Which to read first?

Kim read P&P first this will clear up any questions and put everything else in in order. You will see then, the contrast to the movie and the book. Next, Well, that is up to you. I read S&S, Persuasion, Emma in that order. Have not read Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey,yet. Also have "JA Illustrated Letters" by Penelope Hughes-Hallet, very good, "Making of P&P" very good and "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" by Daniel Poole helpful clearing up things like chaise and four, Michaelmas ect. i is not perfect though.

I'd agree with Donna, Kim. Since you know the P&P story, the reading will go smoother. JA has a very nice style when you get used to the cadences but -- now don't anybody stone me -- it can take a while to sort of scoop yourself up into the rythym of the words. She tends to back into ideas, but once you get the hang of it, you will wish you could do it. Amy

Kim, I envy you the pleasure of reading Austen for the first time! I was too young when I first read P&P---I must have been about 12 and just didn't get the irony, though I liked the plot. Since them I have read my favorites, P&P, Persuasion, and Emma so many times, but it would be fun to have that first reading again. Good luck, Jane

Absolutely read P&P first. After P&P, my personal favorite is Persuasion, but you may want to do Emma in preparation for the new A&E one that should be telecast early (I hope) next year. Then Sense and Sensibility while you can still rent the Emma Thompson movie. My least favorite Austen novel is Northanger Abbey. Many don't care for Mansfield Park, but I like it. Linda

Kim, by all means, read P&P first. When I read it now, I "hear" the P&P2 voices speaking the dialogue. I don't know if this is good or bad! I agree with Amy that the language takes a while to get used to. Kind of like when I first started going to the Shakespeare Festival, you just need to sit and let the words flow over you and then it starts to sink in and become clear and poetic and beautiful. I didn't like Emma the first time I read it, but I loved it on my second reading. If you've seen the new Emma movie, this may be a good second book to read, as you now how it will end up it will help you see some of the underlying clues JA drops throughout the book. Enjoy! Who was it that said she doen't like NA? I laughed through the whole thing, but then I've read a few of those gothic novels JA is parodying and so thought it was a hoot!

You know Donna, this is really strange. I have all the same books you have, and have not read "Mansfield" or NA yet, and read all of JA's books in that order! Weird eh?

I didn't dislike NA (how can anyone dislike anything that JA wrote), but I prefer the other five. Cheryl, I'm not surprised that you "thought it was a hoot". From my observation of your posts, which frequently have me LOL, it appears to me that you have a well developed sense of humor and wit. :-) Linda

I think Cheryl thinks the world is a hoot. That's why I like her/

Well! Thank you ladies for your kind words. But the biggest hoot in my life right now is all of you, my dear friends!

I've admitted before that I enjoy Mrs. Allen's clogs...

I saw P&P2, NA and Mansfield Park before reading the books. It helped with the cadence of JA's writing. Some of her sentences go on forever and I had to re-read parts because I lost the train of thought a couple of times. I enjoyed P&P and Mansfield Park. NA was ok and a lot better than the movie. I stopped reading the JA series to read The English Patient and A Thousand Acres.

Kim! How was your Thanksgiving break away from all of us here? Great, I trust.

Cecily, you might not believe this, but I really missed all of you during my Thanksgiving break. When I got back Wednesday, I could not wait to look and see what I had missed. Thank all of you for your advice about what to read first. I think I will begin with Pride and Prejudice.

Rebecca dodododododo I shouldn't have been so sure as I never tell lies. Now that I have given it more thought. I really think I read Persuasion after P&P,Emma,& S&S it doesn't really matter.

P&P and Persuasion are my favourites, but I enjoyed 'Lady Susan', too, Kim. .

Sanditon is not all that bad is it, for none of you to even mention it. It is not Austen of course but it reminds you of her dear voice. And the long walks and fooling around with the number of seats in a barouche and who's to sit on the couchmans bench. And then there's an ugly dear little gift and a hat showing over a hedge, the bearer of which you could never guess. Yes I'm quite fond of it. Am rapidly approaching the later chapters of M.Park and enjoying that one too. *That* H. C. certainly is a special figure, and his sister...

I read P & P first, then Emma, then Persuasion. I love them all, and have reread them several times I then read Mansfield Park, which I barely got through, then tried to read Sense and Sensibility, which I could not get through at all, although I loved the recent movie (I know; it took liberties). I recently read Lady Susan, which I loved and would love to see a movie of, and plan to read Northanger Abbey soon. Does anyone think I'd have better luck the second time around on the ones I didn't like?

Don't know about S&S, I have read it once and did not enjoy it much. But that was in Swedish and as I have this last year, done the 'first Swedish then English reading' of P&P(not first time), Emma, Northanger Abbey(Which I liked more than I had expected to )and Persuasion (my version includes those two altered chapters). And am now at the last chapters of Mansfield(and having found it not difficult or obstructive at all, which I had feared as it is not translated into Swedish. So I gather that one gets u ed to Austen's language and that it feels more and more natural. I love those long sentences that have to be reread to be fully(?) comprehended. And to be sure there'll be new meanings to be got from them next time you read them. So my advice Susan is to give MP another chance when you are in no hurry. And I shall try S&S in English for the first time. But maybe Lady Susan first as you gave it your approval.