those at all.)

[connie]

Of those, I've only read the Austen, but I'd probably suggest Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility before Northanger Abbey.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok. Any particular reason why?

[connie]

Sorry for the slow response!

Let's see... I guess I think of Pride and Prejudice as the representative Austen book, in that it's what most people think of when they think of Jane Austen. It's the book of hers that's the most popular, so there will be more people with whom you can discuss it and more cultural references to it. It's also my favorite Austen book; something about its flow, character development, and ability to come alive for me just hits the sweet spot. Sense and Sensibility is second in terms of popularity and representativeness, etc., and it was published first, if you care about things like publication order. Northanger Abbey was completed first but published last, posthumously. I feel like it doesn't have quite the depth of some of Austen's other novels, and for the most part I'm not as fond of the characters. It's been a number of years since I read most of Austen's books, though, so I'm afraid my ability to make more specific comments is waning...