currently holding a copy of mansfield park in my hands: the story sounds excellent.

the only thing is that it’s my last unread austen novel. once i finish this, i can only ever reread her books..

missmorland:

randomsquirrel42:

seriously women writers from the 1800’s are kindof downplayed as “women in bonnets” books

okay come on

Jane Eyre basically opens with a traumatic childhood (think “closet under the stairs” but worse) and “I had indeed levelled at that prominent feature as hard a blow as my knuckles could inflict” is pretty much the best way to describe a punch ever

and Austen is just hilarious. she uses satire to make fun of the less-admirable characters “The consequence of which was, that Mrs. John Dashwood … must be subject to all the unpleasantness of appearing to treat them [the main characters, Elinor and Marianne] with attention: and who could tell that they might not expect to go out with her a second time?” Oh no! *covers face with arm and collapses dramatically into chair* whatever shall I do to pretend to be civil towards people? and then the general hilarity of Mrs Bennet in P&P. if you don’t find this funny i don’t understand you

ignoring everything other than the romance aspects of these books is like reading Harry Potter and focusing on Ron and Hermione’s relationship.

Hear, hear.

as much as i love the film/tv adaptions of jane austen’s novels, i always have one problem

and that would be the way they focus on the ‘romance’ instead of austen’s criticisms of her society and her god damn sass. seriously, her wit and turn of phrase are my favourite aspects of her stories, followed closely by her real, flawed characters that undergo so much learning over the course of the book; heroines i respect so much. it’s a shame the adaptions miss out on it, ‘cause that’s why so many people are like ‘ugh, jane austen - chicklit’

I could not sit down seriously to write a serious romance under any other motive to save my life, and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or at other people I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter.

maybe i should have left dickens, austen, and doyle alone

because now whenever i read something, no matter how interesting the plot, i really struggle to get past what i see as poor writing. not many authors can match the expression and wit of my favourite three, and in a way it’s life-ruining.