Top 5 Thursday: Jane Austen Novels

I’m an avid reader and I love all sorts of books. My favorite classics are definitely the Jane Austen books. So sad she only wrote six of them. Here is my top 5.

5. Emma
This book, and “Northanger Abbey” which didn’t make it to my top 5, is the only one that I didn’t rate with 5 stars. I did love “Emma”, but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I did in the other books.

4. Sense and Sensibility
The most beloved Austen novel, together with “Pride and Prejudice”, is only on my number 4 spot. My favorite aspect of this story is the two completely different Dashwood sisters. Great character development.

3. Persuasion
This was Austen’s final completed novel. “Persuasion” is beautifully written and I love that this books is about second chances.

2. Mansfield Park
It’s Austen’s most controversial novel, but like all the other books she wrote this was again a true delight. Fanny is undoubtedly one of Austen's less assertive characters, although she does mature into a woman who knows what she wants and will accept no less. I loved Fanny and her honesty.

1. Pride and Prejudice
This was easy to pick, because “Pride and Prejudice” is my all-time favorite novel. I can read it over and over again and never get bored. This is such a good book, with one of the best female leads ever. This is just a masterpiece of wit and style.

They almost made the top 5: Northanger Abbey

50 Books Challenge 2012 - # 12: Emma van Jane Austen

Title: Emma
Author: Jane Austen
Story: Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
Start: march 12th 2012
End: march 19th 2012
Comment: "Pride & Prejudice" is my favorite Austen novel, actually it's even my all-time favorite book. "Emma" is also a good read, slow, but that's a fact when you read a Jane Austen novel. They aren't quick reads. That doesn't bother me though. Austen is great with dialogues and creating colorful and vivid characters that makes them almost touchable. These points make "Emma" an enjoyable read. The main character - Emma Woodhouse - comes through as credible and realistic. She has her faults, she makes mistakes, and inspite her wit and intelligence, she is young and inexperienced and this makes her very much like any other young woman in the 21st century. The reason I won't give "Emma" a five-star rating is because it's not equally as good as the other Austen novels I read. I don't think any book could ever beat "Pride & Prejudice".
Rating: 4/ 5