Jane Austen
I'm doing a summer school paper next month called "The Jane Austen Phenomenon" for which I have to read four of Austen's books, three of which I've already read. I started with Northanger Abbey because I have been trying to find time to read it all year and because it was the single unread novel of the four prescribed.
First of all, I knew from the first page I would like this book, because I'll be damned if it isn't the funniest of all Jane Austen's books. It helps that any awareness of the fourth wall will almost immediately endear me to any story, not to mention the fact that it is, overall, an affectionate parody. The lampshade hanging, the narrator being medium aware, snarky, and genre savvy in the right genre, not to mention I loved the initial contrast between Catherine and Isabella. Catherine was completely unaware of how she was supposed to act as a romance heroine, while Isabella acted the part to the point of parody.
By the way, I absolutely adored Catherine and her misunderstanding of what genre of novel she was in. Meanwhile, when it came out that Isabella had broken off her relationship with James for reasons of a pecuniary persuasion, I couldn't stop laughing because this song was playing in my head. Isabella was vapid, annoying, and avaricious, but I disliked her brother far more.
Oh gods John Thorpe. He made me cringe. I hated him so much. I want him to die ironically in a horse carriage related incident.
Long story short: I loved this book. Onto re-reading Mansfield Park next.
First of all, I knew from the first page I would like this book, because I'll be damned if it isn't the funniest of all Jane Austen's books. It helps that any awareness of the fourth wall will almost immediately endear me to any story, not to mention the fact that it is, overall, an affectionate parody. The lampshade hanging, the narrator being medium aware, snarky, and genre savvy in the right genre, not to mention I loved the initial contrast between Catherine and Isabella. Catherine was completely unaware of how she was supposed to act as a romance heroine, while Isabella acted the part to the point of parody.
By the way, I absolutely adored Catherine and her misunderstanding of what genre of novel she was in. Meanwhile, when it came out that Isabella had broken off her relationship with James for reasons of a pecuniary persuasion, I couldn't stop laughing because this song was playing in my head. Isabella was vapid, annoying, and avaricious, but I disliked her brother far more.
Oh gods John Thorpe. He made me cringe. I hated him so much. I want him to die ironically in a horse carriage related incident.
Long story short: I loved this book. Onto re-reading Mansfield Park next.