Pride and Prejudice remains a favourite classic for a very good reason. It is a perfectly formed novel with a good story, but also has Jane Austen's delightful observation of human nature with humour. It never dates because human nature does not change.
Persuasion is my equal favourite, a study of mature love, though our heroine is only in her early thirties, we are on edge to know if she will break out from her ordained position as put upon maiden aunt.

Jane Austen indulges us with a glimpse into life in the 1700’s. An unhurried picturesque time full of formality and measurably sensible people. A time in which love is romanticized and subsequent to position and wealth, a time in which a favorable marriage means the difference between prosperity and ruin. Fortuitously for us Austen gives our heroines love and wealth. Devilishly delightful read for all those hopeless romantics at heart waiting for that ONE BIG LOVE. Definitely a complete must have book of Austen’s work.

I'm finally done!!! I LOVE Jane Austen and I LOVE this collection, but this was so long that I think I may never read again in my entire life!

Or at least not until after I've had a really long nap...

Jane Austen can be deemed one of the best classic authors of all time. Women have loved her for ages and rightly so. Her stories are filled with characters who are well rounded and believable. The only novels I didn't like were Emma and Mansfield Park. Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion I liked the most.

It was interesting to read these "chick lit" novels from a man's point of view. As a guy, I'm not the mushy-gushy kind. I like my Les Miserables, Count of Monte Cristo, and War and Peace. When I told my family I was reading Jane Austen they looked at me like "Ermegerd you are?" Yes, yes, I did. They never thought I would read her books based on my interests. However, I've gotta say, these books are not just "chick lit" because there is something everyone can take away from these books.

The main thing I took away from the Jane Austen novels was how people dressed. Women weren't dressed immodestly with boobs hanging out and men weren't wearing their pants below their ass. People dressed to impress. Between you and me, there's nothing more sexy than a modest woman. Women who wear dental floss on a daily basis immediately turn me off. All that comes to mind is "girl is putting out" and "walking std". When a woman walks with confidence and wears modest clothing immediately makes me think how she's secure with herself, intelligent, doesn't care what people say/think, and dignified.

No one wears nice clothes anymore unless they have white collar job, and even then it seems some are casual dress. Kids today can wear pajamas to school. Where's our dignity today? Seriously!

Now, brings me to my last point. Masculinity. Women have read these books since forever and I've always heard them goo-goo and ga-ga over Mr. Darcy and other men in these books. Why? It's because they are masculine men. These men are gentleman, good, kind, and respectful. Girls like that. However, today, the masculine man is being demonized.

Today, the word rouses a negative connotation. Men are "oppressors" and women are "the oppressed." People get an image of perverted, sex-crazed, rapist Zeus when they think of masculinity. That is a very very small percentage of men. Society has demonized masculinity today, and made Feminism consume everything. I'm not against a girl voting or being paid equal to a man. They SHOULD! I'm just saying masculinity or anything "manly" is being demonized. Competitive sports in school are almost a fairytale, drugs are being given to (mostly) boys if they have a lot of energy, recess time is shrinking, and boys are being told they are an oppressive sex. Now, take these physical outlets away and you wonder why boys are being treated for ADD, ADHD, etc. Let boys be boys for God's sake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn1q6...

You want your Mr. Darcy? Then actually practice what you preach. Treat everyone equally. The pendulum is swinging too far the other way. Keep it in the middle.

My all tme favourites, what more can I say.

An absolute pleasure to read, so detailed in the way people thought, which in all honestly is not much different to the thinking of today. Jane Austen women especially Elizabeth Bennett had the qualities I would admire in any woman today, she would notbe attracted to money alone, she would marry for love.
So too would Anne Elliott.

Everyone should get a chance to read Jane Austen, never dated because the ideas are still pretty much the same, just so much more elegant and beautiful- A World to lose yourself in.

I got this anthology for a class and I thought it might be easier to put this up rather than each Jane Austen novel. I really liked it, and it's portable being a normal sized paperback; just thicker. But since I love Jane Austen, this is perfect for me! I really like Sense and Sensability the best, of course, followed by Pride and Prejudice. Emma, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey were good as well, but this is a great way to read all of her works without a large hardback anthology that is suited more for a doorstop than actual reading.

A beautiful presentation appropriate to the novels held within. I bought this for my 30th birthday and read through all of the novels for the first time, having previously only seen plays and movies inspired by the books. The themes and language become a bit repetitive, but the writing and sentimentality remained engaging and noteworthy.

My ratings and reviews for all of Austen's works based on preference-

Northanger Abbey- 5 stars
Pride and Prejudice- 5 stars
Sense and Sensibility- 4 stars
Lady Susan- 4 stars
Love and Friendship- 4 stars
The History of England- 4 stars
Persuasion- 3 stars
Emma- 3 stars
Jane Austen's Juvenilia
Mansfield Park- 1.5 stars

Leven in Manilla, ver van mijn familie en vrienden in Nederland betekent veel vrije tijd. 's Avonds en in de weekenden zit ik dus te lezen, meestal in Starbucks, The Coffee Bean, Highlander Coffee of wat er al niet meer voorhanden is en lekkere stoelen heeft. Het is net als in de trein - hoe drukker het om me heen is hoe beter ik me lijk te kunnen concentreren op mijn boek. Zolang maar niemand tegen mij praat.

In de loop van de jaren had ik al veel over Jane Austen gelezen en natuurlijk talloze (fragmenten van) films over haar boeken gezien. Maar het was als met veel klassieke werken (sommigen zeggen de definitie van klassieke werken) : iedereen praat er over maar niemand heeft ze gelezen. Behalve mijn vrouw Anke dan want die heeft alle films meerdere malen gezien en de boeken meerdere keren gelezen. Een mooie gelegenheid dus om mijn achterstand wat in te halen en The Complete Works eens te gaan lezen. Na iets meer dan 2 maanden is het dan zover - ik heb ze allemaal gehad. Het had nog wat sneller gekund maar ik had na een paar boeken de behoefte om telkens een ander boek tussendoor te lezen, dus dat heb ik gedaan. Anders is het wel héél veel romantiek achter elkaar. Ik heb overigens niet alle kleinere en onafgemaakte romans gelezen en ook niet de brieven. De Penguin uitvoering van de Complete Works die wij hebben (ik had een andere als Ebook), bevat die ook niet.

Tot mijn verrassing vond ik de boeken geweldig. Ik had verwacht dat het wat saaie, formele verhalen zouden zijn maar dat was helemáál niet zo. De verhalen zijn geschreven in prachtig Engels, ze staan vol van grappige details en geweldige ironie (van die sublieme Engelse understatements) en over het algemeen zijn ze zelfs zo spannend dat je blijft lezen ook al is het tijd om naar bed te gaan.

Voor wat het waar is mijn ranking van de beste naar de minst mooie. Eigenlijk zijn ze allemaal wel mooi dus hecht er niet teveel waarde aan :

1. Mansfield Park. In tegenstelling tot Pride & Prejudice, de meest genoemde roman, is Mansfield Park wat "gewoner". De gevoelens lijken échter en bovendien heeft het hoofdonderwerp veel te maken met sociale gerechtigheid en met het trouw blijven aan principes, karaktervorming zo je wilt. Het vooroordeel waarmee de oude Engelse adel er van uit gaat dat de lagere klassen geen klasse en geen karakter hebben wordt door Jane Austen op z'n kop gezet. In feite is het precies andersom in dit verhaal.
2. Price and Prejudice komt toch wel duidelijk op de tweede plaats (maar had ook één kunnen staan). Vooral vanwege de knappe afwisseling van enorm grappige scenes met ernstige verhalen. Vooral het sprankelende taalgebruik van Elizabeth is prachtig om te lezen.
3. Sense and Sensibility is het eerste boek wat ik las en ik was er van onder de indruk. Maar wanneer je de rest ook gelezen hebt is het allemaal wel erg braaf.
4. Persuasion is gewoon mooi en spannend. Hoewel je natuurlijk na het eerste hoofdstuk wel kunt raden hoe het afloopt gaat het daar niet om bij Jane Austin. Wat de boeken spannend maakt is de weg waarlangs het geluk gevonden wordt.
5. Emma - mooi maar de eerste helft zit niet veel vaart in. Emma's ambities als huwelijksmakelaar worden breed uitgemeten maar na een tijdje weet je het wel. Verderop is het allemaal veel spannender. Ik moet zeggen dat ik de ontknoping niet eens zag aankomen (had de TV-serie ook nooit gezien).
6. Northanger Abbey. Tja, wel mooi maar vooral een parodie op de in die tijd gangbare gothic literatuur. Je kunt het zonder veel moeite ook lezen als een parodie op de moderne Young Adult literatuur. Van geen van beide weet ik veel dus de pointe ontgaat mij in veel gevallen.

I only read three of the novels in this book before someone else requested it at the library and I had to return it. I loved reading Pride and Prejudice. As I was reading it, it made me emjoy and appreciate the A&E movie even better. When does that ever happen with a book?

I also read Mansfield Park. I enjoyed this one a lot. It kept me on edge a bit because I wasn't sure what would happen.

I did not enjoy Sense and Sensibility as much. I am not sure why. It was a bit tedious for me.

I love these books because they are easy to read and they are "written at walking pace". What I mean by that is, the pace of life when these books were being written was much more gently, and you can feel this rythm in the writing. It instantly transports you this other time. Sometimes it's nice to slow down , and take in the minutae of your surroundings. Also Miss Austen was an unsupressable romantinc and optimist, with a wonderful grounding of common sense. Many a young woman could learn a lot by reading Jane Austen at a young age.

Pride and Prejudice (five stars)

Persuasion (three stars)
I enjoyed this one, perhaps because it wasn't quite as obvious how everything would play out (not the ending, but how it would get there). enjoyable!

Emma (four stars)
I really enjoyed this... I think I can connect to Emma the best out of all the Jane Austen heroines I've met so far, at least as far as personality, not necessarily matchmaking. And can understand things blowing up in your face and regretting decisions... seriously, who can't? Anyway. I think this might be my favorite so far. :)

Sense and Sensibility (four stars)

Mansfield Park (three stars)

Northanger Abbey (three stars)

Lady Susan (four stars)
A little tricky at first, but I love the idea. And really fascinating characters. It made me think of perceptions... how we can view ourselves as better than we are, and how we are attracted to people who support our view of ourselves. (Lady Susan thought she was justified, and her friend agreed, etc.) A great view into how we function.