﻿Today we are going to be ranking the Jane Austen books.
I recently posted a video talking about,
giving you a guide of Jane Austen, describing
all of the books and their general plots and themes, as well as talking
about characters and which ones I would recommend picking
up first or second and why.
I like that video in the corner as well, it's in the description.
Today we are going to be talking about my personal preferences,
least two favorite as far as the books, as well as the main characters.
Before we get into all that, I want to say that today's
video is sponsored by st. Martin's Press to promote The Jane
Austen Society, which is a debut novel by Natalie
Jenner, and it will be in stores May 26th, or you can pre-order it now.
This book takes place in 1940's England following
eight women who are very, very different and reeling from war.
They come together to discuss a shared passion, Jane Austen.
I'm told that this book is perfect for Jane Austen fans such as myself,
or really anybody that would love such passion.
I just finished my Jane Austen binge, and I plan
on reading this very soon as well because I miss her books, and I'm
probably going to be rereading her books
really soon, and I think that this will
be really nice for the mood that I've been in.
This is a really difficult list for me because
I love all of these books so much that probably my top
five, or at least my top four, all tie as top four. I love them all.
Coming in at my least favorite Austen book, I have
Mansfield Park, which is still amazing.
Mansfield Park has one of my favorite leads, which we'll talk about
later, and I did still really enjoy it.
I just felt that this book was, the story wasn't long
enough for the pages provided for it.
While I enjoyed the story a lot,
I did feel like it could have been condensed.
That's why it's on the bottom of my list, not even because of any real
dislike for it, it just was a little bit too long for me.
Next on the list is Persuasion.
This is a second-chance romance which just generally isn't really my thing.
This one also, I felt like there was a chunk
in the middle that I just didn't really feel.
I felt like it went a little bit too long even though
this is one of her shortest books.
I do think that it's one of the most
satisfying endings to an Austen novel out there,
and I love this book so much for that.
Overall, it's a much more slow-paced Austen novel, and one of my favorite
things about Jane Austen is her humor, and it doesn't shine
through as much in these two books, which is also a big
factor in why they're lower on the list.
Next book on my list is Northanger Abby.
Now we're in the part of the list where they're all amazing and I love
them all, they're all my favorite.
Northanger Abbey is her work of satire, and it is so over-the-top, and so
ridiculous, even the narrator is over-the-top and ridiculous.
This is probably the fastest Austen book I've ever read
even though I think it's the shortest.
It's also the fastest I've read just because
it's easy to fly through, and it's so ridiculous and fun.
Like I said in my other video, it's probably the least
in-depth, and it's not intricately woven together,
and there's not huge themes explored here.
It's really just a fun book, and I had fun reading it, and I love it.
Next on the list is Sense and Sensibility.
This is probably my favorite of Austen's novels with a more shy lead.
Even though I really love her shy leads, those books tend to be slower-paced.
The other two were lower on my list, but this one is very high on my
list because even though it is still
slower-paced than her really rambunctious leads,
it's also still so full of drama and Jane Austen's signature,
over-the-top characters and humor.
There's so much happening in this novel that
is just so scandalous and so exciting.
I didn't know who our main character
was going to end up with, and I loved that.
Some of her books have more of a focus on romance, and some of them don't.
This is one that does, and I really enjoyed the romance in this one as well.
Just in general, I loved this book. Next on the list is Emma.
This is one that I know a lot of people hate
because the protagonist is intentionally
annoying, and because it's a comedy
and it's the most over-the-top of all of Austen's books.
I thought it was so funny through-and-through, hilarious.
There were so many characters that had me laughing out loud.
Our lead, I think has so much character growth from the start to the end.
Even if you find her annoying, I feel like if you can get to the end, you
would be rooting for her in the end.
I was rooting for her from start to finish.
Even though sometimes she irritated me to no end, I love her so much.
This is another one where I just genuinely didn't know who she was
going to end up with at the end, which made that scene, that whole
thing so exciting to read, and it also it just has
a load of hilarious and deep and fantastic quotes to it.
The book at the very top of my list is Pride and Prejudice.
I know it's basic of me to have this as my favorite,
and I apologize for that, but there’s a reason that it's her most famous work.
Pride and Prejudice is her most intricately woven book.
There’s family drama, and there's two characters that do not fit well
together because of their inadequacies because of the things that are
flawed about them, and through all the things happening around
them, and the things happening within
their circles of friends and families, through that they both
experience so much growth that when they do come
together, they finally fit well together.
The romance in this was fantastic.
The family dynamics in this was fantastic.
Just through and through, I loved this book so much, there's
really not anything that I don't like about it.
Also, I forgot to mention Austen is great at having amazing friendships
between the women in her books, and Emma is probably the best for that.
If you would love female friendships, Emma.
Now, let's rank Austen main characters, because that list is different.
This list was even harder for me to put
together because I love every single Austen lead so much.
In my heart, they’re all tied for my favorite Austen lead,
but for the purposes of this video, here’s
the marginal difference in my love for them.
Northanger Abbey is going to be at the bottom.
I love this main character so much.
She is ridiculous and naive and silly and she's fantastic,
but sure, she'll be at the bottom of the list because,
again, probably the least amount of depth was put into her of all
the leads, at least for me, but she’s
still tied at number one with all the others.
Next is going to be Persuasion.
Once again, I love this book,
and it would be at the top of my romances.
Maybe I should put that in this video too. Do you want romances?
Do you want me to rank the romances too?
The main character is more quiet and shy, and I just didn’t really
connect with her as much on a personal level.
I liked her, but I didn't ever root for her in a massive way.
Next is Sense and Sensibility.
In this one, I did, she's another more quiet lead, and I did really,
really connect with her because of her dynamic with her sister and how
similar their opinions were but how differently they handled it.
I loved how sassy she was in a really passive way.
Even though I hate passivity, I loved hers.
I loved her brand of making fun of people without them realizing it.
She is incredibly charming and a lot of fun to follow.
Next is going to be Lizzie Bennet. I know you thought she’d be at the top.
I love Lizzie Bennet. She is sassy and ridiculous.
She stands up for herself, and she's hilarious.
I don't have anything negative to say about her.
She's wonderful, and also her character arc was so
satisfying to watch, and I love her. Next is Emma.
I have a soft spot for Emma because she is such nonsense.
She is a character of ridiculousness, and I love her.
I also connected with her in large part because
she viewed herself as the matchmaker even though she
planned on staying single, and her romance caught her by surprise.
I love that because I was super content to stay single.
I loved being single.
I didn't really have any romance or relationship on my mind when I met
Korey, and he caught me by surprise.
I found myself in a relationship, and I was a little bit
surprised by it, and just as Emma was. I connect with her.
I think she's hilarious, and I love her character arc
through her story, but I also feel like I connect with her a lot.
Hopefully I wasn't as annoying as Emma is, but I did really
like being single, and then when I wasn’t single, it happened so fast,
and it happened so surprisingly, and I'm so happy.
I feel like Emma and me, even though we're
very different people, I feel her, I get her.
My favorite protagonist, I think it might be Fanny, and she's
probably the least loved Austen
protagonist amongst Austen fans, but she is so strong.
She was given away essentially by her
family because they couldn't take care of her.
Then she was raised by a family that didn't want her and didn't
treat her well and pushed her around and manipulated her.
It was a horrible situation for her, and through
all that, she maintained her dignity and her strength.
She didn't stand up and rebel and yell at people and treat
people the way maybe Lizzie Bennet
would have handled her situation, this same situation.
The way she handled it was just as valid and fantastic.
It was just different. She's such a fantastic character.
I know some people accuse her of only looking good because
she's the only good character in a roomful of terrible
people, but I don't think so.
I think that she's just in a situation where she is surrounded by
terrible people, and she's able to maintain who she is
despite being constantly beat down.
I think my love for her really was solidified when I thought that this
book was going to end by her giving in, because
she was easily pushed around. I feel like she was.
She was easily pushed around, even though there were
certain things that she refused to be pushed around with.
I thought that she was going to give in, and the book was going to end
in a way that I didn't want it to.
I was so proud of her that throughout everything, that she
went through in her life and throughout how everybody treated
her, that she was able to maintain her strength, and I love her for that.
Shall we rank the romances? Do you want that too?
Let me figure out how I would rank them first.
Once again, I think my top five
are all tied for one, but for the sake of this video, I ranked them.
Definitely my lowest is going to be Mansfield Park.
That's just because it felt an afterthought.
It came to a head and happened in the last couple of pages, and there
wasn't much build-up to it, and there wasn't much lead up.
It was definitely an element of this
story that I felt I was disappointed about, but I still liked it.
It was still good. Next, I'm going to say, Northanger
Abbey, even though I think that the love interest in this
book was one of my favorites, if I were ranking that, he would probably
be higher on the list, but it just wasn't the focus of this story at all.
I really enjoyed the romance in this book, but it's
tied at number one, but it's lower in the number one ranking.
Next on the list is Sense and Sensibility,
which I loved the romance in this book.
It was exciting, and it was unpredictable, and it was so much
fun, and it was really, really, really beautiful.
I really don't have anything negative to say about it.
I loved it. Next on the list is Emma.
I've already talked about this because I didn't expect to
get to this point in the video. The video has taken over itself.
I really connected with Emma in her romantic life of being happy being
single, and then being surprised by her relationship.
Again, I didn't expect to-- I didn't know who to see her
with because she had chemistry with multiple people in this book.
I had so much fun guessing who it would be and changing
my mind and not sure how it was going to end up.
When it did come together, it was really, really satisfying.
Next on my list is Persuasion.
Persuasion, I think, was the-- Again, second chance
romance is not my thing.
I think reading through this book, I thought, okay, this is interesting.
I'm fine with everything that's happening.
I'm not thrilled with anything that's happening.
It's all good. It's all-- I'm still reading Jane Austen,
and she is one of the best authors I've ever
read with one of the most charming writing styles
I've ever read, and being inside of any of her books is a joy for me.
The story itself really didn't capture me like a lot of her
other books do, but that ending is one of the best endings of any
romance book that's been written.
I can say that because I've read them all.
I also really like that we were very limited on perspective
until the very end, which made the ending
pack that much more of a punch.
I loved the resolution of this romance,
even though the build-up of it was lower on my list.
Finally, I think my favorite romance probably is Pride and Prejudice.
Again, there's probably not much that needs to be said here.
I loved where the characters started.
I loved watching them have their individual growth.
Having them come together, in the end, was just beautiful.
Just through and through.
I love this book, and I don't think it did anything wrong.
There you go, I have now ranked the Jane Austen books in many ways.
Be sure to chat with me about this in the comments.
I would love to hear your rankings
on all the different lists that we did today.
Also, be sure to check out Jane Austen Society.
Maybe we can chat about that too after we've both read it.
I post videos every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
I'll see you guys again soon. Bye.
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