When it comes to books, I have to admit, I don’t make much time to read. When I was younger, I considered reading even more enjoyable than watching television. Unfortunately, I don’t read for fun anymore. However, if I were to sit down an re-read a book, it would be one by Jane Austen. I absolutely love her writing. Her books allow readers to get lost in stories from a unique time period. Austen is an empowering feminine figure, and a phenomenal storyteller.
Here are some synopses of a few of my personal favorites:
Pride and Prejudice
A story about love, life, and the way things are. The story takes place in the Georgian era and focuses on the Bennet family. Mr and Mrs Bennet raise their five daughters with a single goal: to marry them off to wealthy men. One of the Bennet sisters falls in love with a rich, upperclass man while another despises his bachelor of a friend. Gossip circulates the Bennett family as they try to navigate situations of love and class.
Emma
Emma Woodhouse is a busy body, always attempting to matchmake and involve herself in other people’s affairs. Emma is almost always sets people up who do not romantically connect. Concerned with everyone else’s life, Emma is completely lost when it comes to her own.
Sense and Sensibility
This story is about the lives of the three Dashwood daughters. The Dashwoods are not part of the upperclass, and as a result when Elinor Dashwood falls in love with a rich man, his family disapproves. Another daughter, Marianne, falls for a different man than whom she is being set up with. The story expresses the rollercoaster of ups and downs the Dashwood daughters experience in their youth.
Jane Austen always threw in a hint of humor in her stories, making them both funny and and influential. She taught life lessons while keeping her readers entertained. If you enjoy reading good books, or, like me, want to start reading more often, check out Jane Austen the next time you visit the library.