Northanger Abbey
By Jane Austen
This week's book I started a while ago and it kept being pushed back by other books due to a lot of different reasons. Last year my very amazing husband bought me an amazing, super fancy looking hardback collection of all the novels by Jane Austen. It's something every true Austen fan should own and I love it. The only problem is that the book is this massive beautiful over one thousand page book that weighs more than our first born. I can't read it while I'm riding the stationary bike or in spare moments between all the other things I'm doing to pick it up for a few seconds.
To read Jane Austen I have to give it my full attention regardless of the size of the book. With the lovely reading disability of mine, I have a hard time sometimes reading old classics. Not that I don't want to read them, but I struggle to make sense of what I am reading. I read a chapter and then I just look at whatever handy cliff notes/spark notes I can find on the web and make sure I understood everything I just read. I know it sounds weird but that is what I have to do.
I have now read most of Jane Austen's novels and this week's book (Northanger Abbey) is unlike the other works of hers that I have read. It of course has a heroine that becomes romantically involved with a nice man, and there are misunderstandings and chaos ensues. But this story is about a girl who reads too many gothic novels (Jane Eyre was the one that kept coming to mind) and she keeps wanting and thinking she is living in one of her books. Austen is making fun of her fellow authors and getting the last laugh.
I really enjoyed this more light hearted fun Austen novel. My only complaint is that this story doesn't have a strong sister bond like other Austen works. My favorite two of her books are Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, the latter being maybe one of my favorite books/movies of all time. I would definitely recommend this book if your a Jane Austen fan or not.
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