I commend you for trying, but I can’t give you any recommendation – mainly because I agreed with you the first time, find her works boring as hell, and don’t care what anyone thinks of it.

As to overrated – the only time I have a problem with things being overrated is when I find myself basing my opinion solely on the fact that a lot of people like it. If I don’t have my own, true response to an experience, and labeling something as overrated, then it is totally my fault. If I have a reaction (my own) and I still think something is overrated, I’m fine with that. That’s my opinion on whatever the experience is.

@Rick:

You should totally join me in this fool’s crusade.

Do it.

DO IT.

I WANNA DO LASER JANE AUSTEN.

– c.

That’s sick. You do know she’s dead?

Wait, right. You worked for White Wolf. Necro-anything isn’t such a big deal to you.

I have read three of her works, two them after I was smart enough to know better. I won’t be tricked into this a fourth time (unless it involves Zombies or Sea Monsters. That I am on board for).

I quite like many things I feel are overrated, but my opinion reflects that I don’t feel those things are the be all and end all that most people seem to think they are.

God I need more coffee. That sentence sucked.

Austen. I enjoy Austen because she was a pretty nifty social commenter for her time, and I think she was born out of her time. I find myself sad sometimes that she got stuck in that era.

I would have no idea which to recommend you read first. Maybe Mansfield Park.

Actually, yes. Mansfield Park.

I’d quite recommend Northanger Abbey, because it is freaking hilarious. It’s not her most critically acclaimed book, but I think it’s the one you’ll most genuinely *enjoy* reading. It’s a lampooning of the Gothic novels of Austen’s day. Also a brilliant character sketch of a Certain Kind of Girl who is not as self-aware as she probably should be.

Incidentally, I’m totally OK with separating the content of a writer’s portfolio from their position in literary canon. Horses for courses and all that.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

That’s the best I’ve got since, like you, actually reading Austen tends to put me to sleep. So did Jane Eyre (*gasp!*). Wuthering Heights a little less so, but still a bit of a struggle. I don’t think the whole Victorian lit scene sits well in my reader brain for some reason.

Which is funny considering I love, love, love watching those huge BBC miniseries of said literature.

Tank Girl picks up the literary cannon. BOOOOOOM! HAHAHAHA!

So don’t like Jane Austen. I haven’t tried to read “The Confessions of St. Augustine” in over ten years, and I’m pretty sure I’d throw that against the wall again.

Or Moby Dick. Dude. I don’t hate it; I just can’t make it past the first 50 pages.

I do particularly like P&P. “Even a cynical, sarcastic know-it-all can find love, despite the idiocy of the people around her.” It resonates.

Gee, and here I had you pinned as one of those who just loved to curl up on a Friday night with some chocolate and Pride&Prejudice. Maybe save the movie for Saturdays.

@Shannon:

You know me. A beer. A baseball game. A little bit of Mansfield Park. A good cry. A few tampons. It’s a good life.

– c.

I’ve heard Northanger Abbey is quite good, but I haven’t read it myself. I have, however, read Sense and Sensibilities twice.

For me, the key to reading Austen is to realize that she’s often being quite sarcastic. It’s not the plots that are compelling, but the words themselves. There are these subtle turns of phrase that sound complimentary but are, in fact, quite damning. For example, “A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.”

I rarely read books for the language over the plots, but she is one of those exceptions.

You do realize you’re doing something akin to trying that food that made you vomit violently the last time you tried it, right? I wouldn’t worry so much about content, if you really want to finish the thing. You’re going to dislike it from the start and really have to work your way through it. Choose the one with the shortest page count so you stand a good chance of reading it in its entirety. It’s the only way you can really be sure to give it a fair shot.

@Scott:

Such a (food) challenge is not without merit, though, and in fact informs part of my decision to do this — tastes change, after all. Most of the foods that used to gross me out (sushi, for instance) are now amongst my favorites. The only outstanding food I still cannot respect or stomach is eggplant. So I’m left to wonder, then: is Jane Austen my sushi, or my eggplant?

Though, your comment about “shortest book” does have merit. Why eat a whole eggplant sundae if I can first try a little appetizer? Of course, it’s all in the prep, too, which is why I’m soliciting, “What’s the best Austen?” as well.

– c.

I have to agree with Kate here: “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.” Those sound MUCH more interesting!

I’ve never cared much for Jane Austin or her works either – though like you, I only read her works in my high school and college English classes. Dreadful, boring, blah, and messed the F* up. Just about the only thing I could stand to read from that era was (as Kate also mentioned) Wurhering Heights, and even some parts of that I found boring and/or too messed up for my tastes.

It could just be a generational thing, though. I mean look at movies and television today! Not that I even care for that garbage most of the time, it’s certainly a very different pace and setting. I also never really cared for that era, unlike ancient times which I loved reading about. Yes, even though there was tons of messed up shut in those stories too. *slaps on a cow’s head and proclaims herself Isis* ((and that’s mild considering…))

Anyways…before I make this anymore long-winded than it already is – you have a right to your opinion, sir! That’s the beauty (or infamy) of the Internet. Who cares if someone pisses and moans about it? It’s your blog and they can stuff it. Except the whole model’s eyes thing…that’s kind if creepy. J/K…no wait, not really… However, I would also like to commend you for keeping an open mind on the matter. Good luck with that.

I also downloaded Sense and Sensibility (and several others) fir free in my iPhone’s Kindle app (not special enough for an iPad yet) because I too wanted to read it again now that I’ve gained a few years wisdom [read: cynicism + masochism] to see if my opinion changed at all as well. Every time I sit down to read it though…I either fall asleep or end up looking over at the adorable and fluffy LOLcats on my computer screen. *sighs* one of these days…

P.S. I wrote that whole post on my iPhone because my work computer doesn’t play well with WordPress. Holy cow was that hard! My apologies if it’s hard to read or if the spelling is off. I need a cookie.

@Jennifer:

Please enjoy one cookie, compliments of terribleminds.

I mean, we’re not going to pay for it or anything.

But we give you permission.

And by “we,” I mean me and the mouse that lives in my pocket.

Oh, and the dead supermodels in the corner. Can’t forget about my harem!

– c.

Meh. My view with things like this is simple: Fuck everything about that shit.

Why waste time in life doing things that you’ve already tried and know that you don’t like? Apparently you’ve already tried it twice, but are going in for thirds? Do you hate yourself on some basic level? Are you looking for a reason to hate Austen even more? Are you filming your reactions for a reality TV series?

I don’t like the “free” aspect, either. Fiery wombat vomit is free if you find it…that doesn’t make me want to scoop it up and eat it.

I say “the hell with it”. Go play more CIV 5, instead, and then write a short story based on the game you play.

Oh my God I want to play Civ V so bad it makes my balls itch.

But, I once hated Moby Dick, but eventually came to really love it.

I was an asshole teen, like, well, most teens. Figured I better give Austen another chance, either to find the good stuff or to crystallize my disdain.

– c.

Augustine’s Confessions. Holy crap. I’ve read Ulysses, the Republic, Moby Dick, Only Revolutions, even Gravity’s Rainbow, and I couldn’t finish the goddamn Confessions either.

As for Austen, I’ve only read the one with the zombies.

Whatever book you choose, will you be telling us all about the reasons you find for putting it down?

@Matt:

I will share any reasons I have for desiring to put it down, but once I start, I’ll read it through to the end. Whether I love it or loathe it.

– c.

Baroness Orczy – THERE’S someone worthy of being called the Danielle Steel of her times.

I think the reason everyone here seems to hate Austen is that she specializes in relationship drama, and that there is a complete vacuum of action, blood, evil spirits, grave robbing and crazy fire-setting secret wives in her works. That’s what the Bronte sisters are for. It’s awesome relationship drama, though, and I love it. Maybe that makes me a girlygirl, but I don’t care.

Mansfield Park is boring as hell, and Sense and Sensibility is fluffy. Pride and Prejudice is the spiciest and most interesting, imho. Lots of twists and turns, very fleshed out characters. But then, you’ll probably hate it. Because there are no vampires in it.

I’ve read one or two of her books and seen several of the film adaptations. She did do a lot of social commentary but I think for a lot of readers it’s the fact they don’t understand/know the society in the first place that makes the things she’s poking at even harder to understand. Hope you find one you can enjoy. There’s always a kernel of something good in the oldies.

As to Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. The person who wrote it took great pains to keep true to the original, but I felt blew it later in the book with the ninja heart ripping stuff. Went too over the top. Up until that point it was a very enjoyable and believable premise. Then they screwed the pooch. Won’t do another one of those. But that’s just me.

Can’t stand the books personally. Do much starch, too many words.

Now, maybe if they were written by Stone Cold….

Dude, you gotta reread Pride and Prejudice. No zombies. Just keep in mind, as Eddy said, above, that often she is being sarcastic. Don’t take everything at face value. Imagine reading it in an uppercrust British accent. Imagine you’re an unmarried woman with an uppercrust British accent in the England of 1815 with a huge, funny, insightful brain and no way to express yourself and no way to be useful in the world until you find a pen and then – aha! She fricking DISSECTS people and their motives with awe-inspiring precision and is funny on top of that. But she is also gentle in her way, not scathing. She understands people and forgives them even as she demonstrates their hypocrisies, hubris, and narcissism. You just need to remember how small her world was, and how the tiniest touch of a hand or a word could change everything.

I understand the point folks are making about sarcasm. But i also think thats part of my problem. Aside from there being too many words on the page -a serious weakness in my opinion- i don’t want the author’s own presence coming through that strong in the book.

Its a personal preference, i know it works fine for many people. But not what i like to read.

I reiterate Northanger Abbey for you, Chuck. Esp. if you’ve never had to read it in school. If any of Austen is up your alley, it’s that, and I do believe it’s better to do this with a work you don’t have too many preconceptions about, from pop culture or previous reads.

If you read it and genuinely hate the whole thing, I will buy you a beer. Or maybe send you my special pumpkin cookies.

I suspect Northanger Abbey it shall be, then!

– c.

I actually came to enjoy Austin’s books. However, she really likes to tell instead of show. This, I find, makes the experience of reading her a bit more of a chore than it probably needed to be. But, the novel in English was a little less than 100 years old at that point, and authors were still working out how to do the story telling thing.

Austin’s social commentary is, however, laser-scalpel-sharp. Her satire is subtle and satisfying, as Eddy points out. And when you realize (a) marriage for love was a pipe dream at the time and (b) her brother was serving in the militia during the war with Napoleon, the radical aspect of her work becomes more clear.

I salute you, Chuck. And yes, Northanger Abbey, yes.

My recent reading material btw has been Cabal by Clive Barker (unmitigated Garth Marenghi-recalling crap) and My Work is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti (excellent, although let down by an explain-it-all anticlimax ending).